Linda Carver sits opposite me in a small café on Oldham Road. She speaks softly, sometimes pausing, and I can’t help leaning in as she tells me her story. It’s the tale of Ancoats Dispensary, the Grade II listed former hospital on Old Mill Street, and how it’s still standing, despite all the odds.
Linda grew up in Ancoats but moved away as an adult. Work drew her back to Manchester so she applied to the council and was rehoused in Victoria Square, mere streets away from where her father had worked as an apprentice plumber. Linda had always been heavily involved in the community, so joined the Ancoats Residents’ Forum as a way to reconnect with the local area.
One night, in June 2011, there was a meeting hosted by the developer Urban Splash. They presented the Forum with their plans to develop Ancoats.
At the time, Ancoats was certainly not the gentrified, colourful, small-dog owning place that it is today; it was a highly residential area, with lots of red brick and little else. The mock-ups were a predictor of how the area could change: Colourful barges, bistros and bakeries along the canal, and people sitting outside in the sun.
Linda found herself looking for Ancoats Dispensary within the mock-ups but couldn’t see it anywhere. She had seen the building, surrounded by scaffolding, but thought that the developers must have had a plan for it.
Linda asked the question out loud: Where was the Dispensary in the developer’s plans?
“There was a hush in the room,” Linda told me in a soft voice. “Silence. And then somebody muttered under their breath: ‘I think it’s being demolished’.
“And at that moment, you could say, it changed the direction of my life. Because in my heart, I thought, ‘I don’t bloody think so!’”
Linda’s voice becomes so quiet I struggled to hear her, but an underlying note of anger, ten years on, carried the words across the table to me, and I felt her shock as if it were my own.
Ancoats Dispensary today / Photo: Anna Willis
The Ancoats Dispensary on Old Mill Road was opened in 1874, the third iteration of the building first established in 1828. It was the only voluntary hospital in Manchester, providing lifesaving care to anyone who needed it.
Over the following century and a half, thousands of Manchester’s residents used the hospital, treated for everything from accidents in the cotton mills to broken bones and cancer. In 1974, the building was designated a Grade II listed building, due to its architectural and historical importance. The Dispensary was closed in 1987, when all services were transferred to North Manchester General Hospital.
When Linda heard that Ancoats Dispensary was going to be demolished, she was furious. There had been no public consultation, and very few residents seemed to know about the decision. She called her local councillor, who invited her to a planning meeting the following week.
“I spoke about this Grade II Listed building, the level of medical advancements that had happened there,” Linda said.
“That there’s a great, almost national importance this building created. We should be lording it as a centrepiece for Manchester, for visitors to come and see!”
The building certainly carries a lot of history within its crumbling walls. It was the home to the country’s first fracture clinic, set up by Harry Platt (later knighted for his services to medicine), and Manchester’s first radiology department. Peter McEvedy, one of the most talented surgeons of his day, worked at the Dispensary for almost thirty years. After his death, the hospital decided to commemorate him by commissioning a painting by a then-unknown LS Lowry; ‘Ancoats Hospital Outpatients’ Hall’ is now one of his most famous works of art.
It was this history and more that Linda saw was being threatened by demolishment.
“It would have meant that history had been obliterated,” she said soberly.
“And the council would have done it, because they’ve no imagination, they have no sense of history.”
When a building gets put forward for demolition, there is a multi-stage process to go through before the actual decision to demolish happens. So, Linda kept going to the planning meetings to talk about the history of the building and how important it was to her.
The decision to demolish kept getting deferred, again and again. But by this point, Linda realised that she needed to get other people involved. She roped in her sister, who had been a staff nurse at Ancoats Dispensary, and they decided to hold a public meeting. A notice was placed in the local paper, and the MP at the time, Tony Lloyd, was invited.
Miraculously, 43 people turned up, including the MP.
“Now that might not sound like much, but it’s enormous for Ancoats,” Linda said. “And they all had their own experiences of Ancoats Hospital and were concerned about the decision to demolish it.”
Ancoats Dispensary in 2008 / Photo: Pete Birkinshaw
Many Mancunians have had interactions with the Dispensary over the years; themselves, family, friends have been treated there, or worked in the building. The Facebook group ‘We Grew Up in Manchester’ spills over with memories. There’s someone who did nurse training in the 80s (“everyone knew one another – such a friendly place to work”) and another who remembers that “the staff used to go round the wards at Christmas carols to the patients.” It was a busy working hospital, and one that many people depended on.
The public meeting revealed such a strength of feeling that Linda went back to the planning committee to tell them that they were going to start a group. They were going to fight to save the Dispensary.
