The resilience of the local food scene is proving triumphant as four out of five of the UK’s best restaurants in 2021 are in the north of England.
The winners from this year’s National Restaurant Awards have been announced last night, and for the first time ever, there are more restaurants and eateries in northern England on the prestigious list than there are in London.
The region has 16 restaurants in the top 40, which is double the number in 2019 – the last time the poll was held.
Thom Hetherington, the chief executive of Northern Restaurant and Bar and a judge for the awards, said the north’s achievement in this year’s standings was “frankly astounding” in a scene that is traditionally so dominated by the capital, and even more so during a brutal year for the hospitality sector thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
— The National Restaurant Awards (@The_NRAs) August 16, 2021
And if it wasn’t brilliant enough that the northern food scene is reigning supreme, the North West, and in particular Greater Manchester, has a lot to shout about too.
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Two restaurants in Ancoats made it into the top 50 of the UK’s 100 best restaurants.
Mana – the city’s first Michelin-starred restaurant, which is tipped to earn its second later this year – has made a huge climb from its previous position at 73 to take the 11th spot on the list, and fellow Ancoats neighbourhood restaurant Erst also celebrated a big win by taking 47th place – which it said on social media was “more than we could’ve ever imagined”.
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But which restaurant claimed the coveted top spot this year?
Again, it goes to a North West gem just over the border into Lancashire and about 45-minute drive from Manchester.
Double Michelin-starred restaurant Moor Hall Restaurant was named the best in the UK for the second year running.
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The revered restaurant in Aughton near Ormskirk is headed up by former L’Enclume executive chef Mark Birchall, who said of the eatery’s win on Twitter last night: “What an incredible achievement. Number 1 again in the National Restaurant Awards.
“Testament to every member of the team [and] I’m truly proud once again – the journey continues.”
— The National Restaurant Awards (@The_NRAs) August 16, 2021
Elsewhere in the top five list, second place went to country pub The Angel at Hetton – a little over an hour from Manchester near Skipton – which also scooped up ‘Gastropub of the Year’, and Cumbria’s L’Enclume made it to fifth place.
Other well-known northern restaurants on the top 100 list include The Cottage in the Woods in Windemere, The Parker’s Arms in Northcote, The White Swan at Fence, Freemasons at Wiswelland, and Lake Road Kitchen in Ambleside.
Sticky Walnut in Chester – which is the first restaurant in Gary Usher’s celebrated Elite Bistros group – placed 62nd.
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A special Outstanding Achievement Award was also presented to chef Tom Kerridge – who opened his first Manchester restaurant the Bull & Bear in 2019 – at the awards for his work during the pandemic, after he provided more than 100,000 meals to key workers and vulnerable people in the community.
You can check out the National Restaurant Awards top 100 list in full here.
Featured Image – Moor Hall
Food & Drink
Manchester’s Cat Café is set to reopen four years after its closure
Danny Jones
Feline fans, rejoice, because Cat Café Manchester looks like it is reopening more than four whole years after its unfortunate closure.
The city centre’s much-loved cat café – the only one of its kind in Greater Manchester and among just a small handful in the North West – closed back in 2021 following unavoidable economic struggles brought about by the pandemic
Despite being hugely popular before having to shut its doors, the business was unable to reach an agreement with their landlord at the time and the owners were left with no other choice than to close permanently – or so we thought…
Seemingly back from the dead and published their first post since 11 January 2021, the official Instagram page shared just one line along with a picture of their soon-to-be new premises.
Briefly teasing fans ahead of an official announcement, the post reads: “Manchester we’ve missed you! There’s only one thing this place needs…”
The shot taken across the road from Manchester’s historic Barton Arcade shows the large shopfront unit on the main Deansgate strip where the original Classic Football Shirts store used to be.
As you can see, although the vintage footy kit reseller’s brand and decals still remain plastered on the windows, the two-storey location has been vacant since October 2023 when CFS moved their flagship Manchester branch to Dale Street in the Northern Quarter.
We’ve personally been wondering what might take the old venue’s place for a while now, with the rest of the Grade II-listed Victorian shopping arcade populated by food and drink spaces, a barbershop and fashion retailers like The R Store, but after all this time the last thing we expect was the Cat Café.
This will no doubt come as wonderful news to the countless fans who were gutted to see it disappear just a few short years ago.
At the time, a fundraiser was set up in an attempt to rescue it and the pet-forward coffee shop format also paved the way for similar ventures like this one over Salford.
Although we’re still yet to hear any more details regarding a possible reopening date, we can safely assume their four-year hiatus will be coming to an end sometime in 2025.
When they were still up and running, the café had 10 resident cats at their original site on the edge of NQ, now home to one of two Gooeys in Manchester.
It is worth noting that there were some concerns raised around hygiene and animal welfare, though we’re sure steps have been taken to address these issues in the interim.
The Didsbury Dozen loses one of its best as The Dockyard confirms closure
Danny Jones
The Didsbury Dozen has lost one of its strongest stops as the much-loved Dockyard sadly closed for good this past weekend.
A favourite among those taking on the popular Greater Manchester pub crawl and a busy bar in its own right along the main Didsbury Village strip, The Dockyard has been a staple of South Manchester boozing for some time.
However, it’s time as part of the Dozen and in the heart of the community has come to an end, with the staff having completed their final service on Sunday, 19 January.
Sharing a short but heartfelt goodbye on social media, they welcomed customers to join them one last time “to raise a glass and say cheers!”.
An unreal beer garden too. (Credit: The Manc Group)
The post begins: “Right Didsbury… Thank you so much for your welcome and custom when we arrived here in the village, but the time has now come to say goodbye. We have had a blast over the last four years and we hope you have too!”
Although many relatively new to the area or at least its drinking scene will only know it as The Dockyard, the venue has actually been under a lot of names over the years.
Originally known as Times Square, it was then refurbished into a branch of O’Neills in 1996 before going on to re-open as The Stokers Arms in 2014.
Nevertheless, it maintained a regular and loyal following as The Dockyard and many will be “sorry to see it go”; one person commented: “Oh no! We had a fab time in here over Christmas and [were] hoping to return soon. Sorry to see you go and I will be visiting your other sites.
Thankfully, they did go on to confirm that the remaining pubs in Salford Quays and Northwich will remain open – as is the Left Bank location in Spinningfields overlooking the River Irwell. Better still, the building itself will still remain a pub and we already know what’s taking its place:
Although there is still no news on when we can expect to see The Salmon’s second venture launch, if it’s anything like the success the Northern Quarter one has seen then we’re in for a treat.
So don’t worry, The Didsbury Dozen may have taken a hit but it’s still intact and there are plenty of other pubs you can work into the crawl in the meantime.
For now, though, all we can say is rest in peace to The Dockyard Didsbury, you were a real one – we’ll always have the memories.
Emily Sergeant -
18th August 2021 
