Be it the food and drink, leisure and shopping facilities old and new, bands like Blossom putting the town back on the map, or its growing nightlife scene, the regeneration of Stockport over the last few years has been wonderful to watch — and amongst it all, one place is shining bright: Bask.
Having only just celebrated its first anniversary after opening back in June of 2022, located right outside the train station, Bask is a bar, cafe, music venue and many more things all rolled into one and in the 12 months it’s been open, it’s arguably become the one of it not the best night out in Stockport.
At least for our money, anyway.
So, what makes this spot where people step out of the station to enjoy a coffee, a pint or something to eat so special? Well, it’s partly because of the fact that it never stays simply that place to grab a quick little something for very long — be there long enough and something is always happening.
If you do happen to find yourself stepping out of the station and making the two-yard trip from the doors onto the ever-developing Stockport Exchange, you’ll see Bask’s instantly recognisable orange sign outside a modern glass-panelled unit which used to be a coffee shop with about three people in it.
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Cut to today and you’ll find a large and lovely room lined with bar stool window seats, big speakers, two screens showing sport; plenty of tables as well as comfy booths and wooden benches sturdy enough to support your weight when you clamber on top of them hours later (we’ll get to that).
But before you get to that, you have plenty to choose from when it comes to food and drink in the daytime. Whether it’s a big breakfast to start the day, a steaming hot pie from local favourites Ate Days A Week, fresh butties or a luxurious meat and cheese platter to feel all cultured or just a pint of their house lager, you really spoilt for choice.
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As you peruse the healthy bar selection — stocking lots of booze including their house lager and two custom brands of Stockport Gin — you’ll see a glorious selection of cakes from Manc music legend Clint Boon’s wife, Charlie, who drops off fresh batches of baked goods every week and even hosts regular bottomless brunches and her already legendary
Credit: The Manc Group/BaskThere’s some seriously top scran.
Bask’s live gigs and mega music nights
Speaking of the Boons, the Tea Party isn’t just about scranning cakes and posh coffees: it’s a jumping-off point for what is an absolutely stellar monthly schedule that is regularly packed out with live performances, themed music nights and all-round partying.
From Inspiral Carpets, Reverend & The Makers, The Lottery Winners; The Sherlocks, Ruby J and all manner of massive music names from the North have taken to this stage already over the last year, and it won’t be long before more acts from all over the country cotton on to how mint a venue Bask is to play.
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You’ll also find many members of staff like barman and musician French Coriandah, as well as co-owners Simon Silcock and XS Manchester DJ Gareth Brooks on stage, playing guitar or spinning tracks on the decks — they even had This Is England‘s Thomas Turgoose doing a set the other week, as you do.
They also do their best to promote up-and-coming artists with their weekly Acoustica event every Monday, where aspiring musicians can rock up every week and it’s free entry for the punters. Even when there isn’t live music or, say an 80s-themed night on the cards, they still regularly belt out the best bangers from throughout the ages every weekend and, believe us when we tell you, it’s a vibe in there.
Credit: Bask/Thomas Edwards(via Instagram)We’ve had some absolutely belting nights out in Bask.
Bask Bingo, comedy nights, matchdays and more
And it doesn’t stop there — not even close. From the ‘Baskmaster’ pub quiz to their sellout Bask Bingo and ‘Bask in Laughter’ comedy nights which have seen the likes of Justin Moorhouse, Haley Ellis, Smug Roberts and countless others cracking up locals, they will literally have a stab at anything these lot.
The most impressive part, at least from our experience anyway, is that they always seem to pull it off. This place was originally supposed to open up as just a restaurant but after extraction issues set those plans back, they had to readjust and boy are we lucky they did.
Whether it’s inviting along spoken word artists every month, hosting FIFA tournaments or the Stockport Social Creative Culture and Music Mixer (a bit of a mouthful, we’ll admit), Bask isn’t happy to just be one thing or another and that’s why it’s so good.
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It’s even become a regular haunt for the Stockport County faithful week in and week out (having a few mad Hatters in-house doesn’t hurt), serving pies and pints pre-game, right up until late after it’s finished. While many pubs and bars keep footy fans at a distance, this place welcomes them in with open arms — they were even flying the flag for both teams at Wembley earlier this year.
Credit: BaskThey thrive on two slogans: ‘Stockport isn’t sh*t… it’s forever being beautiful’
It’s been a while since Stopfordians had a place like this. The town centre’s Underbank has gradually been rejuvenating under the Old Town revival and Foodie Friday now seems bigger than ever, but there’s something about having a spot that does all of this right on your doorstep that feels special.
We’re happy to go on record by saying that Bask is not only well worth swinging by at any time during the day but beyond just being the best night out in Stockport, it’s also currently one of the best times you’ll have anywhere in Greater Manchester.
If you’ve never been before, it’s worth heading over and giving it a try — you’ll most likely end up doing what we did the first time around: nipping in for ‘one drink’ and end up staying till 2am. Go on, why not?
Louder for those at the back: ‘Stockport isn’t sh*t’.
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It’s a good little crew this. Pop in and say hello.Credit: Bask/@thomasedwardsphotography (via Instagram)
Featured Image — The Manc Group/Bask (via Instagram)
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‘This isn’t just like home, this IS home’: Saffa Soul is feeding communities straight from the heart
Danny Jones
That quote isn’t one of ours, nor is it from the owners themselves: that’s what a South African native had to say as they literally welled up eating the food being served by Saffa Soul, who have officially been named among the Best Street Food in Britain.