But only days after the public meeting, Tony Lloyd rang Linda to say that time had run out. The Dispensary was due to be demolished in just a few weeks.
Linda was practically speechless.
Nevertheless, she jumped straight into action and called an emergency meeting for everyone who had shown up at the public meeting days before.
“All we were concerned about was that it wasn’t going to be demolished,” Linda said. “A piece of working history just wiped out: we weren’t having it.”
The emergency meeting was very stirring, Linda remembered. They named themselves ‘Save Ancoats Dispensary’; someone stood up and gave a Shakespearean speech from Henry II. Most importantly, the group decided to mount a vigil outside the building. The vigil would become a cornerstone of the fight to save the Dispensary: every day, for six years, there were two or three people outside the building, in whatever weather Manchester threw at them.
In the beginning, it was all very primitive, Linda said. But the group were determined.
“We had someone looking through the Manchester Evening News, scouring it for any kind of road closure, to make sure we knew when the bulldozers were coming. We had a telephone tree established, neighbours phoning neighbours so we would all find out if something was happening.”
The vigil itself began soon after the emergency meeting. Jackie Marston, who was at the emergency meeting, became the vigil’s organiser, doing the rotas, providing tea and biscuits for whoever was on a shift outside the building.
They started off by meeting in the middle of the road, between the two lanes on Old Mill Street. Cars driving past would stop and people would ask what was going on; the group had petitions for people to sign and would just chat to passers-by about the Dispensary.
On the vigil / Photo: Brian Stark
Jackie was heavily involved with the Save Ancoats Dispensary group, “but the best part was actually on the vigil,” she told me. “The camaraderie there was unbelievable. There were people that I would never have met other than through the vigil, and they’re still friends now.”
The set up was very basic: just some chairs, a little stove, a tent for when it rained. As the vigil progressed, the group built what Jackie called ‘our structure’: made out of old boards nailed together, which was mostly waterproof, and that they could open and lock up at the end of each day.
I asked Linda what the vigil came to represent. “It became a symbol of resistance,” she said. “On that contested piece of land. Nobody moved us: the police didn’t move us, the council never moved us, we became known, everybody knew about it. And that’s what we wanted.”
Jackie in the ‘structure’ / Photo: Brian Stark
The Dispensary has been a symbol of resistance for years. In 1979, the first threats to close the Dispensary were raised, as the health authorities looked to centralise services into the North Manchester General Hospital three-and-a-half miles away. A local protest was organised by a porter at the Dispensary, and the hospital remained open. But almost ten years later, the decision to close the Dispensary was taken. Furious, a group of Ancoats residents managed to get inside the building on the day it closed, and occupied it. The health authorities eventually opened the Ancoats Community Clinic as a direct response to the protest.
Whilst the vigil continued, Save Ancoats Dispensary were also applying to Manchester City Council, under the Freedom of Information Act, for documents about the Dispensary and records about its condition. They discovered that reports had been made about different parts of the building becoming dangerous.
“We thought, this is what they want now,” Linda said. “They want to demolish it, bit by bit.” It hit home to Linda one afternoon as she arrived at the Dispensary and found that the building’s central tower had been imploded half an hour earlier.
The group were beginning to realise that simply calling for the building not to be demolished wasn’t going to be enough. They had to come up with an alternative proposal in order for the council to really listen to them.
The group went door to door through Ancoats to find the level of support they had in trying to save the building, and what the local community might want it to be if restored.
Save Ancoats Dispensary started to imagine the building repurposed into a community space, something sorely lacking in Ancoats. “Our vision was for it to be for the community itself,” Linda said. “And for the new residents in Ancoats. It would have been for them.”
The group envisaged a multi-purpose space, perhaps a sustainably run café, offices, a place for artists to showcase their work. “We wanted to live the dream,” Linda said, somewhat ruefully.
Around the same time, by the end of 2012, the group realised that a proper survey of the building needed to be done. The Dispensary was in a very bad state. Tom Bloxham, chairman of Urban Splash, had bought the building in 2001 with plans to restore and regenerate the Dispensary. He had received a significant amount of money from the Northwest Development Agency to conserve it.
However, no safeguarding happened. The roof was taken off, and from then on, the deterioration of the building was rapid. Over the next ten years, the Dispensary became increasingly dangerous, but little was done to protect the Grade II listed building.
So, Save Ancoats Dispensary, at the end of 2012, commissioned a surveyor to give them a full picture of the state of the Dispensary, but in order to do so, they had to raise several hundred pounds.
“We had a collection box at the vigil, and we pleaded with the community to give us the funds to find out if the building really was worth saving,” Linda told me. “And we raised the £600 we needed to pay him, believe it or not, just from donations from local people.”
