The Bar Fallowfield is opening on Thursday
Hello Bar, goodbye Font
The Font building in Fallowfield has been leased already and the bar will reopen as The Bar Fallowfield next Thursday, a manager has confirmed.
The building is now owned by Heineken, however the owners have promised the site will retain the same staff and management that worked under The Font, as well as a lot of the same cocktail deals and food.
The Bar Fallowfield has been taken on by business partners who own two bars in central Manchester, The Vine and The Directors Box.
The Font in Fallowfield closed in early January after a wave of regulations set by the council that forced Fallowfield's bars to close earlier. However, the opening of The Bar Fallowfield, as well as cocktail bar HQ on Wilmslow Road, shows promise for the future of Fallowfield nightlife.
The new management team have confirmed that despite the name change to The Bar Fallowfield, they will "try and keep the sacred things intact".
They said: "After Heineken bought the building there were rumours that it would be turned into a sports bar but the team that will come in to manage it, (all of whom worked at Font before) are keen to keep alive many of the things that everyone loved about the old venue.
"This includes cheap cocktails and freshly prepared food. It will also act as a comfy and peaceful study environment during the daytime, before nights such as the quiz and 2-for-1 cocktails kick off during the evening. They are also very keen to keep offering the upstairs space for events such as university socials and birthday parties.
"An extended brunch menu, an open mic night, even more board games (including an extra cards against humanity night) and a fresh beer line up are amongst the new things that you can find at the new venue. It will undergo a refurb in the summer as well as a rebrand, but for now the owners have simply renamed it The Bar Fallowfield."
Speaking to The Manchester Tab, former manager of The Font Fallowfield and new manager of The Bar Fallowfield Doug Simpson said: "Font was a legendary bar in this area and everyone was gutted to see it go. Naturally we want to keep in place some of its legendary aspects, though it will of course never be the same. But you need only hop on a Magic Bus and the town site is in full swing down the road, just minutes from Oxford Road station.
Doug has returned as manager and rehired all of the same staff who worked at the building when it was The Font. He also commented: "What we're working on here is offering students and locals a venue that makes Fallowfield a versatile night out with plenty of options available if you don't want to go and spend a fortune in town.
"With the addition of Nigerian street food and cocktail bar, HQ (two doors down from Revs), there are now plenty of drinking options for everyone- you could do a pretty hefty bar crawl, we certainly will be doing one soon!"
The Bar Fallowfield opens on Thursday with 2-for-1 on selected cocktails from 8pm – 11pm. The Fallowfield party season will kick off with DJs Bombard Groove playing at The Bar on Saturday night. Food and the iconic quiz will relaunch on Tuesday 22nd January.