A new cafe bar with vibrant decor, colourful coffees, and cocktails served in glass slippers has opened in Manchester.
By day, On The Hush – which has opened doors on Church Street in the heart of the Northern Quarter – is a cute Instagrammable cafe that’s serving up some of the most indulgent brunches in the city centre, alongside colourful coffees, sweet treats, and more – but by night, it transforms into a quirky cocktail bar with live entertainment.
Its bright interior perfectly blends beautiful floral displays against graffiti covered walls to create a space that looks great from every angle.
The venue’s official invite-only launch is happening on Thursday 4 November.
On The Hush looks set to become one of Manchester’s most popular brunch venues, with a menu that has something for everyone, including plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, such as vegan pancakes with berries and salted caramel ice cream, brioche cinnamon and vanilla French toast, and the classic avocado on toast.
ADVERTISEMENT
On The Hush looks set to become one of Manchester’s most popular brunch venues, with a menu that has something for everyone / Credit: Instagram (@onthehushmcr)
The stand-out of the iconic hot drink menu has to be the Unicorn Latte, which comes in a choice of colours – bright pink, lilac, blue, green, or vanilla – and is topped off with glitter and flakes of edible gold.
The cocktail menu is equally as mouth-watering, with twists on classic cocktails including a butterscotch cookie Old Fashioned, a salted caramel Espresso Martini, and a Pornstar Tikitini.
ADVERTISEMENT
But if you’re looking for the ideal cocktail to share on your socials, then look no further than the Cinderella sharer – which combines gunpowder and rosehip pink gin, with triple sec, coconut, pink grapefruit, and grenadine to create an exquisite floral cocktail that’s served in a giant glass slipper.
The venue has also gone the extra mile to not only make sure it looks picture-perfect, but that the quality of food and drinks are up there with some of the best in Manchester.
If you’re looking for the ideal cocktail to share on your socials, then look no further than the Cinderella sharer / Credit: Instagram (@onthehushmcr)
Speaking on the opening of the new venue, David Faini – owner of On The Hush – said: “Our vision for On The Hush was to create a beautiful venue where guests can relax in the day over delicious food and hot drinks, but then it comes alive at night with high quality cocktails and great music.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Ensuring that we not only have a fantastic looking venue, but also a great atmosphere and delicious food and drinks is paramount to us so we’ve recruited a really strong bar and kitchen team.
“We can’t wait for everyone to come and let us know what they think.”
___
On The Hush will be open on Wednesdays to Sundays, from 10am til late.
To celebrate the launch, On The Hush will be offering cocktails at 2-4-1 all day every day throughout November, and the bottomless brunches will be just £27 per person from 12-7pm.
ADVERTISEMENT
To book, head over to On The Hush’s Instagram here.
A tiny new train station pub has opened at Manchester Oxford Road
Daisy Jackson
A tiny craft beer pub has opened at Manchester Oxford Road, making all those inevitable train cancellations a little sweeter.
The new boozer comes from the same team behind some of the UK’s best train station pubs, who already have bars at Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria.
The Oxford Road Tap has plenty of charming nods to its proximity to the great British rail network.
There’s the big red National Rail sign that they’ve restored and turned into a beer tap, an arch over the bar that mimics the shape of the station, and even a departures board so you can work out how many more pints you can squeeze in.
You’ll find plenty of British craft beers behind the bar as well as a great selection of European lagers, plus spirits and wines.
The bar from Bloomsbury Leisure Holdings Limited has taken over the former cycle hub at Manchester Oxford Road.
The small building is directly opposite the entrance to the busy train station on the southern side of the city centre.
The Oxford Road Tap pub is now open in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
This will be the third site for the pub group in Manchester.
They already operate the Piccadilly Tap, that two-storey beer bar on Piccadilly Approach with a heated rooftop space and outdoor patio.
The team are also responsible for the more recently-opened Victoria Tap, which took over the former bin store at Manchester Victoria.
That particular pub has a heated beer garden constructed just inches away from where the trams tootle past and has a departures board where time is measured by pints (got 10 mins til your train leaves? That’s one pint, sir!)
Enormous Manchester venue set to open (again) after brief rebrand
Daisy Jackson
A huge, glamorous restaurant and bar space looks set to reopen just months after it closed down and attempted to rebrand.
SakkuSamba announced back in June that it was closing for a short while to undergo a refurbishment.
That news came after two years hosting all-you-can-eat sushi dinners and star-studded parties in Spinningfields, like an afterparty with Ne-Yo following his show at the AO Arena.
They wrote at the time: “Exciting News! We will be closing our doors on June 2nd for an exciting refurbishment and upgrade. We’re sorry to be closing for a little while, but stay tuned for updates over the next couple of weeks as we begin this transition!
“We can’t wait to show you what’s coming next soon!”
But then SakkuSamba never reopened and the space instead became Raft, essentially Manchester’s most boujie buffet.
Raft had a huge dining room upstairs, a hidden club room, a ‘toilet disco’, 360-degree DJ booths, and a ‘coastal boozer’ on the ground floor.
The restaurant when it was previously SakkuSamba. Credit: The Manc GroupVs when it was Raft. Credit: The Manc Group
Raft was only open for three months when it was suddenly bolted shut, with a forteiture notice in the window that was apparently linked to a ‘historic dispute’.
And now, in an unexpected twist in events, SakkuSamba has shared that it’s coming back to Manchester.
Keeping up okay? Let’s continue.
In the first post since announcing the temporary closure and refurbishment of both of its restaurants (in Manchester and in Bradford), SakkuSamba wrote: “SakkuSamba 2025. Manchester keep your eyes peeled, major announcement coming soon.”
If it follows the same format it took previously, that means a fusion of Brazilian and Japanese cuisine together in a swanky all-you-can-eat setting.
And hopefully it’ll last longer than poor Raft did…
Emily Sergeant -
3rd November 2021 