The surveyor came down from Edinburgh, and when he’d finished, met Linda for a coffee. “He said: I can tell you now that this building hasn’t been dismantled as it should have been, as you do with listed buildings. It’s being demolished.”
***
As the survey of the Dispensary was being carried out, an architect got in touch with Linda offering his services as conservation architect for free. The group were delighted and welcomed him on board.
In May 2013, the architect brokered a meeting between the stakeholders in the Dispensary: the Save Ancoats Dispensary group, the city council, English Heritage, and Tom Bloxham of Urban Splash.
Urban Splash still owned the building: after several attempts to try and sell it on, Bloxham had said that his only alternative was to move towards demolishing it. But at this meeting, he said he had heard of the new Heritage Lottery Fund Heritage and Enterprise Scheme, which would enable the building to be restored whilst also becoming sustainable for the future. And through this scheme, if the group could come up with the money that would be needed, Bloxham would waive the move towards demolition.
In July 2014, the group’s application to the Heritage Lottery Foundation was provisionally accepted, and Ancoats Dispensary Ltd, the group’s financial vehicle, received £770,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help stabilise the building. In order to proceed however, the group had to match-fund the amount awarded for Stage One, which was £55,000.
The amount of money that the group needed to raise was seemingly impossible for a small, grassroots organisation. Through an intensive fundraising campaign, and large donations from residents and organisations alike, the group managed to raise almost half the funds required.
But as the deadline crept forward into May 2015, the group were still £28,000 short of the target.
One day, an anonymous donor came up with the exact amount they needed. Ancoats Dispensary Trust took over the lease of Ancoats Dispensary from Urban Splash, and the building became safeguarded against further deterioration.
“These were ordinary people who had a dream, a vision,” Linda said. “All we could think about is that this is our heritage, and it’s going to be obliterated if we don’t do something. And we can do something.”
Outside the Dispensary / Photo: Brian Stark
This was an ecstatic moment for the group, who had repurposed themselves into a development collective: Ancoats Dispensary Trust. But the pressure was on immediately to match the funding required for Stage Two: the Trust had eighteen months to come up with £800,000.
“We just couldn’t do it,” Linda said. “We did appoint a couple of fundraisers, but they weren’t given enough time, it was hopeless.”
The Dispensary was handed back to the developer, who in turn moved it back to the city council. But Great Places Housing Association had become interested in the building. They’d donated generously to the crowdfunding for Stage One and were already involved in the development of Ancoats and New Islington, with a particular focus on providing affordable housing in the area.
Great Places took the Dispensary on as a full-blown project around three years ago, according to Great Places’ Director of Development Helen Spencer.
“That was when we really started to get to grips with what it was. Because it’s in such disrepair, it’s been quite hard to really understand the condition of the building, and to understand exactly what’s required.”
Ancoats Dispensary from Lampwick Lane / Photo: Anna Willis
Great Places plan to turn the Dispensary into 39 affordable homes, whilst restoring and regenerating as much of the building as they can. The front of the building and the wall on Lampwick Lane will be restored, and the central tower will be rebuilt.
“It’s been a really interesting journey,” Helen told me.
“We’ve had technical and design challenges, the heritage challenges and the stakeholder challenges. It’s been a test of steel at times to really pull everything together, but everyone was just so focused on how we can do the best by this building and save what we can.”
Ancoats Dispensary Trust have remained involved and kept updated on the plans put forward by Great Places. As the Trust’s vision for the Dispensary was much more communitarian, the group were wary at first of Great Places’ plans. Ultimately though, the two organisations are working towards the same fundamental goal: to save and preserve the building.
“I think we’re going to see the benefit of that building full of life again,” said Helen.
Ancoats Dispensary has so much history, at personal and community levels.
“It was the beating heart of Ancoats,” Jackie told me. It became the group’s core message, reflecting the importance it has to so many people.
That the Dispensary is still standing is a testament to years’ worth of fighting by Ancoats residents.
“I feel the campaign has been a monument to community action, of what community actually can do,” Linda said.
“Truth speaking to power. And not giving up.”
Photos: Anna Willis, Brian Stark, Pete Birkinshaw
Feature
All the Greater Manchester restaurants included in the Michelin Guide
Daisy Jackson
Our city’s thriving food scene really does span all budgets and appetites, from Michelin star fine-dining to award-winning street food.
And the quality of our city’s higher-end establishments is evident with just a glance at the Michelin Guide, where esteemed judges have selected 13 Greater Manchester spots of note.
A few establishments have quietly dropped off the Michelin list in the last year, with Canto in Ancoats, Tast on King Street, and the now-closed Habas and Ramsbottom’s Levanter no longer featured.
