Always a good selection of excellent beer and consistently tasty grub. Changing artwork is great and tunes are usually spot on. Regularly first choice if we're in that part of town.
Stumbled across the place completely by chance. Had a fabulous Haloumi and Grilled Artichoke burger and a good Pale Ale. Friendly quick service. Well worth a visit.
Situated in Northern Quarter, this cool cafe really invites you in to sit down, have a drink, grab some food. Unfortunately, before you can sit down and enjoy you have to order at the counter, which can be quite hectic. The staff recommended me a burger and after I ordered it their reply was "oh wait, we ran out of those ingredients". Ok then, I decided to order another burger for which I paid 9£ without fries or salad. I don't know if I put the expectations too high, but I admit I was really disappointed with the quality of the meat and the burger in general. Will come back to give it a second shot if that day doesn't fall on a weekend, because the service was slow and sloppy this saturday afternoon.
Me and Common, we go way back. As a Northern Quarter resident for a number of years, it felt like a second home at times and I know I’m not the only one who has felt like that. That’s why the recent renovation of the Edge Street favourite has been so controversial. I popped in, with trepidation, to check out it’s new fancy home and grown up menu.
We start with ‘Popcorn Cockles’.
And what a start! If there’s a better bar snack around I’m yet to meet it (and I’ve eaten a lot of snacks in a lot of bars).
They’re sharp, salty and spicy all at the same time. They arrive hot and fresh, far too hot to be eating straight away but I can’t help throwing them into my mouth.
Next we try three of the new small plates. Individually priced at between £4.50 – £6 or excellent value at £12 for three.
‘Lamb Taco’ is incredibly tasty with its crisp spiced lamb, sweet carrot and hot chillies. I found it a little dry though; the menu promised tzatziki but there just wasn’t enough of it. A big dollop on top would’ve made all the difference.
Common's just had a huge renovation, and is pretty unrecognisable from the hipster-haunt it was in its youth. Gone is the graffiti style wall art and quirty pieces of music memorabilia, replaced with Scandinavian style oak and fold back floor to ceiling windows. It's all very grown up these days.
It's a rainy, grey Sunday afternoon and I'm sat in my favourite Northern Quarter Bar with Sam whilst Mrs Bacon goes shopping. But it's a shadow of it's former scruffy self since a recent refit. They've had quite a lot of criticism on-line about the new look so I won't add to it. Although I abhor change too, I'm not so hostile to it and I see why they've done it when I try some new dishes off of their new menu. You could say it's more of a grown up space for more grown up food. I still miss the old bar but sat there for a few hours reading the papers doesn't really feel that much different to how it was.
Victoria “Mrs” Petticoat
+4.5
The Northern Quarter is the part of Manchester closest to my heart. Yes, all the men have beards and wear checked shirts, but so does the hubby and I think he’s a bit of alright. People are always slagging off ‘the hipsters’ that inhabit the area but I’d take their interesting quirks over the gym and sunbed worshippers anyway. Despite spending a lot of time in TNQ over the last few years, I’ve not seen any trouble; not one scrap. Ok, somebody did once kick me in the shin on Thomas Street, but that was a one off and perhaps I’d offended him in some way. We were celebrating our friends’ engagement and so went to one of our favourite bars, Common. Nothing makes me happier than engagements. People offer you bubbles, my hug-athons are perfectly acceptable and it gives me an excuse to drunkenly cry without people placing me on suicide watch. We’d reserved a table and had no reason to leave our happy little booth all night long. Common’s interior is always really cool, it changes regularly a
Shrimoyee Chakraborty
+4.5
Going to Common is very common for all Northern Quarter hipsters! It is generally where a night begins or where you go on a sunny day to get some work done (yes yes free wi-fi). But don't get carried away by the name because it is quite UN-common and special in its own way. I am shocked that I have not written a review for Common yet (shame on me) because I have had several fun evenings here with friends. I have hogged the fries and cheese burger here a zillion times (yes they are delicious). I have also lost at the quiz night here more than once, I blame that on my stupid friends who did not know half the answers. I have also been for a Yelp UYE here, where i made some really cool new friends and met my fellow Yelpers.
