The team behind one of Ancoat’s coolest venues has been quietly working away on plans for a new venue on the other side of town for months. Now, at last, they’ve teased out some details – promising to open this summer and bring ‘Manchester’s biggest beer garden’ to Piccadilly East.
Called Diecast, the new 5,000 capacity space is set to be something of a behemoth. Within its giant new beer garden, its vast outside area will also house an open-air BBQ kitchen, ‘NeoPan’ pizzeria and festival-style ‘House of Daiquiri’ and ‘Rum Town’ bars.
Specialising in frozen daiquiris and pina coladas alongside heritage and new world rums, when the next heatwave hits this summer we know where we will want to be drinking.
Add to that plans for an in-house beer and kombucha brewery, night market, brewing co., warehouse restaurant, and a huge festival stage, and it really does sound like this is going to be a huge new opening for Manchester this summer.
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
Set to open in stages, according to bosses the outdoor area will launch first although no date has been set as of yet.
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Emphasising the size of the project, Joel Wilkinson, DieCast Director and owner, said “We’re taking all our learnings from Ramona and The Firehouse, but this time it’s on an industrial scale.
“It’s more than a venue. It’s an area within itself. A new creative neighbourhood for the city.”
Due to the sheer scale of the site, the city centre location and striking industrial aesthetics, DieCast is already in use as the industrial backdrop for events, parties, shoots, and film locations.
Adelaide Winter, Creative Director at Diecast, added: “The Factory floor and Machine Works are already being used for creative events, filmmakers, musicians and event producers to use.
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“This is the first part of establishing DieCast as a new creative resource for the city, but this summer we will finally open the garden to the public for the first time ”
Built around a 250,000-square-foot former foundry and warehouse. Untouched since its last update in 1983, it’s a paradigm of Manchester’s industrial aesthetic: with corrugated steel, roof-block walls, large roller shutters, and a concrete terrazzo stretching throughout.
Just a few minutes walk from Manchester Piccadilly train station, Diecast will be located between Store Street and Ducie Street. To keep up with more updates, make sure to follow Diecast on Instagram here.
Feature image – Supplied
Eats
Bar Posie – The beautiful new cocktail bar with an oyster happy hour from the team behind 10 Tib Lane
Daisy Jackson
The team behind Manchester’s 10 Tib Lane restaurant are ready to open a brand-new city centre cocktail bar, with an oyster happy hour.
They have announced that Bar Posie will be opening next week in the old Philpotts sandwich shop, right off Market Street.
The brand-new bar for the city centre will be serving cocktails, small plates and bar snacks, at the foot of Bruntwood SciTech’s Bloc building (also home to the Reset by Form pilates studio).
Bar Posie will be doing an aperitvo and oyster happy hour every Tuesday to Sunday between 12pm and 4pm, with £8 aperitivo and oysters for a quid.
It’s all coming from the 10 Tib Lane team, which opened in the old Bock Biere site back in 2021, transforming the space into a cosy multi-storey restaurant with seasonal sharing dishes.
This week, Bar Posie has shared a sneak peek of its menu, which will feature quality plates like confit chicken and wild mushroom croquettes, pork belly skewers, and a bitter leaf salad with buttermilk dressing.
As for drinks, expect cocktails like a cacao nib negroni, a classic vodka martini, and ‘La Isla’, a blend of Aperol, almond, Takamaka koko, mango and melon soda and acid.
That’s alongside conventional and natural wines, craft beer, and plenty of coffee.
Cocktails at Bar PosieHighlights of the snack menuA selection of snacks and cocktails at Bar PosieBar Posie is just off Market StreetInside Bar PosieInside Bar PosieCredit: The Manc Group
The space itself will be split into a mix of cosy booth seating, bar seats, and al fresco dining across two levels, with the cocktail bar at the very heart of everything.
Sophie Robson from Posie said: “We’re thrilled to finally be opening the doors to Posie. We’ve put all our passion and expertise into curating a menu that feels fresh and exciting, and into creating a space where people feel comfortable, looked after and relaxed.
“We can’t wait to welcome guests and show them the best of Posie.”
Matt Pazos, Retail Commercial Manager for Bruntwood SciTech, commented: “We’re delighted to welcome Posie to the Bloc community.
“The team’s unique style is clear to see in the space, transforming it into a beautiful and inviting bar with an innovative menu offering that is testament to their expertise.
“Posie will make a fantastic addition to Manchester’s food and drink scene and we can’t wait to see how the brand grows in the coming months.”
Bar Posie will open in Bruntwood SciTech’s Bloc building on Tuesday 4 November.
Greggs confirms Festive Bakes return date as it unveils 2025 Christmas menu
Emily Sergeant
Greggs has unveiled its Christmas menu for 2025, and that means the Festive Bake is back again in all its glory.
The UK’s most-popular high street bakery chain has officially revealed its festive food and drink offering for the 2025 season, and there’s a few brand-new goodies joining the lineup this year, along with the return of some undeniable fan favourites.
And of course, nothing spells Christmas at Greggs quite like the Festive Bake, right?
The chain’s classic crumb-coated pastry filled with chicken, sage and onion stuffing, and sweetcure bacon in a creamy sage and cranberry sauce goes down an absolute treat each year, and is a serious fan-favourite, so it’s no surprise it’s made a comeback for 2025.
Thankfully for plant-based foodies, the Vegan Festive Bake has also made a comeback, but this year under a slightly different name – the Vegan Lattice (Festive Edition).
Greggs has unveiled its Christmas menu for 2025 / Credit: Greggs
Despite the new name, the flavours have stayed the same, as the Vegan Festive Lattice is puff pastry filled with savoury-flavour Quorn mycoprotein pieces, sage and onion stuffing balls, and vegan bacon, finished with a mouth-watering cranberry and red onion sauce.
Another returning Greggs festive favourite this year is the Christmas Lunch Baguette, which is a freshly-baked baguette ‘jam-packed full of festive flavours’, alongside last year’s newest addition, the Festive Flatbread – which is filled with sage and onion-style chicken, sweetcure bacon, mayo and cranberry and red onion relish.
When it comes to sweet treats, Greggs really does take some beating, as the lineup is full of tasty cakes, muffins, biscuits, and more.
Some of the stand-out newbies this year include the Gingerbread Muffin, and the Christmas Mini Caramel Shortbreads, while returning for more is the indulgent Chocolate & Hazelnut Flavour Doughnut, the Christmas tree and start-shaped biscuits, and of course, the classic Sweet Mince Pies.
The festive drinks lineup this year includes the popular Mint mochas and hot chocolates, and the Salted Caramel Latte.
Gingerbread returns for 2025 too, and you can get Gingerbread Lattes both hot and iced, as well as a Gingerbread Flat White.
Georgina Pellant -
8th March 2023 