But there are new entries too, including (so far) a new Bib Gourmand for Higher Ground.
Keep reading to discover the full list of restaurants in Greater Manchester included in the Michelin Guide.
Simon Martin’s ultra-high-end Ancoats restaurant Mana is the only restaurant in Greater Manchester to currently hold a Michelin star, breaking a 40-year dry spell for Manchester city centre.
What the Michelin guide says: “The personality and experience of chef-owner Simon Martin shine brightly at this stylish, modern restaurant, where every one of the well-spaced tables has a view of the kitchen.
“British produce leads the way, including plenty of seafood because, as Simon puts it, ‘we live on an island’. There are many Asian techniques on display and the cooking marries complex flavours with a pure, natural approach, in dishes such as a superb roasted hogget with white miso sabayon.”
Skof, NOMA
Inside Skof, Manchester’s newest restaurant
This shiny new restaurant from Tom Barnes and Simon Rogan’s UMBEL Group has been justifiably making waves since launching in May 2024, scooping itself a Michelin Star within its first year (and only the second star Manchester has had in decades).
What the guide says: “Located in an old textile warehouse, this restaurant from former L’Enclume Executive Chef Tom Barnes gives a nod to Manchester’s industrial heritage with its exposed brickwork and girders.
“The cooking skilfully blends measured international flavours with those from the restaurant’s doorstep; for dessert, you’re just as likely to get amakase sorbet as you are Manchester honey ice cream. The meal ends with a scoop of “Barney’s Tiramisu”, touchingly inspired by Tom’s late father.
“A relaxed atmosphere is encouraged, with the chef’s hand-picked playlist and the chattering diners combining for a brilliant buzz.”
Higher Ground, New York Street
Rick Stein named Higher Ground as one of his favourite restaurants in the UK. Credit: The Manc GroupHigher Ground received a Michelin Bib Gourmand this year
When Michelin announced a raft of new Bib Gourmands (which celebrate more affordable but high-quality restaurants) ahead of the main awards, it was no great surprise to see Higher Ground on the list.
The guide says of this newcomer: “What started life as a pop-up in 2020 is now a permanent spot in the heart of the city, owned and run by three friends who also operate wine bar Flawd and a market garden in the Cheshire countryside.
“The latter provides much of the top quality produce found on the menu, in dishes that are designed for sharing and packed with flavour. Sit at the large counter to see the chefs putting care and pride into every dish, like the terrific malted barley pudding with stout caramel. The whole team, led by the owners, are charming and cheery.”
Another restaurant that’s earned itself a Bib Gourmand is Simon Shaw’s El Gato Negro, the brilliant, multi-storey Spanish restaurant right in the heart of King Street.
What the guide says: “‘The Black Cat’ is a buzzing tapas restaurant split over three levels: the ground floor is home to the bar and outdoor tables in the pedestrianised street; the first floor boasts great counter seats in front of the open kitchen; and the third floor includes a fabulous roof terrace that’s ideal for private events.
“The cooking is as enjoyable as the atmosphere, offering great value across the wide selection of recognisable Spanish dishes, including meats from the Josper grill.”
The Sparrows, Green Quarter
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Comfort food heaven, The Sparrows really captures the magic of Alpine food right beneath a Manchester railway arch, and is the third Manchester Bib Gourmand restaurant in the Michelin Guide.
What the guide says: “Nestled under the railway arches in Manchester’s Green Quarter is this somewhat hidden restaurant where you have to ring a bell to enter. Its name is (almost) the English translation of the word ‘spätzle’ – which gives some clue as to the style of food on offer here.
“The dumplings and assorted pasta dishes are all made in-house and include excellent pierogi. The focus on Eastern Europe carries through to the wine list, which has a leaning towards Polish wines.”
Where The Light Gets In, Stockport
Where The Light Gets In in Stockport. Credit: Instagram, @arestaurantwherethelightgetsin
This incredible restaurant over in Stockport earned itself a ‘green’ Michelin star a couple of years ago, recognised for its sustainability practices. Could it be the next to get itself a full Michelin star?
What the guide says: “This large, loft-style restaurant is located on the top floor of a Victorian coffee warehouse and its open kitchen forms part of the room. The surprise menu is formed from whatever they have foraged that day and beasts are brought in whole and fully utilised. Matching wine flights focus on natural wines.”
Winsome, Princess Street
Winsome, one of the newest restaurants in Greater Manchester, is now in the Michelin Guide
Winsome is a restaurant from former Chef of the Year award-winner Shaun Moffat, a modern British bistro where dishes are playful and classic.
The Michelin Guide said: “Manchester’s industrial history feels like it’s had an overt influence on this buzzing brasserie with a large kitchen counter and a stripped-back look.
