25 new bars, coffeeshops and restaurants opening soon in Manchester

Our typing fingers have been ablur this year with the usual slew of new openings to tell you about. So much so we've actually worn the letters off the 'C', 'O', 'K', 'T', 'A', 'I' and 'L' keys - which proves a nightmare when trying to type 'craft' or 'small plates'. Still, on we must go and on we have, with 25 new bars, bakeries, cafes, diners, coffeeshops and restaurants for you to get stuck into over the coming months... oh and don't forget to keep checking back on all the latest new opening news via our dedicated page - we'd be buggered without it.

Eat New York

What: Bagels 'n' burgers

Where: Oldham Street (close to The Castle boozer)

When: September (probably)

These festival favourites, oft seen parked up in their big yellow bagel bus at events from Parklife to Leeds Indie Food Fest, have finally secured a bricks and mortar site in the Northern Quarter following an investment from Warehouse Project and Parklife boss, Sacha Lord-Marchionne (who'd watched them sell out every day at his music festival in Heaton Park). The boys have got their hands on the old Soundbase music store, close to new indie restaurant Fress and favourite Confidential boozer, The Castle. Here they'll serve up their trademark butter-dunked bagels (the crab shack is a show-stopper), Coney Island-style chilli dogs, meat subs and grill melts, with whispers of an accompanying bar to boot. @eatnysd

Siop Shop by Blawd

What: Bakery

Where: Tib Street

When: By the end of 2017 (hopefully)

The Welsh ‘bake stars from Mars’ are set to move from the ‘bake dungeon’ downstairs at Common Bar, Edge Street to their own separate Blawd (pronounced B-Loud, and named after the Welsh word for flour) bake house and café. Plans are in to transform the former Berwick Electrical unit on Tib Street, allowing more room to create their famous doughnuts and cakes - found in venues such as Common, Henry C and All The Shapes - as well as more baked lovelies such as sausage rolls and quiche. @siopshop

Brotherhood of Pursuits and Pastimes 

What: Fancy sports bar

Where: Corner of Mount Street and Central Street

When: Late August 

Yet another Leeds hospitality business duplicating itself over the Pennines is this snappily named posh sports bar, due to open behind Central Library on the corner of Mount Street and Central Street on 24 August. In Leeds, the venue offers nine HD screens, high-quality surround sound and headphone ports that allow customers the option to switch between sports and screens. Foodwise punters can expect the usual selection of sports fan-pleasers with ‘fully loaded’ hotdogs, burgers and fries, pies with mash, and bar snacks including black pudding sausage rolls and Scotch eggs. Behind the bar there’s a strong focus on Scotch, Irish and Japanese whiskeys, as well as beers, wines, gins and a 20+ strong classic cocktails menu. Let's hope they have more luck in the seemingly cursed former Inland Revenue offices (1876) that in recent years has witnessed the demise of Bourbon & Black, Velvet, Beluga and Citrus. @BrotherhoodLds

El Taquero

What: Tacos

Where: Back Turner Street, Northern Quarter

When: August

Though we're not convinced that tacos are, as it says here, a 'new concept' for Northern Quarter, restraint has never been Solita's strong suit (last month they got into a bit of bother for naming a special after a convicted pervert). Still, this four-strong burger joint, home of the deep-fried Big Manc burger, knows its strengths and plays to them very well. No reason then why their latest project, El Taquero - a 'traditional Mexican taqueria' serving tacos, quesadillas, Mexican beer and tequila round the back of the original Solita on Back Turner Street - shouldn't go off like your Dad after a chilli, chipotle and refried bean burrito. @ElTaqueroUK

Pintura

What: Pinxtos and gin

Where: Manchester Hall, Bridge Street

When: March 2018 

Just when you thought Manchester had reached full capacity for Spanish restaurants and bars, along comes Leeds-based Basque-inspired Pintura. Plans are that it will replace Garage Bar in the renovated Grade II-listed limestone building, formerly the Freemasons’ Hall. The bar and restaurant, first opened in Trinity Leeds in 2015, focuses on the ‘pinxtos’ found in the Basque region; with dishes such as Guernica peppers and Tortilla Vasca - a sort of Basque runny omelette. Gin is another speciality, with over 100 types of mother’s ruin and a Basque-style menu of cocktails. It is scheduled to open in March 2018. @PinturaKitchen

