Twenty Twenty Two

Ping pong, beer pong, below-​street location making you feel like an unloved troll… Twenty Twenty Two has it all.
Walking toward the bar my mates (who had been there previously) told me the glass I was walking on was connected to the ping pong area downstairs. I laughed them off, not realising the pub actually burrows quite extensively in the basement into a huge ping pong area with 4 tables. Unfortunately you’ve got to pay to play and it’s not cheap — 5 quid per half hour. They also have a beer pong setup in the main room (away from the ping pong), but I didn’t see how much it’d cost to play.
The décor is pretty chill with lounge chairs, cool music, and just an all-​around good vibe. The people there (both customers and staff) are pretty friendly, and the beers are moderately priced.
Stopped by here on a Saturday night and was surprised at how empty it was here. To be fair, there were quite a number of groups around so the open space probably had more to do with how much open room comes with the layout, but it was nice not having to be packed in somewhere like a sardine.

Yesterday was the third time I’ve been to Twenty Twenty Two, so I thought it about time I review it.
It’s a very large downstairs space offering a bar and, yes you guessed it, lots of ping pong tables available for hire.
The bar has lots of local craft ales and beers and also does cocktails (happy hour is 4 – 7 on a weekday and cocktails are only £5!)
Ping pong is relatively cheap to play and it’s great fun. It gets really vibrant as the night goes on in here and becomes a really good bar /​club, somewhere you can spend a lot of time!

Really liked Twenty Twenty Two, it wasn’t the easiest place to find as it is tucked down a side alley in the Northern Quarter but it was worth the effort to find it. The place had a quirky feel right from the start. We headed down the stairs and admired the graffiti covered walls. Inside the place was dark and felt a bit like being in a underground New York drinking den. We ordered the pingstar martini to start which was really good. I loved the cherry fizz shot on the side. Next we headed to the ping pong tables. There were quite a few of them so we didn’t have to wait and we really enjoyed playing our game. Twenty Twenty Two is also a good place to head if you fancy a drink in cool surroundings.

Well, if you want a random (in a good way) this bar is great.
I went on a Saturday night a few weeks ago and to be honest I’m not a fan of the Northern Quarter at the weekend because the bars tend to be small and VERY busy.
The beginning of this adventure was trying to find Twenty Twenty Two… with my friend Rod as guide, he led a group of us to a back street and to some steps leading down… I thought I was going to be an extra in a dodgy film but when we entered the bar I was pleasantly surprised. A decent size bar in the NQ, busy but with a good vibe and Ping Pong tables!!! YES Ping Pong tables… the funniest part of this was seeing girls (and boys alike) dressed up for a Saturday night partying, playing Ping Pong to House of Pain — Jump Around. With a good variety of beers, spirits and cocktail specials it caters for every taste.
The only type of bar I could benchmark this against is Apres Ski Bars in the late 90s with a Ping Pong Hall! Like I said, random but FUN!
#Manchester #Bar #Drinks #PingPong #NorthernQuarter #Niche

A place of two halves — just like a ping pong table. When you enter into the place, it is extremely dark and there is one ping pong table and you think that is it. You struggle to chat to your mates because the music is soo loud and you join in with everyone else trying to find the ping pong ball. I went during Sober October and the mocktails were reasonably priced and the bar staff were happy to make them and they tasted delicious and sweet.
If you go through to the next section it’s a different world. You get lured into a false sense of security with the large chairs. Carry on and the sweaty smell of students and the old primary school gym changing room hits you. I had fun playing ping pong and sitting on the old school bench and the crowd was friendly and relaxed. A quirky place.

This has in the past been a favourite of mine, even though I have no hand eye coordination to speak of for the ping pong.
They have had decent craft beers and quite relaxed. Tonight was wholely different.
Only one hand pump on, dimly lit for 8pm and the music from the DJ blaring to a degree you cannot think key alone continue any sort of conversation. This would be fine in a night club or post midnight but not early evening when you’re catching up with friends. I’m looking around the table and people have resorted to playing sudoku on their phone to posed the time. The crowd is itinerant as well coming in for a beer and leaving. What should be a busy bar is perhaps half full I can only assume because they’ve gone somewhere else.

What an indelibly weird and wonderful place this is. From the name to the location to the bizarre arrangement and ambiance, perhaps this place should be called Manchester’s honorary Odd bar.
First of all if you’ve chosen it as a meeting point and have never been, ASK for directions. You probably won’t find it on your own. And don’t even think about asking google maps or your sat nav, both of which will have you playing walking circles in no time. Hidden away on Dale street upon approach this will feel like a night club you’d find in some remote Eastern European location like Talinn.
It was a rainy Saturday night I last ventured towards it. You know the score, the Quarter was buzzing with the usual weekend wobblers making gibberishy noise and randomly whaling out of tune 90’s pop songs.
But as dungeony as the place felt upon entering, it really turned out to be a bit of an oasis. Despite the DJ doing his best impression of looking excited the place was fairly empty, only the bright neon lights zigzagged across the dance floor in the absence of a crowd. Pockets of people had spread out evenly as far away from each other as is customary when you funnel people into a large vacated space. Does anyone remember that scene from Blade from the nightclub? (
) Well for a while it kept reminding me of it, with its white tiled walls giving it a butchery, roman bath-​y feel to it.
All was soon forgotten as we relaxed in our comfortable and sizeable chairs enjoying the company, conversation and other people playing drunk ping pong. It was also comforting looking out of the windows near the roof of the wall, through which only legs were visible of people running for cover as it lashed it down outside. Occasionally you’d catch a glimpse of someone looking down at us all cosy, warm and dry with our drinks, probably wondering, where the hell are these people and how do I get down there?
Whether you like ping pong or not this is a great little place for people in the know to hang out. (for now) It’s probably not long before the Saturday zombies work out how to get in here, so enjoy the peace while it lasts.

