Coffee has understandably been a crutch for many people over the past few months.
Latte, cappuccino, americano, flat white, espresso, mocha, iced, seasonal specials and more – however you take it, those freshly brewed beans are always there to provide a pick-me-up when we need it most, and as we head into our final weekend of England’s national lockdown, there’s plenty of independent cafes and coffee houses in Manchester city centre that are #StillServingMCR.
Our trusty favourites are always here to keep us caffeinated and refreshed at the toughest of times.
So if you find yourself in the city centre looking for that quick caffeine fix this weekend and are stuck for where to go, we’ve rounded up some of the best places that are still open for walk-ins to head on down to and grab yourself a takeaway coffee.
There’s never been a more crucial time to support local.
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Feel Good Club
Northern Quarter
Mental health and wellbeing cafe Feel Good Club – Manchester’s new kid on the block in the Northern Quarter – has remained open throughout the second national lockdown for takeaway services to provide much-needed support for those who need it most.
And on top of that, the coffee is just pretty damn good.
26 – 28 Hilton Street, Manchester, M1 2EH
Friday – Saturday: 9am – 9pm
Sunday: 10am – 4pm
You can find more information via the Feel Good Club website here.
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Federal
Northern Quarter & Deansgate
Serving up quality Antipodean-style coffee from two locations in the heart of Manchester city centre, the ever-popular and much-loved Federal Cafe & Bar is still open for walk-ins to grab yourself a wide range of takeaway beverages this weekend.
You can find more information via the Federal Cafe & Bar website here.
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Hampton & Vouis
Princess Street
Taking great pride its award-winning speciality coffee, Hampton & Vouis is still open this weekend in the heart of the city centre to grab yourself a freshly-brewed cup to go.
31 Princess Street, Manchester, M2 4EW
Saturday: 10am – 3pm
Sunday: 10am – 3pm
You can find more information via the Hampton & Vouis website here.
Rather aptly admitting that “coffee is everything” and preparing each cup to perfection, Foundation Coffee House still has the doors to its Northern Quarter premises open this weekend, so you can pop in and grab yourself a takeout brew while you’re passing.
Sevendale House, Lever Street, Manchester M1 1JB
Saturday: 9am – 5pm
Sunday: 9am – 5pm
You can find more information via the Foundation Coffee House website here.
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Fress
Northern Quarter
There’s no doubt Fress is best-known for its mouth-watering comfort food, bottomless brunches, and indulgent sweet treats, but did you know you can also pop in to grab a takeaway coffee of your choice this weekend too?
Don’t count it out.
62 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LE
Saturday: 11am – 6pm
Sunday: 11am – 4pm
You can find more information via the Fress website here.
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Just Between Friends
Northern Quarter & Ancoats
Freshly-brewing each cup of coffee with love, Just Between Friends is now open for takeout at both its Tib Street site in the heart of the Northern Quarter and its Ancoats site too, so you can grab a cup of your choice to-go this weekend.
You can find more information via the Just Between Friends website here.
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Siop Shop
Northern Quarter
By far one of the Northern Quarter’s most unique hangouts in all its brightly-coloured glory, you can pop by Siop Shop this weekend to get yourself that quick caffeine fix, and perhaps a sweet doughnut treat too if that takes your fancy.
53 Tib Street, Manchester M4 1LS
Saturday: 10am – 3pm
Sunday: 10am – 3pm
You can find more information via the Siop Shop website here.
Proudly championing Antipodean coffee culture with a Northern accent, Pot Kettle Black is serving up some of the finest freshly-brewed cups of caffeine from its Barton Arcade takeout hatch in the heart of the city centre, so it couldn’t be easier to grab as you go.
Barton Arcade, Deansgate, Manchester, M3 2BW
Saturday: 9:30am – 3pm
Sunday: 9:30am – 3pm
You can find more information via the PKB website here.
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Takk
Northern Quarter
Serving a range of single origin coffees that change on a weekly basis and dedicated to sourcing some of the best coffees available in Europe, Takk is freshly-brewing cups to go from its Tarrif Street site in the heart of the Northern Quarter only at weekends, so make sure to swing by if you’re passing.
6 Tariff Street, Manchester, M1 2FF
Saturday: 10am – 3pm
Sunday: 10am – 3pm
You can find more information via the Takk website here.
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Ezra & Gil
Northern Quarter
Beloved neighbourhood hangout Ezra & Gil has provided Manchester with an evolutionary concept in urban coffee and cafe culture since opening doors 2015, and is still serving freshly-brewed cups to go in the heart of the Northern Quarter this weekend.
20 Hilton Street, Manchester, M1 1FR
Saturday: 8:30am – 7pm
Sunday: 8:30am – 7pm
You can find more information via the Ezra & Gil website here.
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The Manc Group has partnered with Deliveroo to help local restaurants deliver during lockdown as part of our #StillServingMCR campaign.
Working alongside Deliveroo, The Manc will ensure all restaurants on the service will get the amplification they need across our social platforms. We’ll update our one million-strong audience on your latest updates and deals and we’ll create conversations with the masses about our favourite scran from your menus.
Basically, we will champion you, and we will go above and beyond to do it.
Lupo Caffe Italiano – a taste of sunny Rome on a Prestwich industrial estate
Daisy Jackson
The sun is beating down on you, there’s a couple of luminous orange Aperol Spritzes on the checked tablecloth, Italian pop music is trickling out over the speakers and you’ve got two heaping bowls of pasta on the way.
