As of Monday 17 May Manchester will have officially entered ‘Step Three’ of the roadmap out of lockdown.
This means new rules permitting indoor drinking and dining for the first time in months, as well as the reopening of some long-shuttered local businesses like cinemas and museums.
For the roughly four in five Manchester hospitality businesses left unable to trade during the strict nationwide lockdowns, this is welcome news indeed.
The majority have been unable to open since before Christmas. Others have been closed for the best part of a year.
Lockdown saw us lose some real city centre gems, with casualties including city centre favourites Nexus Arts Cafe, Bock Biere, Teacup Kitchen, Lunya and Earth Cafe.
We’re very sad to announce that Nexus has not been able to weather the Covid-19 storm. As a not-for-profit organisation, our margins were always very small, and even with your help we didn’t have the reserves to keep us going. pic.twitter.com/ZRA3dNhOQ3
Now, with the next few months set to be pivotal for the success of many local hospitality businesses, we are at risk of losing more if they don’t get the support they need.
So, as the city takes one more step back towards normality, we thought we’d put together a list of the places that will reopen for indoor drinking and dining from May 17.
Let’s go and show them some support.
This piece will be regularly updated as new information becomes available.
Manchester bars and restaurants reopening the week commencing May 17:
Albert Square
Reds True BBQ Slug and Lettuce Speak In Code The Allotment Vegan Wood & Co. Armenian Taverna
Ancoats
Blue-Eyed Panda Second City Erst Jub Thai Street Urchin (Wednesday, 19th May) Sugo Viet Shack Cha-ology
https://www.instagram.com/p/CG7x5_mgIe7/
Bridge Street
Dishoom Mason’s Restaurant and Bar MOJO
Castlefield
Albert’s Shed The Wharf Cafe Istanbul Cibo The Wharf
Central
American Pies The Bank Crown And Anchor Circle Tavern The Flying Monkey Annies San Carlo Bottega Browns The Bull & Bear Chish & Fips Harvey Nichols Second Floor Bar and Brasserie Mamucium The Restaurant, Bar and Kitchen Peru Perdu TGI Fridays Sam’s Chop House Three Little Words The Brotherhood of Pursuits and Pastimes City Arms
Chinatown
Little Yang Sing Phetphalin Teppanyaki Chinatown Yang Sing Yuzu The New Emperor Seven Oaks
Corn Exchange
Pizza Express Pho Vapiano
https://www.instagram.com/p/COx_NNsDkXr/
Deansgate
Be At One Las Iguanas Slug and Lettuce The Knott Ark Bem Brasil San Carlo Cichetti Cloud 23 Dimitris Taverna Gaucho Hawksmoor La Vina Evuna Dirty Martini
First Street
Junkyard Golf Club Indian Tiffin Room HOME
Great Northern
Vesper cocktail bar James Martin Manchester Platzki Fat Hippo Siam Smiles Cafe
King Street
Flight Club Grand Pacific Kala Rosso Honey at Gotham King Street Tavern
Northern Quarter
63 Degrees Allotment NQ The Abel Heywood Bem Brasil Band on the Wall Behind Closed Doors Bar 21 Castle Hotel CBRB Cottonopolis Dusk Til Pawn English Lounge Herd NQ Junior Jacksons NQ64 Noi Quattro 33 Oldham Street TNQ Restaurant & Bar The Lost Cat Night & Day Turtle Bay Restaurant & Bar SoLIta NQ Chakalaka (?) Ciaooo Pizzeria Pen and Pencil Penang Evelyn’s Cafe & Bar Ply Seed and Cherry Sicilian NQ
Oxford Road Turtle Bay Restaurant & Bar Joshua Brooks Dog Bowl Temple Bar One Plus Oishi Q Navarro Lounge The Refuge
Peter Street
Asha’s Don Giovanni Don Marco Ezra & Gil The French at The Midland) Mount Street Dining Room and Bar at The Midland Peaky Blinders The Blues Kitchen Manchester (20th May) Peter Street Kitchen
Piccadilly
Brasserie Abode Bundobust Chez Mal Ducie Street Warehouse Franco Manca The Green Waldorf Hotel Escape to Freight Island
Printworks
Bierkeller Chiquito Frankie & Benny’s Hard Rock Cafe Nandos Wagamama Wasabi O’Neills Walkabout
Shudehill
Lower Turks Head The Pasta Factory
Spinningfields
Fazenda Tattu BLVD
The Village
Jasmine Grill Habesha Arnero Napoleon’s bar and Chinese restaurant Yizhichuan Samsi
Food & Drink
Northern Quarter favourite The Pen and Pencil announces massive 10th birthday party and huge offers
Daisy Jackson
The Pen and Pencil, an absolute staple for brunches and drinks in the Northern Quarter, is celebrating a major milestone this month with a huge party and some unbeatable deals.