Rudy's Pizza no.2

What: Neapolitan favourites

Where: Peter Street

When: Later this year

Rudy's second city centre branch will occupy a ground floor space in Petersfield House on Peter Street, in the former Army Careers centre between Albert’s Schloss and Brewdog. The expansion follows a recent investment by bar group Mission Mars – operators of Trof, Gorilla and the wildly successful Schloss – after they purchased a stake in Rudy’s back in April. Rudy's became one of only two Manchester pizzerias to make it into Where To Eat Pizza, a guide to the best 1,700 pizza parlours across the globe, thanks to their hand stretched Neapolitan pizzas cooked in a wood burning stove.Their dough is made onsite twice a day and contains only four ingredients: flour, water, salt and yeast. It is then double fermented for over twenty hours and only cooked for 60 seconds to keep it light and soft. @RudysPizzaMCR

Quick Brown Fox

What: Craft beer, plus wine and cocktails

Where: The corner of Oldham Street and Swan Street, Northern Quarter

When: Soon

QBF is a new craft beer-focused bar with over 25 keg lines from the team behind Northern Quarter stalwarts Kosmonaut and Ply. Owner Joe Fearnhead told us QBF had been inspired by recent trips to the United States, in particular to San Diego. He said: “The craft beer scene is still massively growing in the UK and there are amazing breweries coming out of Europe and beyond that a lot of people in the UK won't have yet had the chance to try – this is what we aim to showcase." Word of the new bar first appeared in Confidential in July 2015, however issues with the building – which has long been boarded up opposite the Frog and Bucket comedy club – meant initial plans hits the buffers. Fearnhead says opening is planned for sometime later this summer. Website

Store Street Exchange and Craft Bar

What: New hotel hangout

Where: Hilton Doubletree, Piccadilly

When: September 

It's a little known fact that Store Street was Piccadilly train station’s original name when it opened in 1842. That’s the premise of Hilton Doubletree's new restaurant and bar, opening late September. Store Street Exchange and Store Street Craft Bar will ‘celebrate and showcase the heritage of its location, the city’s travel connection links, and the fabulous personality of its city’, with an interior inspired by Manchester’s forward-thinking nature and its consequent success in the Industrial Revolution. Store Street Exchange promises all-day dining, with a focus on the rotisserie and grill menu, while Store Street Craft Bar is to be a standalone drinking den serving local craft beers and cocktails. 

WOOD

What: Signature dishes from a Masterchef champ

Where: Jack Rosenthal Street, First Street

When: August

This will be the first solo venture for MasterChef 2015 champion Simon Wood, who hails from Chadderton. Wood has produced three menus for his first restaurant: an a la carte menu, a blind tasting menu (to be served in the restaurant or at the chef's table) and a third menu featuring three dishes that bagged him the TV cooking show crown. Dishes so far include: wild mushroom ravioli, 82 degree belly pork and crispy Josper gnocchi. Take a look here. @Wood_MCR

Elnecot

What: Indie Neighbourhood restaurant

Where: Ice Plant Building, Ancoats

When: September 

Named after the first recorded mention of the settlement in 1212, Elnecot in Ancoats' Ice Plant Building promises British sharing plates focussed on locally-sourced, seasonal and sustainable produce with a nod to the area’s Little Italy heritage. Drinks will include locally brewed ales, local gins and a few English wines, in particular the sparklers and an emphasis on biodynamic wines. Behind this project is Cheshire-born Michael Clay in partnership with friend Michael Lever, once of Manchester Food and Drink Festival and now an events manager for Manchester Pride. “Our aim is to be a place that feels like a second home to regulars coming along any time of the day. A true neighbourhood place in a great area,” said Michael. A strong eco-friendly approach will see sustainably-sourced wooden booths and benches in the 80-cover restaurant, a living wall and no plastics in the open kitchen.

Black Sheep Coffee

What: Coffee and cocktails

Where: 60 Spring Gardens and 4 Piccadilly Place

When: Later this year

Black Sheep Coffee was started in London by a group of coffee-loving friends who met at university. They already have seven locations in the capital, with a further six set to open soon. The coffee shops in Coleman Street and Plough Place are described as coffee and cocktail bars and this is the model proposed for two new Manchester sites at 60 Spring Gardens and 4 Piccadilly Place - their firsts outside London. Its main offering will be Robusta bean coffee along with a limited menu of cocktails, wines and craft beers. Website

Sugo no.2

What: Pasta kitchen

Where: Sawmill Court, Ancoats

When: 2018

Altrincham's highly rated Sugo Pasta Kitchen recently revealed plans to open a second restaurant in Ancoats early next year. The diddy Puglian-inspired 30-cover restaurant - which specialises in southern Italian pasta dishes with an obsessive attention to detail - opened on the doorstep of the jumping Altrincham Market House in July 2015, quickly gaining a fiercely loyal band of punters happy to wait weeks for 90 minutes at the table of the 'pasta masters'. One master, Alex De Martiis, said: “We are ridiculously obsessive about bringing the excitement back into Italian cooking. We love the regeneration underway in Ancoats, and after thinking long and hard about the area, the history and the people we’ll be serving, the idea of a stripped back 60-seat southern Italian Pasta Kitchen filled us with joy!” @Sugo_Pasta

