A brand-new cafe has opened on the third floor of the iconic Afflecks building, offering an all-day menu of British classics, from breakfast through to closing time.
Serving cafe classics, Third Floor Rising will dish up quality breakfasts with specialities including meat, vegetarian and vegan fry-ups and breakfast rolls, BLT, teas, coffees – basically everything required to kick start the day.
There’s also a solid list of homemade favourites – such as Tommy’s homemade pies, paninis, toasties and filled rolls, alongside Sarah’s tray bakes and cakes.
Image: Third Floor Rising
Image: Third Floor Rising
Third Floor Rising has been brought to Afflecks by husband and wife team Tommy Heaton and Sarah Abell – long-time Afflecks fans who felt that it was the perfect space for their new venture.
With a wealth of experience in hospitality spanning over 20 years, the pair decided now was the time to open their first space and atop one of the city’s most iconic buildings was too good an opportunity to miss.
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As one of Manchester’s most famous café spots rises again, the inspiration for the name comes from the book of the same title written by author Hilary Mantel when she worked at Affleck and Brown.
The cafe will be serving breakfast from 10.30am when Afflecks opens, as well as lunch and drinks all day long, designed to refuel hungry shoppers, visitors and traders alike.
The drinks menu includes coffees, smoothies, milkshakes and coolers. All of this will be brought to customers in a relaxed, homespun atmosphere with carefully considered vintage inspired interiors.
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Image: Supplied
Image: Third Floor Rising
From handwritten, daily-changing menus, to original 70s printed wallpaper, owners Tommy and Sarah wanted to emulate their own home and love of all things retro in the surroundings for the city’s new community cafe.
The welcoming space also reflects the amazing light and history within the building with its panoramic windows looking out onto the Northern Quarter. Plants and artwork from fellow Afflecks traders City and Bloom and Egoiste Gallery adorn the space.
Commenting on the launch, Tommy said: “Since we’ve joined we have loved getting to know everyone, from the cleaners to the management to the stall holders and the techs!
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“It feels like a family – a family we are proud to be part of. We are excited about the next few years as we plan to serve up hearty, homemade food in one of our favourite places in the world and we hope other people will love it too.”
AJ Martyn, General Manager at Afflecks, added: “We are thrilled to welcome another amazing independent business to the Afflecks community.
“Third Floor Rising is the perfect fit for the cafe space and we think the classic menu will really appeal to our customers. Tommy and Sarah have poured so much into the concept and we’re excited to be supporting them on their journey.”
Feature image – Supplied
Eats
Get Baked owner offers lifeline to hospitality staff after sudden closure of Almost Famous
Danny Jones
The owner of viral sweet treat brand, Get Baked, has given a potential lifeline to local hospitality staff in Manchester following the sudden news of Almost Famous’ nationwide closure.
Confirmation that the Northern foodie favourites and dirty burger pioneers would be shutting down all of their sites across the country hit the likes of Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool like a freight train on a truly sad Monday mourning.
Although countless customers expressed their condolences online and bid farewell to the more than decade-old institution, the question of what is/will happen to their numerous staff was quickly put to the forefront.
With Almost Famous employees informing The Manc that they had been given no notice of the immediate closure and some still being owed wages, many have sadly found themselves in a crisis. Step up, Leeds-born baker and businessman, Rich Myers.
Yes, Yorkshire’s very own ‘Mr Sprinkles’ – who is slowly building a small but solid and superbly sweet dessert empire in the North – dropped a comment underneath our announcement post and kindly slid into our DMs to help get the word to those who need it most.
With Get Baked’s first-ever Manchester store set to open this year, Myers and his team are on the lookout for staff to make sure it hits the ground running.
That being said, upon learning of AF’s gutting closure, Myers messaged: “Hi everyone. We are opening a new site in NQ on February 28th, and want to do what we can to help any ex-AF staff get into new employment.
Although Get Baked is now planning to move to a different location in Manchester city centre, the opening date is still edging ever closer and we literally cannot wait.
The brand’s original home in Headingley has become internet-famous for its viral take on the legendary ‘Matilda cake’.
It’s unclear as to whether Get Baked have vacancies beyond Manchester but it’s still well worth expressing your interest if you don’t mind a job switch that revolves around sweet instead of savoury.
As for those who have unfortunately been let go by the long-standing burger joint, we sincerely hope that as many of them are snapped up by other local hospitality businesses as possible – and fast.
Almost Famous has been hit with a fair amount of criticism following the mass shutdown; reflecting on this and a raft of recent closures, one person wrote: “I feel sorry for the hospitality industry as a whole and Manchester. But not for AF if they treat their staff with such contempt!
A former employee added: “As a staff member who hasn’t received any direct communication from the business about the immediate redundancy of my contract and no payment of owed wages – the ‘top priority’ comment doesn’t exactly ring true.”
Featured Images — Get Baked (via Instagram)/The Manc Group
Eats
Beloved Deansgate bar shares CCTV footage of customers stealing their… cushions?
Danny Jones
Beloved Manchester gin venue Atlas Bar has shared CCTV footage of two customers caught red-handed stealing their cushions this past weekend.
Firstly, don’t do that and secondly, what a random thing to steal.
Atlas on the corner of Deansgate has been an institution of the local hospitality scene for nearly three years, opening back in 1996 as one of the go-to pre-drinks destinations for those heading to the Hacienda.
Taken over and turned into the gin bar that’s popular day and night as we know it today back in 2012, it remains one of Manchester’s longest-standing independent boozers, so we were gutted and more than a bit puzzled to see them sharing images of patrons stealing property from their premises.
Sharing an understandably frustrated post, the bar wrote: “These two women decided that they needed to borrow (or maybe steal) two of our cushions last night [Sunday].
“We would be grateful if they brought them back soon! Hospitality is hard enough, without people taking what isn’t theirs to take! We would hate to have to involve the police.”
Now, we’re not going to play dumb and pretend people don’t nick the odd coaster or maybe even a pint pot from time to time – many of you reading might even be guilty of this minor sin (don’t worry, this isn’t an official investigation) – but we don’t think we’ve anyone try to sneak out with fabrics.
Petty theft it may be but it’s still theft nonetheless.
One commenter wrote: “Life is hard for hospitality at the moment and if they can afford to go out and drink they can afford to buy their own cushions”; another asked: “Are they expensive? – not the point I know but wondered why they would steal them.”
A third simply added, “What are people like? Fancy stealing a bloody cushion.”
As rightly pointed out by followers, there is plenty of stuff going against the food and drink sector as it is at the moment, so completely avoidable inconveniences like this are just as thoughtless as they are daft.
Atlas has been serving the local community for nearly thirty years, so we think it’s safe to say don’t deserve this kind of treatment, no matter how small it may seem to some.
Luckily for the mystery women pictured in the screengrab, the owners appear willing to welcome the pillow pillagers back to return the cushion without taking any further action and just be done with the whole thing.
Georgina Pellant -
2nd December 2022 
