Shrouded in scaffolding, The Deansgate has been boarded up since it closed its doors in early 2020 – but now the neat red brick Manchester boozer is being given a new lease of life.
Acquired by UK pub giant Greene King earlier this year, the city centre watering hole has been through many iterations in its 200+ year history. Now, it is being lovingly restored and reimagine once again.
During the past two and a bit years, there’s been much speculation from city dwellers about what is next for the pub. At last, we can fill you in.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Currently in the midst of a three-month-long reburbishment. when it reopens the pub will boast two additional outdoor terraces and an extra third floor.
As for its existing two floors and rooftop terrace, these are undergoing a complete refit and refurb with new owners Greene King aiming to retain as many of the pub’s characterful features as possible.
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Stained glass windows, external frontage, ceilings, and woodwork will be restored to their original glory, whilst the pub’s beautiful festoon lights are given a glow up.
Elsewhere, new additions will include a feature bar and bespoke brass fonts on the ground floor, built-in seating booths for casual dining, and the aforementioned two new outdoor terraces.
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Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Formerly known as the Crown Inn, (as can be seen on the stonework above the door), then Galvin’s Irish Bar, then simply Galvin’s, the building itself has been a pub since the 18th Century.
Desribed as once being ‘a typical backstreet boozer’ (despite sitting on Deansgate), in years gone by it was a popular haunt of local bikers who would frequent the Harley Davison store that once upon a time neighboured it.
In a period where many pubs are closing, the renovation and reopening of this beloved Manchester watering hole is very welcome indeed.
Speaking on the renovation and planned reopening, Jonathon Evans, General Manager at The Deansgate, said: “The Deansgate is well-known and well-loved by the people of Manchester and we are looking forward to opening its doors once more and welcoming customers old and new.
“The new-look pub will pay homage to some of the venue’s original features and we also have some exciting new additions which we’re looking forward to unveiling.”
An official reopening date has not yet been confirmed for the pub but it is set to be this month.
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For more information on The Deansgate, visit the Greene King website here.
Feature image – The Manc Eats / Supplied
Eats
Ancoats neighbourhood bar shames customers who ran off on unpaid rosé bill
Daisy Jackson
A waterside cocktail bar in Ancoats has slammed a group of customers who left the venue without paying their bill this weekend.
Finders Keepers on New Islington Marina has publicly shamed the trio, sharing CCTV images of them making off from the venue.
The local business has labelled the customers ‘Manchester’s newest girl group, Rosé & The Runners’.
They added that the group had enjoyed a few bottles of rosé wine but left before paying their £160 bill.
Finders Keepers also said that the incident occurred on a ‘record-breaking’ day last Saturday, when the city bathed in beautiful spring sunshine.
Since releasing the CCTV images this afternoon, the bar has been flooded with messages of support – including one very notable one from Sacha Lord.
Sacha has offered to pay off the girls’ tab so that the bar isn’t left out of pocket, AND has suggested providing a £500 reward to anyone who can name and shame them.
He commented: “Everyone knows how tough it is in Hospitality right now…how can anyone want to do this to a small independent business. I’ll settle that bill mate…plus give a £500 reward to name and shame them.”
Finders Keepers bar on New Islington MarinaFinders Keepers shared this CCTV of the customers who left the bar without paying
Another person commented: “foul behaviour! Sorry this happened to you guys.”
Someone else wrote: “Love a good photo shame when folk rip off a business… Hope they pay!!”
Posting earlier today, Finders Keepers said: “We’d like to thank Manchesters newest girl group, Rosé & The Runners. Who enjoyed a few bottles of Rosé wine with us on this record breaking Saturday, without paying.
“If you’d like to come back & pay your £160 bill then we’re back open on Wednesday, alternatively get in touch and we can send you a payment link.
“Next time you fancy a free bar tab perhaps join us for our quiz this Sunday from 7pm. £100 tab to be won!
Brilliant Salford Greek restaurant receives glowing national review
Daisy Jackson
A fabulous Greek restaurant in Salford has received a glowing review from a top food critic, who described its food as providing ‘its own gorgeous kind of sunshine’.
Acclaimed restaurant critic Jay Rayner has heaped praise on Kallos in his Financial Times review.
The modest restaurant has been open for just over a year, but has already earned itself a place in the prestigious Michelin guide – and now a rave national review too.
Operated by couple Ioanna and Ivan, Kallos brings a taste of Santorini to their stripped-back, concrete-filled, light-flooded new space in Salford.
And while Jay Rayner admits in his review that Kallos’s interior hasn’t done much to lift this corner of Salford’s ‘badly organised grid of fast-rising apartment blocks’, the food itself ‘provides its own gorgeous kind of sunshine’.
Rayner heaped praise on Kallos’s phenomenal flatbreads, noting how it’s impossible to exercise restraint ‘in the face of bread this good’.
He also raved about their topped flatbreads (like one with ‘knots of sweet roasted lamb shoulder cooked until it has collapsed’), red prawns the length of a hand, and soft dolmades stuffed with rice and minced meat.
Topped flatbread with lambTinned fishPrawn SaganakiThree of the dishes Jay Rayner loved at Kallos. Credit: The Manc Group
Kallos is part-owned by sommelier Ivan, who is striving to have the largest collection of Greek wines in the UK at the restaurant.
Jay Rayner noted both the selection and the affordability of this carefully-curated wine list, saying that it’s nice to find that ‘outside London, drinking well need not require the sale of a spare kidney or child’.
And then he came to the section of the menu that’s dedicated to premium tinned fish.
“It feels like the UK has woken up only relatively recently to the possibilities of impressively fine foods from a can,” he wrote.
Kallos in Cortland at Colliers Yard, SalfordKallos in Salford has been added to the Michelin Guide
“It is genuinely exciting to see Kallos devote a whole section of the menu to these treasures, even if it is basically the same victory of shopping that results in a good cheese board.
“But it takes both serious knowledge and a brave evangelical enthusiasm to offer a list like this.”
Rayner’s review went on to praise the tinned mackerel, served with a ‘balloon of hot bread’, pickled chillies, and an ‘aioli made with so much garlic, consenting adults should make sure to eat it together’.
Signing off his review, Jay Rayner wrote: “As the plate lands on the table, the sun finally comes out over both Salford and Kallos. Finally, the grey is banished. At last, all the beauty is here.”
Georgina Pellant -
11th October 2022 
