One of Greater Manchester’s coolest new restaurants has quietly opened in recent months, and if you’re looking in the direction of Ancoats, turn around – we’re off to Stalybridge.
This often-overlooked town in Tameside has welcomed Cafe Continental, a charming little neighbourhood restaurant that feels like it’s been plucked from a pretty Parisian back street.
With its cafe curtains, red leather furniture and wood-panelled walls, it feels like the sort of local hangout that’s been here for decades.
But Cafe Continental is barely eight weeks old, and already firmly finding its feet as one of the region’s most exciting newcomers.
As with all good neighbourhood restaurants, the menu spans breakfast all the way through lunch and dinner and into cocktails, stopping off for an epic Sunday roast too.
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It’s also got one of the internet’s most viral sweet treats, a proper Paris hot chocolate, where you dollop thick cream into dainty cups of molten hot chocolate.
Inside Cafe Continental in Stalybridge. Credit: The Manc GroupThe Paris hot chocolate. Credit: The Manc GroupInside Cafe Continental in Stalybridge. Credit: The Manc Group
This place might have caught the attention of the social media food crowd, but it’s far from gimmicky.
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On its menu you’ll find classics that will stand the test of time, like giant tiger prawns with garlic butter, ribeye beef, flame-roasted chicken, croquettes and hand-dived scallops.
There’s a lunch menu that will stop you in your tracks – think seasonal soups with wedges of bouncy focaccia, spicy twice-fried chicken buns, and a steak sandwich with fries.
There’s also an excellent cacio e pepe pasta, served with an egg yolk on top that you can pop and twirl into the pasta.
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It’s co-owned and created by Ryan Robinson, who’s quick to point out that Cafe Continental isn’t the first restaurant worth travelling for in Stalybridge, which already has a deep-rooted independent food scene.
The fried chicken bun. Credit: The Manc GroupCacio e pepe pasta. Credit: The Manc Group
“We’ve already got some really good food establishments in the area,” he said, “With Gladstone and SK15 and Guiseppes, so the skeleton’s there with Stalybridge, you just need to have some meat on the bones, really.
“And obviously, like we’ve jumped in and hopefully that adds value to the area and then hopefully we see a few more drinking and dining establishments.
“There’s loads of space for development in Stalybridge, and it’s just gonna get better and better.”
Ryan says his inspiration comes from his travels to cities around Europe, and the sort of off-the-beaten-track, full-of-locals restaurants that are so often the most memorable part of a holiday.
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“No matter where you are, whether it’s France or Italy or Spain, there’s always that one restaurant you seem to find that’s set in the back streets, and it’s busy and it’s noisy and the food’s amazing, and you end up having such a good time on the off chance, that you just want to tell everyone about it.
Soup and focaccia at Cafe Continental. Credit: The Manc GroupCod bites and a chicken bun. Credit: The Manc Group
“You want to stay there all night, and that was kind of the inspiration for Cafe Continental.
“We just wanted to make a really buzzy local place.”
Ryan, who previously worked as a DJ and across the hospitality industry, has always had a big passion for food.
He’s teamed up with a good friend who is his head chef, and a couple of other friends as business partners, who just ‘believed in the idea and trusted it’.
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It seems to be paying off, with Cafe Continental already luring people out of the city centre to visit, and drawing in a decent returning local crowd.
Ryan finished by saying: “Support locally this Christmas – there’s a lot of great restaurants in Stalybridge and the surrounding areas that are working hard to bring people the best Christmas possible.
“So if everyone can support local, that would be amazing.”
Cafe Continental is open now at 5 Melbourne St, Stalybridge, SK15 2JE.
A month-long, mile-long, margarita bar crawl is returning to Manchester
Daisy Jackson
An award-winning bar crawl that’s all about celebrating margaritas is returning to Manchester this month.
El Tequileño’s Margarita Mile will see venues right across the city centre creating bespoke tequila cocktails, alongside events and loads more.
