The Font Chorlton

The name will be familiar to students who either lived in Fallowfield or spent time in and around the drinking dens of Oxford Road (pretty much all of them, then). The Chorlton sibling of The Font bars is a place for said students who grew up, bought a dog and got a mortgage in an effort to get away from said students, but still like to pay no more than £4 for a cocktail on Friday nights.

The competition is pretty fierce when it comes to decent bars in the area (Beagle, Dulcimer, The Bar) and, consequently, The Font has really come out swinging, curating a seriously impressive beer list, almost 200-strong, including 16 keg lines and eight on cask. On a recent visit, Stockport-based Quantum’s bittersweet cocoa stout and the Pacific Jade from Blackjack’s single hop IPA range gave Brooklyn’s Sorachi Ace a run for its money.

Talking of Brooklyn, there’s a higher than normal choice of sharing bottles (Chorlton’s community spirit in play?) including the New York brewery’s Black Ops, aged in Woodford Reserve barrels, and Wild Streak, a barrel-aged wild brett ale. Cantillon’s genre-defining, sour Gueuze Bio and Sheppy’s Goldfinch cider are ideal for risk-taking groups.

Of course, you can always share the smaller bottles, notable among which are beers from Liverpool’s Mad Hatter, Weird Bear and Wild Beer Co. The dependable Flensburger pilsener and Camden’s Pale Ale are part of a healthy house draught selection. There’s the aforementioned cocktails too - margaritas, espresso martinis – and a food menu of meze boards and hearty mains like a great clay pot chicken.

They also do takeaway four-pint flagons of ale. Perfect for those who don’t know when to call it quits or just like to drink in the comfort of their home.