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
Family behind Salvi’s launch new concept, weeks after iconic restaurant closure
Daisy Jackson
Just weeks after the closure of its iconic, 16-year-old Italian restaurant in the Corn Exchange, the family behind Salvi’s have revealed a brand-new concept.
And this time, the reins are being handed over to the next generation.
Salvi’s founder Maurizio Cecco has helped to shape Amò, but it’s all the brainchild of his daughter, Sienna.
Sienna will run the business out of a unit up on Deansgate Mews, serving fresh pasta dishes, pizza sandwiches, tubs of tiramisu, and two-for-£10 spritzes.
The deli aspect of the original Salvi’s has been carried over to Amò too – you’ll find shelves almost to the ceiling filled with Italian pasta, wine, olive oils, pistachio spreads, and more.
Sienna has grown up in restaurants, with her parents launching Salvi’s when she was just two years old.
She said she wants the space to be a livelier, fresher version of the Italian restaurant that has been so loved by Mancs for so many years.
Sienna outside AmòFresh pasta dishesInside Amò by Salvi’sTheir viral frozen crema di caffeLemon granitaInside Amò by Salvi’sTiramisu pots
Amò, which is Neapolitan slang for ‘my love’, will have loads of fresh Italian dishes, including arancini, gnocchi, and hearty pasta plates.
At lunchtimes, guests can order from a £10 lunch menu, with dishes changing daily depending on the best produce the kitchen can get – it could be a pizza sandwich with proscuitto and tomato, a spicy pasta, or a gnocchi bake, always served with your choice of soft drink.
With its position on Deansgate Mews, Amò basks in the sunshine at lunchtimes.
And while it’s definitely a different concept to the original Salvi’s, Amò looks set to carry the family’s Italian food legacy into its next generation.
Award-winning Didsbury bakery La Chouquette reveals incredible new site
Daisy Jackson
La Chouquette is one of Greater Manchester’s top bakeries – an award-winner, with queues down the street every weekend for its authentic French pastries and loaves.
And now they’re ready for a new chapter, revealing a major expansion today.
Owners Catrina and Flo have painstakingly expanded the bakery into the unit next door, creating what feels like a true French bakery.
And in the midst of this huge renovation project, they’ve welcomed a tiny new baby boy – quite the summer for the couple.
Catrina and Flo launched La Chouquette in lockdown, and in a time where people could only get their hospitality fix from takeaways, immediately became one of the most popular spots in the region.
Their success has been so great, you’ll still consistently find queues down the street every weekend, for their top sellers like their authentic almond croissants.
Then in October 2024, they grew the business and launched Piqniq, a new deli in Didsbury village, serving freshly-baked baguette sandwiches, breakfast butties, toasties, tiramisu pots and their legendary pastries.
The new-look La Chouquette features beautiful details like mosaic floors, rich blue walls, wooden shelves, and brass light fixtures.
La Chouquette’s best-selling almond croissantsInside the stunning new La Chouquette in DidbsuryNew savoury bakesThe chausson aux pommesThe counter stuffed with artisan French bakesChocolate chip cookies and cinnamon buns
The huge new counter displays more pastries and breads than ever before, like a hearty chausson aux pommes filled with apples that will be perfect for autumn, plus seasonal treats like a rhubarb creme brulee pastry, and homemade quiche.
Speaking at the grand relaunch today, Catrina said: “The layout has changed, it looks so much more chic, it looks like a traditional French bakery. We’re really excited about it.”
As for what’s on the counter, Flo reassured fans that their beloved almond and pistachio croissants remain, but with some new savoury editions, like a truffle croque monsieur made with croissant dough.
La Choquette has reopened today, and will be open seven days a week from 7am until 5pm.
Georgina Pellant -
8th March 2023 
