A new study has ranked the top bottomless brunch offers in the city, taking into account factors like the number of 5* reviews, price and outdoor seating availability.
All very important, we’ll admit, but if your attitude to bottomless brunch is anything like that of our friends then you’ll appreciate there’s still a lot more to be considered. After all, bottomless brunch is a marathon – not a sprint.
It’s all got to be assessed tactically, which is why it’s important to take details like how long you can drink and how many drinks and dishes are on the bottomless brunch menu into account, alongside the most important question of all – ‘is it truly bottomless?’
Looking to find the most highly rated independent brunch locations, The Bottle Club has covered all of these points and more in its assessment. Suffice to say, we’re pretty impressed with their commitment to the cause.
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Fress
Northern Quarter
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Coming in at the top of the list is Fress, Northern Quarter’s gilded bar and brasserie cafe. It’s rarely seen without a line outside before 2pm thanks to the popularity of its brunch offering, whether customers are going bottomless or not. The way it works here is pretty simple, with one menu and the option to upgrade to bottomless house wine, beer, mimosas or prosecco for an additional £15.
Impossible
Peter Street
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Whimsical night spot Impossible is just as impressive in the day time. Boasting one of the best bottomless booze selections in the city, £30 gets you unlimited drinks from a list of over 20 different options, plus a main dish and side. There are no eggs to be found here – instead, think mini burger trios, mini wrap trios, katsu fries, salt and pepper fries and togarashi tortilla.
Peaky Blinders
Peter Street
As the name kind of gives away, this is not just any bar. It’s a Peaky Blinders-themed bar, complete with hunky Cillian Murphy lookalikes in waistcoats and flat caps. Mother, may I? For £30 a head, you can enjoy as many cocktails, prosecco, own-brand gin, pale ale or draught lager as you like in 90 minutes whilst picking from a ‘birdcage’ of meat or veggie treats. Available to book from 17th May.
Elnecot
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Ancoats
Of all the brunching spots on this list, Elnecot is a must for any self-professed foodies. Situated in the trendy independent neighbourhood of Ancoats, this locals bar and kitchen proves especially popular on weekends. Similar to Fress, there’s no dedicated bottomless menu here – instead, simply pay an additional £25 for 2 hours of unlimited access to breakfast martinis, aqua di Valencia, earl greyhounds (Gin, Earl grey tea and grapefruit), bloody marys and beer.
The Pen and Pencil
Northern Quarter
Inspired by New York’s famous mid-20th century ‘Steak Row’ bar of the same name, The Pen and Pencil sits right on the edge of Manchester’s Northern Quarter close to Piccadilly station. The only place on this list to feature bottomless food as well as drink, menu options include brunch staples like avocado and feta on toast, steak and eggs, a variety of poached eggs and big stacks of fluffy American pancakes. Hosted on the last Saturday of the month, go all-in for £40.
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Manchester’s historic Portico Library secures £6.4m funding grant towards its transformation
Emily Sergeant
Manchester’s Portico Library has secured a whopping £6.4 million grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
In case you missed it, ambitious plans to transform the historic Grade II-listed building on Mosely Street were already unveiled last October… but now, The National Lottery Heritage Fund has announced it is committing £6.4 million of funding towards the project, hoping that the building thrives as the UK’s most sustainable historic library for generations to come.
The grant is being described as a ‘major milestone’ in the approximately £12 million Portico Reunited project.
The Portico Reunited project will look to ‘reunite’ the historic building’s three floors for the first time in over a century, creating a fully-accessible and sustainable cultural library.
Founded all the way back in 1806, The Portico Library played a central role in Manchester’s rise as the world’s first modern city, and since then has been serving as a window into the past and a providing a place of inspiration for anyone who needs it.
The Portico Library has secured a £6.4m funding grant towards its transformation / Credit: Purcell Architecture (Supplied)
Crucially, plans will see a step-free entrance and lift installed to make the library accessible to all.
There’ll also be new exhibition and event spaces introduced as part of the scheme to explore the stories of Manchester’s communities and the city’s heritage. There will a Northern Bookshop, showcasing regional and emerging writers, and independent publishers, as well as a creative Portico Kitchen, which will celebrate the city’s food culture, writing, and history.
A place for school groups, families, and all people to explore Portico’s collection and experiment creatively also forms part of the plans.
Dr Thom Keep, Librarian and CEO of The Portico Library, called the funding grant a ‘landmark moment’ in the Portico’s ‘rich and complex history’, and a ‘huge achievement’ for its staff, trustees, volunteers, and partners.
“Thanks to National Lottery players, we can reunite this extraordinary building and make room for people to discover, learn and create together,” he added.
“We have listened to thousands of people about what the Portico could become, and their ideas and experiences have helped shape these plans.
“Our ambition is a library that belongs to the whole city – a place to discover remarkable collections, question the stories we have inherited, and create new possibilities together.”
Manchester City Council has granted planning permission and listed building consent for the project, and the building is expected to close for construction in late spring 2028 and reopen once again in early March 2030.
Following reopening, the transformed library is expected to welcome around 95,000 visitors each year.
Featured Image – Purcell Architecture (Supplied)
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New data estimates that 7.3m Oasis fans are set to miss out on 2027 tour tickets
Emily Sergeant
New data has revealed that as many as 7.3 million Oasis fans could be set to miss out on tickets to the band’s 2027 tour.
In case you need bringing up to speed a little, it was announced earlier this week that, following the unprecedented success of the reunion tour, Oasis Live ’25, last year, including five nostalgia-drenched gigs at Manchester’s Heaton Park, Oasis would be hitting the road once again in 2027, and this time around, they’re going BIG.
We’re talking 11 nights at the Etihad Stadium and a return to the iconic grounds of Knebworth for four special shows there too, kind of ‘big’.
The iconic Manchester band will also be taking to a range of other world-famous stages across the globe, including five nights at Glasgow’s Celtic Park, and major cities like Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, and Las Vegas.
But despite the elevated number of dates the Gallaghers and co will be performing, some new data has unfortunately revealed that millions of fans may still not be lucky enough to snag a ticket.
The ticketing system for Oasis Live ’27 is not what it was for the last tour, nor will it be similar to many other tours of a similar scale in the past either, as this time, the band and their promotors are taking necessary measures to ensure ‘genuine fans’ get their hands on the tickets and that dynamic pricing doesn’t creep in.
Instead of going into detail on that now though, you can read our full guide on how to get tickets for the Manchester and Knebworth shows here.
Experts at online ticketing platform TicketSource have analysed the scale of demand for Oasis tickets by comparing the 10 million fans worldwide who queued for the initial release of 1.4 million tickets for their 2025 tour, with the newly announced 2027 tour dates and stadium capacities.
With an estimated 2.67 million tickets available across 38 dates and 11 locations between 21 May and 19 September 2027, Oasis could still face huge demand from fans hoping to see them live.
But research reveals the band would need to play 112 Wembley-sized shows to accommodate everyone who tried to get a ticket in 2025.
The 2027 tour would accommodate just 26.7% of those who tried to get tickets last time, meaning almost three-quarters (73%) of them could miss out, leaving a shortfall of more than 7.3 million fans.
Fingers crossed you’re among the lucky lot that secure tickets, though.
Featured Image – Joshua Halling (Press Image – Supplied)
Georgina Pellant -
6th May 2021 
