New cocktail bar planned for Hope Street's Masonic Hall

A new cocktail bar inspired by the Victorian age could be opened up in Hope Street inside the historic Masonic Hall .

This weekend the ECHO took a look inside the Victorian hall, whose plain exterior opposite the Everyman Theatre conceals a warren of colourful and fascinating rooms.

Now we can reveal that Thomas Birch-Mantova and his wife Rachel want to open the Masonic bar at the front of the building overlooking Hope Street.

There is already a bar there dating back to when the building was renovated in the 1960s after a fire.

Thomas plans to change its current “60s social club” feel to create a venue he says will be in keeping with the building’s history.

He will keep the remaining original features including the giant windows overlooking Hope Street and the colourful stained glass above including Liver Birds and Masonic symbols.

Thomas - who in his day jobs runs an energy consultancy - said: “We’ll be going down the theme of a Victorian gentleman’s lounge with a Masonic twist.

“We’d like to pay homage to the building and open up a bit of the building to public use.

“Hope Street is already one of the best streets in the world and hopefully we’ll develop it and be part of it in the future.”

The bar is set to open in November.

For more, see its Twitter feed @masonicbar