Stockport’s famous Pyramid building will be transformed into a huge curry house buffet and banquet hall, it has been revealed.
The iconic structure has loomed over the M60 ever since its construction, but for more than five years has stood empty.
Originally built as part of a ‘Valley of Kings’ project that would’ve seen five pyramids built along the River Mersey in a nod to ancient Egypt, today it stands alone after developers went into bankruptcy.
The Co-op, which had paid for its construction, used it as a call centre base from 1995- 2018, but it has stood empty ever since the company relocated to NOMA in Manchester city centre.
Now, the unusual glass structure looks set for a new lease of life as the owners of one of South Manchester’s most popular curry houses reveals he is in talks with owners about taking the pyramid on.
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Image: Royal Nawaab
Image: Royal Nawaab
The owner of Royal Nawaab, an award-winning restaurant chain with roots in Levenshulme, has said that he is currently in talks with owners about the move.
Mahboob Hussain, one of the owners of Nawaab – which now has two sites in London, having recently closed its original 2003 restaurant on Stockport Road – revealed that talks about a takeover at the Pyramid are at an ‘advanced stage’.
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The famous all-you-can-eat Royal Nawaab buffet originally opened inside an old cinema on Stockport Road 20 years ago, but closed its doors in January after being taken over by Indian restaurant Merzee.
Image: Royal Nawaab
Image: Royal Nawaab
Its owners Tariq Mahmood Malik and Mahboob Hussain Junior reportedly parted ways in 2021 after a fallout, leading to a protracted court battle that saw 50 percent of the company go on sale despite the business being “very profitable”.
This led to the takeover of the original Stockport site and its social media channels by Indian restaurant Merzee.
Hussain has now told the Manchester Evening News that his company wants the iconic structure as the Royal Nawaab’s ‘next home in the North West.’
Featured image – Geograph
Eats
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.
Georgina Pellant -
10th July 2023 
