The Atlas bar (376 Deansgate) is a favourite watering hole for designers, as is Loaf (5-6 Deansgate Locks, Whitworth Street West). On a more professional note, check out the Centre for Understanding of the Built Environment, or CUBE, (113 Portland Street), which is becoming a key networking location.
Bristol:
The bars and restaurants along Bristol's waterfront are a good place for making contacts, but don't miss the Architecture Centre or the famous Arnolfini arts centre and gallery, both on Narrow Quay.
Leeds:
The Leeds Property Ball is a must for the diary, bringing everyone from architects and developers and contractors together every October at the Linton Springs Hotel, near Wetherby.
Edinburgh:
Ask anyone from the city where to find the place to be seen and the Monboddo Bar at the city's Point Hotel in Bread Street trips off the tongue.
Newcastle:
The Pitcher & Piano on the quayside is a hotspot with developers, otherwise there's Fitzgerald's or the Duke of Wellington in the older financial district around Grey Street.
These networking tips are published in full in Building Business, a new Building supplement free with this issue.
