Four Manchester bars have been included in the nominations, including a quirky three storey “hybrid” pub bar in the Northern Quarter that has “nostalgia running through it”.
Pub-bar hybrid The Morris has been hailed among the UK’s best new bars(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)
A quirky three-storey pub billed as a “nostalgia cave” in Manchester has been named as one of the UK’s best new bar venues at a prestigious upcoming awards event.
The Morris in the Northern Quarter is one of a quartet of Manchester city centre bars that have earned nominations this week for the upcoming annual CLASS Awards, which celebrate the cream of the UK’s bar scene.
It has gained acclaim ever since opening last year with its intriguing mix as both old school pub and glamorous cocktail bar, spread out across three floors in the Northern Quarter.
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The Morris will compete in the New Bar of the Year category at the CLASS Awards, up against finalists Same Again in Bristol, Slowpour in Liverpool and Waltz in London.
Head upstairs at The Morris and the space turns into a retro-style cocktail bar with nostalgia-fuelled drinks (Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)
Ex-Gordon Ramsay bars boss Dan Berger is behind The Morris, opening it up last year with the aim to be “fun, exciting and a little bit different,” with “nostalgia running through it.” When you walk in to the pub off Thomas Street, it looks like a traditional boozer with timber-clad walls, leather booths and old Guinness signs.
But then walk to the pink wall at the back and up the stairs and you’ll find yourself immersed in a retro-style cocktail bar nodding to the 80s. The hybrid pub-bar is one of four Manchester venues to get the nod in the CLASS Awards.
Meanwhile three Manchester city centre bars will compete to be named Best Bar in the North at the ceremony. The Morris’s sister venue, Blinker bar on Spring Gardens, as well as the acclaimed Schofield’s on Little Quay Street and Speak in Code on Jacksons Row are all nominated, up against Bar Glue in Liverpool in their category.
Blinker bar is nominated in the Best Bar in the North category(Image: Manchester Evening News)
Announcing the news on its official website, the awards said: “CLASS is thrilled to announce the finalists of the CLASS Bar Awards 2026, ahead of the ceremony at Battersea Arts Centre in London on May 6th.
“Of the 21 awards in the CLASS Bar Awards, 14 categories (including Bartender of the Year, Bar Innovator, Regional Bars of the Year and Bar of the Year) are decided by a vote of 180 industry experts across the UK.”
Schofield’s Bar continues to rack up the awards noms(Image: Manchester Evening News)
This year, the CLASS Bar Awards ceremony on May 6th will be the flagship event of CLASS Week (May 4th-8th), a new free-to-access cocktail festival in London dedicated to the UK bar industry.
More details of CLASS-organised events will follow in the coming days, organisers state.