Eats

Deansgate bar Simmons closes just over a year after opening

Another closure - and it's not even February yet...

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 29th January 2026

London-born bar brand Simmons has closed their Manchester site just over a year after opening their first Northern location.

They’ve lasted roughly 15 months on one of our busiest nightlife strips.

Opening on Deansgate back in October 2024, Simmons Manchester wasn’t just their first foray here up in this half of the country but their only other venue outside of the capital.

An otherwise well-established and popular chain down south, they have a total of 15 different bars in central London, but things clearly haven’t quite taken off as planned here in Manchester.

Credit: The Manc Eats

Placing a poster in the unit’s shopfront besides the likes of Be At One, Yours, The Moon Under The Water Spoons and the Deansgate branch of Slug and Lettuce, as you can see, the fellow franchise founded over a decade ago said: “After much consideration, we’ve made the difficult decision to close our doors.

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“It’s never easy to say goodbye”, they add, “We’re incredibly proud of what the team built here and so grateful to them, as well as everyone who joined us over the past year.

“We’ve had some unforgettable nights. We love Manchester, and we hope to be back under the right conditions.”

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They go on to thank everyone for being “part of the journey”, but for now, it looks like the room has closed effective immediately.

Simmons started back in 2012 when founder Nick Campbell opened the first bar below his flat in Kings Cross, and their presence has grown hugely since then. The closing sign was spotted and shared on social media earlier this week.

Simmons Manchester closed
byu/NeighborhoodJunior51 inmanchester

Offering everything from stylish cocktails to New York-style pizza, live music and even private karaoke booths, the place had plenty going on.

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With rising business rates, energy bills and more dovetailing with the continuing cost of living crisis that is still hampering both hospitality and the nightime economy, they are just one of many to unfortunately close their doors of late.

For instance, it was only earlier this month that we saw multiple well-known names shut up shop here in the city centre or elsewhere in Greater Manchester, including another long-standing late-night favourite, Revolution.

It’s a shame for any business to close, and we certainly hope they’ll return someday with a model that can be sustained in the current climate.

Glitzy Spinningfields bar famed for its bottomless deals shuts down

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Featured Images — The Manc Group/@NeighborhoodJunior51 (via Reddit)

Eats

Inside Butter Bird – Ancoats’ hottest new neighbourhood rotisserie with a menu dedicated to butter

Clementine Hall Clementine Hall

A new restaurant has opened its doors in Ancoats serving up two of life’s greatest pleasures.

Those two things being chicken and butter. And coincidentally, they go very well together.

Introducing Butter Bird, a new neighbourhood rotisserie restaurant that has taken over the old Counter House site on Blossom Street.

If you’ve been living under a rock or you have a healthy relationship with social media, then you won’t know that rotisserie chicken is very much ‘in’ for 2026.

Images: The Manc Eats

So of course, just like anything, Ancoats is first to hop on that trendy bandwagon.

When simple things are done properly then they’re very satisfying indeed, and that’s exactly what Butter Bird have achieved.

Built around classic spit cooking and time honoured technique, with an impressive Rotisol Millenium rotisserie oven at the heart of the space, the chickens are seasoned and brined in house, then slowly rotated over open heat so the meat self bastes as it cooks.

Images: The Manc Eats

The result? Moreish, crisp, golden skin, succulent meat and deep flavour.

If that doesn’t sound enticing enough, they’ve also got a section of their menu dedicated entirely to their house butters.

Flavoured, complex butters designed to compliment your bird in however you desire.

My personal favourite was the moroccan-spiced Chermoula, but the tarragon with wildflower and mustard was also stellar.

Images: The Manc Eats

Drinks wise they’ve got a great selection of Crémant, chosen to cut through the chicken fat, as well as fun cocktails and decent wines.

Obviously you’ll need some sides to go with your bird which you can order as a quarter or half, and they’ve got everything from rotisserie potatoes which you can douse in chicken gravy to a Caesar salad stuffed with enough croutons it’s probably not classed as a salad anymore.

Butter Bird opens to the public on Thursday 29 January, with a launch offer offering 50% off rotisserie chicken when booked in advance for the first two weeks.

Book your table here.

Read more: Quiet Corners: Cult and Coffee – the barbershop bar doing butties, beats and bags more

Featured images – The Manc Group

Eats

Quiet Corners: Cult and Coffee – the barbershop bar doing butties, beats and bags more

Danny Jones Danny Jones Cult and Coffee Manchester review

Every now and again, we stumble upon one of those places that just gives you a great vibe from the moment you step in the door, and Cult & Coffee is one of those places.

Truth be told, we had been in here two or three times before: a couple of times before heading to Old Trafford, when it was packed with both home and away fans, and on a third occasion in the hopes they’d let a young nephew use the loo. They did, by the way (thank you again, guys x).

On all of these visits, we got a good feeling about it – especially from the staff – and in every single instance we said to ourselves, “we really need to go back there soon.”

Well, we finally did just that, and this time it wasn’t just a fleeting visit; we made sure to properly introduce ourselves and see just how much different stuff they had going on.

Safe to say it didn’t disappoint.

Partners Jordan and Harriette James are the husband and wife couple behind this jack-of-all-trades treasure trove that deserves a lot more hype than the largely local and cult following they have most weeks. See what we did there?…

In all seriousness, multi-purpose gaff like this can often feel like a bit of a discordant mix of things cobbled together and concepts shoehorned in on a whim – but not this place.

Somehow, it only takes a few minutes to get used to the open-plan space that rolls from casual cafe and remote workspace to barbers, listening bar, and a handy spot to grab a quick bite to eat.

Maybe it’s something about the largely open-plan nature of the hallway-centric room that simply has to flow from one portion into another, or the fact that there’s just an effortlessly laid-back and cool vibe to the entire venue.

Located over in Clippers Quay on the edge of Salford Quays, with their shopfront tucked just behind some residential railing and quite literally on a stairway leading down to the towpath next to the River Irwell, it simultaneously feels like a tad too hidden and yet also like, dare we say it?… A ‘hidden gem’.

That’s certainly the case when you look at their recently expanded menu, which has since gone from predominantly revolving around brews, bakes and the bar offerings, to a fuller spread than ever, including colourful macro-friendly health bowls and delicious, freshly-prepared focaccia sandwiches.

(Credit: The Manc Eats)

For those who fancy grabbing a coffee whilst getting a haircut, there was already plenty of reason to pop in here, but what Jordan, Harriette and their team have managed to do is turn it into somewhere you can spend the better portion of a day just sat, well, chilling.

In fact, on follow-up visits, we fully intend to order a cuppa and a butty to go, walk down the steps leading down from the door towards the public canalside benches, while we enjoy our dinner (lunch) whilst looking over the water. Preferably on a sunny day, please.

Even if it is a grim day, you already have a slick soundtrack sorted, thanks to their dedicated ‘Cult Sounds’ page, which is even accompanied by regular livestreams.

Barbering, butties, beats and a bar suddenly doesn’t seem so random, does it? Honestly, try Cult & Coffee over in Ordsall for yourselves sometime soon, and you’ll see what we mean.

As for other quiet corners across Greater Manchester that are still criminally unsung, you recommend trying the award-winning Oldham pub that might just be one of the cosiest spots in the whole region.

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For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — The Manc Group

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