Can anyone let me know what the club/bar Barca is like??? what's the dress code there for women?? Thanks

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Manc Rant,

It's a very hard one to answer.

Basically, Barca was 'THE' place to go in the mid 90's when it was part-owned by Mick Hucknall. The whole of the Castlefield basin was heaving every night and was the most fashionable area of town.

Whilst it's still the most beautiful area of the city centre and offers many excellent bars and restaurants, sadly it's no longer busy with the likes of Quay Bar, Box Bar and Jackson's Wharf closing down and being left to decay, vandalised by skaters and pilfered from by drug addicts.

The excellent Dukes 92, a large pub, was the first bar here (in 1992 surprisingly) and actually remains just as busy today.

Choice is still open, and remains one of the best (and poshest) restaurants in town, however it's wine bar can be quiet.

Lava is a bar next to Key 103, below the apartment of Take That's Jason Orange. Whilst it's always busy and well worth a visit, it's more of a European style cafe bar.

Which brings us back to Barca. As you can see from the above, the crowds don't flock down here like they used to so, as a club, it's normally only busy when it's being hired out or there's a high profile club night on. Other than that, it can be dead. It's not unusual to see bar staff outnumbering customers during the week, which is a real pity as it still remains one of the classiest bars in town. For that reason, dresscode is basically 'anything goes'.

If you're planning on hiring it out - there's not many better venues. If you're planning on visiting for a few drinks in the summer, it's probably the best (and one of the busiest) places in town. Other than that, you may just find yourself walking the short walk along the wonderful cobbled road to Deansgate Locks. Which seems a pity, as it was the birth of the Locks that killed off Castlefield.