SWEET Mandarin’s Chinese New Year £1,000 stir-fry was one great publicity coup, yet Lily’s Bar may have topped it with its spotlight hogging ‘Name The Tropical Fish In Our Tanks’ stunt.
Check out the accompanying video where they have tagged the names of Manchester movers and shakers, including Mayor Andy Burnham, on to six newly acquired Yellow Tangs and are asking the public to suggest Manc celebs or even themselves as names for four other aquarium showstoppers. Bez is excluded – there’s already a dancing shrimp named after him.
Yes, the controversial 18,000 litre aquarium, minus the once mooted stringrays, has finally arrived in the basement cocktail bar named in honour of Champagne legend Lily Bollinger. We always imagined she was more of a lobster aficionado, but then the restaurant upstairs, 1761, honours the year the Industrial Revolution started in Manchester. Confused? We still are.
A lot of money has been lavished across both levels of the former Avalanche site on Booth Street. Not always wisely decorwise in what remain awkward, pillar-plagued spaces. So we hope the aquarium’s splash of colour helps brighten Lily’s, whose signature cocktails are the big plus of the entire operation.
Being able to gawp at fish while you sip from the comfort of its giant Chesterfields brings a whole new meaning to ‘down the hatch’.
If you are tempted to name those four fish – one Flame Angelfish, one Koran Angelfish and two Fox Face Rabbitfish – Lily’s gives you pen pictures of their personalities. Flame Angelfish are known to be shy when they are first introduced but will be full of confidence after a few weeks; Koran Angelfish are smart and personable but also have attitude even as juveniles; Fox Face Rabbitfish are peaceful in their temperaments but also have a painful sting they can use if needed.
Entrants can name the fish after Manchester celebs, themselves or they can nominate someone they know and Lily’s Bar will select their favourites. Just comment with your suggestions on Lily’s Bar’s competition posts on Facebook and Twitter before midday on Wednesday, February 21.The following day the winners will be invited to the launch to meet the fishy friends they named.
The two huge tanks, which each weight 14 tonnes, have been given the seal of approval from the Marine Conservation Society and in return Lily’s has created the Oceana cocktail with samphire infused Three Rivers Gin, dill infused limoncello, lychee, coconut and lemon. For every one bought a quid goes to the Society.
1761 and Lily’s, 2 Booth Street, Manchester, M2 4AT. 0161 714 0414.