What a week.

It started with a meetup in Baa Bar with Cool Bars, heading over to Lola Lo for their ChitChat night. Pics here. Back when I was a student and Lola's was Loaf, the whole club was rammed. Now Chitchat occupies only one arch of the club on one floor. Today's students: lightweights. Great sax work by Tom DaLips and DJing by Josh Weekes though, and a fun night.

Friday night I joined Cool Bars again for a trip to celeb haunt LIV for their Bamboo night. Their monthly oriental-themed event always goes down a treat. Pics here.

We started in a surprisingly busy Sakana, impressive for a freezing Friday before a bank holiday. It's my plan to do an all-nighter in here in a few weeks, so keep your eye on the Cool Bars page.

We made a spontaneous change towards the end of the night and headed over to the Northern Quarter, where we had a few drinks in Guilty by Association, which I liked. Again, a popular place. New nearby venue 2022 was closed by this point- I've not checked it out yet but I hear good things- so we went over to Noho, which in all honesty I don't like. Too many weirdos. Just felt a bit messy to me, certainly in the toilets where the hand dryer was broken.

Bad news reached us Saturday. Tim Bacon, founder of Living Ventures, has died after battling cancer. His company brought some of the best bars and restaurants to Manchester- The Living Room, Manchester House, Australasia and The Alchemist to name a few. His huge influence over the nightlife scene in Manchester turned the city from a few streets of mediocre bars and clubs at the end of the 90s into an exciting night-time metropolis which is still coming into fruition now.

I never knew him myself but working at The Living Room in '04 was a unique experience and one I'll never forget. RIP.

Finally, I've been made an event organiser for Manchester Cool Bars, which means I can announce the meetups myself. In short, as a host I could upload events, which would go to the organiser for approving, so that others could RSVP. Now I can approve events myself; there may be other privileges but I'll learn them as I go along! It certainly means that if I see something at the last minute I can set something up to see if anyone fancies a spontaneous night out.

Tonight, however, will not be so spontaneous- I'm out with Manchester Cool Bars again to check out a new trendy place down by Barton Arcade. There are still spaces! Details to follow.