095. Lava Café Bar, Castlefield Basin

Lava Café Bar, Castlefield, 2010. (c) Pubs of Manchester.

This bar was something of a surprise to us as we were expecting more of a restaurant, but turns out it's more of a real bar albeit more of the foreign café bar variety.  In view of this, unsurprisingly there is no real ale available, but the ale drinker's last resort, Guinness, was available and they had a varied selection of bottled beers and ciders.  It's situated in the Middle Warehouse in between Choice Bar & Grill (not on our list as it's primarily a restaurant) and Key 103 radio so picks up trade from both.  Lava is also sat nicely away from the throngs of Dukes 92 and Barca, which gives it a more relaxed feel as you watch the world go by and the nearby canal.  Certainly worth a call in should you be in the area, particularly on a nice sunny day, though a real ale or two might persuade us to come in a bit more often.  Does Lava attract the right kind of customer, and is it busy enough, to make real ale viable?  The independent bars like Centro and Common in the NQ certainly do to great success... 

Lava Café Bar, Castlefield, 2010. (c) Pubs of Manchester.

Website: www.lavacafebar.com.

Twitter: @LavaCafeBar.