‘All the bars and clubs in Manchester were about bling, fake tan and £70 bottles of vodka... then we arrived’

Jonny Heyes isn’t one for nostalgia. So naturally, he’s putting on a series of events to mark 20 years since he opened his first bar in the Northern Quarter.

No really, he doesn’t like to look too far back. But, to tell the story of Common, you really do have to rewind to the halcyon days of 2004.

Located on Edge Street, the ‘perfect neighbourhood bar’ as one of its regulars has described it, was decked out with an olive green exterior, chipboard-style bar front and murals on the wall.

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It was pretty tiny really - but that’s what its regulars liked about it. And it wasn’t trying too hard either.

There were regular club nights, lots of late nights and something very ‘hedonistic’ about it as Jonny recalls.

He set the bar up on a shoestring with co-founder Chris Stevenson who stayed with the business until around 2009. It was around this time that Charlotte, Johnny's wife, joined the fold.

Since then, the pair have become key figures in Manchester’s food and drink scene. Port Street Beer House, Common, The Pilcrow and Indy Man Beer Con have all been steered by them and shaped the nightlife sector as we know it today.

“When we started we didn’t really have a sign at all,” recalls Charlotte.

“It was a bit like cocktail bars are now or that restaurant Louis in Spinningfields where they cover your camera. But that was almost the point really - if you wanted to go to Common, you almost had to find it because there wasn’t any social media.”

“You would also happily work on the bar because it was like a night out and all your mates would be here.”

Jonny adds that in the early days things were also a lot more ad