"If there can be 400 Greek pizza places that also serve chicken tenders, there can be one bar that doesn't serve liquor." That's how Dan Haggerty explained Without to NHPR in September. He co-owns the nonalcoholic bar and restaurant, which opened on Elm Street in August 2026.
His joke points to how this new option was put together. Downtown Manchester's alcohol-free night out isn't coming from new developers or outside chains. It comes from people who already run cafés, bars and restaurants downtown, saw their own customers changing, and made do with what they had: a kitchen that sits empty after 4 p.m., a dining room that used to be a club, a liquor store shelf that needed new stock. That explains both why these options exist and why a few of their schedules are still easy to miss.
One kitchen, two businesses, split at 4 p.m.
Without is at 889 Elm St. Dan Haggerty and Nick Carnes are partners in it. They already worked together on The Moka Pot, the revamped café on Hanover Street that they run with Angelica Castro Andrade.
The two places run on one kitchen. In Manchester Ink Link's May preview, Haggerty described them this way: "They're connected, but not. They're two separate entities, and share a kitchen – but they are separate businesses. Moka Pot is open 7 to 4, Without will open at 5." He also said that when The Moka Pot holds events, such as its Live from the Countertop music series, people will be able to order food from Without.
This setup matters because a bar with no alcohol sales has a hard time covering a full kitchen alone. Haggerty knows that. "We're opening a bar that doesn't serve alcohol," he told NHPR. "We're not out here to make millions. This is just to add something to the culture." NHPR also reported that his other hospitality businesses help keep him afloat. Ink Link names two of them as Stashbox and Industry East.
The food and drinks are ambitious for a business with that kind of budget. Angelica Belo created the drinks and Joshua Heu, a native Hawaiian chef, leads the food. The menu leans on Hawaiian and South Pacific flavors. Ink Link's preview, written before opening, described these drinks:
- Star Gazer, with notes of blackberry, honey and black sesame
- Ripple Effect, made with a house strawberry kiwi shrub and Szechuan white peppercorns
- Dancing with Myself, with macadamia nuts, pandan foam and Thai basil
- An espresso martini variation made with oolong tea, listed among the planned debut drinks
Haggerty told Ink Link that "other than one or two of the zero-proof spirits, we handmake everything." That preview menu came out before opening, so it may not match what's served now. Without's homepage currently highlights scallion-pancake tacos with ground pork, beef sliders, popcorn Korean chicken with mac salad, and poke bombs. The 5 p.m. opening time is the only hour we could find on record. We found no published days or closing time, so check the business's own channels before you go.
The reason came from the bar owner's own receipts
Without didn't start from a trend report. It started with Haggerty's regulars. "We were noticing that a lot of our regulars at our bars that do serve alcohol were starting to dwindle," he told NHPR. "The majority of them had said, 'Well, we're dialing back the drinking. We're also trying to save money. We're not going out that much.'" He said the sales data from his bars matched what customers were telling him. "So we said, well, let's give these folks a place to go because we want to see them more."
He also argued that downtown Manchester in particular needed this. He told Ink Link:
"If there's one city in New England that could use it, I would say it would be Manchester."
He pointed to how many of downtown's nighttime options are built around alcohol. He also made clear that Without isn't a substitute product: "It's not kava, it's not an alternative. It's just drinks without alcohol. Hence, Without."
National numbers point the same way. The Business NH Magazine version of the NHPR story cites a 2025 Gallup survey. It found that the share of adults who drink had fallen sharply since 2023, to the lowest level since the survey began in 1939. Haggerty's bar sales were showing the same pattern locally.
The same idea, a hundred numbers up Elm Street, in a former club
At 990 Elm St., Unit B, Rumi Kabob House reached a similar place from a different starting point. NHPR described it as a family-run Afghan restaurant that had been open about a year. Owner Sip Woodod's mother is the head chef, and his family also owns the fried chicken spot next door.
