Some good news for those who have left planning the Christmas ‘do until the last minute, as award-winning sports bar BOX will open its new Manchester site in time for the festive season.
The giant new bar, already well-established in Leeds, is famed for screening live sports events, but will also be offering apres ski-style live entertainment and cocktails on tap.
Although not opening until November 27, bookings are now open for the festive season at the huge two-storey, 8000 sq ft venue.
Inside, there are 20 screens showing sports matches, two 21-foot European Shuffleboard tables, and a massive island bar.
As well as sports screenings, BOX will have live music at the weekends. Credit: The Photo Project
The upstairs level has been kitted out with booth seating and luxurious finishes for private viewings and parties – just in time for the festive season.
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One of BOX’s main selling points will be its ‘Bandeoke’ nights, where guests will join a live house band on stage to belt out their favourite karaoke hits.
On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, there’ll be live DJs and live bands too.
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Food at BOX bar will include platters for groups and parties. Credit: Supplied.
Fresh Budvar will be delivered directly from the Czech Republic each week and stored in beer tanks on site.
Then there’ll be BOX’s secret-recipe Pornstar and Espresso Martinis, available on tap.
For groups, there are giant cocktail steins you can share, alongside a selection of wines, spirits and local beers.
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Parties can also dig in to BOX Platters, which are packed with mini burgers, mozzarella fries, crispy popcorn chicken and succulent BBQ ribs.
Other dishes on the menu include pizzas made with double-fermented dough, hand-formed burgers, and marinated kebabs.
BOX Manchester will be the fourth Arc Inspirations venue to open in the city, joining two Banyan sites (in Spinningfields and at the Corn Exchange), and Manahatta just down the road on Deansgate.
10 major restaurants and bars that have closed in Manchester already this year
Daisy Jackson
We are barely a quarter of the way through the year, and already it feels like Manchester is having a brutal year of restaurant and bar closures.
Already this year we’ve bid farewell to restaurants that should, in any other economic climate, stood the test of time.
We’re talking long-standing neighbourhood favourites, restaurants that have caught the eye of the prestigious Michelin Guide, local institutions, and award-winning bars.
But, with the hospitality industry battling ever-increasing costs and a stark lack of support from the Government, we might be seeing a lot more of this to come, industry insiders have warned.
We’ve rounded up 10 restaurant and bar closures that have shocked Manchester already this year.
Climat
Climat has laid their finances bare in their closing statementMichelin-recommended rooftop restaurant Climat has closed its doors with immediate effect
A real wake-up call for everyone about the dire circumstances facing hospitality landed last month, when Climat closed its doors for good. Despite a Michelin Guide recommendation, rave reviews across the board, and an enviable location with views across Manchester, the finances for the restaurant just didn’t stack up. And they were brutally honest about those finances in their closing statement. Climat’s founder listed an annual energy bill of £112k a year, a 33% increase in staff wages, and a jump in business rates from £12,000 a year to £38,000 a year among the reasons for its closure.
One of the Northern Quarter’s longest-standing restaurants announced it would be closing its doors for good back in February. In a brutally honest statement TNQ said that it had become ‘no longer viable’ to run the restaurant, listing costs like an £8k a month energy bill. This independent business said it was focused on paying the staff ‘every penny they’re owed’ and finding them all new jobs in the industry.
KAJI
Glitzy Manchester restaurant KAJI has quietly shut downKAJI
KAJI opened on Bridge Street back in 2022, a big glitzy, futuristic restaurant space with a modern Japanese menu, which quickly drew in all sorts of glamorous customers (like when Ilkay Gundogan’s wife – who had famously described Manchester’s restaurant scene as ‘horrible’ – actually liked the food here).
But despite a rebrand from MUSU to KAJI and pulling in some impressive chefs, it appears that this glamorous spot has closed for good last month, with repossession notices now in the windows.
The restaurant remained silent on its closure, but it’s no longer possible to book a table here.
Restaurant Orme
Restaurant Orme in Urmston has announced its shock closure. Credit: Instagram, @littlemcrhouse
This is a bit of a weird one because it hasn’t actually closed yet – but Restaurant Orme in Urmston has notified followers that with ‘great sadness’ they are intending to sell the business.
