Brand New Review of NQ hangout...

The Bay Horse: A Thoroughbred Boozer?

35-37 Thomas Street
M4
0161 611 1041
www.thebayhorsepub.co.uk

A proper boozer, amongst the Northern Quarter’s growing gang of pubs, cocktail bars and semi clubs, it’s a dark place, that from the outside looks like millions of other 2 pints of bitter pubs of the Northwest and beyond. No bad thing, but it does seem a tad out of place in the Northern Quarter.

It is only when your eyes get accustomed to the dark, that you realise there is no dart board, there’s no sawdust on the floor, but rather the old men’s chairs, are chez lounges for couples, the dominoes have been replaced by Mahjong and there are huge, photo artworks on the walls of giant horses. That you are in the NQ – top hat full to the brim with irony - with three clicks of your heels, you’re back in Kansas, there is no place like home. And suddenly the place makes sense.

And this is what this bar feels like: a cool couple’s house, if they lived in a bar, a gentle drinking place on the ground floor, with a younger brother dossing downstairs in the garage, with his live music scene, his pool table, and strange décor, with montage fashion shot toilet. It’s rather grimy atmosphere, not helped by the rock’n’roll attitude to cleanliness, which in some venues adds to the ambience and is fun i.e. at The Roadhouse, but not here. Its just seems unpleasant. Even for a live venue.

However, The Bay Horse isn’t to be sold on its cleanliness, rather the opposite, the fashionable boho chic, being traded in for ‘honest griminess’. That and its live music and really rather cool music policy, if its underground and live, then it tends to play here, and larger bands cameo here as well with Windmill last playing ‘The Quiet Night Out’ club night here. An interesting night of note, as the promoters bring milk and cookies for you to have with your beers, whilst Friction non friction bring eclectic, R&R, surf and allsorts to the table, giving the Bay Horse a reputation of getting very busy at the weekends, and being a place downstairs you can go have fun. Like a bigger version of Big Hands but without the European coolness of lockins and tequila.

The Bay Horse does have something of a European nature. An outdoor area, with its very own secret garden, an outdoor drinking area, with a few tables and chairs for relaxing in, which may well be a winner when people can no longer smoke indoors. However, as a friend of mine said the secret really should have been kept a secret for a little while longer, as a little more needs to be done before it should be a selling point and it worrying occasionally smells of gas, so not great for smoker

The Bay Horse, has the potential to be a real winner, the downstairs stables let it down a little. A seeming thoroughbred, which without care, could become just a Nag’s head.

Words: Danny Sodergren