Mojo

Living in Manchester, Mojo’s Manchester bar is always a great night out, but a tiny bit poky. Liverpool corrects all that, with a huge venue, and even a pool table! There are even bands playing on occasion (caught a free Queen tribute act once — cheesy fun). Mojo’s cocktails are simple but tasty enough and mean you don’t need to wait too long for drinks.
Unfortunately with the larger size, the intimacy and counter culture feel of the Manchester bar isn’t quite there for Lpool’s bar. But on the plus side, Liverpool offers 2 for 1 before 9 — a great starter bar. Forcing people to download the Mojo app to get the 2 for 1 leaves me a bit disappointed though — imagine if every bar insisted the same!

Mojo is tucked away on a side street in the city centre. The outside gives no clue to what lies inside so we decided to go and take a peek.
The bar in Mojo runs across the width of the whole club. It does not stock your normal beers like Bud and Corona but offers alternatives which are just as good, if not better, and are also cheaper. They have a huge selection of tempting cocktails available and also wine, spirits and alcopops.
The staff in Mojo are friendly and give your night out a personal touch by actually remembering what you’re drinking when you come back to the bar and asking if you want the «same again?».
There is a large stage at one end of Mojo, on which I have seen a few bands play. The sound system is excellent and does the bands justice. The backdrop to the stage is an awesome Warhol-​esque multicolour Elvis wallpaper. If I had the money I would wallpaper my entire house in that.
This is an excellent little club and I continue to go back there for its welcoming atmosphere and personal touches.

Who knew this place existed? And why did No-​one tell me?!
It’s amazing here. Slightly confused as to where we were headed, skipping past La’gos and onto a small side street there was the glowing red sign for Mojo.
To be fair, I’d had a few at this point, but the atmosphere was vibrant and buzzing with energy and people were packed in, dancing to some great rock n roll tracks (there isn’t that annoying issue of not being able to remember the name of the guy that wrote that song, because there are kareoke-​esque screens letting you know, and giving you those few precious seconds to get excited about the next song).
They have the meaning of Mojo tattooed on the wall, and if when Austin Powers got his Mojo back, he had turned it into a club, this, my friend, would be it. It cast its spell over me anyway!

With its inspiring slogan of ‘music for the people’ Mojo has become a hugely popular set of bars in the North of England with one in Leeds, Manchester and now Liverpool. Not yet a real chain, you know you are in Mojo through its heavy influence of all music with good credentials and serving drinks faster than you can down than them.
Despite being a big venue they have managed to generate close connection between the staff and drinkers as they control the playlist and look as if they are having just as good a time as you. The musical agenda is to basically avoid anything that comes close to Chart R ‘n’ B or dance preferring instead rock n roll, northern soul and funk. It can therefore be one of two Mojos that you find depending on the night of the week as a laid back, trendy atmosphere during the wek can be changed on a Friday night with a raucous, dance floor filled bedlam as people stomp on chairs and tables to the solid mix of classic tunes.

Hidden away from the main drag of bars along Seel Street Mojo is a decent bar with a nice shabby LA dive bar décor thing going on. Offering a-​cut-​above range of beers, wines and cocktails this place seems to pitch itself between a branch of Yate’s and a boutique bar like Santa Chupitos. It fits the drinking landscape perfectly in this area and means that you can roll between Heebie Jeebies, L’Ago and here without it feeling like too much of massive wrench. Although this sounds a bit unadventurous sometimes this is exactly what a night out calls for — an enjoyable slide towards dancing like a moron rather than a manic shift in this direction.
The bar staff were very helpful and, as I was visiting in the early afternoon, informed of their great «9 to 5» offer which lets you choose from a variety of multi-​purchase drink options (including 5 Heineken bottles for £10 and a bottle of Cordoniu Rose Cava for the same price) and comes with a free bowl of delicious chilli and nachos.

It took a few visits for me to stop hating Mojo. It just seemed like the kind of cretin-​populated warehouse of smug bar staff and expensive tipple that the city centre is already straining under the weight of. Admittedly, there’s still a fair bit of truth in that description (some of the punters are, of course, pricks and the drinks won’t get you much change of a note), but there’s an underlying warmth to the place that isn’t immediately apparent on maiden voyages.
Surrounded by seats and flanked by the bar, the dance floor that pretty much comprises Mojo’s entirety is that size for a reason– the music. All the greatest tunes from a span of decades are belted out here, accompanied by screens helpfully declaring the song’s title to an enraptured crowd.
As for the staff, yeah sure they dance around as they fix you up with liquor (something that should be banned everywhere on the planet) but they are surprisingly eager to make you as joyous as they are.
Despite my lack of cleavage, one barman spent a few minutes giving me a rundown of the beers and recommending the finest ales on offer. As a man, having a man barman who is a man actually going out of his way to help you and not just skipping on to the nearest girl, is so rare as to be miraculous. God bless you, sir.

This is probably the coolest bar in Liverpool right now. Actually, never mind probably it is definitely. Mojo prides itself on the music and has a really cool crowd and the bar staff are encouraged to drink on duty which gets everything going! Hidden away a little bit (off the top end of Seel Street) it is an insiders venue and at the moment is a scally free zone (hurrah!). Liverpool could do with a few more venues like this.