“The cooking has an admirably gutsy, straightforward quality to it, with hints of nostalgia. Think cold cuts, whole fish, hearty homemade pies and a mixed grill. It’s all executed with skill and the ingredients are of obvious quality, resulting in no shortage of flavour.
“The young and enthusiastic service team are a perfect fit for such a fun place.”
Pip at Treehouse Hotel
Pip has been added to the Michelin GuidePip has been added to the Michelin Guide
Pip is a new spot from acclaimed local chef Mary-Ellen McTague, offering up seasonal, proudly local dishes, and receiving glowing national reviews as a result.
The Michelin Guide says: “Forming part of the Treehouse Hotel, Pip provides a calm oasis in the heart of the city. Like the hotel around it, the restaurant is decorated with a blend of repurposed materials and vintage pieces, with eye-catching pops of colour, wooden furnishings and a rustic touch.
“The kitchen is headed up Mary-Ellen McTague, a champion of the region who uses local produce and whose menu includes a satisfyingly rich and flavoursome take on the Lancashire hot pot.
“The service team are brimming with positivity and clearly love what they do.”
Cantaloupe is an achingly stylish new local restaurant for Stockport, with a frequently-changing menu built around the best produce they can get their hands on.
The Michelin Guide wrote of Cantaloupe: “There’s a fresh, clean feel to both the décor and the cooking at this welcoming little wine bar and restaurant. The concise but appealing wine list will appeal to traditional oenophiles, with quality established growers to the fore.
“The menu has a Mediterranean leaning, so whilst it changes daily, it will likely include a pasta dish and possibly some whole fish. This is cooking that relies on simplicity and skill, with immense care poured into dishes like peri peri octopus and duck fat crisps, so that the natural flavours shine.”
Adam Reid at The French, The Midland
Adam Reid at The French could nab another Michelin star for Manchester this yearAdam Reid at The French could nab another Michelin star for Manchester this year
For almost a decade, people have been predicting that Adam Reid at The French would be the next in Manchester to get a Michelin Star, seeing as it’s one of the city’s best fine-dining restaurants. It’s not happened yet, but it’s still exceptional.
What the guide says: “This famous hotel was first built to herald the arrival of the Midland railway in Manchester, and its restaurant was created in the Belle Époque style to evoke the luxury of the day.
“Whilst its name remains in homage to its historical past, today, chef Adam Reid’s multi-course menu is very much a homage to his Northern roots, with dishes having names such as ‘A Warm Northern Welcome’, ‘Yesterday’s Dinner’ and ‘Today’s Tea’. Personable chefs explain and finish each course off tableside, and dishes are richly flavoured with the occasional playful touch.”
Erst in Ancoats is Michelin-recommended restaurantErst in Ancoats is Michelin-recommended restaurant
Easily one of The Manc’s personal favourite restaurants, Erst has become a neighbourhood restaurant of which Ancoats is very proud, and is another worth addition to the Michelin Guide for Manchester.
What the guide says: “A modern, industrial-style wine bar run by a group of friends, laid-back Erst offers something refreshingly different in the city. It specialises in natural, low-intervention wines – many of which you can buy to take home – accompanied by a selection of flavoursome small plates.”
The newest entrant to the Michelin Guide is Orme, which offers a seasonal and affordable tasting menu concept.
The Michelin Guide says: “You will find a pleasantly welcoming quality at this small restaurant run by three young owners. There’s a distinct Nordic touch to proceedings, yet British produce is at the heart of the appealing tasting menu – which gives you the option to add supplementary courses for a more bespoke experience.
“Attractively presented dishes offer bold, vibrant flavours with a mix of the classic and the modern in their influences. Wine flights are also available, including a particularly interesting British themed option.”
The White Hart at Lydgate, Oldham
Image: The White Hart
Image: The White Hart
Country pubs don’t come much better than The White Hart, which has far-reaching views all the way back to Manchester’s city centre skyline.
What the Michelin guide says: “This 18C stone pub on the moor is a place that constantly evolves. It’s usually busy but the staff have everything under control and there are comfy bedrooms for those wishing to stay. Dining takes place in the cosy Tap Room or smart brasserie; the appealing menu has a British heart and global influences.”
Maya, Canal Street
Maya is a new restaurant and bar on Canal Street in Manchester. Credit: The Manc GroupDesserts at Maya, which has been added to the Michelin Guide
Maya in the Gay Village managed to earn its place in the Michelin Guide just two months after opening, with judges noting its ‘elegant, beautifully appointed’ decor.
