# Sterling: Agent-Direct Score A (87.7%)

Site: https://www.sterlingbarmcr.com/
Report: https://directindex.org/r/sterlingbarmcr.com
Scanned: 2026-10-21 (Provisional, with the action test and the assistant citation check still to come. The hatched part of the bar isn't measured yet.)
Sterling is ready for agents.
An AI assistant can open Sterling's website. What Sterling offers is in a PDF or an image, and assistants read those badly. It finds a way to book or order directly, through Blinq.

## Direct links
- Book directly: https://reservations.blinqme.com/reservation/sterling-bar-n6neu3gp (through blinq acting for the business)
- Menu: https://www.sterlingbarmcr.com/menus/STERLING-BAR-Cocktail-Menu_20260111.pdf
- Phone: +447878978222
- Address: 4 Norfolk St, M2 1DW, Manchester

## Nearby, also direct
Places near Sterling that take a booking or an order on their own website, with no marketplace in between.
- Café Beermoth (80 m): https://directindex.org/r/beermoth.co.uk
- Michaels Coffee House (110 m): https://directindex.org/r/michaelscoffeehouse.com
- Black Cat Club (110 m): https://directindex.org/r/theblackcatclub.co.uk
- Bubbleology - Manchester (140 m): https://directindex.org/r/bubbleology.co.uk
- Flight Club (170 m): https://directindex.org/r/flightclubdarts.com

## What to fix first
- **Menu or price list is a PDF.** (+3 points) Most agents skip PDFs or read them badly. Publish it as an HTML page and keep the PDF as a download. Guide: https://directindex.org/guides/menu-pdf-ai
- **No llms.txt.** (no points, but worth doing) Optional for now and cheap to add. It's a short text file that describes the business for language models. Guide: https://directindex.org/guides/llms-txt-for-a-business

## What the site tells visitors (Measured, not scored)
- **The footer says © 2022.** Visitors and assistants may read that year as the last time anyone looked after the site. In Manchester, 72% of comparable sites that show a year say 2025 or later.

## Fix kit: What to paste

llms.txt. Save as /llms.txt at the root of the site.

```
# Sterling

> bar or pub in 4 Norfolk St, M2 1DW, Manchester, Manchester cafes and bars. Phone +447878978222.

## Book or order directly

- Book: https://reservations.blinqme.com/reservation/sterling-bar-n6neu3gp (through blinq acting for the business)
- Menu: https://www.sterlingbarmcr.com/menus/STERLING-BAR-Cocktail-Menu_20260111.pdf

## About

- Website: https://www.sterlingbarmcr.com/
- This file follows llms.txt (https://llmstxt.org): a short plain-text description for language models.
```

## Already right
- **robots.txt lets AI crawlers in.** There's no robots.txt, which means everything is allowed.
- **AI crawlers get the page.** GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot all got a normal response.
- **Structured data found (BarOrPub).** address, phone, opening hours
- **Booking through blinq on your own domain.** There's no marketplace commission, and the customer stays yours.

## Where it stands
48 of 1309 in Manchester cafes and bars. Top 4% of the sites scanned in this index.

| What the top 10% of the index does | Top 10% | This site |
|---|---|---|
| Take bookings or orders on their own domain | 100% | yes |
| Publish the menu or price list as HTML | 92% | no |
| Let AI crawlers in (no block at the server or in robots.txt) | 86% | yes |
| Structured data with address, phone and hours | 30% | yes |
| Have an llms.txt | 20% | no |

Nearest places in the index: North Westward Ho (B, 47 m, https://directindex.org/r/northwestwardho.co.uk); Café Beermoth (C, 75 m, https://directindex.org/r/beermoth.co.uk); Grinch (D, 103 m, https://directindex.org/r/mudcrabindustries.co.uk); Michaels Coffee House (F, 112 m, https://directindex.org/r/michaelscoffeehouse.com); Black Cat Club (C, 113 m, https://directindex.org/r/theblackcatclub.co.uk); All Bar One (D, 117 m, https://directindex.org/r/allbarone.co.uk); House of Books and Friends (D, 123 m, https://directindex.org/r/houseofbooksandfriends.com); Bubbleology - Manchester (C, 143 m, https://directindex.org/r/bubbleology.co.uk); Flight Club (B, 165 m, https://directindex.org/r/flightclubdarts.com); Second Cup (C, 166 m, https://directindex.org/r/mysecondcup.com).

## What assistants answer
The assistants haven't been asked about this business yet. They're asked about the top-ranked businesses in each city index, and about any business as soon as it's claimed. Claim this page to be included.

