Get ‘down and dirty’ at party circuit bar
MANCHESTER’S Peter Street party circuit gets another stop-off this weekend with the launch of cocktail bar Dirty Martini.
The London-based group opens its first northern outpost on the corner of Peter Street and Deansgate on Friday.
Around £1.5m has been splashed out to transform the former offices into a stylish bar space, with colourful teal and orange furnishings, copper-topped tables and striking lightbox artwork and neons. Floor-to-ceiling windows look out over Deansgate on the ground floor, opposite a sleek marble bar and a cabinet full of cut-crystal decanters.
A neon sign over the stairs beckons guests to ‘get down and dirty’ in the basement bar, which is carved up into intimate nooks by gilded, art deco-style dividers.
The drinks menu features 47 cocktails, including 15 martinis, ranging from its namesake dirty martini (vodka or gin with vermouth, olives and thyme, £9) to fruity twists such as dragonfruit and pomegranate (£9) and strawberry and pink peppercorn (£9).
A new Manchestini cocktail has also been created especially for the Manchester bar, a blend of Manchester Gin, Kalani coconut rum liqueur, coconut water, lemon juice, honey, bee pollen and dried lavender, garnished with a mini honey dipper encrusted with honeycomb.
Martinis are all half price during the bar’s generous happy hour, which is available from when the bar opens until 10pm, Monday to Thursday, until 8pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and all day on Sundays.
It also includes £12.50 bottles of house wine, £20 bottles of prosecco and selected bottles of beer and cider for £3.50.
Jackie Ellis, sales and marketing director, said: “It’s really important to us that normal people who work in the city earning a reasonable salary can have a really nice, high-quality drink and it’s affordable. It’s not going to cost a fortune to enjoy a really nice cocktail that’s made and garnished beautifully and will feel really special.” Bar snacks and sharing platters will also be available, including mac and cheese bites, beef and cheese sliders, tomato and basil arancini and fried buttermilk chicken.
“It’s the type of things you can share and eat easily without it being too much, but it’s substantial enough that you could come and have food here and not have to have had dinner,” said Jackie. The bar group has seven sites in London and one in Cardiff, with more coming soon in Leeds and Birmingham. Jackie said they had been searching for the right spot in Manchester for two years.
“We were really keen on the Deansgate and Peter Street area so this fit both our desired locations,” she said. We just thought Manchester was the perfect place for our brand.
“We love all the cocktail activity going on up here and we feel we’ll fit in really well.”
Dirty Martini opens this Friday, with hours from 3pm to 1.30am, Monday to Thursday, noon to 3.30am on Fridays and Saturdays, and noon to 1.30am on Sundays.