The setting could easily be a cobbled street in front of the Colosseum in Rome. But it’s not. It’s an industrial estate in Prestwich.
Lupo must be one of Greater Manchester’s most hidden gems in a very literal sense.
To get here, you have to drive or walk a strange looping circuit around industrial warehouses peddling everything from splashbacks to burglar alarms to grow tents.
One of these warehouses, located in the very furthest yard, looks a little different to the others, festooned with bunches of garlic and dried herbs strung up from the ceiling.
There are shelves full of pasta, sauces and even crisps, a fridge packed with delicious Italian wines and beers, and retro football shirt-inspired merch hanging from the walls.
Its awkward location does nothing to hold back its loyal customers, who repeatedly return for the authentic taste of Rome on offer here.
Lupo is operated by Nico Pasquali, who first ran it as a tiny Italian cafe on Chapel Street in Salford (before all the high-rises appeared), then shifted it over to the odd shiny-commercial-office-land that is Exchange Quay, then took it almost entirely remote to trudge through the pandemic.
Lupo’s charming interiorsNico has added outside seating to LupoThe pasticceria selection at Lupo
At one point, Caffè Lupo existed mostly on WhatsApp, with customers texting in their orders ready for a doorstep drop on a Friday night.
But now the large-ish commercial unit is its main business, and it’s a special one.
You are greeted, always, with a friendly wave, then given the sort of service where you’re very gently guided to order all the best things on the menu that day, feeling like you’ll personally offend Nico if you order differently and stray from his recommendations. Thankfully it’s pretty easy to trust this man.
It’s extremely hard for me to see amatriciana on a menu and not order it – so I don’t try. One bowl of rigatoni amatriciana for me, and make it cheesy.
This is a textbook example of the deceptively simple pasta dish. Fatty guanciale cooked right down so that all that delicious pork fat melts into the tomatoes, then it’s seasoned with, I presume, several generations of secrets and love from Italian nonnas.
Rigatoni amatriciana, and fennel sausage orecchietteA spread of Lupo’s Italian foodPepernata – Nico’s mum’s recipeThe Pizza Lupo
The sweet, salty, meaty sauce is available on a pizza too, which will be top of my list next time I visit.
Across the table it’s a special (but it’s been on the menu for a while now) of orecchiette with fennel sausage and romanesco broccoli.
Nico tells us a customer once refused to pay for this dish because it wasn’t ‘saucy’ enough. Heathen.
That’s the running theme with Lupo – don’t come here expecting Neapolitan pizzas, or flat whites, or hot honey dips for your pizza crusts. It isn’t the Roman way, and Nico isn’t about to veer away from his proud roots to mould into any passing fads or trends.
If you’re after authenticity and tradition though, this is comfortably the top Italian in Greater Manchester.
If you can come to Lupo and walk away without ordering something sweet from the counter, you’re a stronger person than me.
PasticceriaOwner NicoLupo’s famous millefoglie
They’re famed for their doughnuts (rightly), with bouncy dough filled with flavours including pistachio cream, lemon, and homemade jams.
Also displayed in neat rows are fruit tarts with a glossy glaze, towering cream cakes in neat layers, and puff pastry cannoncini.
But Nico is adamant, absolutely adamant, that we order a slice of his millefoglie. It’s a sell-out, he says. We’re lucky he even has some in stock, he tells us. Who are we to argue?
And if you’ve made it this far, just stop reading right now, get in the damn car and go get yourself a slice before it sells out again.
Layers of lighter-than-air homemade pastry are sandwiched together with delicately sweet cream, hints of almond throughout, and it’s good enough to bring a tear to your eye.
We leave with a doughnut in a box too, so that we at least have a snack if we get completely lost finding our way back out of the industrial estate.
A bottomless brunch with unlimited lager is launching in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
A bottomless brunch with unlimited pints of lager will be launching in Manchester this month.
Forget the mimosas and warm prosecco and lacklustre portions of French toast – this new bottomless offering is all about proper pints and hefty focaccia sandwiches.
The Lager, Lager, Lager bottomless brunch is the newest fixture in the Trading Route’s roster, taking place in the lagerhouse at St John’s every Saturday.
It’s designed to be Manchester’s first bottomless tailored to those who love, tall, foamy pints of the good stuff.
Every punter will get 60 minutes of unlimited, freshly-poured foamy pints, as well as a choice of the restaurant’s focaccia sandwiches, made in-house every single day.
DJs will be spinning classic house and disco tunes as you tuck into your pints and butties.
Jamie Scahill, Trading Route Co-Founder said: “Lager, Lager, Lager isn’t an underworld event, it’s for everyone who loves a freshly poured foamy pint to come down and enjoy.
“Whether you were born slippy or not, the fun is to leave slippy, having revelled in great beer, food and company.”
A bottomless brunch with unlimited lager is launching in Manchester
Trading Route opened last year, specialising in perfectly-poured pints of Manchester Union, as well as rotisserie chicken and huge sandwiches.
As well as Lager, Lager, Lager’s launch, over the bank holiday weekend there’ll be a happy hour which will include £4.80 pints, cocktails at £8.50 and a carafe of wine for £12.50 on Thursday 21 August.
Funkademia will then take over the venue from 5pm on Friday 22 August.
Lager, Lager, Lager will begin on Saturday 23 August and will run every Saturday from 12pm until 5pm.
The Trading Route bottomless lager brunch costs £28, and you can book your spot HERE.
Emily Sergeant -
27th November 2020 