I went to Twenty Twenty Two for the Unilocal Ping Pong Championship (ok, so really it was just a bunch of amateurs whacking a ball around) and was very impressed by the set up. The bar is stocked with a great range of beers and there is plenty of comfortable seating. Then out the back you can hire table tennis tables and have a hit around. There are four tables available and the rooms has been designed to look like high school locker rooms. While this is cool, anyone with long arms or who likes to stand back from the table to get the right angle will have a problem — there isn’t a lot of room. But that’s my only complaint and really the idea is fantastic. Definitely coming back for more ball whacking.

I have to say that I’m a massive fan of twenty twenty two and everything they do! Ok so it’s down a back alley and friends who join me for the first time feel like they’re taking their life into their own hands by poking around the backstreets and entering an unsignposted building basement (it’s super safe, let’s face it the NQ is super gentrified now) but what an amazing space!
In a nutshell they’re a giant basement with multi rooms with a big bar and lots of room to sit and hang out in. The bar is well stocked with at least 5 decent craft beers on tap and loads of bottles, plus they have a ping pong section out back for any aspiring Forrest Gumps to get involved and let battle commence!
I hired the ping pong in advance and it cost me £10 for one table for an hour — not too bad with 6 of us and they gave us 4 bats so as we could play doubles.
Showing off the randomness of this place is the fact that the Thursday had a graffiti art battle going on downstairs which was pretty amazing — loads of street artists doing all sorts of crazy paintings and just generally doing awesome stuff. This was a real bonus to our visit and helped to make it a truly unique visit.
Very friendly staff, top place to hangout for any occasion!

When I started my current job, the post-​work bar of choice was Kosmonaut, which I have never really enjoyed. Recently the tides have turned in the favour of 2022NQ which I am wholly overjoyed about. I love this bar. Even though I have no real desire to play ping pong, which seems to be its main draw, I still love it. For the following reasons:
— They have a damn good Happy Hour. It doesn’t last quite as long as I might want it to (though do they ever) but I can get a decent pint of Pilsner for £2.50 and therefore I am pleased. Also they have Happy Hour on a weekend too.
— There’s loads of room inside despite all the ping pong tables, meaning you can bring all your friends and then some.
— The bar staff are all friendly and chatty and will even talk to you about the beer if you so wish. (So fed up of bars that place an emphasis on their beer and yet employ staff who will do little more than grunt at you if you ask about it.)
— There’s always something fun and arty going on there.
— I’m led to believe that the club nights/​DJ sets are great, though I’m always too drunk by the end of Happy Hour and have to go home to bed.
Three cheers for 2022NQ!

Any place that has the strap line «beer bats and beats» is a winner in my book! Double winner when i find they have a «secret life of superheroes» exhibition on and it features my fav of all superheroes Wonder Woman showing her in more «day to day» situations! The exhibitions change on a regular basis and you can get the artwork online if you can’t pick it up on the day. They are closed on a Sunday and Monday but you can get your ping pong on Tues — Saturday until late.
Warning! you may think beer enhances your skills and that you are a ping pong ninja but if your mates record anything you will be proved wrong so don’t try to be something you ain’t– know your limitations people’s :)

I loved this place! Really cool space and loads of room to sit and for groups. There’s a second large room with ping pong tables too. It would benefit from the addition of a short cocktail menu, or should I say I would benefit from the addition of a cocktail menu, as recently I have become so spoiled by Manchester’s awesome drinks options that I can no longer think up a beverage for myself. DJ was great and it would be a good place to have a party. My only concern is that the bar is very small for somewhere so large — but this was no problem when we were there because it was quiet (which frankly is one of the things I liked most about it because it meant it was chill and easy to talk as well as feeling all secret and cool). I shall be back!

One of the fresher faces in the Northern Quarter arts and music scene, 2022NQ only opened last year but is fast becoming a NQ powerhouse. Devised by a group of creatives, 2022 is a flexible and professionally run arts venue capable of hosting everything from tecchie conferences to sweaty club nights.
The space has several rooms that can be hired out, with plenty of technical facilities on offer to make your event run smoothly. The bar is well stocked, with a range of speciality beers & spirits broad enough to quench even the most picky of thirsts. The winelist is a little shorter, but still made up of quality plonk. I believe food is on offer at request, but I am yet to try any.
One key function of the space is as a gallery, exhibiting local, national and international talent. The exhibitions roll fairly quickly, often on a month-​to-​month basis, which means there is always something new to look at. It is well worth popping in to see what’s going on, and staying for a lovely cuppa or a bottle of Vedett.
Note: This place can be tricky to find! Tucked away in the basement of a building in a back alley. Look out for the red A-​frames which will guide you to the entrance.

Good for: The epitome of Northern Quarter cool, exhibitions, film screenings with a difference, the amazing Jamie Scahill
Bad for: The elderly, the very young and anyone else that feels the cold.