Diggle-based ice cream company Grandpa Greene’s has opened a new cafe in Uppermill, Saddleworth, transforming the site of an old public toilet into a charming little bistro.
The new cafe and restaurant at King George V Playing Fields is the second location for the team behind Diggle’s popular ice cream parlour, famed for its indulgent desserts, cakes, hot chocolates, and other sweet treats.
After officially opening on Father’s Day weekend, the new cafe can be found at the edge of the park serving up its famous luxury ice creams as well a range of hearty sandwiches, cakes, and hot and cold drinks.
A long time coming, the new opening had several objections at its planning stage which means that alcohol is currently being served inside the cafe only with food.
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
On the menu at the new cafe, you’ll find a range of breakfast sandwiches served until 11.45am followed by freshly baked baguettes.
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Filling choices include breakfast favourites like egg, bacon and sausage (with veggie bacon and sausages also available), followed by hearty lunch options like salt and pepper chicken and Italian meats.
Further baguette choices include the La Caprese with mozzarella, tomato and pesto, and the New York Deli with pastrami, Emmental cheese and mustard mayonnaise.
Customers at Uppermill can also choose to build their own sandwiches, starting with the base before adding a filling, cheese and veg.
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
Sandwich prices start from £4.50 at breakfast, with half baguettes priced from £4 starting at lunchtime.
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As for Grandpa Greene’s famous ice creams, these can be enjoyed in a variety of different formats with chocolate and sprinkle cones available alongside regular cones and tubs.
Ice cream flavours currently on offer at the new cafe include Bubblegum, Mint Choc Chip, Lotus Biscoff, Salted Caramel, Vanilla, Strawberry, Cookies and Cream, and a vegan-friendly Passionfruit and Mango sorbet.
Prices for edible tubs and regular cones start at £3, rising to £3.50 for Grandpa Greene’s sprinkle and chocolate-coated versions.
Commenting on the new opening, the Grandpa Greene’s team said: “The opening of our new Uppermill location is finally here and the wait is well and truly over!! This has been very long in the making & highly anticipated, we cannot wait for you all to see!
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“Our team have worked so hard over the past few weeks to make the opening perfect and we couldn’t be more proud! We hope to have all your support on our new opening and that you like it just as much as we do!
“We’ve always wanted to open up a second location, being in such a beautiful location, this really is what we’ve dreamt of and so much more!”
Featured image – Supplied
Feature
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…
‘Manc the Biff’: the Co-op Live crowd made the Clyro boys welcome on debut
Danny Jones
It feels like we’ve been waiting a long time to welcome Biffy Clyro back to Manchester, and they really didn’t disappoint on their Co-op Live debut.
Here’s our review of what was a proper rock show.
After a strong lineup of support acts with The Armed and Soft Play (formerly Slaves) injecting plenty of early energy into the crowds, already knew two things: the Scots wouldn’t disappoint, and a Manc crowd NEVER lets you down.
We knew everyone was on top form from the moment the Kilmarnock icons stepped out on stage under a swathe of blankets to the opener from their latest album, Futique.
Once the curtain was eventually lifted during ‘A Little Love’, which has quickly become one of the most popular singles for some time, you could see the sea of fans below start bouncing.
Rolling into the likes of ‘Hunting Season’ and Only Revolutions classic, ‘The Captain’, those bounces quite quickly turned into a healthy-sized pit, and those up in the stands with us finally got on their feet.
That was maybe our only complaint: we love seeing a seated section pretending they’re in standing from their start, but we get it and each to their own, of course.
In fact, the same goes for the rest of the session players joining them on the road this year.
One thing we weren’t expecting was quite how cool the production levels were going to be. We’ve never been Biffy fans for their creativity when it comes to toying with stage design or lighting rigs, but they threw in some fun effects regardless.
Highlights from the night included ‘Tiny Indoor Fireworks’, ‘Bubbles’, and ‘Black Chandelier’, though we were sad not to hear ‘Victory Over The Sun’, and it was especially gutting that one of our favourite tracks from the new record, ‘True Believer’, didn’t end up on the setlist.
Again, you can’t have anything – we’re just glad we got to be there and see a truly great British rock band proving that they are well and truly an arena-level band.
Lastly, even after all the years and an X-Factor cover trying its hardest to take the credit away from them, ‘Many of Horror’ is still an unbelievable rock ballad, and d’ya know who is an unbelievable rock band? “Biffy. F***ing. Clyroooooo.”
Georgina Pellant -
21st June 2023 
