Hidden away in a village of shipping containers on the outskirts of Ancoats is one of Manchester’s most gorgeous new drinking experiences.
The natural progression from an at-home wine delivery service started during lockdown, the new bar takes the name ‘Le Social’ to a whole new meaning.
It’s truly impossible to spend an evening here without being drawn into conversation with those around you, and that’s exactly the point.
With room for just six covers inside (nine at a push), it’s wonderfully intimate.
Image: The Manc Eats
The walls are lined with beautiful bottles of wine, in fact, there’s probably more room dedicated to the wine than the guests – but that only adds to its charm.
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Tucked away behind a muslin curtain, owner Jerome bustles in the kitchen preparing small plates which, just like the majority of the wine list, are created using responsibly sourced ingredients from French, Spanish and Italian producers.
The first bottle, Le Social sparkling, is a wine hand-selected by Jerome from a vineyard high up in the mountains just inland of Barcelona. Very dry with lots of acidity, technically it’s a cava but as he says it’s a “high spec” one.
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With no sugar added, it’s very fresh and floral, sitting somewhere between Champagne and prosecco.
Le Social Sparkling is technically a cava, but sits somewhere on the scale between a prosecco and Champagne. / Image: The Manc Eats
There’s a great story about the label, designed by Jerome’s friend – an artist and Go-Go dancer for Manchester’s queer block party for all, Homoelectric, called Tony Sanchez.
Showing us the design, he tells us: “During lockdown, he was clearly missing cuddles very much so he was drawing lots of erotic drawings […] I really liked what he was doing and I picked the more PG 13 one, which is just a nice innocent cuddle between a few different people”.
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Their heads are replaced with flowers, and the colours – mostly red, yellow and black – echo the artist’s own Spanish background, as well as the heritage of the wine, but there also nods to time spent in Japan through the calligraphy.
Jerome adds that he intends to showcase more of Tony’s work in an exhibition later this year, at which point the PG 18 illustrations will also be revealed – drawing a collective laugh from our little groups of twos and threes.
A selection of cheese sourced from local Manchester cheese celebrity, the Crafty Cheese Man, and bread from Ancoats’ Companio Bakery. / Image: The Manc Eats
Served with crisps, also from Catalonia, plump green olives and salted almonds, Jerome tells us that the idea behind the pairings is designed to mirror how it’s done in France or Italy.
Borrowing on the tradition of aperitif or aperitivo, where typically you might meet with friends after work for a few drinks, order a few nibbles (or, as is the case abroad, receive them complimentary), all the plates are small but delicious. Perfect for picking at.
As we progress through the wine list, more plates appear.
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Grilled artichoke halves are served with an easy-drinking Muscadet from Jerome’s hometown, and as it’s poured, we hear how in his village you’ll often tip out of the rave in the morning down to the market to drink this in shots along with oysters until you feel revived and ready to go again.
Olive oil is in plentiful supply. First in the crisps, then on the artichokes, then with aubergine fillets – served alongside a gorgeous French Divay.
Aubergine fillets in olive oil come served alongside a / Image: The Manc Eats An orange Pinos Gris 2021 wine from Fleet, South Gippsland, Australia. / Image: The Manc Eats
Next, an orange wine with tuna fillets (served in yes, more oil) – made in the red wine skin-on style, using white grapes to create a beautiful peachy colour. It all goes down a treat.
Taking a break for a cigarette, we wander out into the shipping container village and realise just how much of a secret this place really feels.
Despite being just a ten to fifteen-minute walk from the city, it’s very dark and quiet, with the exception of a lone drummer practicing nearby in another container.
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Festoon lights line the courtyard, and there’s a little picnic bench table on which we enjoy wine as we shorten our lifespans.
In the summer he hopes to extend more outside, telling us the patch gets the sunlight throughout most of the day. We expect by then this spot will be heaving with outside tables all drinking and laughing, but for now it feels very under the radar.
A great place to come to impress a date or any lover of fine wine. Jerome is the only retailer in Manchester dedicated to sourcing high-quality organic wines – albeit not everything on the list is so.
He also sets great store by parity in his producers, proudly telling us that at least half the list is created by female winemakers or couples.
New to the scene, visiting Le Social feels like being let into a beautiful secret.
