Joshua Brooks — Restaurant in Manchester

I have long supported the brand North and was thrilled to see another 'reunion', particularly over the Christmas period as it meant the following was guaranteed: meeting up with my fellow HH friends; listening to some decent tunes; not having to travel for hours on end to get to a venue. I have never been to Joshua Brooks before and am unsure as to whether I would return. Although the night itself was a fabulous one, that was down to the djs, atmosphere and knowing probably 75% of the people there. The 'club' itself wasn't all that great if I'm honest. There was a category of issues...Both the basement and the main room floors were wet through all night long and therefore very slippy. The constant dripping from the pipes in the basement down on us all was very unnerving (perhaps we didn't mind things like this as much when we were new on the scene at 18). There was no air con in the building so we were unsure what the overhead pipes were for? The steps in the basement aren't painted with the usual white/yellow safety markings and it's so dark down there that it's a massive trip hazard not being able to see the steps when trying to enter/leave the room. The sound system in the upper level was shocking in comparison to the one in the basement (which was actually really good!) so it would have made more sense to have the 'main' room in the basement where the better set up was. Bar prices were decent enough but we didn't expect them to be high considering the place seemed to be more of a student pub type of establishment. The ladies toilets were by far the worst part. The toilet cubicles themselves have obviously been assembled on an extremely low budget - the 2nd cubicle couldn't even open as there was a screw at the top which had jammed it. There wasn't a single cubicle with a working lock mechanism and the doors didn't even close. The cubicles all seemed to lean against each other which meant when someone was leaving the next cubicle, you couldn't get out of the one you occupied without having to push the plywood walls outwards to release the door. Toilet roll ran out around 11pm and took at least an hour to be refilled, there is no excuse for that sort of thing. Having to use any facilities with no toilet paper is a massive no no!!! Also, by 11.30pm, the 3rd cubicle had something horrid sprayed all over the toilet seat so that was out of action for the rest of the evening (along with the 2nd cubicle that had the dodgy screw!). A toilet attendant is a definite necessity for a busy event like this one to at least keep the sinks unblocked and replenish toilet roll etc. Still support the North Hard House brand but certainly not the 'club'. I just hope that the owners of JB take my comments seriously and look into the issues...

After sitting at table for a few hours and buying plenty of drinks, a group of girls walked in to the pub who were having a birthday meal and had a table reserved. The man with the hat who was working here on Saturday had obviously forgotten that they were coming as he had not mentioned anything to us about us needing to find another table at 5, the time they arrived at. Nor, was there a reserved sign on any table. Instead he walked over and said, without saying hello, excuse me or anything, and said "I'm going to have to kick you off the the table ". We informed him that his language was very rude and that we had spent a lot of money. We also said he should have mentioned to us that he would need the table back when we first sat at it a few hours ago, to which he replied "don't kick off". We had remained very calm and reasonable all along. A group at the other table said that they were leaving and the birthday people sat there. We also moved. We could only find a table outside, covered in ashes and a fowl smell coming from the river beside us. None if the tables were clean. Even the one we were forced to leave wasn't cleared after we left it. Just left empty of people with things on it. They also took a half full drink and put another glass into it. We asked for it back as they should mot have taken it. They didn't say, sorry, I put a dirty glass in it by accident, let me get you a fresh one. Just gave it back. New girl learning to pull pints at bar, took ages, no explanation. They just kept taking her wrongly pulled pints and throwing them out. An extremely rude and lazy staff. I have never experienced rudeness like it. I find the English to a be a disgracefully rude and unfriendly group of people. They have no manners or people skills. They are highly unfriendly. Coming from Ireland, this would have been dealt with completely differently. They would tell you when sitting down that table was needed back at 5, if you didn't mind. They would say, how are you, I just want to let you know that we have a booking on this table for 5. I hope this is okay with you. I'm sorry about this. The new person would also excuse themselves and explain that were new. If an issue arose they would say that they were very sorryand could they sort it out. They would have given a fresh drink but not have taken half a drink as they ask is it okay to take it first. They certainly wouldn't use words like kick. They have respect for customers. Disgusting...

If I’m ever caught in there again it’ll be with a gun to my head!

The terrible atmosphere starts right at the door with the apathetic thuggish bouncers, piss poor searches as they bark orders at customers with promoters standing around offering no information.

The venue stinks. Either open toilet or dirty bar but something stinks.

We paid to see Floorplan, advertised to start at 2200-0400, there was no set list and no one else advertised to play but Floorplan didn’t arrive till 2am and despite last entry being 2 there was no re-entry before this so we were basically stuck in there with the lame residential DJs looping the same tired donkey beats while half of the other customers were completely drugged up. Horrible.

Juvenile bar staff ignoring customers to flirt and playing rock paper scissors in-front of us while the queue built up. Half the drinks weren't available for club nights and the menus were all wrong, like get a grip.

No drug control or safety monitoring half the crowd were drooling off their face bobbing around the empty dance floor harassing anyone that made eye contact. Dusty baggies on the floor and £1.50 for a packet of walkers that are advertised as Kettle Chips!! The cheek of it.

The sound system, while loud, had some piercing rattling going on and hardly any bass. There’s an upstairs and downstairs that basically have the same feed so no respite anywhere.

Smoking section is a tiny strip of gutter off to the side where you’re surround by police and obnoxious 1st year students.

I had to check and last time I was there was actually 2018 where I had a similar experience so it explains the long gap but it’s truly an indictment of the management that in over 6 years they’ve done nothing to improve, presumably making the bulk of their revenue scamming first year students and one-time visitors to Manchester.

If this review saves someone else having to go through that then that’s all I can do. Even if your favourite act is playing there I wouldn’t waste my time with it the atmosphere will kill any excitement or energy you had to see them. I’d go as far as using their social media to urge them not to perform there it’s that serious!

Hopefully they can’t last...