A new joint restaurant venture by two Manchester hospitality giants will open on the site of a former beer bar in the heart of the city centre.
After the Belgian-inspired Bock Biere quietly closed its doors back in November after four years in the city centre, award-winning Chorlton cocktail bar Henry C and acclaimed NQ bar Cocktail Beer Ramen & Bun (CBRB) have now put their heads together to relaunch the three-storey site.
The new restaurant will adopt the name of its address – 10 Tib Lane.
Aiming to create a “high end experience, but without any of the stuffiness that usually comes with that”, the owners of 10 Tib Lane say they are keen to offer a “laid back and ego-free vibe” for people looking for an “ambitious and locally-sourced menu”.
The menu will be delivered by Alex Shaw – who was named Chef of the Year at the Manchester Food and Drink Festival awards in 2015, having also been a group chef at Ramsbottom’s Eagle and Child pub and one of the people behind Volta in Didsbury.
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10 Tib Lane’s menu will feature as wide selection of homegrown and seasonal dishes / Credit: 10 Tib Lane
Working with Cinderwood Market Gardens to source local produce, 10 Tib Lane’s specially-curated menu will feature a wide selection of homegrown and seasonal dishes.
There’ll also be a eclectic range of cocktails on office, like a twist on whisky and soda made with burnt caramel vanilla, and a Matador made with mezcal, cold-pressed pineapple, fermented ginger, lime and salt.
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Prices will range from £3.50 to £14 for small plates, and cocktails starting from £9.
Owners are keen to create a “high end experience, but without any of the stuffiness that usually comes with that” / Credit: 10 Tib Lane
Speaking to the MEN ahead of the new restaurant’s launch, Ben Gretton – who founded the award-winning CBRB alongside Tom De Santis in 2018 – said: “We want to be a place people come for a nice bottle of wine and a few oysters after an afternoon of shopping, as much as for a special date night or anniversary spot or just a place for a few afternoon cocktails and a couple of light plates.
“It really is a place for everyone and we’ve worked hard to create a relaxed vibe that isn’t trying too hard, it’s just a cool place to be.”
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Sophie Robson – co-owner of Henry C – added: “We’ve been customers in each other’s venues for years and have total respect for how we approach the industry, so when we saw the venue and the opportunity it gave us, it was a no-brainer to do it together.
“We all believe in honest service, incredible food and drink and that’s what 10 Tib Lane is about.”
10 Tib Lane is set to open doors on Thursday 29 July.
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StreamGM and The Manc have teamed up show some some serious love and support to the region’s renowned theatres, nightclubs, and live-music venues with the launch of SeeGM – a digital campaign to shine a bright spotlight on many of the amazing events, club nights, gigs and shows in our region.
Manchester’s Cat Café is set to reopen four years after its closure
Danny Jones
Feline fans, rejoice, because Cat Café Manchester looks like it is reopening more than four whole years after its unfortunate closure.
The city centre’s much-loved cat café – the only one of its kind in Greater Manchester and among just a small handful in the North West – closed back in 2021 following unavoidable economic struggles brought about by the pandemic
Despite being hugely popular before having to shut its doors, the business was unable to reach an agreement with their landlord at the time and the owners were left with no other choice than to close permanently – or so we thought…
Seemingly back from the dead and published their first post since 11 January 2021, the official Instagram page shared just one line along with a picture of their soon-to-be new premises.
Briefly teasing fans ahead of an official announcement, the post reads: “Manchester we’ve missed you! There’s only one thing this place needs…”
The shot taken across the road from Manchester’s historic Barton Arcade shows the large shopfront unit on the main Deansgate strip where the original Classic Football Shirts store used to be.
As you can see, although the vintage footy kit reseller’s brand and decals still remain plastered on the windows, the two-storey location has been vacant since October 2023 when CFS moved their flagship Manchester branch to Dale Street in the Northern Quarter.
We’ve personally been wondering what might take the old venue’s place for a while now, with the rest of the Grade II-listed Victorian shopping arcade populated by food and drink spaces, a barbershop and fashion retailers like The R Store, but after all this time the last thing we expect was the Cat Café.
This will no doubt come as wonderful news to the countless fans who were gutted to see it disappear just a few short years ago.
At the time, a fundraiser was set up in an attempt to rescue it and the pet-forward coffee shop format also paved the way for similar ventures like this one over Salford.
Although we’re still yet to hear any more details regarding a possible reopening date, we can safely assume their four-year hiatus will be coming to an end sometime in 2025.
When they were still up and running, the café had 10 resident cats at their original site on the edge of NQ, now home to one of two Gooeys in Manchester.
It is worth noting that there were some concerns raised around hygiene and animal welfare, though we’re sure steps have been taken to address these issues in the interim.
The Didsbury Dozen loses one of its best as The Dockyard confirms closure
Danny Jones
The Didsbury Dozen has lost one of its strongest stops as the much-loved Dockyard sadly closed for good this past weekend.
A favourite among those taking on the popular Greater Manchester pub crawl and a busy bar in its own right along the main Didsbury Village strip, The Dockyard has been a staple of South Manchester boozing for some time.
However, it’s time as part of the Dozen and in the heart of the community has come to an end, with the staff having completed their final service on Sunday, 19 January.
Sharing a short but heartfelt goodbye on social media, they welcomed customers to join them one last time “to raise a glass and say cheers!”.
An unreal beer garden too. (Credit: The Manc Group)
The post begins: “Right Didsbury… Thank you so much for your welcome and custom when we arrived here in the village, but the time has now come to say goodbye. We have had a blast over the last four years and we hope you have too!”
Although many relatively new to the area or at least its drinking scene will only know it as The Dockyard, the venue has actually been under a lot of names over the years.
Originally known as Times Square, it was then refurbished into a branch of O’Neills in 1996 before going on to re-open as The Stokers Arms in 2014.
Nevertheless, it maintained a regular and loyal following as The Dockyard and many will be “sorry to see it go”; one person commented: “Oh no! We had a fab time in here over Christmas and [were] hoping to return soon. Sorry to see you go and I will be visiting your other sites.
Thankfully, they did go on to confirm that the remaining pubs in Salford Quays and Northwich will remain open – as is the Left Bank location in Spinningfields overlooking the River Irwell. Better still, the building itself will still remain a pub and we already know what’s taking its place:
Although there is still no news on when we can expect to see The Salmon’s second venture launch, if it’s anything like the success the Northern Quarter one has seen then we’re in for a treat.
So don’t worry, The Didsbury Dozen may have taken a hit but it’s still intact and there are plenty of other pubs you can work into the crawl in the meantime.
For now, though, all we can say is rest in peace to The Dockyard Didsbury, you were a real one – we’ll always have the memories.
Emily Sergeant -
27th July 2021 
