Eats

Manchester’s Joy Division-inspired bar has shut down, to be replaced with ramen restaurant

All change on High Street.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 17th March 2025

A bar in the heart of Manchester that was inspired by the legendary Joy Division has quietly closed its doors, and its spot in the Northern Quarter already snapped up by a new operator.

Disorder opened in 2023 on High Street, taking over the former Walrus bar and turning it into a restaurant and bar inspired by one of the city’s most famous bands, with decor including a mural of Ian Curtis himself, painted by the legendary local street artist Akse-P19.

Disorder has now quietly closed its doors, with its social media pages falling silent.

But the site itself won’t stay quiet for long – a new application has already been lodged for a popular ramen and sushi spot to move in.

Maki and Ramen have submitted plans to open another of its Japanese restaurants here in the Northern Quarter, pretty much down the street from their existing, and very busy, York Street.

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The brand started life in Edinburgh, before opening more restaurants across Glasgow, Leeds, and arriving in Manchester in 2023.

Founder Teddy Lee spent time studying the art of both ramen and sushi making in the heart of Tokyo to hone the menu at Maki and Ramen.

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Maki and Ramen is taking the former Disorder site in the Northern Quarter
Maki and Ramen is taking the former Disorder site in the Northern Quarter. Credit: The Manc Group

Now you’ll find sushi, side plates and other mains, including classic tonkotsu ramen, steak tataki and salmon miso.

The interior of the existing restaurant is filled with pink cherry blossoms, and the walls are adorned with post-it notes that customers sign and leave well-wishes on.

Disorder had been serving an Asian fusion menu, which features items like Japanese sandos, loaded skewers, and tostadas, but was best-known for its live events down in its basement.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

Deansgate’s new mini brunch triangle attracting regular queues – and rightly so

Danny Jones Danny Jones New Manchester brunch spot triangle Deansgate

Manchester is absolutely bursting at the seams with brilliant brunch spots, and don’t even get just started on trying to pick from all 10 boroughs as a whole, it’s impossible.

However, over the past year or so, we suddenly realised that somewhat of a city centre trio of brunch spots serving unreal breakfasts, midday delights and early afternoon scran has emerged.

A new Manc brunch triangle, if you will.

While some have been there longer than others, all three of these places within aren’t just within spitting distance of each other but are enjoying a real wave of success at the moment – and it’s no surprise why: they’re all utterly incredible.

Three brilliant city centre brunch spots for you to try

1. Bruncho

First up on the list is the aptly named Bruncho, which opened just last summer, and despite announcing itself to the Manchester hospitality scene rather quietly at the time, it’s starting to pick up some serious pace now.

Specialising in unreal breakfasts and Mediterranean exports like menemen, Turkish eggs, their own spins of spicy favourite shakshuka, as well as plenty of dessert-forward plates with colour palettes as full as the plates themselves.

It goes without saying that you can obviously get a proper good ‘Bruncho Full English‘, but we’d encourage you to branch out and, who knows, maybe have a brekkie that features ice cream? In fact, it’s sentences like that which make it our Thomas’ favourite way to start the day – albeit ideally a lie-in.

2. Alex’s Bakery

Now, another very strong candidate which has been around on the Manc brunch scene much longer than the other two on this list is local success story, Alex’s Bakery, though we’ll admit we’d mainly visited this place for the unreal brownies, cupcakes and other assorted sweet treats until recently.

However, in addition to the popularity of their lunch deal (a panini, cupcake and drink), they’ve really stepped up their wider brunch offerings of late, going from what was once just a Manchester Artisan Market back in 2014 to branching out into everything good you can put on toast and tonnes more.

It may not garner the often ridiculously long queues of other places, but that’s because this place has a steady flow of regulars all week long who’ve steadily fallen in love with it over many years. They’re tres leches cakes alone are well worth the visit.

3. Acai And The Tribe

Last but not least, the acai craze is undoubtedly one of the biggest foodie trends around right now, as proven by the lines that gather outside this Great Northern venue at least once virtually every weekend – but Acai And The Tribe has actually been on the hype for ages.

That being said, after moving from Arndale Market to Deansgate Mews back in 2022 and now along the main strip in recent months, their popularity has skyrocketed. If you’re looking for a health brunch open packed with vibrance, vitamins and plenty of other very nice toppings, this is the one for you.

We’ll warn you, finding the right window to visit is essentially if you don’t want to wait around for ages these days, but both Clem and Daphne still greatly approve, so it’s it gets the seal of approval from us.

So, while we could recommend you a whole load of fantastic places in around Manchester city centre, we’ve been particularly charmed by this mini Manc brunch triangle around Deansgate.

Best of all, it’s just always great to see local businesses thriving, isn’t it? Especially when it comes to people lining the streets and sending it viral just for a chance to taste their offerings.

Modern breakfast and brunch are things that can be either perfect in their simplicity or surprising in their creativity; either way, we’re glad there are plenty of examples of that here in Manchester.

Trust us, we take this stuff very seriously…

The top 25 places for the best breakfast and brunch in Manchester

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Featured Images — The Manc Group

Eats

This new app tells you the best sunny pub spots in Manchester

Thomas Melia Thomas Melia

A brand new app has launched, which tracks the sun and tells you where the best sunny pub spots in Manchester are throughout the day.

No, you’re not dreaming: this is what heaven feels like. This all-new app, initially trialled in London and now covering Manchester, allows users to identify the best sun traps in our stunning city centre.

Designed and created by architect Mo Dawod, Sunseekr aims to show you the best pub, cafe and restaurant locations where you can take advantage of and soak up all the sun in real time.

As well as being a handy tool to use throughout the day, you can use this sun-centric app to pre-plan your day, as it lets you know all the sunny spots in advance for anyone who fancies chasing the sun.

The app shows you the best pubs, cafes and restaurants to catch some rays.
The app shows you the best pubs, cafes and restaurants to catch some rays.
You can easily chase the sun around Manchester city centre with this handy new app.
You can easily chase the sun around Manchester city centre with this handy new app.
Credit: Screenshots via Sunseeker

Of course, we don’t need an app to tell us all the best sunny pub spots in Manchester as locals and visitors alike know about our pride and joy, Stevenson Square.

However, this new technology will come in handy for organising your next beer garden trip and locating exactly where you’re guaranteed to sit down and possibly catch a tan.

Sunseekr had a trial run in London first, catching the attention of reputable publications like Timeout London and even got itself featured on BBC London.

It makes perfect sense why Dawod made this app; being a Battersea resident, his area of London is packed with plenty of amenities such as pubs and bars, perfect for sitting out and relaxing in the sun.

Now the sunny app has spread nationwide, including Manchester, meaning we Northerners can make the most of the precious sun while we have it.

Safe to say here at The Manc we know a lot of good places to soak up the sun while sipping on a class pint.
Safe to say, here at The Manc, we know a lot of good places to soak up the sun while sipping on a class pint.
Nothing beats a crisp pint and some gorgeous Manchester sunshine.
Nothing beats a crisp pint and some gorgeous Manchester sunshine.
Credit: The Manc Eats

The arrival of this sun-tracking pub-spotting app gives us the perfect excuse to drop everything and make our way to the nearest beer garden to put this to the test ourselves, it’s not like we needed any encouragement…

Sunseekr is available to download NOW and allows users to live-track the sun to see if any pubs, cafes or restaurants near you have been blessed by the sun.

We’re in the business of knowing about beer gardens galore, so this long-overdue app just made our lives a whole lot easier.

Catch you at the pub!

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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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