The North Pole Bar returns

I had a sore head this morning. Why?

Because I went to the North Pole Bar for just the one and stayed until it closed.

It was largely the fault of the tasty apple crumble flavoured hot cocktail, or possibly the delicious food from Tampopo, that made me overstay.

It’s a pretty nice-looking space too. Ear to the Ground have gone for ‘Aspen Lodge’ this year, as the bar begins its seven-week stint next to the Urbis Building in the city centre.

There’s no tee-pee this year, but it’s three times bigger and will be packed with events between now and the New Year. It’s a good place for a warming Christmas livener after work but the big comfy chairs were pretty hard to get up from to be honest.

Oh, and there are cuckoo clocks that cuckoo every hour.

There’s a smaller bar tucked away around a corner where there’ll be shooters at the weekend.

All in the name of research, I got stuck into a winter crumble – vodka, caramelised apple juice warmed and spiced with cinnamon and a hot toddy – Jack Daniels, honey, lemon juice and cloves. The rest of the Confidential mob tried out the Manchester Mulled Wine, which has a Vimto kick, and a Toffee Apple - Morgan's Spiced Rum and Kahlua finished with warm apple.

It was dark outside, and I was having too much fun to leave, so I got hold of a green curry and settled in for the evening.

The North Pole Bar is a welcome addition to the city’s bar scene, even if it is just for Christmas and not for life.