BLUE BRICK Club is revamping the old on Oldham Street.
"The plan wasn't to replicate any of the bar themes already established in the Northern Quarter,"
The soon-to-open bar and social venture is the latest project from the family behind Dry Bar, the 'original' Northern Quarter boozer; class of 1989. They've shown the bar's ground-level venue a little more love and tenderness than in its previous 25 years.
Back before the Northern Quarter became a bohemian overspill of tiki bars, dirty food joints and a home-from-home for stylishly outfitted hairy men, Dry Bar's basement was, as one Confidential colleague recalls, a "damp, sweaty, smelly, flea pit."
Now, it has been given a new lease of life and its own identity with the Blue Brick Club. It's to be a far more classier affair.
"The bar got its name from the original blue brick exterior on the outside and throughout the space - we thought we'd stay true to the original features," says Ciaran Dwyer, Blue Brick Club's manager. "There's a bit of an industrial theme - we painted the the columns international orange like the San Francisco Golden Gate bridge and we've re-upholstered reclaimed furniture."
It's a one level space lifted with accents of orange and yellows, primed for relaxed socialising rather than a heavy, night on the town - although they expect things to get a lot more amped come early hours on a Saturday night. Overall Blue Brick Club is thinking Spinningfields' sophistication, just void of any pretension.
"The plan wasn't to replicate any of the bar themes already established in the Northern Quarter," says Dwyer. "There's a lot of focus on the drinks, we're importing more spirits and we're spending time to develop a solid cocktail menu. There'll also be a wide selection of bottle beers."
Blue Brick Club has enlisted the help of Richard Freedman, a cocktail bar tender who has worked within a number of popular Northern Quarter bars, to help develop the cocktail menu. What Freedman doesn't know about spirits isn't worth knowing - and while he himself is a whisky drinker (neat and untampered), the cocktail menu will appeal to those with a sweeter palette.
"A favourite cocktail we've well, concocted, is with Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka, apple, cinnamon, lemon and cointreau liqueur," said Freedman. "They'll be the usual, but we'll be introducing are own signiture cocktails in time."
"In a few weeks there will be sharing bricks - a bit like the fish bowl - 'the Briquette' for two people, 'The Brick' for three to four and the 'Big Blue Breezeblock' for five to six people to share," added Dwyer.
"We want the Blue Brick Club to become a bar where people are able relax and actually hear each other talk - but of course, come a certain time they'll definitely be a party atmosphere. There will be a live DJ."
Opening on Thursday 26 March on Oldham Street, the Blue Brick Club will run Thursday to Saturday from 5pm until 4am. With foundations laid down by its predecessor (blue brick by blue brick), this new venture has ambition to become a permanent fixture on the Northern Quarter bar circuit. It's funny what the Hacienda's old warm-up bar Dry Bar has become. New Order put the money up for this Ben Kelly designed space 26 years ago and now there's another new order pushing the venue with new ideas.
It'll be interesting to see the difference twenty five years makes.
Blue Brick Club | 28-30 Oldham Street | Manchester | M1 1JN
Twitter: @bluebrickclub | Facebook: /bluebrickclub
