THERE'S not many times in a week when an email bounces into your inbox entitled 'free beer and food'.

So after enduring a particular tense deadline day I decided to respond and see what happened.

What came back was an invite to sample Czech lager Kozel at two of its venues in Manchester, including the recently opened 'The Bouncing Czech', and at 'Kozel Lokal' at the popular B.EAT Street development next to the Great Northern Warehouse.

Restaurant group Solita has teamed up with the Czech beer brand to transform Back Turner Street bar Montpellier’s, which it took on at the beginning of 2016 into the aforementioned Bouncing Czech.

It is the beer brand’s second bar in Manchester, having opened Kozel Lokal at Deansgate street food development B.EAT Street in the summer. Kozel is also on tap at Junkyard Golf Club Manchester.

So on a typically Autumnal Manchester evening myself and two colleagues headed into Manchester to see what the Czech brand had to offer.

Kozel, a 4% hoppy lager, has been brewed in Velké Popovice since 1874 and has seen a steady growth into the country's pubs and bars over the past year.

But despite growing popularity outside of Manchester, the city remains the only place in the country thirsty punters can visit a stand alone Kozel venue.

A quick pint at the Bouncing Czech, which wasn't the busiest on a Wednesday tea time, was followed by a trip to B.EAT Street.

B.EAT Street consists of a row of formerly vacant offices, converted into food outlets. On offer includes Big Grillie Style (grilled cheese toasties); Dim Sum Su; Bali Beach Hut; Eat New York; Chaat Cart; Jerk (Caribbean barbecue) and Lekker (Dutch pancakes).

We went for the Indonesian street food, which was pretty hot in the spice department, and a couple of dishes from Chaat Cart, which were both full of flavour.

All the food was washed down with a couple of more pints of Kozel before we wandered into the night.

For the three of us it was our first venture to B.EAT Street and the scaffolding terrace that was protecting us from the elements was slightly strange but combined with the coal pits made for a different setting for a beer.

Kozel Lokal itself was a nice bar.

Not the biggest in terms of size - and on a Friday night probably very, very tough to get in - but a range of beers, including Kozel of course, was accompanied with a list of impressive cocktails that incorporated sweets, including astrobelts.

Sugar and alcohol and hot spicy food.

What more do you want from a night out?

- BEAT Street MCR - Deansgate Mews, Great Northern Warehouse, 235 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 4EN, open 11am until 12am Tuesday to Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 11am until 2am and Sunday 11am until 2am.

- Bouncing Czech, 2 Back Turner Street, Manchester, M4 1FR, bouncingczech.co.uk.