The Refuge

The Refuge occupies the ground floor of the former Refuge Assurance building on Oxford Street, now the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel. It runs across roughly 10,000 square feet of original Victorian tilework and columns, and it is operated not by a hotel team but by Volta, the food and drink project of Manchester DJs Luke Cowdrey and Justin Crawford. Bar Magazine profiled it as an urban retreat built inside one of the city's grandest interiors.

This is a bar with range. You can have a quiet craft ale under the tiles, a long table dinner in the dining room, or a late night dancing in the Public Bar when the residents are on. Few Manchester venues stretch across all three the way this one does.

The centrepiece is the glass-roofed Winter Garden, a planted atrium that Visit Manchester and Manchester's Finest both single out as the standout space. Around it sit the Public Bar and the main dining room, all wrapped in the building's heritage tiling. The scale is the point. It rarely feels cramped, even when busy.

The cocktail programme leans on house-made vermouth and infusions, alongside a strong list of craft ales and wine. This is a kitchen-and-bar operation, so order drinks alongside the small plates rather than treating it as a pure cocktail den. The pairing of a serious bar list with Volta's food is what sets it apart from a standard hotel bar.

From Thursday to Saturday the Public Bar shifts as resident DJs take over, so a quiet early drink and a late dance are both on offer under the same roof.

An Oxford Road corridor mix of students, professionals and hotel guests early on, turning younger and livelier once the DJs start at weekends. The size of the room keeps it from ever feeling like a single scene.

Planning a night on Oxford Road? Read our top 10 bars in Manchester guide and our top 10 pubs in Manchester list. Searching nearby? Start at the cocktail bars near me hub or the Manchester cocktail bars page.