Baa Bar

This modern/​fashionable bar located on Deansgate Locks is a armoury of Baa Bars around the North West and primarily in Manchester. This extremely popular bar/​nightclub combination is usually where a night can start or where a night can be fully spent in the buzzing atmosphere of mostly students and early-​20 year olds.
The interior is modern playing funky dance music all throughout the night including the current chart classics along with many other dance anthems.
The drinks themselves are very reasonably priced, and along with all other Baa bars, their speciality is of the shooter variety a shot glass filled with over 30 different combinations of spirit from the delicious to the downright strong.
When this bar gets busy, it can be a struggle to move anywhere and especially if even one of the other nightclubs or bars along Deansgate Locks is holding a large event, there is normally a large influx of people to this venue.
In my personal experience, I prefer this Baabar to the others in Manchester, primarily as it is usually busy with people (mostly students like myself) and also provides the perfect place to start a night with a bang.

So, my independent reviewing days takes me to Deansgate Locks. There’s a first time for everything. There’s three Baa Bars in Manchester, so somewhat of a success story, but mostly with the students.
Baa Bar on the locks stands out with the neon, futuristic lighting. Über cool and über Tokyo. «Love me Drink me» written on the bar shines out onto the street. A promoter tells me free shot with every drink. In the name of Unilocal,I embrace the shot bar of Baa bar.
Shots, shots and more shots. That’s definitely the vibe I get in here as I look around and rows and rows are being purchased, consumed and um same again. Everyone is insanely merry here and being not so big it’s quite a wild place to be. Not my scene but cheap and lively that’s for sure.

Baa Baa is awful. Music so loud you can’t hear yourself think, a horrible flashing wall of neon lights, a room full of disgracefully pissed people, and drinks that taste like a badgers bum. The whole place is like a bad trip or a nightmare. Urgh.
It is very cheap and there are constanly bar men encouraging you to have a disgusting flavoured shot that looks like lumpy gone off milk and invariably make you feel sick.
This place is just too much for me, i would advise you to stay away unless you enjoy feeling sick, and having a headache.

Baa Bar down on the Locks… hmm well, my head wants to give this 1 star because it’s quite a sorry place to be, the music’s pretty naff, the shot list is bog standard, well not bog standard, there are lots, but this one time at Baa Bar (soz couldn’t resist the whole American Pie ‘band camp’ bit) we ordered shooters that curdled eeek, the crowd is meh, it’s rowdy, full of people who’ve invested too much cash in the big olé shot board, the unisex toilets are grim, the bouncers are as dim as they are wide, but still, there’s a guilty pleasure to be had here. There really shouldn’t be, it’s awful, and overcrowded, but somehow, if there’s enough of you to enjoy yourself you can make a decent night out of the Baa Bar before you move on.

The Baa Bar in Deansgate Locks is by no means a poor bar, but by the standards set by the other members of the Baa Bar family, it is a somewhat poor imitation.
The bar is at the end of the line of Deansgate Locks establishments — a line up which includes Lakota, Vodka Revolutions and the Comedy Store. Unfortunately, it is smaller than the other venues in the complex, to the point that the bar’s ceiling height has been catastrophically lowered by the implementation of a false level. This new floor, which is made entirely out of a metal frame akin to scaffolding, clashes with the open bricked, arched ceilings of the venue, therefore sending out the mixed messages to customers of the bar.
The atmosphere is therefore strained, as the fun quality, which exudes from the other Baa Bars, is diminished by the huge metal structure in the room, which limits space and, to coin a phrase, cramps your style. The drinks are identical to those found in any of the other Baa Bar venues, although the witty menu doesn’t quite match the austerity of the venue.
I think that in this case, Baa Bar may have bitten off more than it can chew, in that the venue makes it seem like the company is trying to masquerade as something that it isn’t. still, if you are only stopping for a quick drink, there are worse places.

Baa Bar at the Locks. Tsk-​Tsk, not a great place to be at all!
I have always loved the Baa Bar in the Fallowfield area, but one at the Locks makes me think what trauma this one went through to put on such a sad atmosphere? With clubs like Lakota and Revolutions side by side, one would retreat to Baa bar only if they’re running out of money or plainly because they might have not been to this one!
It’s always playing the wrong kind of music. I don’t prefer it at all. The club is full with drunk old people (talk about having good crowd at the Locks!) and the drink prices I think are a bit hiked up than the other Baa’s.
Not my choice to be at the Locks!

