A new, ethical waterfront cafe has opened inside the People’s History Museum on the edge of Spinningfields.
Serving up fat breakfast sandwiches and pastries for breakfast and wholesome dishes like tagines, stews and daals for lunch, it’s got seating inside and out – including a beautiful evening sun trap overlooking the River Irwell.
Its owners are also currently in talks with Allied London to take over the space directly on the water, overlooked by Axel Void’s Peterloo mural – a move we think would be a great boost to the area.
Here, menus are for “cowards” – or so we’re told by founder and director Corin Bell, who we meet for an ethical breakfast and coffee ahead of the cafe’s launch on Wednesday 19 May.
Asked how it feels to be opening after all the madness of the past year, she quips: “We’re still in the middle of the madness, we’re not done with the madness.”
ADVERTISEMENT
In all seriousness, though, Corin seems to have it all very much together. As she admits herself, “it’s not easy being green” – even more so when you’re trying to use any and all buying power the best you can to support the future you want to see.
Peterloo mural by Axel Void, commissioned by PHM to mark the massacre’s 200th anniversary / Image : David Dixon
But the way we see it, they’re doing a damned good job. Everything in the cafe is ethically sourced, right down to the chairs we’re sitting on, which she tells us are made from repurposed fishing lines.
ADVERTISEMENT
Initially, Open Kitchen had hoped to open the cafe in 2020, but instead were called upon to feed those in need during the pandemic – putting together roughly 140,000 meals for the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Now firmly installed in the PHM and working with a huge range of food businesses right up and down the supply chain, the cafe intercepts food that would have otherwise ended up in the bin and turns it into hearty meals.
Working with everyone from farmers and wholesalers, to product manufacturers and big food factories that make products for supermarkets, they’re touching on every point you can imagine – ensuring no food goes to waste.
ADVERTISEMENT
Corin states: “If it’s mouldy or it’s bad, food is a business and it goes to waste. It’s cheaper to dump it from the system than to keep it in. And that’s where we come in.”
“We work with cosmetic grade outs, fruit and veg that is too big, too small, a little bit bug-bitten, the wrong colour.
“We’ve had cauliflowers before that were rejected by a very large supermarket because they were the wrong shade of white.”
“We [also] take lots of part-prepped ingredients, you know those massive bags of chopped onions and part-prepped potatoes and things like that you get. As soon as you start prepping veg like that it gets a very short shelf life.”
The daal at Open Kitchen / Image: Lucas Smith photography
But they don’t source everything for free. Some things, like the thick cuts of bacon in our breakfast sandwich, or the chunky slices of sourdough encasing it, are instead purchased locally from suppliers that meet the cafe’s high ethical, sustainable and local requirements.
ADVERTISEMENT
“It’s that bit trickier from a food safety point of view, obviously you’ve got to be a lot more on it with high-risk foods,” Corin explains.
This includes some small businesses the team knows are working very ethically, but have not perhaps bothered to go through the proper certifications, because “it’s a hassle if you’re a little family-run operation.”
She tells us about a small farm in Derbyshire that has offered the cafe a whole mutton “about twice a year” and the kitchen’s plans to do nose-to-tail butchering to ensure nothing goes to waste.
A new, ethical waterfront cafe has opened inside the People’s History Museum / Megan Eaves via Flickr
Further down the line, she also wants to introduce tasting evenings with small plates and wine that would educate diners on some of their amazing suppliers and ethical production processes.
Corin is aware that many people find the concept of living ethically daunting, and she acknowledges sourcing ethically is never simple.
ADVERTISEMENT
Just by talking about the process of finding their coffee supplier Bird and Wild, who support the RSPB and use an old, sustainable farming method that also protects the habitats of birds, she reveals the minutiae detail that needs to be considered when making such decisions.
“You go, ‘we need a coffee supplier’ and then, ‘oh god it’s not that simple’, because [often] they’re clearing land, they’re destroying the environment, there’s child labour, there’s militias controlling entire governments because coffee is a cash crop … so you go down these massive rabbit holes and every simple decision you want to make [is never simple].
“I can understand why some people think ‘I can’t win and it’s exhausting’ ’cause it is hard work, but I think that message, so long as you’re making conscious choices and you’re thinking about where it’s come from and who is involved in making it, that’s a start, and you just go from there.”
To us, the beauty of a cafe like this means that, even if you do feel too overwhelmed to start implementing all of these ethical practices into your everyday life, you can start somewhere.
Namely, with a tasty bowl of ethical daal sat in the sun overlooking the River Irwell.
Food & Drink
Team behind award-winning Higher Ground to open new Bar Shrimp seafood bar in Manchester
Daisy Jackson
Higher Ground, one of Manchester’s very top restaurants, is to open a brand-new seafood bar later this year.
With Bar Shrimp, they’ll be bringing a brand-new offering to town, with cocktails, beers on tap, British seafood and snacks.