Flok

What: Sherry bar and Spanish snacks 

Where: Stevenson Square, Northern Quarter

When: Beginning of August

Flok, a self-styled sherry and wine bar on Stevenson Square was due to open later this week, but they are still tinkering with their red leather banquettes, fancy tiling and unforeseen circumstances. Hispanophile Justin Parkinson, of West Didsbury's Folk and Wine & Wallop, is behind the venue; alongside the owner of Incognito, the NQ gift shop it has displaced. Expect Spanish ‘vermut’ on handpull alongside Manc beers, baby octopus and jamon meatballs. They are planning to stick the occasional DJ downstairs in a huge original bank safe feature. @flokmanchester

Department of Coffee and Social Affairs

What: Coffee... and social affairs

Where: Faulkner House

When: Later this year

The snappily titled London-based coffee brand, Department of Coffee and Social Affairs, will be launching a Northern outpost (their largest venue yet) on the ground floor of Faulkner House on New York Street, just off Piccadilly Gardens. The new 3,000 sq ft site will be the DoCaSA's flagship store and north of England barista training hub. It will also act as a co-work space for professionals. The meaning behind the second part of their name, ‘Social Affairs’, refers partly to the customer experience, but also to the company's humanitarian work for a number of national and international charities. @deptofcoffee

Alston Bar & Beef

What: Steak & gin

Where: Corn Exchange

When: Later this year

Glasgow-based steak & gin venue, Alston Bar & Beef, have announced plans to open in Manchester’s Corn Exchange later this year. A spokesperson for the company said they aim to ‘serve some of the best steak in the city, using only the top 1% of Scotch beef sourced from the Tweed Valley’, alongside up to 100 different gins. Website

Jane Eyre

What: Cocktails & 'continental' snacks 

Where: Cutting Room Square, Ancoats 

When: Later this year

This new neighbourhood bar will offer 'a mix of continental snacks, high-quality cocktails, the finest offerings from Manchester’s local breweries, and one deck vinyl sessions for the community'. Brothers Jonny and Joe Eyre said: “We took inspiration for the Jane Eyre from our late mum (not the book), and have been searching for the right neighbourhood and space to get the ball rolling. We’re going to be serving simple food and drinks made using high-quality ingredients. The cocktail menu will lead the way, and we will be serving a range of keg and bottled beers to showcase Manchester's finest breweries. Every Sunday will bring an extra special Bloody Mary menu."

Real Junk Food Project

What: Pay-as-you-feel meals using quality-assured food that would otherwise be binned

Where: 85 Oxford Street

When: August 

With its permanent Ancoats opening now on hold until the end of this year, Real Junk Food Project will temporarily occupy the former Milkjam site on Oxford Street from August for three to six months. The site will include an ethical coffee bar in partnership with Second City Coffee and a 40-cover restaurant offering breakfast and lunch on weekdays, plus regular fine dining evenings. Celebrated local chef Mary-Ellen McTague, who led RJFP pop-up events since 2016, has departed to run the rebranded café at Manchester Art Gallery but will continue on an ad hoc basis as exec chef. @realjunkfoodmcr

Selfless

What: NQ basement bar

Where: Stevenson Square, Northern Quarter

When: Within three years hopefully

Mark Andrew Developments (aka MAD Ltd) – the company behind a swathe of Manchester venues including Walrus, Hula and Rosylee – first announced plans to convert the abandoned Habib House on Stevenson Square in March 2015. Two years and a bit later on and the council have finally given the go-ahead, though with a number of conditions attached, including assurance that work on the new basement venue will begin within three years.

Hip Hop Chip Shop

What: Fish & chips 

Where: Sawmill Court, Ancoats 

When: Summer 2018 

These street food stalwarts recently scooped the Best Mobile Fish and Chip Operator Award at the 2017 National Fish & Chip Awards and will - alongside Sugo (featured above) - be calling Sawmill Court in Ancoats home by summer 2018. Jonathan “Ozzie” Oswald said: “We’re going to create a relaxed dining experience with proper comfort food, tasty drink selection, live music, great artwork and top-notch service. We’ve grafted so hard to build this business from scratch, but our own restaurant was the dangling carrot to keep us going. We just want to show the world what we are made of and can’t wait to get going in Ancoats.” @thehiphopchippy