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Open on Saturdays only between the hours of 2 and 10pm, expect an ever-changing menu of natural wines, deli boards and continental plates.
Booking is essential due to the size of the space. You can message Jerome through the Le Social website here.
Eats
Manchester’s Cat Café is set to reopen four years after its closure
Danny Jones
Feline fans, rejoice, because Cat Café Manchester looks like it is reopening more than four whole years after its unfortunate closure.
The city centre’s much-loved cat café – the only one of its kind in Greater Manchester and among just a small handful in the North West – closed back in 2021 following unavoidable economic struggles brought about by the pandemic
Despite being hugely popular before having to shut its doors, the business was unable to reach an agreement with their landlord at the time and the owners were left with no other choice than to close permanently – or so we thought…
Seemingly back from the dead and published their first post since 11 January 2021, the official Instagram page shared just one line along with a picture of their soon-to-be new premises.
Briefly teasing fans ahead of an official announcement, the post reads: “Manchester we’ve missed you! There’s only one thing this place needs…”
The shot taken across the road from Manchester’s historic Barton Arcade shows the large shopfront unit on the main Deansgate strip where the original Classic Football Shirts store used to be.
As you can see, although the vintage footy kit reseller’s brand and decals still remain plastered on the windows, the two-storey location has been vacant since October 2023 when CFS moved their flagship Manchester branch to Dale Street in the Northern Quarter.
We’ve personally been wondering what might take the old venue’s place for a while now, with the rest of the Grade II-listed Victorian shopping arcade populated by food and drink spaces, a barbershop and fashion retailers like The R Store, but after all this time the last thing we expect was the Cat Café.
This will no doubt come as wonderful news to the countless fans who were gutted to see it disappear just a few short years ago.
At the time, a fundraiser was set up in an attempt to rescue it and the pet-forward coffee shop format also paved the way for similar ventures like this one over Salford.
Although we’re still yet to hear any more details regarding a possible reopening date, we can safely assume their four-year hiatus will be coming to an end sometime in 2025.
When they were still up and running, the café had 10 resident cats at their original site on the edge of NQ, now home to one of two Gooeys in Manchester.
It is worth noting that there were some concerns raised around hygiene and animal welfare, though we’re sure steps have been taken to address these issues in the interim.
The Didsbury Dozen loses one of its best as The Dockyard confirms closure
Danny Jones
The Didsbury Dozen has lost one of its strongest stops as the much-loved Dockyard sadly closed for good this past weekend.
A favourite among those taking on the popular Greater Manchester pub crawl and a busy bar in its own right along the main Didsbury Village strip, The Dockyard has been a staple of South Manchester boozing for some time.
However, it’s time as part of the Dozen and in the heart of the community has come to an end, with the staff having completed their final service on Sunday, 19 January.
Sharing a short but heartfelt goodbye on social media, they welcomed customers to join them one last time “to raise a glass and say cheers!”.
An unreal beer garden too. (Credit: The Manc Group)
The post begins: “Right Didsbury… Thank you so much for your welcome and custom when we arrived here in the village, but the time has now come to say goodbye. We have had a blast over the last four years and we hope you have too!”
Although many relatively new to the area or at least its drinking scene will only know it as The Dockyard, the venue has actually been under a lot of names over the years.
Originally known as Times Square, it was then refurbished into a branch of O’Neills in 1996 before going on to re-open as The Stokers Arms in 2014.
Nevertheless, it maintained a regular and loyal following as The Dockyard and many will be “sorry to see it go”; one person commented: “Oh no! We had a fab time in here over Christmas and [were] hoping to return soon. Sorry to see you go and I will be visiting your other sites.
Thankfully, they did go on to confirm that the remaining pubs in Salford Quays and Northwich will remain open – as is the Left Bank location in Spinningfields overlooking the River Irwell. Better still, the building itself will still remain a pub and we already know what’s taking its place:
Although there is still no news on when we can expect to see The Salmon’s second venture launch, if it’s anything like the success the Northern Quarter one has seen then we’re in for a treat.
So don’t worry, The Didsbury Dozen may have taken a hit but it’s still intact and there are plenty of other pubs you can work into the crawl in the meantime.
For now, though, all we can say is rest in peace to The Dockyard Didsbury, you were a real one – we’ll always have the memories.
Georgina Pellant -
4th February 2022 
