Cloudwater is opening a new beer hall inside a former Victorian shipping warehouse
"We're proud to be able to open another venue in the city, especially one neighbouring Canal Street, which has long been a vital part of the city's nightlife."
Manchester brewery Cloudwater is opening a huge new flagship beer hall in Manchester.
The world-renowned brewer will bring its super-fresh, acclaimed beer selection to the Kampus neighbourhood.
They’ll be taking over the ground floor of Minshull House, a former Victorian shipping warehouse.
With a communal beer hall, beer tap wall, full kitchen and 3°c cold store, plus outdoor seating in both the Kampus garden and the new square on Chorlton Street, it’s set to be quite the behemoth – taking over a 3,798 sq ft space at the neighbourhood.
The Cloudwater garden at Kampus./ Image: Kampus
The beer hall’s kitchen will serve local and seasonal food throughout the day in a relaxed setting, perfect for work or casual lunch, but by the evening the space will become more lively with a mix of dining, parties and events.
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The new beer hall will become the brewery’ biggest location to date, complementing their existing tap room in London and the Sadler’s Cat pub and Unit 9 tap room in Manchester.
Speaking on the new opening plans, co-founder Paul Jones said: “We’re looking forward to joining the community at Kampus, which already includes a number of outstanding independent operators who are a major credit to our city.
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Image: Cloudwater
“Manchester means so much to us – far more than simply acting as our home city, it provides us with inspiration, feeds our creative energy and informs our values.
“So we’re proud to be able to open another venue in the city, especially one neighbouring Canal Street, which has long been a vital part of the city’s nightlife.”
The brewer has been creating its beer in Manchester since 2015, with its first brew dating back to Valentine’s Day.
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Since then, Cloudwater has grown into a huge export for the city as well as a local treasure, creating hundreds of evolving and seasonal beers and gaining a loyal band of followeres along the way.
Image: Cloudwater
In 2020, they brewed the equivalent of over a million pints of beer.
The brewery is the latest big name to join Kampus which, with the likes of Nell’s, General Store, Beeswing, Great North Pie and Pollen also signed up, is fast becoming a haven for some of Manchester’s most-loved indies.
Adam Higgins at Capital&Centric, described Cloudwater as a ‘perfect fit’, adding: “Every neighbourhood needs a good boozer and we just know it’ll be one of the friendliest, most inviting places in the city to kick back and enjoy a beer in the garden.”
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“It’s amazing that they’ve chosen Kampus for their biggest venture yet and we can’t wait to see what they will deliver.
Terms have been agreed on the 3,798 sq.ft space at the neighbourhood, being developed by Capital&Centric and HBD, with the brewery eyeing a spring opening.
Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Georgina Pellant -
6th January 2022 
