As transformation works continue at the future £3.5m Central Bay site, the new food and drink neighbourhood has revealed a major update to its ever-growing offering – a new waterfront bar and microbrewery to be launched by Salford brewing legends SEVEN BRO7HERS BREWING CO.
Named 11 Central after the family’s seven brothers and four sisters, the bar will offer visitors a mix of drink, food, live music, bar games and waterside views from the striking 2,000 square foot terrace, as well as gin making classes available to book this summer.
Staying true to the siblings’ ethos and inspired by their father’s home brewing, 11 Central by SEVEN BRO7HERS will serve authentic artisan beer, expertly brewed just a few miles away in Salford where they grew up and where some of the family still lives.
With a state-of-the-art microbrewery on site, customers are also set to enjoy limited edition beers made just metres away from the bar – available exclusively at Central Bay.
The huge new bar will face the waterfront. / Image: Kargo Mkt
Image: Seven Brothers Beer
Extending the menu to gin lovers, the SISTERS DISTILLERY will have a key role behind the bar with its full range of award-winning flavoured gins available plus an assortment of artisan tonics to pair with.
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The SISTERS DISTILLERY will also host distilling sessions at 11 Central for gin enthusiasts who want to learn the craft of making unique gins from the experts themselves. Ideal for those looking for an exciting date night or groups of friends looking for a fun activity, the classes will be available to book via the SIS4ERS website in the coming months.
11 Central will run events in partnership with Central Bay, including family-friendly day time activities during the school holidays, live music nights, and it will also offer food within the bar area.
Building upon the hugely popular SEVEN BRO7HERS bar offering which has become a well-known and loved part of the Salford and Manchester social scene, the new site will also boast games like pool and shuffle tables as well as a wider beer offering to cater to all tastes.
Earmarked for a summer 2023 launch and with 25,000 square feet of exciting culinary experiences, Central Bay will be one of the biggest independent food and drink operations in the North and a first for Salford.
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It will house four new independent restaurants, 20 kitchens, pop-up events, indie markets, live music performances, and recreation space for children, with more announcements set to be made in the coming months.
Palestinian favourite Baity will be arriving at Kargo Mkt this summer, after closing its Didsbury site. / Image: Kargo Mkt
Ad Maiora will also be moving into Kargo in August. / Image: Kargo Mkt
Blend Family, the operator behind the British Street Food Awards 2022 – ‘Food Hall of the Year, Cutlery Works’, in Sheffield and The GPO in Liverpool, has been brought on board to run and develop the food hall, which will be known as Kargo.
They will also oversee the street vendor elements of Central Bay, branded Kargo Mkt – aligning with the area’s rich history, with Central Bay named after the original stretch of dock which was once a thriving loading bay during the industrial revolution.
Food traders confirmed to arrive at Kargo Mkt so far include sandwich dealers Ad Maiora, Korean bimbimbap trader Bab K, Tang’s Hot Pot, Palestinian favourite Baity, Manchester burger lads What’s Your Beef, Monton pizzeria Leopard Pie and many more.
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Keith McAvoy, CEO of SEVEN BRO7HERS BREWING CO, said: “It’s an exciting time for us as we take our bar offering to a new level and create a diverse, theatre-led experience. To date we have had great success in the beerhouse space, 11 Central gives us the opportunity to build an entertainment hub for the quays – the chance to work on a brand-new concept.
“This project is close to our hearts, as it’s our third site in Salford down the road from where all the family grew up. There is the added satisfaction knowing that our grandfathers were part of the Salford Docks community, being dock workers and our parents were born and raised a stone’s throw away from where the bar is situated. It just feels right to be working here bringing something new and exciting to the area. To be able to play a major role in what will be an incredible destination in Salford.”
Stephen Wild, Managing Director for MediaCity, added: “Central Bay is a major project for us, and we are putting everything we can into it, to give the local and wider Greater Manchester community a leading food and drink destination just a walk or short tram ride away.
“Having the 11 Central team on board is an absolute pleasure; we’ve watched them grow exponentially since setting up their first brewery down the road, to now having two different bars on MediaCity grounds. 11 Central at Central Bay will make a huge positive impact on MediaCity and our current and future residents – making it the place to work, live and visit.”
Marco Pierre White praises Manchester restaurant serving ‘the best pizza’ he’s EVER had
Danny Jones
Legendary chef Marco Pierre White has given his verdict on where he thinks does THE best pizza not just in the UK but perhaps in the entire world, and it’s right here in Manchester
Rudy’s, Nell’s, Double Zero and now this – we really are spoilt for slices in 0161, aren’t we?