On weekends, Woodod soft-launched a late-night café that's completely alcohol-free. He was inspired by the late-night Yemeni cafés he'd visited in New York City. "When I come back out here and I'd want to just hang out with my wife or go out with my brothers to somewhere casual, we wouldn't have anywhere," he told NHPR. "So we said, I think we have to create it."
His version is cheaper than a cocktail bar on purpose. "We just want people to come hang out, spend 5 to 10 bucks on a latte or a matcha or a pot of tea and hang out for a couple hours," he said. He wants it to feel family-friendly, and he expects many of the customers to be teens and young adults. NHPR reported that the space used to be a club and bar.
The restaurant's menu now has an "After Dark" late-night café section. It lists four mocktails and espresso drinks, including cookie-butter, caramel macchiato, pistachio and Spanish lattes. NHPR singled out his mother's cardamom milk tea and homemade desserts. Like Without, though, the café has no published schedule. The menu lists the After Dark section without days or hours, and NHPR called it a soft launch. Call ahead on a Friday or Saturday before planning a late night around it.
The state store noticed the same shift
In 2026, NH Liquor & Wine Outlets more than quadrupled their nonalcoholic offerings. Nonalcoholic sales went from $41,914 to $607,693 between 2025 and 2026, according to the NHPR reporting. In July, a Union Leader photo showed nonalcoholic products on display at the outlet at the south end of Elm Street.
Liquor Commission chairman Joseph Mollica explained the reasoning in business terms. The commission is required by law to make money for the state, so it doesn't turn away customers, whether or not they buy alcohol. Without, Rumi and the state outlet all made the same decision for practical reasons: keep the customer coming in, even when that customer orders something different.
Restaurant menus may follow. Kate Boyle owns Dry Cellar in Portsmouth, which NHPR describes as the state's first store dedicated to nonalcoholic beverages. She said her shop is now distributing into local restaurants. "That place that you go and have dinner at once every week or once every couple of weeks, I want you to be able to order something else on the menu," she said.
How the downtown options compare
Most of Elm Street's evening options sit somewhere in between. Some serve alcohol but give non-drinkers a real reason to come. Here's what's on record as of October 2026:
| Spot | Address | Evening hours on record | Alcohol served |
|---|---|---|---|
| Without | 889 Elm St. | Opens 5 p.m.; days and close not published | No |
| The Moka Pot | Hanover St. | 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.; hosts Live from the Countertop events | Not covered by our sources |
| Rumi Kabob House, After Dark café | 990 Elm St., Unit B | Weekends; specific hours not published | No |
| Boards & Brews | 941 Elm St. | To midnight Fri–Sat, 10 p.m. Tue–Thu, 9 p.m. Sun | Yes, full bar |
| Diz's Cafe Downtown | 860 Elm St. | To 8:45 p.m. Fri–Sat | Yes, full bar |
Boards & Brews has more than 1,500 board games and serves coffee and tea next to its bar. That makes it a late-night option on Friday and Saturday for groups where some people are drinking and some aren't. Diz's Cafe lists an Arnold Palmer iced-tea mocktail. On the map, the four Elm Street addresses fall between 860 and 990 Elm.
The next three weeks downtown
The Palace Theatre's Greater Manchester Restaurant Week runs October 22 through November 1, 2026, under the theme "Tradition and Taste." According to Manchester Ink Link, it includes more than 20 participating restaurants with special menus. It runs alongside the Palace's production of Fiddler on the Roof. We haven't confirmed whether Without or Rumi is taking part. The current list is on the Palace Theatre's Restaurant Week page. For a dinner-and-show night with no alcohol, look for a participating restaurant with a zero-proof menu, or plan around Without's 5 p.m. opening at 889 Elm St.
If knowing what's open on Elm Street after 5 p.m. matters for where you live, or where you want to live next, Granite State Realty Group follows these downtown changes block by block. Request a free local market consultation, and we'll tell you how the evenings look around any address you're considering.