The guide says: “In the heart of Manchester, close to the famous Canal Street, sits this impressively renovated basement restaurant. It’s an elegant, beautifully appointed place, with an art deco feel and a large cocktail bar that feels appropriate for an area of the city known for its party scene.
“The dishes often have a modern make-up but the kitchen’s classical skillset is evident in finely executed elements like a well-made sauce bonne femme to accompany top quality turbot. Four smart bedrooms are attached if you’re visiting from afar.”
Despite being wedged in on the most hidden street in Manchester, Another Hand has become one of the city’s stand-out restaurants – as evidenced by their inclusion in the Michelin guide.
The Michelin guide says: “This 24-seater bistro offers an appealing array of sharing plates which champion produce from local, ethical growers.
“The eye-catching, vegetarian-led dishes are served one at a time and their flavours are punchy and pronounced. Craft beers and low intervention wines accompany. Service is bubbly and the atmosphere, buzzing.”
Featured image – The Manc Group
Feature
The very best and booziest bottomless brunches in Manchester city centre
Danny Jones
If you’re looking to find the very best bottomless brunch places Manchester city centre has to offer, then look no further.
You’ll probably be struggling to see straight after you finish brunching anyway, but that’s all part of the fun, isn’t it? In Manchester, we love a good brunch like the best of them.
Getting stuck into some free-flowing drinks with your friends around a table of food is a match made in heaven if you ask us.
To help you achieve your ultimate bottomless brunch goals, we’ve put together a list of some of our top spots in Manchester to help you find the right one for you. Keep reading to discover our top picks.
At Blues Kitchen, you can tuck into soul food-inspired mains like fried chicken and gravy, taco bowls, shrimp sandwiches, and beef dip melts, with 90 minutes of unlimited drinks for £35 per person.
And in true Blues fashion, there’ll of course be live music aplenty, from live soul and R&B in the bar to the house band playing upstairs in the gig space.
There are loads of options and packages to check out – head HERE to make your booking.
Bordering two of Manchester city centre‘s coolest and best foodie neighbourhoods, the team who run the show over at Ramona and Firehouse during the day and well into the night have become famous around the UK for their Detroit-style pizza, loaded tater tots, margaritas and good vibes.
Better still, you can turn those Cali peps slices, helpings of fresh burrata, spicy margs, mimosa and more bottomless at just £38pp.
Between 12-4pm on Saturdays and Sundays, you can get any slice of pizza plus frozen margs, selected spritzes, prosecco and Ramona pilsner.
3. New Century – NOMA
New Century in Manchester serves a great bottomless brunch. (Credit: The Manc Eats)
All the traders from the New Century food hall band together at the weekends to serve up a bottomless brunch with more menu options than anywhere else in the city.
You can order a brunch item from any trader inside – and that includes an egg banh mi from Banh Vi, plus chicken and waffles from Parmogeddon – then add on a bottomless drinks package for 90 minutes.
Options include bottomless lager, stout, IPA, cider, prosecco, and Aperol Spritzes for £30 (including one brunch item), or for an extra fiver, you can also get Pornstar Martinis and Bloody Marys.
4. Peaky Blinders – Deansgate
Credit: The Manc Group
The Peaky Blinders bar on Peter Street grows more popular year after year, and not just because people enjoy dressing up in fancy old-world clobber and coming along to see the lookalikes – it’s the birdcage of tasty bites, ‘Cherry Ada’s and ‘Shel-bee’ whiskey-based specials that keep them coming back.
There are different bottomless brunch menus available every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from classic brunch platters to steak and fries to bottomless roast dinners.
And they all come with endless cocktails, beers, spirits and more drinks, with bottomless packages between £37.50 and £40.
One of the fanciest new openings in Manchester, Sexy Fish, serves one of the city’s swankiest bottomless brunches.
For £48 per person, you can indulge in a range of starters, unlimited sushi from the sushi buffet, a main course with a side, and desserts. Or you can just have your fill at the sushi buffet for £28 per person.
Then you can add on free-flowing cocktails for £30 per person or indulge in limitless bubbles from £34 per person.
6. Diecast – Piccadilly East
Diecast in Manchester does a bottomless brunch with its frozen daiquiris. (Credit: The Manc)
90 minutes of pure drag entertainment is what’s on the menu at Diecast in Piccadilly East, as ‘Dragstravaganza’ takes over for an interactive bottomless battle.
There are also more regular bottomless brunch offerings, where you can choose a pizza from the menu, plus add on 90 minutes of frozen daiquiris.
The event schedule is a busy one, so check HERE to book your bottomless at Diecast.
Another solid Manchester bottomless brunch spot is Banyan, offering two hours of the good stuff for £36.95 and free rein on their food menu – we’re talking breakfast hash, Korean fried chicken burgers, flat iron steak and curry.