Now that I have established my love for common let's get to the most important bit --The Booze! They have a great collection of German beers which is also one of the reasons I frequent this place so much because my best friend Michael happens to be a German. He is forever sitting there in his posh sunglasses and showing off his long legs..So if you spot a tall, lanky dude with a swanky shades sipping on a pint outside in the chair, go say hello to him (he is my friend). The music here is great on a Thursday night as they have some awesome dj's playing and I love to see the tranformation of those people calmly working on their mac-books to dancing like Michael Jackson (ok exaggeration, but you get it right). You can get a pint for 3.50 which is a decent price and you can also get half pints for 2 pounds.
Verdict : If in Northern Quarter, you need to come here for a drink at least once!
The best bar in the NQ. Not only do they do the best vegan pizzas around, the beer is great too! The Common beer is decent and well endowed…if you fancy saving the pennies on the more expensive beer, you won’t go wrong here! Also to mention, the overall atmosphere is fab too.l always enjoy the friendly staff, happy laughing by people and the hidden gem this place is
My wife and I decided to go for something to eat and drink. we come across this restaurant / bar . In the Northern Quarter in manchester down one of the lovely side roads outside was wooden tables & benches we decided on a pizza we want for the Original Sausage Material now the grant thing is you can order a full Pizza or a slice how good is that . so i go inside this spacious building with its wooden bar and open kitchen to the side of it and order are drinks way waiting for are pizza not to long a wait prices are reasonable and the staff are friendly its a busy place on a lovely sunny weekend with a diverse mix of people and a good atmosphere. well worth a visit. Note of information toilets are down stairs however the disabled toilet is on the ground floor level. Also dog friendly. Would I go back again yes most definitely
Quite lively even during the afternoon/early evening. Popular Northern Quarter location. Nell's pizza and some decent house beers. Can order from table QR code, can be a little slow at the bar when busy but a nice place to spend a couple of hours
September 2022: another day, another visit. Google Timelines reminding me how often we've been here. Good selection of craft ales. The pizza smells divine. First time here for Archie! He likes it! Dog Friendly, lovely staff. We had Nells pale ale Kirkstall Virtuous, 4.5%
Good pizza not great but still good.
Great laid back vibe. Walk in and grab a table, then order at the bar. The tempeh and fries were excellent, as was the small fry up. Took around 30 minutes for food to arrive but was warned when ordering so not a problem. Excellent value as well. Recommended.
Awesome little restaurant/cafe/bar in the Northern Quarter! Went for brunch and had a fantastic hash and veggie English breakfast and saw they had some interesting gin and tonic menu items so came back at night for drinks! Great vibe and atmosphere both during the day and evening!
Nice bar with decent beer. This house pale ale is one of the best I’ve had
I ordered enough pizza to feed 50 people on the busiest night of the week & the staff were able to accommodate the order.
Special mention goes to Katie who helped us carry the 22” pizzas to a venue nearby - thank you vvvvvv much 🙌🏻
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I've loved Common for many many years for various reasons. The vibe and the ambience in there is lovely, the array of drinks is fantastic and something to suit every taste and most importantly the staff who are friendly and warm and funny and give impeccable service. You can tell they love working there which really comes through in the customer experience.
The addition of Nell's Pizza only adds to this. Went once before the pandemic and it was really good pizza. Came back here tonight and it was just as good as I remembered. The garlic bread with black garlic ketchup is to die for and the pizzas areny just big, they've got some big flavour too. These are not novelty pizzas because of their size, these are GOOD pizzas. They are tasty and full of flavour and the "Do you 'Roni Honey" is just delicious. Can highly recommend the truffle mayo dip too. Not a gimmick, just good honest flavour that compliments the pizza so well.
I'm so glad that Common has decided to reopen. I've been going for almost 2 decades and was genuinely gutted when they announced the closure last year. So if you've read this far, what are you waiting for? Get down to Common and help this stalwart of the NQ stay open so I can keep going for another 15 years! Amazing beers, superb pizza and absolutely superb staff. Thanks to the team for the hard work and making my colleague's birthday a good one.
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