Cane & Grain has just opened it’s doors in the Northern Quarter.
This venue, comprising of three very different bars is, we suspect, going to be a big hit in the NQ, simply because it offers such differing scenes under one roof. Both myself and Chris have visited more than once over the last week or so, and have had rather differing experiences – especially when it came to opening night. Rather than edit, or try to merge these two experiences together, I’ve posted them, at the same time, but as separate pieces, giving you, the reader, the opportunity to decide for yourself! Chris?
Before I start this entry about the Northern Quarter’s newest addition, Cane & Grain, it might be best to first explain that I was in a shitty mood, I’d had a shitty week (despite confirmation of my promotion and salary increase). My misanthropy was at an all time high, meaning my desire to mingle in a bar packed with strangers was at rock bottom. Nevertheless…
I went anyway.
Also, in retrospect, I don’t think the opening night party (although the bar had already been open a few days) was going to be a true representation of it’s character and ambiance.
Read this bearing in mind that this was a party, and a review of a party, rather than a review of the venue itself.
Cane & Grain has possibly brought the end of the ‘bohemian’ Northern Quarter. It’s dragged Deansgate to Thomas Street. I could be wrong, but this might be the first bar in the NQ with a VIP area, soon to be populated by WAG wannabes and waxed gym bunny posers, all out to get wrecked, fuck and/or fight. The tiki bar is like every other, where the stench of high proof rum cocktails being set ablaze, a Caribbean grass roofed beach style bar, shrieking girls as yet another ball of flame erupts from a pint of zombie, fills the air, an essence of Colonel Kilgore’s ‘smell of napalm in the morning… smells like victory’; it gives an ambiance of the last party at the fall of Saigon, if sponsored by Primark. Whilst trying to keep a low profile, mainly to not be stood in someone’s way [no matter where I stood, what quiet corner I found to enjoy my drink, I was in someone’s way, or so it seems], and mainly to try and avoid the ever present atmosphere of the threat of violence, it was impossible to not over hear loud boasts of how much coke someone had taken already, how wasted they were going to be, and how wasted they wanted to be. People elbowed each other out the way, tutting at each other. At one point, one my way down the narrow steps from The Liars Lounge to the ground floor bar, I stopped to let a pack of suited Ricki Hall clones pass, and they paused, confused by this (to most people) everyday simple courtesy. Later when going back up the stairs, a group of 5 people all chatting together, blocking the way, tutted and cursed as people asked to squeeze past. I could have been in any bar on Deansgate on a Saturday night, fighting to survive surrounded by stag and hen parties.
For a while now, that stretch of Thomas Street has been a bit of a ‘no go’ area for Manchester locals on a saturday night. It’s oppressive, it’s like a rugby scrum at the bar, and it’s unpleasant. It possibly started with Terrace, and now you can continue that experience right next door. It’s weekend, get them all penned in together, get them drunk, get them pumped up, and let them at each other, like a cock fight.
The weekend crowd are going to love it there.
Ok, I’ll be more objective. Like I said this was the opening party, and spirits were high, and booze was flowing. If it was my bar, and it was my opening night party (and I spent 5 years in Greece managing bars and having some of the most hedonistic seasonal opening parties), I can’t claim that it would be any different. Start as you mean to go on.
Cane & Grain is on three floors, with the VIP area sandwiched on the 1st floor between The Liars Lounge tiki bar at the top, and the Rib Joint & Tap Room on the ground floor. There are three completely different areas to explore.
Despite my earlier ranting, I enjoyed the Rib Joint. An interesting decor, a tribute to the skate shop that once occupied the premises, Cast. Skate decks line the walls, the seated area is plastered with posters. A good bar, and I am a fan of a good bar. I’ve yet to explore the cocktail menu (I spied an Old Fashioned on the menu, and I will be sampling it soon), and a row of taps on the back wall of the bar. Thursday night wasn’t the night to have time and space to fully explore the drinks on offer. There was a sense of reclaimed wood and tiling to the interior, but far too busy inside from the moment I arrived to really have time to appreciate it. I took some photos, and there are an abundance on the Cain & Grain website which demonstrate the level of detail attributed to the bar. I managed to grab one of the rib samples being offered (not an easy feat holding a camera, and a pint of lager, and avoiding getting sauce in my beard), and it was delicious, tasty, and I knew then I would be back if only for the ribs.
The stairs connecting the three floors were equally as well furnished, more skate decks, and murals. A doorman guarded the key pad entry to The First Floor Lounge. The photos on the website give it an air of something between a private members club and a traditional bar. I am not sure of the ‘VIP’ designation was something just for the opening night, or if this is an ongoing feature. I have a bit of a Groucho Marx attitude towards VIP/members only bars – Any that would accept me as a member, I don’t really want to be a member of. I ended that sentence with a preposition.
Alas, the Tiki bar, The Liars Lounge impressed me the least. You might already have guessed that, dear reader. It’s just far too similar to the other Tiki themed bars in the city, and there’s nothing original about it. Just because something is popular, doesn’t always mean it has to be cloned. It’s only one step away from a franchise, from becoming a corporate entity, from becoming the flaming rum cocktail version of a fucking Frankie & Benny’s. It’s been done to death, in my opinion. I’ll leave it there about that bar.
To conclude this rather muddled, mixed, and misanthropic entry I’ll say this. I’ll be going back, only to the Rib Joint & Tap Room, to start with, and I’ll be going midweek, with a few friends, and a few notes in my pocket. And I know I will enjoy it, the booze will be good, the ribs will be excellent, and I’ll have fun. Maybe at a later date I’ll explore more of Cane & Grain, but one thing at a time. My recommendation? Go, if you’re in the neighbourhood, you can’t miss it, and it’s a must see. If you’re planning a weekend with the lads, or with the girls, you simply HAVE to go. If it’s a midweek, 3rd date, go.
