Rain Bar, Function Bar
80 Great Bridgewater Street, Manchester, M1 5JG -
Up to
50 guests
Offers
catering
About Venue
JW Lees opened the now multi award winning Rain Bar in August 1999. It wasn’t always a bar though. It started life as a Victorian canal side warehouse. It then became an umbrella factory and until its development was a dry cleaning business.
Manchester is famous for many things, cotton, the ship canal, manufacturing, the Guardian newspaper, United, City, Coronation Street and Oasis. Throughout history one thing has remained constant about reports on Manchester, the weather. Hence the name Rain Bar.
Rain Bar’s stylish and contemporary function bar is the perfect venue for private parties and is multi-functional for all types of celebrations. With an outside terrace/balcony the function room can be used for BBQ’s in the summer and all year round for wedding and civil partnership celebrations. We can cater for any type of party and can provide a range of buffet and food packages to suit your needs.
Capacity & Layout
Standing
up to 50
Facilities & Amenities
Tea
Public transport
Location
Reviews
- Rich DeerdogNovember 2025
I have a weird nostalgic pull for this place, given that I only previously visited it once before and that was in March 2006… I don’t understand nostalgia sometimes, I mean I didn’t even particularly like the people I visited it with… But still, it’s become a memory and so, at a loose end on a Saturday in Manchester, I thought I’d revisit. It’s a nice bar. I mean, it’s a JW Lees house, so you can’t really go wrong - a pint of the Manchester Craft Lager is always welcome. Probably comes into its own in summer, with large outdoor area to rear. Arrived when it opened so got a good table. It’s smaller inside than I remembered, although that memory is hazy. Small additional seating area down some stairs closed off with velvet rope today, so must be booked. Other customers gazed at it with longing. Decent choice of food. Pondered a burger but opted in the end for three small plates - koftas, loaded chips and halloumi fries. Decent scran, would order again. Surprisingly no chicken tenders or similar on small plate selection. Overall definitely a good place to come grab a drink when in town. Very convenient for Oxford Road station. Two paws up.
- Karl CleifeSeptember 2025
Great pub with a really good selection of beers. The food was good and sensibly priced. Busy but not rowdy with a broad age range of clientele. I noticed an upstairs area available for private bookings. The area near the canal was very busy but the inside seating was still available and very good.
- Josh GrundyOctober 2025
Don’t really know what to say other than pure laziness and disrespect. Doesn’t take much to pour a pint of Guinness correctly. Server either needs to be taught properly or have some more respect towards customers.
