There are a lot of great beer gardens in Manchester. There are also a lot of places that claim to be ‘hidden gems’. But then, everything is a hidden gem if you don’t know where to look.
So allow us to introduce you to arguably the city’s best beer garden (more of a terrace really) with arguably the best view of the lot.
And I suppose it IS a hidden gem, in that it’s tucked way down the stairs below the Bridgewater Hall, not even visible from street level.
This is Society, a food hall and beer bar that crept into the city on the tail of Covid lockdowns.
Its outside space is pretty simple, just a few tables and benches, a handful of thriving planters, a string of fairy lights.
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But its setting is a stunner, right on the water’s edge of the Rochdale Canal, but that bit that calls itself a ‘lake’ and has a huge fountain.
Chaat Cart chicken at Society Manchester. Credit: The Manc GroupThe beer garden at Society Manchester. Credit: The Manc GroupVocation beers at Society. Credit: The Manc Group
From your position here, your view is of the architectural marvel that is the Bridgewater Hall, with all its shiny glass angles.
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The Society beer garden can officially call itself a sun trap too, thanks to its sunken position that shelters it from the blustery Manchester winds.
The beer is probably what the venue is best known for. It’s all operated by Vocation Brewery, with a whopping 44 lines of beer to work your way through, usually featuring a few rotating specials.
At the minute for example, there’s still the leftovers of the brewery’s Christmas special beers, which were inspired by Celebrations. The coconut milk chocolate stout is surely enough to convert even the most stubborn of Bounty-haters. Delicious.
If beer’s not your thing, you’ll find a decent cocktail menu too, including a summer-ready limoncello spritz and a bright blue margarita.
And then there’s the food. Society has a whole host of briliiant northern operators in residence in its kitchens.
There’s Chaat Caart, serving South Indian street food like masala chicken wings with gunpowder fries, hearty curries, and kebabs served on sourdough flatbreads.
Society is also home to Manzoku, where you’ll find katsu curries, bao, sushi, and wings.
Completing the food line-up are Noi Quattro with Neapolitan-style pizzas, Slap & Pickle with their legendary burgers, and Korean restaurant Yoki.
Lively Irish pub Nancy Spains set to open in Manchester for the first time
Daisy Jackson
An Irish bar famed for its live music is heading up to Manchester for the first time, and is promising £2.50 pints to lure us in.
Nancy Spains will be venturing out of London for the first time promising to bring the ‘ultimate traditional Irish pub experience’ to the Northern Quarter.
If you were to ask what the hottest trend in hospitality is right now the answer would, apparently, be Guinness. We’re drowning in the stuff.
This latest opening is more about Murphy’s, another Irish stout, than Guinness (they actually won’t serve Guinness at all) but the craic will be much the same.
Nancy Spains is actually set to open almost directly opposite the aforementioned Salmon of Knowledge, taking over the former Corner Boy unit on Stevenson Square in the heart of Manchester.
To celebrate its opening, the pub will be serving its first 5000 pints of Murphy’s for just £2.50, so that it can show off the atmosphere that’s established it as ‘one of London’s favourite pubs’.
They’re promising an array of Irish whiskeys behind the bar, live music performances, and a lively late-night setting.
Nancy Spains was set up by three brothers who travelled all over their home county of rural Kerry researching Irish pubs, before launching two venues down in London.
They want it to balance a traditional pub with the vibrancy of the city.
Peter O’Halloran, co-founder of Nancy Spains commented, “We’re so excited to be launching in Manchester, bringing Nancy Spains to the heart of the Northern Quarter.
“After the success of our two venues in London, it was only right to bring Nancy Spains’ infectious spirit and Irish pride to Manchester. Slainte!”
Nancy Spains will open its first Manchester pub on Saturday 15 March at 21 Hilton Street.
Lucky Mama’s – The Italian restaurant serving pasta in a dough bowl and ‘pregnant’ pizzas
Daisy Jackson
Lucky Mama’s is a local sensation, thanks to its slightly whacky but delicious Italian creations like pasta served in a bowl made of pizza dough and its latest offering, a ‘pregnant’ pizza.
What on Earth is a pregnant pizza, you ask? Firstly we should stress this is a nickname we’ve bestowed upon the dish, rather than Lucky Mama’s chosen branding.
But essentially it’s a helping of fresh pasta that’s folded into the bubble crust of the pizza, like a half-calzone.
Lucky Mama’s started life when founders Mamadou Dhiam and Gaby Santos set up a trailer in their backyard in Eccles in the depths of lockdown.
But thanks to a formidably loyal following that’s spread the word of Lucky Mama’s far and wide, it now has two pretty pink restaurants in Greater Manchester.
Back in 2022, they threw open the doors to their Chorlton restaurant, before returning back to home turf for spot number two in Monton in 2024.
The recipes are fresh and pretty authentically Italian up until the last step, when they throw a curveball by loading their pasta into unconventional vessels.
‘Pregnant’ pizzas at Lucky Mama’sTraditional Roman pizzasLucky Mama’s pink restaurant in Chorlton
Their pasta pizza bowls are what they’re best known for and they fly out of the kitchen – this is where pizza dough is placed around a metal bowl before being baked in an oven.
Then it’s piled high with freshly made pasta, with popular flavours like cacio e pepe, mushroom alfredo, and rasta pasta.
Pasta is available in a regular ceramic bowl too.
You’ll find Lucky Mama’s at 565 Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton; and 217 Monton Road in Eccles.
Daisy Jackson -
6th May 2023 