The bar and restaurant will be marking 10 years on Tariff Street in September – and it’s only right that we all pile in to celebrate with them.
This spot is one of the city’s original bottomless brunch venues and is similarly famed for its happy hour offerings, and opened in 2015 to bring a taste of Manhattan to Manchester.
Pen and Pencil took its name from the infamous New York City bar that was seen in Mad Men.
And now as it turns 10 years old, it’ll be throwing one big party on Saturday 27 September, featuring 10 hours of DJs, free pints of Red Stripe at 10pm, and a special bottomless brunch offering.
Those DJing on the day will include Drag Race UK’s Banksie, as well as Les Croasdaile, Mark Hogg, Danny Ward and A Deeper Groove.
Pen & Pencil has amazing deals for its 10th birthdayPen & Pencil is a Northern Quarter OG
The Pen and Pencil 10th birthday party will kick off from 2pm and run until late – but if you can’t make that one, there’ll be celebrations all week (and, indeed, month) long.
On Tuesday 23 September, you’ll be able to play for double prize money in The Pen and Pencil quiz, as well as enjoying happy hour drinks all night.
Then on Friday 26 September, it’ll be an all-night happy hour, with free tequila shots at 10pm and music from DJs Nev Johnson and Gareth James from 7pm.
All September long, there’ll be 50% off food every Monday, two-for-£10 cocktails every Wednesday, £10 burgers every Thursday, happy hour all night on Fridays, 10 dishes for £10 and two bloody Marys for £10 on Sundays, plus DJs on Fridays and Saturdays.
There’s a new colourful art installation outside the venue inspired by the bar’s New York roots.
Owner Kevin Connor said: “We’re really excited to be celebrating being part of the Manchester community for ten years!
“New York’s Pen and Pencil was a classic steak and cocktail joint, and we’re proud to have created our very own iconic Northern Quarter hangout. We hope everyone will join us in celebrating ten years on Tariff Street.”
Walk-ins are welcome for The Pen and Pencil 10th birthday party on Saturday 27 September, but booking is encouraged – book your spot HERE.
Featured image: The Manc Group
Food & Drink
Manchester restaurant to give out FREE katsu curries to people called ‘Kat’ or ‘Sue’
Emily Sergeant
In what is a small stroke of genius, a restaurant chain has decided to give out free katsu curries to anyone called ‘Kat’ or ‘Sue’.
Throughout September, award-winning restaurant chain Banana Tree – which has a Greater Manchester site down at Salford Quays – is shining the spotlight on its popular katsu creations, and as a clever way of celebrating National Katsu Day on 27 September has announced a pretty unique giveaway.
That’s right – the restaurant will be serving up katsu dishes to people called Kat, Sue, and every delicious variation of the names in between.
Anyone named Kat, Katie, Katherine, Sue, Suzy, Susan, Suzanne – or close enough to qualify, the list goes on – can head to their local Banana Tree restaurant, and all they’ll need to do is show proof of name and they can enjoy a free katsu dish of their choice, worth up to £16.75.
The chain’s kastu lineup includes three star dishes.
First there’s the much-loved Katsu Curry, as well as the all-new Katsu Burger, which is made from either a crispy chicken or veggie fillet, spicy mayo, puffed noodle crunch, and a drizzle of Katsu sauce tucked into a soft Shokupan bun with a side of salt n pepper chilli chips.
Then there’s also the intriguing newcomer, the Katsu Carbonara – which is described as being a daring East-meets-West mash-up and ‘unapologetically’ Banana Tree.
Banana Tree is giving away free katsu curries to people called ‘Kat’ or ‘Sue’ / Credit: Banana Tree
With each of these dishes usually priced around the £16 mark, the giveaway isn’t just a way of marking National Katsu Day, but it’s also a way to sample the some of the restaurant’s biggest crowd-pleasers entirely free of charge.
To avoid any confusion on who makes the cut, Banana Tree will reveal the full qualifying list of name variations on Instagram soon, so keep your eyes peeled.
“Our Katsu range is one of our proudest creations, so National Katsu Day felt like the perfect moment to have some fun with our fans,” a Banana Tree spokesperson said ahead of the giveaway.
The free katsu offer is available for four days only from Monday 22 to Thursday 25 September, and you just need to head to the Banana Tree website to sign up to the Big Flavour Club here.
Georgina Pellant -
17th May 2021 
