Label

After searching (and searching and searching) for somewhere to have a drink last night with some of the girls from work, we ended up at Label. After some desperate fancy dress shopping for the Christmas party, we wanted somewhere to sit, have a drink, and discuss our plans.
Label, in hindsight, was not the place to do this! I can imagine it being okay during the day; the food looks nice enough and is fairly priced, and the layout is not dissimilar to the Living Room next door.
However, when we went there was a Christmas party downstairs — and boy did we know it. There was little to no soundproofing between the event area and upstairs, being we were being blasted by both the ‘party tunes’ from their event and the more relaxed music upstairs. There was another large party coming in towards the end of our drinks, but we left before they could get going!
The wine itself was nice enough and well priced, but it doesn’t quite make up the lack of atmosphere.

This is a nice wine/​cocktail bar on deansgate. Very big inside, clean too. It has a very long bar to the left as you walk in, seating just round the corner off the corridor, extremely clean toilets downstairs. Well lit but not annoyingly light. Good music from the dj at the. Left of the bar, it has a mixture of older and younger pub goers, and this creates a good atmosphere.

A Jekyll and Hyde of a bar-​restaurant — of a weekday daytime this place is a cool, laidback place to get a decent drink (they make the second best Tom Collins in Manchester) and a good bite to eat (they run a decent set of Monday to Thursday lunchtime offers, and last time my girlfriend and I visited we paid less than £20 for two cocktails and two main meals).
Of a weekend or an evening it has a complete personality change though and becomes a darkened, funky house-​spinning monster of a bar filled with vodka-​soaked, floppy teenagers in check shirts and bodycon dresses. They spill out of the front door, crying and screaming over boyfriends or girlfriends or prices of taxis. It’s horrible, it really is — like looking through some backwards mirror into my own shameful past. Sort of interesting to watch, but awful nonetheless.
It doesn’t need saying really but, go during the day and not of an evening.

Label is a well situated and decked-​out cocktail bar on Deansgate. It’s quiet on a Wednesday night and first impressions are of slick mirrored surfaces, ambient colour-​changing lights and comfy dark corners furnished in leather. The bar clearly has more to offer and the floor is basically empty with more room to spare downstairs (I’m guessing a Friday or Saturday night would be an entirely different picture).
As it is I’m here for a birthday drink with some friends and we’re not disappointed. A good selection of cocktails are buy one, get one free and as I’m last to arrive and everyone else has a drink, I’m unfortunate enough to have two to myself — a pomegranate martini and a strawberry daiquiri. Both are great, refreshing fruity blends with a good strong kick, plenty of ice and a satisfying martini glass to sip from pretentiously.
The bar staff are efficient but there’s no chit chat or banter which did feel awkward — each round took a good 5 minutes to prepare and serve. We had a great time, every drinker in my party was satisfied and we all went home with money in our pockets.

Everything on this little strip of deansgate and the arcade seems developed to warm up your joints and get your blood pumping for a night on the sauce in Manchester. From the meeting up spot of moon under water with friends, to the warm meal at la tasca and now onto label a club/​bar establishment designed to be that final pulse raiser before onto the main event.
Label has recently been refurbished to make it look like its more swanky neighbour (living room), with a good variety of funky house and the latest commercial dance it’s a tad well wag central. For a male this makes for a fun night as you can become lost in the seething mass of orange it’s very much a «you’ve been tangoed», sort of venue. Drinks are reasonable.

Label is right next door to Living Room and you think this would make it embarrassed about being such a shameless copycat but apparently not.
It’s simply an overspill club for people who were dressed up well enough for Living Room.
To give it it’s due, it is nicely decorated and would be a good place to chill out in the centre of the city but they just aren’t good enough at anything to make you want to stay here. The drinks aren’t great, the staff aren’t particularly helpful and it’s expensive.
I’d rather go to Moon Under Water and that is saying something!

Don’t know what happened here. Remembering that I used to really like Label, I went along yesterday, sure I was gonna give it a good review.
Don’t get me wrong it is a lovely place, but where it once felt edgy and fresh it now feels a little dated and tired.
It’s bound to happen I suppose, times and tastes move on and it’s difficult for a bar to know what the right thing to do is– too much chopping and changing and you risk losing your identity and unsettling your regulars, too little and you quickly become obsolete.
I’m sure it is still the place to be seen if you’re 19 and dressed top to toe in Top Shop and a splash of badly incorporated All Saints but if you’ve moved onto the more refined tastes of Urban Outfitters then it’s probably no longer for you.
The drinks are fairly pricey, although this well reflects the quality of the cocktails and service– you definitely get what you pay for. The food menu on the other hand is full of really decent meal deals making Label a city slicker favourite at lunchtimes.

I love it here, funky music downstairs, always a little packed upstairs. Downstairs is pretty empty til 11ish but then it starts to get packed. Great if you want a little pre club bar to get a dance on and some good drinking. A tad more expensive than the living room though.

This place is not bad for a lunch break in the midst of power shopping on Deansgate and surrounding areas. However, come night fall the atmosphere changes.
Quite chilled out and casual during the day, it becomes a bit of a wannabe wag magnet by night. Expect much orange fake tan, expanses of skin, highlights and extensions on display with the latest commercial dance pumping out.
Fine for a bit of a cheesy dance to some tasty coctkails, and a giggle at the ‘overly serious’ booty shakers on the dancefloor. But, if pretentious townies are not your bag, steer clear and stick to the Northern Quarter!

Label is one of the most popular bard in Manchester on a weekend. It is located in Deansgate which is ideal for a night out, it is situated right beside The Living Room. Living Room is known to be popular amongst the sophisticated and those with money to spend freely in Manchester. Label functions in a similar sort of fashion to Living Room but it is tailored at a different audience. Every time I have been here is has been very lively full of people out for a good night on the town, this is a very funky place.
Label tends to play dance music and I’m sure they have their own DJ which helps make the atmosphere. Unfortunately the drinks are really expensive I had to double check at the bar to make sure they didn’t over charge me. The staff didn’t seem as keep to serve you as some of the other bars in Deansgate. Its a good night due to its location but its never a bar I stay long in due to the cost of the drinks, there are lots of bars in the vicinity and offer much cheaper drinks.