Recommended when people ask: "Good cocktails tonight, and I want to reserve a table for four." (Gemini)


See what an AI agent reads on this site: https://directindex.org/r/sterlingbarmcr.com/agent-view

## Named by Gemini for "Good cocktails tonight, and I want to reserve a table for four" in Manchester cafes and bars, October 2026
- "Good cocktails tonight, and I want to reserve a table for four." (2026-10-24): Gemini with a link to this site. https://directindex.org/city/manchester-cafes-bars/recommended/cocktails-four
Named by 1 of 2 assistants asked. Badge: https://directindex.org/badge/named/sterlingbarmcr.com.svg

## Businesses like Sterling in Manchester cafes and bars

| Group | Sites | Avg score | A or B | This site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Businesses of the same kind in Manchester cafes and bars | 1309 | 49% | 24% | 87.7% |
| Sites using Blinq in Manchester cafes and bars | 4 | 78% | 75% | 87.7% |

The best of the sites using Blinq in Manchester cafes and bars: Atomeca Deansgate Square (B 84.6%, https://directindex.org/r/atomeca.co.uk); Xscape Manchester (B 73.8%, https://directindex.org/r/xscapemcr.co.uk); Portfolio.mcr (C 67.7%, https://directindex.org/r/portfoliomcr.com).

With the fix above (Menu or price list is a PDF), the score would be about 92.3%. That would be 19th of 1,309 in Manchester cafes and bars, up from 48th.

## The direct record
What agents get for Sterling, as JSON: https://directindex.org/api/direct/sterlingbarmcr.com
- Book: https://reservations.blinqme.com/reservation/sterling-bar-n6neu3gp (vendor on own site: Blinq; found by the scan of 2026-10-21, not yet tested)
- Order: none on record
- Menu: https://www.sterlingbarmcr.com/menus/STERLING-BAR-Cocktail-Menu_20260111.pdf (pdf; from the scan)
- Hours: none on record
- Phone: +447878978222
- Stable links that count: https://directindex.org/go/sterlingbarmcr.com/book, https://directindex.org/go/sterlingbarmcr.com/menu
- Agents and people followed 4 direct links to this business this month (4 by AI agents).

## Can an agent transact?
Measured, not scored (the score stays at spec v1.0).
- UCP profile (/.well-known/ucp, Google and Shopify's Universal Commerce Protocol): no
- ACP discovery document (/.well-known/acp.json, OpenAI and Stripe's Agentic Commerce Protocol): no
- MCP server card (/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json): no
- Ordering vendor that takes agent orders (Square, Toast, or a vendor whose terms allow agents): no
- Vendor terms for agents, Blinq: Not stated. The terms do not address an agent acting for a person (several bar scraping or data extraction only), could not be read on the date given, or the vendor has not been researched yet.

## Score breakdown
| Component | Points | Available |
|---|---|---|
| Reachable | 25 | 25 |
| Readable | 22 | 25 |
| Actionable | 10 | 15 (the action test: pending) |
| Cited | 0 | 0 (the assistant citation check: pending) |

## Agent readiness (Cloudflare)
Level 0 of 5, Not Ready. Cloudflare's report: https://isitagentready.com/sterlingbarmcr.com
- Link headers on the homepage: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/link-headers/SKILL.md)
- sitemap.xml: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/sitemap/SKILL.md)
- AI bot rules in robots.txt: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/ai-rules/SKILL.md)
- Content Signals in robots.txt: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/content-signals/SKILL.md)
- Markdown on Accept: text/markdown: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/markdown-negotiation/SKILL.md)
- llms.txt: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/llms-txt/SKILL.md)
- API catalog (RFC 9727): no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/api-catalog/SKILL.md)
- MCP server card: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/mcp-server-card/SKILL.md)
- A2A agent card: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/a2a-agent-card/SKILL.md)
- Agent Skills index: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/agent-skills/SKILL.md)
- OAuth or OIDC discovery: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/oauth-discovery/SKILL.md)
- OAuth protected resource metadata: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/oauth-protected-resource/SKILL.md)
- auth.md: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/auth-md/SKILL.md)
- Web Bot Auth key directory: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/web-bot-auth/SKILL.md)
- ARD capability manifest: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/ard/SKILL.md)
- DNS-AID records: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/dns-aid/SKILL.md)
- WebMCP tools on the page: no (how: https://isitagentready.com/.well-known/agent-skills/webmcp/SKILL.md)
- JSON-LD for the business: yes

Keep watching this business (https://directindex.org/r/sterlingbarmcr.com/plan): the assistants are asked again every month, and you see what changed. 2 EUR a month or 19 EUR a year.
Deep report: https://directindex.org/r/sterlingbarmcr.com/deep. Ten questions phrased the way people ask them, each assistant's full answer, the eight nearest similar places, the fix plan and a PDF. 5 EUR, paid once. Reading and scanning stay free. These few euros pay for the questions sent to the assistants and for the servers.
Methodology: https://directindex.org/methodology · Rescan now: https://directindex.org/scan?url=sterlingbarmcr.com&force=1