After reading another review of Fab cafe, I thought the oppinion of one of the "weirdos" should have their say.
The cafe is located on Portland Street in Central Manchester and 5 minutes away from the bus station in Picadilly Gardens. The big sign outside gives it's location away, as do ... Read review
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Advantages: Cheap, good food, great company Disadvantages: Can get a bad mix of people
After reading another review of Fab cafe, I thought the oppinion of one of the "weirdos" should have their say.
The cafe is located on Portland Street in Central Manchester and 5 minutes away from the bus station in Picadilly Gardens. The big sign outside gives it's location away, as do the big silver retro doors and the kitsch 60's themes blasting out.
Depending on when you go depends on the kind of night. ... ...pudding and jam, or a fab ice lolly. To get this would cost you less than £3 for both! Perfect for us students!
If you go any other night, entrance is free. Midweek plays a mix of indie and well known theme tunes. Also watch out for Dawn on a Monday night who played Tracey Barlow in Coronation Street. Saturdays are a great pre-night warm up. Turn up early as the queues can get quite long and it gets quite a crush once you're inside. ... more
After reading another review of Fab cafe, I thought the oppinion of one of the "weirdos" should have their say.
The cafe is located on Portland Street in Central Manchester and 5 minutes away from the bus station in Picadilly Gardens. The big sign outside gives it's location away, as do the big silver retro doors and the kitsch 60's themes blasting out.
Depending on when you go depends on the kind of night. My personal favourite would always be on a Sunday when they play a cult movie on all the tv screens and it is open usually until about 12. It's great to go in about 7, then sample their bizarre cuisine. If you were born in the 60's, you'd be at home with the Vesta meals, but Yorkshire pud, mash, sausages and gravy goes down great with a pint! You can top that off with rice pudding and jam, or a fab ice lolly. To get this would cost you less than £3 for both! Perfect for us students!
If you go any other night, entrance is free. Midweek plays a mix of indie and well known theme tunes. Also watch out for Dawn on a Monday night who played Tracey Barlow in Coronation Street. Saturdays are a great pre-night warm up. Turn up early as the queues can get quite long and it gets quite a crush once you're inside. On the bright side, the bar is open until 2 Thursday - Saturday.
Once you get in, you're eyes take a while to adjust to the gloom, and you'll trip over a few of the badly arranged stools. You notice a strange swamp beast next to you and one of the Tunderbirds flying low over the bar. The place is decorated with cult films and programme posters, most of which are signed. Anything and everything seemingly sci-fi has its own place in the decor (including Kosh from Babylon 5).
This place is a must for sci-fi geeks as the place is so unassuming and people inside are not judgemental. Unless you go on a Saturday. Then the mix of Goth, indie and the Rockport clan can sometimes feel a little uneasy. If you just want somewhere to crash, wearing whatever you're comfy in, just try the place. Don't assume it's going to be the Ritz, because it certainly isn't. You'll soon forget that you're in a themed bar and relax into the chilled atmosphere.
Oh and another great thing about the place is the happy hour monday to friday from 5 til 7, where all pints are £1. Just the time to go in for dinner... Otherwise, the beer is reasonably expensive for a student type place at £2.50 a pint. The staff are very friendly and usually up for a laugh, but there never seem to be enough of them there to serve you!
In conclusion, if you were a child of the 80's you will love the blast from the past the place gives you. Enjoy such movies as "Edward Scissorhands" and "Godzilla", with cartoons such as "The Magic Roundabout", "Button Moon" and "Raggy Doll's". Sit back, enjoy the kitsch and have a good night out.
And the ladies' toilets aren't that bad, I have seen much worse...
Advantages: Nostalgia, mixed crowd, relaxed atmosphere, lots to see, CHEAP! Disadvantages: A bit dark to begin with....!
Now, I'm not one for the club scene, nor am I one for drinking, but the Fabcafe definately caught my full attention when my friends and I wanted a bit of grub near teatime.
My initial reaction on entering was "argh, I can't see anything" but then it soon turned into "argh, there's a weird monster thing stood next to me". Ha, it's alright, twas just a life size model of a scary monster thing. I got told what it was called, but the name has evaded me, but it's from Dr Who. Now, on the subject of Dr Who, any fan has got to have heard of the fabcafe already, or if not really should stand in the corner and think about what they have done - there's a DALEK! A nice big one in the corner on the left hand side as you enter! It's really cool! :D
Anyway, this place is covered from top to toe in all sorts of memorabilia from when I was ...
lannazus 26.08.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Fab Café
Advantages: cheap, good films showm free Disadvantages: very dark
The FabCafe is a basement level bar on Portland street. It is decorated with memorabelia from old TV shows. The place seems very dingy and dark the fisrt time you go in, but on closer inspection, the walls are crammed full of great pictures and posters. One of the only venues where you can enjoy yourself looking at the walls!
However, there is more than wallgazing to be done here, namely drinking. Drinks are very cheap, so it makes it a good preclub bar to visit with the intention of 'stocking up' before paying club prices for drinks..
The clientle here are mainly the rockworld faithful, so thick black eyeliner is a must.
Fabcafe often has film screenings during the week, where all the latest
realeases are shown for free, worth checking the METRO to see whats on. ...
cath123 20.09.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Fab Café
The Novotel Is in a great area litteraly one block from times square. the lobby is nice as is the bar area. rooms are spacious, clean, tidy and bathroom is also nice. The room has all the necessary amineties. The only fault with the hotel is that when someone across the hall from us ordered room service the tray stayed there for 2 days. We stayed here for 5 nights and thought the location was amazing, staff could have smiled though! The breakfast seemed like a waste of money as when you walk out the hotel and turn right there is a fabcafe that does amazing cheap breakfasts! All the sightsare easy to get to with great subway service. To eat dinner I recommend Ruth Chris for an amazing (yet expensive) steak meal. The hard rock in Times square is also fab. Dont forget all your money for the amazing shops, 5th Ave, Macys, Bloomingdales ...
