Bosses behind Ramsbottom wood-fired tapas favourite Levanter have permanently closed the restaurant a week after losing its Michelin plate.
The news comes just months after owners Joe and Fiona Botham made the decision to shut down half of their Ramsbottom site – also once home to their second restaurant Baratxuri – in a bid to battle the challenges brought on by rising energy bills.
Faced with extortionate costs to keep their business going, in January the pair made the call to temporarily shut Levanter’s large bar and dining room; leaving just its main dining room open to the public until the summer.
It was hoped this would be enough to keep the business going until the warmer months, with owner Joe tweeting at the time: “We’ve had to take the hard decision to hibernate the Smithy St side of Ramsbottom – the Bar & the Comedor Dining Room, for the foreseeable future.
Image: Levanter
Image: Levanter
“We’re hopeful this will just be for the quieter Winter months & we can fire it up again once the warmer weather kicks in for Spring/Summer & demand for the outside tables on Square St kicks in too.”
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However, a message posted on Levanter’s website on Tuesday afternoon shows that, unfortunately, the measures Joe and Fiona adopted were not enough to keep things going any longer.
A message on Levanter’s website reads: “Levanter is now closed. Thank you to all our guests who have visited and supported us over the last 9 years. We will miss you.”
First opened in 2014, Levanter made its name as a proper local tapas bar serving authentic wood-fired Spanish plates, alongside fine wines and sherries to foodies from far and wide.
Image: Levanter
Image: Levanter
It proved so successful that a year later its owners then went on to launch the acclaimed sister Pintxos bar and basque enclave Baratxuri, which has since moved from its original north Manchester home into Exhibition on Peter Street.
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That same year, Levanter received a rave review fromGuardiancritic Jay Rayner who described it as “the kind of restaurant so many of us seek, where frill and pomp have been dispensed with in favour of feeding people well.”
Another casualty of the energy bills crisis, we know that many in Greater Manchester – and beyond – will be incredibly sad to see Levanter go. It’s also sad times for foodie hotspot Ramsbottom, which has lost three Michelin-recommended restaurants in recent years.
Featured image – Levanter
Eats
A tiny new train station pub is set to open at Manchester Oxford Road
Daisy Jackson
A tiny craft beer pub is set to open at Manchester Oxford Road, making all those inevitable train cancellations a little sweeter.
The new boozer will come from the same team behind some of the UK’s best train station pubs, who already have bars at Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria.
A licensing application has now been submitted by Bloomsbury Leisure Holdings Limited to take over the former cycle hub at Manchester Oxford Road.
The small building is directly opposite the entrance to the busy train station on the southern side of the city centre.
If approved, it will be the third site for the pub group in Manchester.
They already operate the Piccadilly Tap, that two-storey beer bar on Piccadilly Approach with a heated rooftop space and outdoor patio.
The team are also responsible for the more recently-opened Victoria Tap, which took over the former bin store at Manchester Victoria.
That particular pub has a heated beer garden constructed just inches away from where the trams tootle past and has a departures board where time is measured by pints (got 10 mins til your train leaves? That’s one pint, sir!)
As for the Oxford Road Tap, a new account on X appeared a few weeks ago that appears to confirm the imminent arrival of a new pub.
The Oxford Road Tap have applied to have opening hours through to half-past-midnight Sunday to Thursday, and until 1.30am on Fridays and Saturdays.
They teased a mocked-up photo of posters outside the station with the new pub logo, plus a slogan of ‘Great beer is just a few steps away…’
They later shared ‘Triple threat incoming’ with all three pub brands lined up as a deck of cards.
Northern Quarter favourite Pie and Ale has sadly closed down
Danny Jones
Beloved Northern Quarter eatery and pub Pie and Ale has sadly and quietly closed its doors this week in yet another gutting bit of news for the Manc hospitality sector.
Known for its legendary homemade pies, great selections of ales, craft beers and lagers, not to mention a great little pub when it comes to watching live sport, it’s long been considered an NQ institution.
Unfortunately, however, as confirmed by a sign posted in the window, Pie and Ale has now closed for business after more than a decade.
Safe to say, we’re absolutely gutted, as we’re sure everyone else is.
Credit: The Manc Eats
While no official announcement has been made on their social media as yet, which will no doubt receive love and sadness from its loyal following, the sign in the window simply reads: “Pie and Ale has unfortunately ceased trading. Apologies for any inconvenience.”
The local favourite which was always hailed for being great value for money – celebrated especially for its popular pie and a pint for under a tenner deal – also served up great nibbles and light bites as well as dessert specials.
Although the Lever Street spot previously shut down for a short spell back in 2018 due to what they labelled as “unforeseen circumstances” before reopening just two months later, this latest update looks pretty definitive.
Sister-site Bakerie also ceased trading back in April 2019, with husband and wife founders, Alyson Doocey and David Cook, admitting that all independents had been “feeling the squeeze”.
While we have few other details at this stage, it does look like Pie and Ale has indeed closed down for the foreseeable future.
A mainstay on our list of the best pies in Manchester since day dot and just the latest in the list of losses in 2024 so far, they will be sorely missed.
We sincerely hope this is like last time and will keep our fingers crossed that we see the pie pros and expert pourers back in business at some point.
Georgina Pellant -
4th April 2023 