Pierre White, who was not only the first Brit to ever win three Michelin stars but the youngest person to achieve the feat in history, recently visited the restaurant in question and was more than happy to share his bold claims, dubbing it “the very best I’ve ever had in my life”.
That’s saying quite something, not only from one of the most famous chefs in the world, but given his own family heritage. He even saw fit to sign the menu and write the man in the kitchen a thank-you note.
A recent London export, which only just launched in spring 2025, the 63-year-old chef, entrepreneur and TV personality says that Forbici is now his number one, stating simply: “Let the pizzas do the talking.”
Noting that he’s been all over the world and eaten at some of the most highly-rated venues in the world (especially given the fact that he is of Italian heritage on his mother’s side), including some of the most authentic you’ll find in the likes of Naples, Rome, and so on, he still seemed confident in his declaration.
Citing other famous names in the world of cooking, like Nancy Silverton of Pizzeria Mozza fame, as well as fellow TV chef and restaurateur Mario Batali, he says that the creative takes on Neapolitan ‘pies’ that master baker Davide Argentino is currently cooking up are nothing short of “delicious.”
Having first become famous down in the capital for its name, which simply translates as ‘scissors’ – also the chosen utensil given to diners for cutting up their pizzas – it proved a smash hit when it made its way up North, garnering massive opening day queues outside its restaurant on the corner of Cross Street.
Better still, you can now order it to take away, too… Game-changer.
Now, it goes without saying that we’re lucky enough to have many restaurants serving some of the authentic food from various regions all over Italy, not to mention a plethora of incredible pizza spots in the city centre and the wider boroughs.
It’s no exaggeration, therefore, to say that we struggle picking our absolute favourite from week to week at this point.
What we will say is that we bloody love Forbici, too, and are glad to see them getting so much recognition since arriving in the region.
You can get 25% off your bill when eating out at this well-known Italian restaurant with a secret code
Danny Jones
Fancy going out for tea but still trying not to spend too much money at this time of year? Well, Manchester, you can get 25% off your bill at an already affordable British restaurant chain by simply saying a special phrase.
This deal is only available this week, though, so we wouldn’t wait around.
We’ve all been there: you’re fed up of getting home after working and having to cook, so you start trying to justify ‘just one‘ night out, but it can be a real pull between enjoyment and ease versus trying to save those pennies – especially with the festive period looming.
Luckily, well-known Italian restaurant group Carluccio’s, who have a site right here in central Manchester, is offering a significant discount by simply asking for the bill in Italian. Simple as.
As a recognisable name on the UK high street, the authentic Italian eatery dates back nearly three and a half decades, the London-born deli and food shop going on to open its first-ever sit-down venue called Carluccio’s Caffè back in 1999.
In addition to their long-standing Manchester location in Piccadilly Station, the brand was also a shop-window establishment for the Trafford Centre, sitting front and centre as one of the first places to eat as you walked in the Orient entrance.
Now, as for how you access this welcome bit of money off your bill, it’s very straightforward and can be secured as fast as you can say “The bill, please”; well, actually, you need to ask for it in Italian, as it is this phrase that Carluccio’s has dubbed the ‘secret code’.
Following a study by language learning app, Preply, which recently carried out research into menu anxiety and struggling to make a decision when dining out, they’ve teamed up with Carluccio‘s to help push people to feel more confident ordering dishes not in their native tongue.
They found that almost half (49%) have felt embarrassed about not speaking another language, with one fifth of those surveyed lacking the confidence to try and pronounce foreign words, while one in six worried they’d be judged for getting it wrong.
Well, there’s no getting it wrong in this instance, as the Carluccio’s and Preply are giving you the specific keywords not only to ask for the bill in Italian – “Il conto, per favore” – but to unlock the bonus of a quarter off the final sum.
Anna Pyshna, spokesperson at Preply, says: “People may know how to say gnocchi in theory, but when the waiter’s standing there, confidence can vanish. We want to show that getting things wrong is part of learning and sometimes, even worth a discount.
“By turning a simple phrase into a real-world reward, we’re helping people take that first, brave step to speak up. It’s a reminder that the language learning process doesn’t start with perfection, it starts with the willingness to try.”
So, that really is it: dine at any of their restaurants across the country (including here in Manchester) and ask for the bill in Italian to get 25% off your bill; once again, the offer is only on until 9 November. You can find your nearest Carluccio’s location HERE.
Georgina Pellant -
27th July 2023 