Bar Shrimp will come from Daniel Craig Martin, Joseph Otway and Richard Cossins, who at this point are a well-oiled operational machine.
They’re the team behind proudly British bistro Higher Ground, which grows much of its own produce at its Cinderwood Market Garden and earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand within a year of opening.
The same team are also behind Flawd, the beautiful waterside wine bar at Ancoats Marina.
And they’ve cemented themselves as one of Manchester’s most widely acclaimed hospitality teams – even Rick Stein says Higher Ground is one of the best places to eat in the entire country, which is high praise indeed.
Bar Shrimp, set to open in Manchester this winter, aims to be a ‘relaxed and focused bar with delicious food’.
They say: “Whether it’s a beer after work, some food with friends or after dinner drinks late into the night, Bar Shrimp will be a dynamic space where the music and energy evolves throughout the evening where everyone and anyone can come together for a memorable experience.”
They announced the news this morning on Cerys Matthews’ BBC 6Music Show.
British seafood with a side of cocktails? Sounds alright to us.
A location, opening date and more info on Bar Shrimp will follow – stay up to date with their latest HERE.
The free stuff your mum can get in Manchester for Mother’s Day
Danny Jones
If there’s one thing we know for sure it’s that none of us would be lucky enough to be on this planet were it not for our mums, and we think the least they deserve is for things to be made easy, comfortable and, ideally, free wherever possible when it comes to Mother’s Dayherein Manchester.
Now, we don’t live in a perfect so unfortunately not everyone Manc mum is going to be able swan into their favourite place and expect a complimentary this and a gratis that.
However, there are guite a few places in Manchester city centre doing the right things and giving away some free stuff for Mother’s Day 2025, so we thought we’d round them up for you and, more importantly, the person who helped bring you into the world.
Let’s get into, shall we?
Six freebies mums can score in Manchester this Mother’s Day
Albert’s Schloss – Deansgate
What better to begin than with a top-notch breakfast spot? Albert’s Schloss on Peter St is not only one of the best places to start or end a day out but they also do brilliant early morning offerings. Plus, this Mother’s Day, you can wash down your Bavarian brekkie with a free spritz, because why the hell not?
And since you’ve started as you mean to go on, we’d say the only thing better than an early drink (and a free one at that) is a second one, so it’s a good job one of the newest additions to Manchester, The Trading Route, is offering a free cocktail to mums this Mother’s Day.
Best of all, the new S. John’s beer and food hall is located just down the road from the main Deansgate strip and is just next to Spinningfields, so it’s a short walk from Schloss. You can book HERE.
Speaking of which, if your and/or your mum resisted the urge to grab another bite at Trading Route (we wouldn’t blame them if they did), you could then head from St. John’s to Spinningfields and grab some a sophisticated bit of brunch as you grab your next freebie.
Habibi on Hardman Boulevard is giving away a complimentary luxury gift from home, body and beauty brand, Rituals, to those who book ahead. Consider that killing two gift-shaped birds with one stone.
Now, we’re not necessarily expecting you stop at every single place on this list – unless your feeling extravagant or your mum really is that mega that she deserves all of this and more – but you’d be a fool not to grab yourself a margarita on the house from any Nell’s location.
Besides, it wouldn’t be the worst thing to grab a slice to further line your stomach.
However, if mum hasn’t had a nibble in a hot minute then why not take her back in the direction you came from to beloved Polish restaurant, Platzki, who as well as serving an incredible main menu are also offering a free cheesecake or apple pie to all maternal diners this Mother’s Day.
Open for walk-ins as always, of course, but you can reserve your table HERE.
Credit: The Manc Group
House of Fu – Central
And last but not least, what harm would another free marg do? That’s what on the cards over at House of Fu, which just so happens to be up there with some the best ramen in Manchester if there’s still any room in that well-treated tummy.
Located on Portland Street, it’s also not too far from Picadilly, the bus station or St Peter’s Square tram stop when you and your mum are ready to call a day on this freebie parade… Or, you could always tie off the night with some karaoke downstairs. Now that’s how you put an end to a party.
We’d like to think that half a dozen options should just about do you and your mums in central Manchester, though we’re sure there’s plenty more free things to snap up this Mother’s Day.
The cynics might want you to believe that this date is just another annual observance created, or at least perpetuated by companies to sell cards, flowers, chocolate and son, but the truth is a special day that deserves to be celebrated properly.
In fact, the truth is that Mothering Sunday started nearly 120 years ago over in Philadelphia, when a woman named Anna Jarvis wanted to honour her mother who spent her life gathering groups to promote female friendship and health during a memorial service at her late mother’s church.
We think that’s wonderful and whatever your relationship with the mother figure in your life, we reckon it’s a sentiment and motivation worth sustaining much more than just once a year.
Much love to all our mums from The Manc, and sorry if we were ever a pain – hopefully a few drinks makes up for it.