Behind the UK #1 cocktail bar's success
We spoke to head bartender, Conor Knowles to get his insight and to discuss the rise of Manchester’s ever-growing bar scene:
At what moment did you realise that you were number one? And how did that feel?
There was a sense of, surely not. We cannot be number one. We genuinely thought we weren't going to do it, so we had to compose ourselves.
When it finally got announced, it was an amazing feeling. We were absolutely buzzing, all of us. It’s such a great feeling to be number one and to be representing Manchester is incredible.
What does it mean for you guys to be the first bar in Manchester to be named number one?
Incredible. The list is fantastic and to see so many Manchester Bars do so well is incredible. London, Edinburgh and all these major cities always do so well in these sorts of things.
To represent Manchester and to be number one in a city outside of London and Edinburgh is incredible.
It feels amazing. There were so many great bars on the list and so many great bars from Manchester up there as well. It's just incredible to show what Manchester can do.
Why do you think that you are voted number one? What do you think makes Schofield's so special?
It's hard to say really. We put a lot of effort into our drinks and the products that we put out. But it's not just that, we've got an amazing team who genuinely care about people and care about giving great hospitality and going above and beyond.
We try and give people the best guest experience they can so they can walk away with a smile on their face and to make people happy.
Giving people an amazing time in the bar, is certainly higher up for us in terms of importance than the drinks, it’s really the atmosphere, ambience, the music that we play, stuff like that is the thing that’s got us up there.
What influences your menu?
It's very much a team effort. We work with seasonality, so we change our menu to fit in with the seasons.
We are very much classics focused. If you look at the menu, we have 24 cocktails – the first 12 never change and then we'll do another 12 to fit in with the seasons.
[Then we have] six maybe lesser-known classics or we might borrow drinks from other bars, obviously with their permission.
Then there's six other spots there for the team to put drinks on the menu. Obviously, we try and look at seasonality, but we don't really have any homemade ingredients. We don't have any fancy equipment or anything. It's all super approachable for guests.
When I create a drink, I think will this get picked up? Will this become a bit of a classic in the future?
It's about guests as well. When I think about a drink, I always think about which of our regulars might want to drink this and tailor it around that.
We want to make something super accessible for guests with a seasonal focus and trying to hit the benchmark classic cocktails as a platform to work from.
What do you think makes a number one cocktail bar?
If they genuinely care about hospitality and giving people the best time. A great bar is just somewhere where you can relax and take your mind off certain things.
Whatever's going on in your life, relax and just be immersed in the experience, the drinks are a byproduct of that.
That's what makes a great bar, where you can just relax and just have a great time.
What advice would you give to other bars that are looking to make onto the list?
Be confident in what you're doing and the products that you put out. Being able to care about your guests and the whole experience is, what makes a great bar.
Remember, the first rule of hospitality, which is to be hospitable.
What do you think the future holds for Manchester bars?
There's so much talent in Manchester at the minute and we see people coming from all over the UK or all over Europe and abroad to come and work in Manchester's bars.
There's more and more bars coming up, there are four bars on the list from Manchester and then Red Light won One to Watch.
There are so many more bars that I can mention in Manchester that are doing great things and maybe haven't been recognised yet or haven't really got the traction.
You want to put Manchester in the same stratosphere as London in terms of great cocktail bars, so I reckon in a couple of years you'll definitely see Manchester creeping up and being a cocktail hotspot. There is so much going on in the city, it's going to be amazing. It already is amazing.
What does the future hold for Schofield's?
We've got a few incredible events lined up. It's our third birthday next month (March) and we've got the amazing guys from PDT in New York coming over to do a guest show for us. We will be travelling abroad to Europe and hopefully beyond.
We want to keep pushing ourselves. We want to keep being better what we do and keep building that brand and making sure that what we do we're doing to the best of our abilities.
We're very happy at the moment, we’re just going to keep pushing on and doing what we do best.
Find out more about Schofield's Bar and the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list here.