You can go bottomless in the evenings too for £39.95.
And endless drinks include loads of their house cocktails, plus your usual suspects like prosecco, beer and spirits.
A Pan-Asian bottomless brunch with dishes like an Asian twist on a full English, a Rendang roti, a Bali brunch bowl and ‘Bang Bang’ steak and eggs? Sign us up.
Running seven (yep, seven!) days a week, the Tampopo bottomless (and they have two restaurants in Manchester) includes 90 minutes of free-flowing bubbles, lager, ‘rum beach buckets’ and house cocktails, plus any brunch plate or vegetarian, chicken or pork large plate.
Not bad for £38 a head.
9. Italiana Fifty-Five – Great Northern Warehouse and Castlefield
Italiana Fifty-Five does bottomless Aperol brunch and a tower of treats at all three of its Manchester restaurants
Next up is one we’d consider an old faithful: Italiana Fifty-Five, formerly known as Cibo. With three sites in Manchester, which now includes one in Didsbury. We’ve had this particular bottomless brunch so many times now we’ve lost count, but it never disappoints.
Bottomless tapas and sangria at Canto puts a Portuguese twist on boozy brunch proceedings over in Ancoats. The sister site of AA Rosette restaurant, El Gato Negro, this is what they call ‘tipsy tapas’.
Priced at £40 a head, you get a choice of three plates each and 90 minutes of unlimited drinks with choices like sangria, fizz, bellinis, house wine and lager.
Tapas choices include options like jamón croquetas, salt cod fritters, patatas bravas, crispy squid and plenty more. Never fails.
One of the best bottomless brunches in Manchester? Don’t mind if we do. They keep it simple at Elnecot as you just opt for your unlimited drinks on top of the usual, but you’ll hear no complaints from us whilst we’re sipping on house cosmos, mimosas, Bloody Marys, boozy ice teas and lager.
Brunch dishes, meanwhile, feature the likes of crispy pork belly with rosti, fried eggs, savoy kimchi, Elnecot chilli jam and yoghurt; wild mushrooms on toast with goat’s curd and dukkah, as well as Elnecot’s full English and eggs on toast, just to name a few.
Bottomless drinks are £26 per person, plus whatever brunch dish you want, for two hours of drinking time.
12. The Bay Horse Tavern – Northern Quarter
Credit: The Manc Group
Affectionately known by locals as ‘Horse-moor’, the boozy brunch menu at upmarket NQ pub The Bay Horse Tavern is a pretty traditional affair dish-wise, although there is a funky peanut butter, bacon and fried banana croissant bad boy to be found here too.
Priced at £32.50 for a dish and unlimited drinks until 4pm every weekend, think egg, bacon and sausage butties; fry-ups; poached and scrambled eggs (they do eggs really well here) mushrooms, avo and smoked salmon on toast, as well as fizz, Irish coffee, beer, mimosas, bloody marys and house wine. Easy.
Maybe one of the more expensive on this list, but worth every penny, Gaucho‘s ‘Electro Brunch’ is one of the Manchester OGs, and it also happens to be one of the best steaks in town. Setting you back £65, it’s all about the beef here, which is wet-aged and can be cut with a butter knife – it really is that soft.
The music-fuelled all-you-can-eat midday feast also features cocktails like pornstar martinis and Aperol spritz alongside glasses of Argentinian Domain Chandon and even includes a brunch dessert of smoked chocolate ganache. They have a maximum of eight drinks per person, but let’s be honest, that’s plenty.
Another more boujee, boozy brunch option is at Gordon Ramsay’s very own Lucky Cat.
For 90 minutes, you can enjoy endless prosecco alongside a two-course meal, with dishes like vegetable tempura, crispy beef rice bowls, and teriyaki salmon.
You can also add a dessert platter for an extra tenner or upgrade from prosecco to champagne for £20. This is definitely a more classy excuse to get tipsy, whilst enjoying some proper high-quality food.
Fress is an award-winning white-subway tiled restaurant on Oldham Street that often has queues out the door for its bottomless boozy brunch. There’s a hearty menu featuring all the favourites, from a full English and beans on toast to mouth-watering waffles and pancakes, but it’s the sweet stuff we go for.
With a 1 hour 15 minute £37 per person sitting (that price includes a main from the menu), drinks choices include prosecco, mimosas, house wine and lager.
16. Zouk Tea Bar and Grill – Quadrangle
Credit: The Manc
Just off Oxford Road Corridor, you’ll find one of the very best bottomless brunches in Manchester, and it’s over at Zouk – also one of the best places for a curry in town that you can enjoy bottomless style, but that’s a separate matter. Two plates and as much booze as you can stomach. Glorious.
