Hipster and hound: Northern Quarter’s Kosmonaut goes to the dogs for exhibition launch

It looked like Manchester’s bars were going to the dogs as 50 of our four-legged friends descended on the Northern Quarter last night.

The pooches and their pint-drinking companions pawed into Tariff Street’s Kosmonaut for the launch of an exhibition that celebrates the city’s dog-friendly boozers.

Pub Dogs of Manchester is the work of talented Wilmslow-photographer Georgie Glass and features the furry regulars of the north’s increasingly canine-accommodating public houses and bars.

A coffee table book, commissioned by Freight Publishing and featuring the portraits, is to hit the shelves in November.

However, to officially launch the collection an array of cuddly companions – the stars of the book – from lapdog miniature Chihuahuas to slathering New Foundlands congregated at the hound-loving hangout.

And because they know you can never keep a good dog down, the team at Kosmonaut didn’t even try.

Along with their owners, the pub dogs took part in a specially designed ‘dogstacle’ course and a ‘best in show’ competition.

But in true northern fashion, the green show ring of Crufts was switched for the cobbles of Manchester.

The tube tents and kegs were competitively yet cleanly negotiated, there was no woof-housing, and some of the pooch pouts produced in the name of aesthetic appreciation blew the ducks out of the water.

The ‘best in show’ title is still up for grabs and it will be running on a likes-on-Instagram basis for the next seven days.

The dog-leading at the end of the week will win but if, by chance, there happens to be a draw then the whole competition could roll-over.