Three years on from its opening under the Grade-II listed railway archways in central Manchester, Manchester Gin’s bar and restaurant is very much settling into its surroundings.
As sleek and stylish as ever, it has recently introduced a new signature cocktail menu – the third in as many years – celebrating the processes behind its spirit-making operation next door at The Spirit of Manchester Distillery with a 16-strong drinks list.
No longer content with just making gin, the team has branched out to explore the worlds of rum, vodka, vermouth and even absinthe – the famous ‘naughty water’ beloved by artists like Picasso, Gaudi, Hemingway and Dali.
Image: The Manc Eats
Its new Bar & Drinks Development Manager, Daniel Clarke, has put together a new menu ‘Ground to Glass’ to showcase all of these new creations, whilst in the kitchen Head Chef Karl Kivell is busy crafting fresh, flavourful small plates – all thoughtfully developed to complement the cocktails on offer.
From a hearty Italian-inspired sausage roll served with mustard-yellow apple ketchup to beef skirt marinated in the house-made spiced One-Eyed Rebel Rum, Karl had certainly had some fun with the food menu.
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Whipped cheese with radishes, beer-battered fish with shoestring fries and curry sauce and prawns in a rich and spicy tomato ‘nduja sauce all make for pleasant table-fillers as you tuck into the impressive cocktails.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Elsewhere, an anchovy and heirloom tomato salad is prepared with Manchester Gin Wild Spirit, whilst on the dessert menu sweet tooths will find a Manchester Raspberry Infused Millefeuille, giving another boozy hit to the food menu here.
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As for the drinks, hero cocktails include ‘For Miso Sake’, an Asian-inspired cocktail featuring Manchester Gin Wild Spirit, red pepper, plum saké, jasmine and miso, served in a glass inside a traditional Japanese Masu Box, and the striking ‘Under Pressure’, a smoky delight with Manchester Gin Raspberry Infused, watermelon infused Aperol, mint, lime distillate and apple, topped with a show-stopping bubble made from citrus.
Having recently won the Team of the Year at the Top 50 Cocktail Bar Awards, the venue is “really pushing” themselves, says Jen Wiggins, owner at Three Little Words and co-founder of The Spirit of Manchester Distillery.
The ‘For Miso Sake’ cocktail is a new addition at Three Little Words. / Image: Three Little Words
“In this menu, we wanted to hone in on the countless fascinating processes that take place to turn grains and plants into the spirits and drinks that we all love. Every day in our distillery we work with these processes from distilling, extracting, infusing and macerating.
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“We’ve taken 16 of these processes and harnessed them to inspire the cocktails and some of their ingredients on this menu, but it’s not style over substance – we’ve ensured that each cocktail has a place on the menu.
“In addition to our new cocktail menu, our new food menu perfectly pairs up with our enticing drinks offering, with several dishes incorporating our very own inhouse tipples into the recipe – making the menus a true match made in heaven.”
To see the full menu and book a table, visit the Three Little Words website here.
Feature image – Three Little Words
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You can get a mobile massage treatment in your office – just like us
Thomas Melia
We’d like to introduce you to the pioneering personalised service offering massage treatments on the move at practically any location including direct from your office– including to those of us here in Manchester.
In a world where you can get practically anything delivered straight to your door, it wasn’t going to be long until some genius invented a way to get a massage from the comfort of your own office.
Named ‘London’s first digital beauty concierge’, Ruuby have been pampering the nation’s capital for almost a decade before branching out to further locations.
The gorgeous set up provided by RuubyLook at that lovely branding on the towels.They did wonders with our otherwise plain downstairs office space. (Credit: The Manc Group)
In October 2024, the company expanded beyond its domestic reach in the likes of the capital, the Cotswolds and Surrey into Europe, making its first mark Switzerland: the perfect country for both luxury and essential beauty treatments with a tailored experience.
The month following saw the group moving up North and all the way to Manchester, where people can now book professional treatments best suited to them, right on their doorstep.
If you’re feeling scepticalstill, you can take it from us here at The Manc; we couldn’t tell you how relaxing and comforting these massages are.
There are a range of treatments available and we opted for two bespoke massages, a sports massage and a deep tissue massage.
Each experience is suited to your personal needs meaning each massage therapist will be able to fine-tune their relaxation abilities to what benefits you best.
After choosing the bespoke massage that I felt would work best for me, I went into this with no prior massage experience and I came out feeling taller, broader and more refreshed. Highly recommend.
Mid-day office massage? Yes, please.How relaxing. What a shame you have to go back to work after!Credit: The Manc Group
My masseuse guided me throughout the whole process and we soon discovered that I was able to tolerate much harder pressure than I thought which helped release tension I didn’t even know I had!
The same applies to how firm you’d like your session to be, as the masseuse can help with a brief overview of your time together, but the amount of pressure you like is down to personal preference.
It’s not just massages either: there’s everything from waxing, nails and hair to physio and IV drips; how about getting Marbella ready in less than an hour with a spray tan service set up wherever you are?
As Ruuby is a mobile and remote work environment, there are a number of at any time up and down the country, meaning your next beauty slot could be as little as an hour away, find out more HERE.
Farm shops are cool now – and Albion Farm Shop is the best of the best
Daisy Jackson
At some point in life, your idea of a great day out switches from drinking and clubbing to visiting a farm shop, or a garden centre, or something similarly wholesome.
And up in the hills above Manchester is surely one of the best in the UK – Albion Farm Shop.
This Saddleworth favourite is half-cafe, half-shop, with produce all either grown right outside, or sourced as locally as possible.
And while places like Hollies Farm Shop in Cheshire pull in seriously big, glamorous crowds (maybe it’s the Molly-Mae effect), there’s something much more charming and authentic about Albion Farm Shop.
Maybe it’s the tractors parked outside, the fact the produce section is in a drafty barn, the mismatched shelves and cabinets. It’s not curated like this – it just is.
The food in the cafe itself is up there with the best British grub in the North West, and I say that with my hand on my heart.
Whether it’s a full breakfast spilling over the edge of a plate, sandwiches served in a doorstop of bread, or a full menu of burgers made with British beef cap and smoked bone marrow patties, you can’t steer far wrong.
Rag pudding at Albion Farm ShopChips with a side of bone broth gravy Those huge burgers
There are chunky chips served with a full bowl of bone stock gravy on the side (hello, this is Oldham), onion rings so big you can wear them as a bangle, and big bowls of homemade soup.
And it would be remiss of me not to mention the rag pudding, a traditional dish from this neck of the woods. Famously, she’s not a pretty menu item, but this steamed suet pastry stuffed with braised beef shin is comforting and delicious.
If you want to stick northern fare but don’t fancy rag pudding, you can also grab a wedge of cheese and onion pie, lambs liver with mash, or any number of seasonal specials (for us, it was roast pork).
There are cracking views of the surrounding countryside, a resident cat who’s usually sleeping in the entranceway, and charm packed into every square foot.
Albion Farm Shop is at Oldham Road, Delph, Saddleworth OL3 5RQ.
The resident cat at Albion Farm ShopRoast pork in the cafeThe Albion Farm Shop cafeAlbion Farm ShopInside the shop itselfThe produce barn Local cheesesBakery itemsThe produce barn
Georgina Pellant -
8th July 2022 