Either way, for £35 a pop from 11am-4:30pm every Saturday, you can get an incredible South Indian and Pakistani-inspired menu featuring everything from masala omelettes to the ‘Bollywood Benedict’ and SO much more. Absolutely slaps every single time.
A favourite amongst the flag-waving bottomless brunch brigade, we can’t think of many places that come more immediately to mind than Manahatta on Deansgate. Two whole hours of non-stop booze and some Insta-worthy scran for £36.95 until 3pm, and you can upgrade to any dish for an extra fiver.
Manahatta’s brunch menu features a wide range of spritzes, bloody marys or lager to enjoy alongside plates that range from Mexican wraps to breakfast hash, pancakes, steak frites and other NYC-inspired plates. You can also book big parties and the main menu for £41.95.
18. The Pen and Pencil – NQ
Another long-standing favourite over ours, you’ll find plenty of people heading to The Pen and Pencil when they’re around the Northern Quarter way and after a solid bottomless brunch.
Their bottomless brunch runs on the last Saturday of every month, costs £50 and will leave you full to bursting – and that’s just the booze part.
You’ve got all of the staple egg dishes, pancake stacks and more, as well as all your classic cocktails – and you can eat and drink as much as you like.
Similar vibes here – no list of the best bottomless brunch gaffs in Manchester is complete without BLVD, the Spinningfields venue without the vowels but all the flavour, putting their own unique spin on things with a selection of small plates like veg tempura, duck spring rolls or salt and pepper chicken wings.
You can choose two small plates, one side, and then dive into different flavours of bellinis, prosecco, rum punch, gin smash cocktails, vodka raspberry ripples, and bottled beers.
It costs £35 per person and is available every day that BLVD is open.
20. Crazy Pedro’s – NQ and Deansgate
Yes, Crazy P‘s does do bottomless brunch, and yes, it is mint. Enjoy unlimited slices from their ever-rotating daily menu of crazy pizza concoctions, as well as non-stop Hooch, beer, prosecco and their classic Frozen Margz for 90 minutes
It’s just £29.50pp for pure carbs and the fun-time juice when you book, and it also happens to be ‘r Amy’s favourite pizza place and quite a few of us would probably agree with her.
Shack’s brilliant disco brunch starts from £32.50 per person, with a few levels of drinks packages if you want to step things up a little bit.
Dishes include French toast, chorizo chilli eggs, breakfast buns, and absolutely massive pancake and waffle stacks, plus a full menu of grilled cheeses, wraps and burgers.
In our opinion, Ducie Street Warehouse quietly does some of the best bottomless brunch in Manchester; there just aren’t enough people who know about it, so we’re fixing that. Croque monsieurs, pancake stacks, breakfast baps and more. This menu is elite.
Changing themes each month, as well as wheeling out their ‘disco’ brunch every Saturday, their parties (and believe us, they are) will set you back £42.
Once again, no list of bottomless brunch hotspots in Manchester city centre would be complete without the Deansgate cornerstone that is Dirty Martini. Someone pass us a phone, we need another picture in front of their wings because the last 20 or so weren’t quite good enough.
Just as good during the day as it is for a night out, their bottomless brunch costs £37.50pp on Fridays and Saturdays, but their Martini brunch from Sunday-Thursday is the cheaper option at just £30.
24. Almost Famous – NQ
Credit: The Manc Group
We will take any excuse to head to one of the best burger joints in Manchester, so naturally, the fact that Almost Famous also does bottomless brunch is ideal. Available Friday-Sunday from 12-3pm, you get the standard 90-minute sitting for £37.50pp.
Get ready for this: get absolutely ANY famous burger with winning or bacon bacon fries and chicken nuggets as well as a free run at as much draught beer, cider, prosecco and cocktails as you fancy sinking. We call that heaven.
25. The Foundry Project – NQ
Finally, The Foundry Project over on Thomas Street does a bang-up bottomless brunch with plenty of variety for just £36 per person.
Hash brown nachos, breakfast brioche, fry-ups, brunch burgers and more to go with prosecco, bellinis, mimosas, Aperol spritz or pints of Amstel. What more could you possibly want?
It goes without saying that there are plenty more places we could have out on this list, and we’re sure it’ll keep growing over time, but 25 should do you for now.
Manchester really does have some of the best bottomless brunch culture in the country, and we’re saying that with our chests, so don’t even try and argue with us.
Lastly, if you do fancy the brunch without the need for the bottomless element, we’ve found there’s a great new mini-district for it forming in a popular part of Manchester city centre….
Anna Willis -
25th June 2021 