The mile-long, month-long celebration will kick off on 16 February, with 11 brilliant local venues taking part this year.
Those involved will include Mexican restaurant favourite Madre (and its sister site, Mexican pool hall Salon Madre), margarita bar Ramona, and cosy cocktail dens like The Daisy.
Also joining in this year is the city’s newest rooftop destination, Chotto Matte, which is home to Claude’s Skyview Bar with staggering views over Albert Square to the Manchester Town Hall.
It’s all been handily laid out into a mile(ish)-long bar crawl that will showcase the best in tequila and some of the best watering holes in the city.
Billed as the ‘ultimate margarita experience’, you can spend the next month visiting participating venues to sample bespoke menus, with the main celebrations taking place during Mile Week from 16 to 22 February – ahead of National Margarita Day on 22 February.
The Margarita Mile launched in Manchester in 2023 and was initially a week-long celebration, designed to celebrate quality tequila, champion bartender creativity, and tempt people back out into bars during the quietest time of the year for hospitality.
Now in its fourth year, it’s grown to an award-winning event (it was named The Spirits Business Best Event of the Year 2025), spanning a full month.
Maps of this year’s Margarita Mile across Manchester are available online HERE, as well as at all participating venues, with no tickets required.
Steffin Oghene, VP Business Development for El Tequileño, says: “Each year, the Margarita Mile grows, and we’re incredibly proud that it is now an award-winning campaign.
“Our goal has always been to share a love of craft tequila while connecting Brits with the hospitality trade, especially in such challenging times.
“With some of the best bars and bartenders in the world, it’s more important than ever to inspire the UK public to get out, enjoy the Mile, and raise a margarita.”
All the venues on the El Tequileño Margarita Mile in Manchester
UK pub chain announces bottomless Guinness for the 2026 Six Nations
Danny Jones
As we all know, Guinness and the Six Nations go hand in hand, so pubs not only showing all of this year’s games, but also serving bottomless pints of the good stuff here in Greater Manchester, is an absolute match made in heaven.
With the 2026 Six Nations tournament kicking off this Thursday, 5 February – a France vs Ireland opener in Paris – Manc rugby fans are already nailing down their go-to spots to watch the fixtures.
However, we can’t think of many other places offering bottomless black gold in town, let alone anywhere else in and around Manchester.
So, if you were still unsure of where to watch this year’s tournament, the Social Pub and Kitchen group might have just made the decision for you…
That’s right, this widespread British chain is looking to keep the pints flowing throughout the duration of this year’s competition, thanks to a twist on their standard bottomless brunch format.
Running for every single televised meeting between the much-loved half dozen rugby union teams, all 103 of their locations across the country will be providing this impressive offer on pints.
Here in central Manchester, that includes Tank and Paddle in the Printworks, Crafty Pig on the edge of the Northern Quarter, The Beech Inn in Chorlton, and The Director’s Box right in the heart of the city – and dangerously close to The Manc office…
As well as these nearby venues, there are obviously plenty more around the North West for those slightly further afield, including the likes of Cheshire and Derbyshire.
With a new food menu too, which features several honey-based dishes like the sweet sriracha pizza, chipotle loaded fries, as well as honey chipotle chicken wings, the matchday scran is on point.
So too are the drinks, clearly, and if any of your party wants to stray away from the bottomless Guinness, there are series of special Six Nations-themed cocktails, such as the ‘Midnight in Dublin’, a ‘Peach on the Pitch’ margarita, Baby Velvet, and the bold ‘G-Bomb’.
Yes, we suspect it is as boozy as it sounds.
Running throughout February and March whilst the games are on, we imagine plenty of people will be making at least one Social Pub and Kitchen site their chosen destination for watching all the action.
Even if you happen to be reading this outside of Greater Manchester, you can find your nearest Social Pub and Kitchen and book your table right HERE.
And if you’d still like some other alternatives here in the city centre, you can do no wrong with our helpful little round-up.
Daisy Jackson -
31st October 2024 
