Having arrived on an unusually punctual train, we had spent the day in dull meetings at a hotel in Manchester city centre. The only thing that had piqued my interest during the morning was the brief mention of a nice bar in the hotel on the 23rd floor.

“It has a great view!” said one of the locals.

“Of Manchester?” I queried.

“Yes, at night it could be any city in the world, I guess.”

It was interesting that the best thing he could say abut the view was that in poor light you could possibly be looking at somewhere else entirely.

The day finally drew to a close and my colleague and I fought our way through throngs of late check-ins up the other 21 floors to sample this famed view, and enjoy a few cheeky post-work drinks.

As we exited the lift on the 23rd floor, the bar was not signposted, so we tried a door which led to a bar area with floor to ceiling windows looking out over a twighlight Manchester city centre. It was all right to look at I suppose.

“Can I help you?” asked the lady who came up to us in a flash.

“Yes, we’d like a seat over there I think, and a look at the drinks list please.”

“Are you residents?”

“No, we’ve been in meetings here all day.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, this is for residents only I’m afraid. You need the bar on the other side.”

“Right. Just through that door is it?”

“Yes.”

I began making my way to the door.

“But you can’t go through there. You have to use a different lift in the foyer to go directly to the 23rd floor bar.”

This was a little perplexing. I could not only hear the bar, but also see the lights between the crack in the two doors.

“It is right there though. Are you saying that we can’t get through that locked door, to the bar that is literally five feet away without fighting our way, with luggage, through 46 floors of rush hour elevators?”

“Yes, I am afraid so.”

“What would happen if we just forced it open?”

“I would have to call security, and you would be ejected from the hotel.”

Grateful for her clarification on the issue at hand, we chose to fight our way through 46 floors of rush hour elevators to spend sixteen pounds on two overpriced cocktails whilst looking at a city that could have been anywhere in the UK.

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