Corbieres Bar

You'll walk past this place twice before you spot the entrance tucked away on Half Moon Street, which is exactly how the regulars like it. Inside, it's all low lighting and worn wooden furniture that's seen decades of proper conversations over pints. The kind of place where you can actually hear yourself think on a Tuesday, but come Friday night the atmosphere thickens with cigarette smoke memories and the hum of people who've been coming here since before the Northern Quarter was trendy. The jukebox is the real star here – forget your Spotify algorithms, this is where you'll rediscover albums you'd forgotten you loved. Staff know their drinks and don't rush you through them. It's refreshingly unpretentious in a city centre that's increasingly obsessed with cocktails that cost more than your lunch.