The Alchemist

The Alchemist started in Manchester before expanding across the UK, and the Spinningfields original still draws crowds who want their drinks served with a bit of theatre. The cocktails are the main event – smoking potions, colour-changing liquids, dry ice, the works. It’s Instagram-ready and they know it. Whether the drinks actually taste as good as they look is debatable, but the spectacle is undeniable and the bartenders commit to the performance.

The Spinningfields location sits in Manchester’s business district, which means weekday evenings are busy with the corporate after-work crowd. Weekends shift to brunch territory – the bottomless brunch is popular and the queue for tables on a Saturday tells its own story. The food is decent modern British stuff – burgers, sharing plates, brunch classics. Nothing revolutionary but well-executed.

Inside is dark, moody, and designed to look expensive. Think cocktail bar meets laboratory. The space is large enough to handle big groups which makes it a birthday and celebration magnet. Prices are on the higher side but that’s Spinningfields for you. Yes, it’s a chain. Yes, the concept is a bit gimmicky. But The Alchemist delivers a consistent experience and the cocktail showmanship genuinely entertains. If you’ve got visitors in town and want to take them somewhere that’ll make them pull their phone out, this works.