And now they’ve taken up a new residency right here in Greater Manchester – Circle Square in the city centre, to be specific.
Keshal Devchand, a.k.a. ‘Huggy’, is the man behind the brand, bringing those tears to people’s eyes not just here in town but up and down the UK, as they found out not so long ago during the annual British Street Food Awards (BSFA) last year.
Winning the 2025 title, the reigning champions are simply meeting demand by posting up with their latest semi-permanent space, as an incredible rise in popularity has only ramped up since taking the crown. How they’ll fare remains to be seen, but as always, “the food speaks for itself.”
To be honest, we have every faith they’re going to be just as big a hit as the new resident kitchen inside The Taphouse as they were on Temperance Street and as their various street food stalls up and down the nation since this incredible journey started just 19 months ago.
Yep, this unbelievably hearty, authentic and award-winning foodie phenomenon isn’t even two years old yet, but the Johannesburg-born concept is already on course to write itself into cultural and culinary annals if they carry on the way they’re going.
Not only is everything from the braai (barbeque) meats, to the rich and smoky curries, that famous bunny chow, homemade sauces and everything in between unbelievably flavourful, this stuff is steeped in not just tradition but pure hard work.
‘Huggy’ and co. refuse to do anything that isn’t the real ‘saffa’ way, and it’s these simple but faithfully sustained principles that have seen this food connect with literally tens of thousands all over.
And that’s not just in this country: these guys have already journeyed through the likes of city-centric face-offs, and regional BSFA showdowns, to heading to Germany for the continental equivalent, where they also notched ‘Future Food Legend’.
It’s not hard to see why they’re officially the ‘People’s Choice’ and already mean so much to so many.
From importing wood from his homeland and stoking the fires by hand with a bellow, to keeping his mum’s yellow lentil recipe alive and sharing those same childhood memories with Manc, Brits and, indeed, the rest of the world, Huggy is doing proper boots on the ground community work.
Our favourite story from our recent visit was Huggy telling us about how their appearance at the 2025 European Street Awards turned into so much of a big deal that the entire South African consulate in Munich shut down early so they could eat his food for lunch. Just WOW.
And that’s not just for those who hail from South Africa and have since emigrated; as seen by his various pop-ups since starting out, Saffa Soul is a real come-one, come-all affair.
This is proven even more to be the case by his upcoming plans, too, as not only is the team looking to start their own regular Sunday roast club with inspiration from Supper, but they’re even going to be doing ‘beer cooler’ events in the summer.
Picture South African tradition, part US cook-out, with a sprinkling of Aussie and classic British BBQ parties – it’s one of the things we’re most excited about this year.
We’ve also had a little glimpse at other menu items soon set to be introduced into the rotation, and all we can say is that we’re already salivating.
Honestly, we implore you to go and show Huggy’s gang some love, and we promise you won’t leave a single scrap on your table.
We’ve found some of the best Chinese food in town – being served out of a snooker hall
Danny Jones
Yes, you heard us right: we’ve stumbled across one of our favourite new places for Chinese food just on the outskirts of Manchester city centre – it just so happens to be served out of a best-in-class snooker hall.
And that really is just the tip of the iceberg here.
Some of you may have heard about and/or seen it already, but we’ll admit we were a little late to the party when it comes to Club 200, a.k.a. the pool, snooker, darts, mahjong club and more, which has so many different things rolled into that it’s really more a Russian doll than a Chinese restaurant or sports venue.
The hook speaks for itself: a place where people spend just as much time practising with chopsticks as they do their cues, as it really isn’t a gimmick, as some pessimistic folk would have you think – the food is banging and so are the vibes in general.
Not only is this quite literally the best snooker club in Manchester – complete with everything from classic American billiards and Chinese 8-ball to king-size snooker tables that the Ronnie O’Sullivan has played and won on, to a special AI system you won’t find anywhere else – it is SO much more than that.
Whilst the backroom was packed with everyone from casuals to those looking to get their pro certification via the official Q Tour, and lads in the front were practising their arrows, as co-owner Simon admitted they get almost just as many darts regulars these days, a storm was cooking up in the kitchen.
It would be unfair to say this place doubles as a bar and restaurant, because we really couldn’t get over how well put together this menu was.
‘Café 200’s food offerings involve classics like fried rice and chow mein dishes, to the kind of sides you could expect from your local Chinese chippy, but it’s even more authentic exports that really impress.
For instance, the beef ho fun seemed to be a big hit with everyone; we loved the salty seafood udon as well (a great chew on those noodles), and we know plenty of people still searching for proper Hong Kong-style French toast – they might just find it here.
Speaking of the special administrative region, which has a twisting and turning but nevertheless rich culinary culture all of its own, that last dish had us hopping with joy.
You’re looking at baked Portuguese rice: a Macau speciality rooted in the region’s colonial history.
We’ve never quite had anything like it before, even in all of our years eating this kind of cuisine around the 10 boroughs, but we haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
And then there’s everything else they do, from karaoke and bingo nights to catering for birthdays and other functions, or even just serving as a cool, somewhat tucked-away spot to watch the footy and other live sport come the weekend.
You can tell this place has built up a real community over the last 18 months or so, and while the food speaks for itself, it’s the sheer abundance and variety going on that makes it especially charming to so many.
Speaking of jack-of-all-trade venues, we stumbled across a similar multi-talented one over in Salford not so long ago, too…
Danny Jones -
14th July 2023 