The Alchemist MediaCityUK 

What: Cocktail whimsy

Where: Bridge between The Lowry Theatre and MediaCityUK

When: Beginning of September 

The Alchemist’s eleventh UK venue is set to be their most distinctive yet, with a futuristic £1.2m design located in a prime waterside location, on the bridge between The Lowry Theatre and MediaCityUK. The 4,900 square foot space will have room for 96 covers and features a dazzling gold clad roof, angular blackened steel walls and a bronze bar. The specialist cocktail bar extends from the interior to wrap around the enclosed outdoor terrace making it ideal for al fresco drinking and dining and offering sweeping views of the water and the surrounding area. @TheAlchemistUK

Bay Horse Tavern

What: Gastro Boozer

Where: Thomas Street, Northern Quarter

When: August/September

The dastardly trio behind the nearby Cane & Grain, Blackdog, Crazy Pedro’s and TNQ (Jobe Ferguson, Ross Mackenzie and Lyndon Higginson) have taken the reins of an old boozer, renamed it Bay Horse Tavern, and are giving it a gastro makeover. Higginson told us: "We want to bring the social aspect of the local boozer back for a new generation. We're not talking dominoes and meat raffles, but an atmosphere, a feeling you have when the bartender knows your name. We want to bring back the local pub in a refined and unpretentious way, with the best local beers and pub grub made with the best ingredients." @BayHorseTavern

Fable

What: Pan-Asian opulence

Where: Manchester Hall, Bridge Street

When: Early 2018

The Grade II-listed former Masonic Hall on Bridge Street is to be transformed with an opulent pan-Asian restaurant and bar with a mainly Japanese-focussed menu. London-based architects Shed have drawn up lavish designs featuring two enormous suspended wingless dragons snaking around the ceiling of the triple height main hall, as well as statues, giant tapestries, mirrors and artwork inspired by ancient Japan. A new bar area, with its own separate entrance, will be built within the present Derby Lodge room and another central feature bar is to be built on top of the terrazzo flooring. If planning is granted, a DJ booth will be installed on a pulpit stand behind a specially designed sculpture of a hand holding a giant carp. Sounds low-key. @FableMCR

The Ivy

What: Modern British all-day dining

Where: The Pavilion, Spinningfields

When: Application says winter 2017

As part of a new Ivy Collection - which the famous London restaurant plans to roll out in cities across the UK - the celebrity hotspot is set to open a Manchester offshoot in Spinningfields' new 'Pavilion' building. Though it’s not going to be easy replicating a century of glamour, The Ivy Collection does already encompass a few offshoots in the form of Ivy Grills, Brasseries and Cafés located in smart pockets of London, offering modern British dishes with a nod to their Ivy heritage. We'll have to wait and see which one of the Collection is bound for Manchester.

Pasta Factory Pizzeria

What: Erm, pizza

Where: Unit Two in One Smithfield Square

When: Later this year

Earlier this year we received confirmation that the team behind the Pasta Factory in Shudehill are to open a pizzeria in the Unit Two in One Smithfield Square. The devout Italians are a superstitious bunch, so have been reluctant to offer more details. Operations Manager Davide Rinaldi told us, “We aren't really willing to talk too much about it because we have a lot of work in progress and nothing is yet definitive. It would bring bad luck to talk about stuff that is not yet certain, so we'd rather talk when there will actually be something to talk about...” That’s us told then, or rather, not told. Pizza. Northern Quarter. That's all you need to know really...

and we can't forget...

Manchester Market Hall (aka The Mackie Mayor)

What: Alty-style European food court

Where: Swan Street, Northern Quarter

When: This year (we guess)

This historic Northern Quarter building - a former meat market dating from 1858 - is nearing the end of its grand restoration by Muse Developments, with Market Operations of the roaringly successful Altrincham Market House soon to take the reins. The design of the Grade II listed, two-storey building – drawn up by Buttress Architects - will mirror that of the other remaining former Smithfield market building (now the Manchester Craft and Design Centre) with a staircase leading to upper gallery seating. The layout of the ground floor, meanwhile, will be similar to Altrincham market with communal bench seating in the centre surrounded by various stalls and kitchen units selling produce, street food, coffee and booze.

There's also spaces earmarked for a wine bar, beer bar, three shop units and external outside seating. Boss Nick Johnson is expected to bring over some of his Alty flock, such as pizza makers Honest Crust, Katie’s Cakes, Bao House and meat specialists Tender Cow, while Confidential has word they'll be joined by Lancaster’s charming tea and coffee house, J Atkinson & Co, as well as rotisserie chicken specialists Nationale 7. There’s no official opening date just yet, though we hear bosses have eyes on a 2017 opening.