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.
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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.
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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.
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“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.”
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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.
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To book, head over to On The Hush’s Instagram here.
An alternative Christmas market with flaming mulled wine and independent food traders is coming to Manchester
Daisy Jackson
There’s a new Christmas destination worth your time in Manchester this winter – and it’s a very different offering to the traditional Manchester Christmas Markets.
This brand-new winter venue will include a 200-capacity heated tent, bars serving flaming mulled wines, and will have a food and drink offering that features some of our city’s top independent businesses.
Christmas at St John’s will be operated by GRUB – and if you love to spend your spare time in a market setting, you’ll already know you couldn’t be in more trustworthy hands than this.
The GRUB team, champions of independent food and drink in Manchester, will be teaming up with St John’s on this lively winter hideaway.
At the centre of everything will be a Feuerzangenbowle bar, serving flaming mulled wines, with pop-ups from resident favourites like Trading Route and Stables Tavern as well as Good Wines and Verdant brewery.
Expect a revolving door of the region’s most exciting chefs and traders, serving unique festive dishes you won’t find anywhere else.
There’ll be eight rotating street food traders across the month-long event. Some of the names taking part include Soots (the Altrincham Market plant-based pasta kitchen that recently opened its first restaurant in the Northern Quarter); BAB with gormet kebabs; and Akin Club serving Middle Eastern small plates.
Soots. Credit: The Manc GroupKnight’s BBQ. Credit: SuppliedJim’s Table. Credit: SuppliedSome of the traders taking part in Christmas at St John’s, an alternative Christmas Market in Manchester
There’ll also be a Jims Table x Good Wines small plates and wine pairing collab, plus Knights BBQ with Jamaican flavours, and Yorkshire legends Spud & Bros with poutine too.
This alternative Christmas Market will have you tucking into open-fire cooking, hand-rolled pasta, tandoor dishes, nostalgic Christmas comfort food, and GRUB’s take on classic bratwursts.
Christmas at St John’s is promising to be a ‘celebration of creativity, quality and culture that brings together everything Manchester does best: independent food, crafted drinks and a sense of community you won’t find anywhere else’.
You’ll even be able to reserve and collect your Christmas tree from here, right in the centre of town.
There’ll be live entertainment all season, like Matty White’s festive food quiz, comedy nights, alternative choirs, and more.
How Christmas at St John’s could look. Credit: Supplied
It will all take place with a cosy 200-capacity heated tent and 60-metre custom-built event space.
Bailey, GRUB’s Director, says: “We’ve pulled out all the stops for this one. Calling on our trusted partners from years of delivering street food events across Manchester, we’re creating something truly unique this Christmas.
“You won’t find these offerings anywhere else. Christmas at St. John’s is all about good food, proper drinks and creating special Christmas memories.
“It’s also a taste of what’s to come as we work with Allied London to bring GRUB’s flagship home to life at Grape Street next year.”
Christmas at St John’s will run from Thursday 20 November until Sunday 21 December and will be open from Wednesday to Sunday every week.
‘Craic Den?’ – New Irish bar to open on Albert Square this week
Daisy Jackson
A new Irish bar is set to open in Manchester this week (yessir, another one), and its owners have been on the hunt for its new name.
Tokyo Industries has announced plans to reopen the Red’s True BBQ site, right off Albert Square, as a new Irish bar.
They’re promising it will have an ‘Irish American feel’ and will be serving food like all-day Ulster breakfasts as well as roast dinners with Guinness gravy.
Aaron Mellor, CEO of Tokyo Industries, has shared a call-out for name suggestions for the new bar, with the shortlist so far including names like ‘The Craic Den’ and ‘House of Guinness’.
Red’s True BBQ was famed for its slow-cooked meat, and outrageous specials like its doughnut burger, but shut down in Manchester in 2023.
It had previously been rescued by Tokyo Industries, which also operates other venues in town like Gorilla and Deaf Institute, Impossible, and Factory 251.
The site itself is in a magnificent Grade II-listed building on the corner of Albert Square, facing out onto the Town Hall (and soon, the Manchester Christmas Markets).
A new Instagram account shows the space slowly being transformed into an Irish bar, with green leather and Guinness logos slowly taking over the space.
It also suggests that, sadly, The Craic Den hasn’t made the cut as the new name – instead it’s set to open as Dirty O’Sullivan MCR.
Aaron Mellor shared last week: “Deciding on names for venues is always so hard – we’ve come up with about 300 names & suffering choice fatigue…
“It’s a new Irish bar with an Irish American feel set in the Reds True Barbecue site on Albert Square, Manchester.
“Amazing food – Great live entertainment – The finest Guinness – The coolest cocktails – All day Ulster Breakfasts – Guinness Gravey Sunday Roasts Mmm.
“Favorites So: Dirty O’Sullivans, Reds True Irish, Luck of the Irish, The Dublin Docker, The Hare & Harp, The Craic Den, The Perfect Pint, The StoreHouse, House Of Guinness, Murphy’s Law, Oscar Wildes.”
Dirty O’Sullivan is set to open on Lloyd Street at Albert Square this week.
Emily Sergeant -
3rd November 2021 