Back to the Locks, and to one of their oldest residents. If you’ve read my original Baa Bar review (the one on the edge of the Village), you’ll know I have a big soft spot for the sweet shop of a boozer with its myriad shooters and incredible music. Only this branch doesn’t really have the same aura of jouissance about it. Its soul seems to have been sucked out by the demon of the Locks. (You can tell I’m really not a fan of this area, can you. Heck, at least it’s not the Printworks. *Shudders.*)
There’s been something of a refurb recently and the removal of the confusing side mirrors and conflicting disco ball (much as I love them) significantly reduces the risk of vomiting when combined with the seemingly endless array of shots. The fact that Baa Bar remains so busy implies that those visiting the Locks are indeed capable of a sense of humour, as it is a franchise that has never taken itself too seriously.
Speaking of busy, at weekends it reaches almost unbearable peaks. There are a lot of offices around the Deansgate area and it’s no surprise that many suits congregate towards the Locks on a Friday night. You want to at least be able to move. The efficient consumption of shots relies upon this. Another factor that marks this down against the Village branch is that the bar staff seem far less experienced and speedy than the others. And while its neighbours in the Locks have made ample use of the high ceilings in the buildings by adding additional floors, Baa Bar hasn’t followed suit and a roof that seems to be far, far away in the sky doesn’t make up for uncomfortable claustrophobia down below.
Long waits, haphazard service, crowding… suits?!? This isn’t the Baa Bar I know. Taxi to the Village, please.

Bar Baa. Bleugh.
This is not aimed at the Bar as such, the staff have always been nice, the drinks offers make it very cheap and the décor is a little bit brash but meh, you kinda accept it.
But BLEUGH to the shots menu. Just bleugh. Don’t do it. On a night out, it seems like a good idea, the shots don’t seem too foul and taste much better than tequila or sambuca to some people… but it is so not worth it when you consider how you feel in the morning!

Now I am not a fan of ‘The Locks’ and I am not particularly fond of the chain of Baa Bars emerging so when I stumbled apon a Baa Bar located on ‘The Locks’ well… I should of probably guessed it was going to be c**p.
Hate to say it again but bars like Baa Bar do not and will never will attract my kinda people. When I say my kinda people I refer to friendly, articulate well mannered individuals who want a bar to offer more than flavoured shots, disco lights and r&b/ cheese to dance too.
Dont get me wrong here I am willimg to forgive anyone who sets foot in these places if they are a) new to the city b) got out of the taxi fell into the bar and twisted their ankle… unable to leave c) are blindingly drunk and do not know where they are, who they are and why they are in baa bar but just carry on dancing as in order to not look a fool (unconvincingly).

Back home in Liverpool I used to rejoice in how southern students would misinterpret the name and wind up calling it «Baa Baa’s» like it actually belonged to the elephant in the cartoon.
Other than that there really isn’t too many positive things to say about Baa Bar.
It makes a thousand and one different flavoured shots, each one just that little bit more disgusting than the last.
It’s really bright and loud and full of youngsters– like a nursery really.

Baa Bar is one of the many trendy* bars along Deansgate Locks, and is one of the busiest on a Friday or Saturday night.
The decoration of the place is interesting — think Saturday Night Fever meets a padded cell.
There’s a wide selection of trademark shooters available at a pound a go (though you can splash out an extra 50p to go large). Most taste horrific, though perhaps that’s the point of them. There are a few tasty ones in there though!
They also offer a few cocktails, which have been rebranded as shootails. Not quite sure what the difference is except they don’t taste particularly alcoholic — nice and cheap though as you can buy two for £3.
Generally a decent enough bar for a couple of drinks if you don’t mind people taking themselves too seriously. Expect plentiful pouting.
*Warning: Punters may not be trendy. No guarantee can be made as to the trendiness of the WAGs that drink here. May contain nuts.

One of several bars located on the locks. Nice décor and comfy seats. Good place to start the night. Shooters and bottles are often on offer. Plays funky house at the weekends. Open late everyday of the week and attracts a student following. Don’t be to suprised if your queing up with somebody of the opposite sex when you go to the toilets, this place has a unisex toilets. Can get a little bit cramped when its busy at the weekend and can sometimes take a while to get served. Take advantage of the can of beer vending machine and girls walking the floor selling shots when they are there!

Baa Bar is a trendy modern bar located on the Deansgate Locks, this is one of a chain that is spread throughout the North West, this is the only one that I have been to. The bar itself if very comfortable and extremely popular on the weekend, it is always extremely busy and popular. It is ideal if you are on a pub crawl because right along the locks there are similar bars each offering there own style. The bar also has an upstairs where there is more room, again this tends to get really busy and finding a set can be really difficult. Baa Bar offers a good variety of drinks but they can be quite costly, they tend to have several bottles on offer so that’s always useful to give your night a kick start. Due to the popularity it can sometimes be difficult to get to the bar so it always better to do rounds if you are there with a group of friends. The interior is very trendy and stylish, I’m not sure how long its been there but it looks fairly new and modern inside. When I was there they had an in house DJ and he was playing funky house music which makes the bar all the more appealing.