In a statement, the Michelin-recommended restaurant acknowledged the ‘significant economic pressures’ facing the restaurant industry, writing: “We find an increasing disparity between perceived value and the true cost of operations, rendering long-term sustainability unfeasible.”
But they also detailed that a break in their lease has allowed them to ‘thoughtfully consider’ their circumstances and make the ‘right choice for our growing families’.
You’ve still got time to visit, but I wouldn’t delay.
Topkapi
Just this month, we’ve had to bid goodbye to a bit of a local institution.
Topkapi Palace has closed its doors on Deansgate after almost five decades in the city, making it the longest-running Turkish restaurant in Manchester.
This one triggered a wave of discussion, with one local operator warning: “If we keep letting places like this go, we lose more than food, we lose culture, history, identity.”
Peaky Blinders
Peaky Blinders bar in Manchester has closed with immediate effect
This one maybe stuck around for a bit longer than anyone expected, if we’re being honest, but the enormous Peaky Blinders-inspired bar on Peter Street shut down back in March.
Peaky Blinders opened back in 2018 in the former Sakana site, with plenty of nods to the popular Netflix series – including oil paintings of the main characters on the wall.
Peaky Blinders said in a statement: “It is with an extremely heavy heart that we unfortunately have to announce the closure of Peaky Blinders Manchester with immediate effect. We are devastated it has had to end this way, but grateful for the journey.”
It was known and loved for its epic happy hour deals and its bottomless brunches, but glitzy Spinningfields bar Banyan shut down right at the start of this year.
It’s part of the Arc Inspirations group that also operates Manahatta and Box, and still operates another Banyan across town at the Corn Exchange.
Their sign in the door read: “Thank you so much for your custom over the years, we’ve loved being part of this wonderful city and have made so many friends.
“Don’t be a stranger, we’d love to continue to welcome you to our Banyan bar in the Corn Exchange. Team Banyan.”
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House of Fu
One of Manchester’s coolest ramen spots quietly closed its doors in March, saying the site just ‘doesn’t click’.
House of Fu opened just two and a half years ago on Portland Street, following major success across in Leeds.
They wrote: “It’s been a wild two and a half years. To say the economic landscape has been challenging would be a bit of an understatement, but sometimes a site just doesn’t click. You live and hopefully learn.”
Project Halcyon
Project Halcyon also made the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list. Credit: The Manc GroupProject Halcyon also made the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list. Credit: The Manc Group
Project Halcyon was formerly named one of the best cocktail bars in the UK, famed for its speakeasy-style setting that drew inspiration from Prohibition-era Chicago.
But it closed for good back in February, writing: “Project Halcyon has poured its last cocktail.
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“It was with sincere regret that due to unexpected challenges at the ownership level we must close our doors for the foreseeable. Though we say goodbye, the memories live on.
“Thank you to everyone who shared in our craft, our community, and our story.”
Simmons
London-born bar brand Simmons closed their Manchester site just over a year after opening their first Northern location, right in the heart of one of town’s busiest nightlife strips.
An otherwise well-established and popular chain down south, Simmons had a total of 15 different bars in central London, but things clearly didn’t quite take off as planned here in Manchester.
They wrote: “It’s never easy to say goodbye. We’re incredibly proud of what the team built here and so grateful to them, as well as everyone who joined us over the past year.
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“We’ve had some unforgettable nights. We love Manchester, and we hope to be back under the right conditions.”
What it’s like to stay in Manchester’s surprisingly affordable new mid-century hotel, Mollie’s
Daisy Jackson
There’s a fine line between ‘tastefully retro’ and ‘your nan’s spare room’, but the city’s newest hotel – Mollie’s Manchester – lands firmly in the former.
Designed by the same team behind Soho House, this (surprisingly affordable) mid-century hotel feels like stepping into the 1950s… if the 1950s had Pelotons and Dyson Airwraps in the wardrobes and enough aesthetic lighting to make everyone look faintly famous.
Whether you’re booking the classic rooms, usually priced from £109, or the huge suites, you can expect the same level of design detail.
Think terrazzo tiles, teak panelling, sage greens, burnt oranges, and interesting textures on every sittable surface.
And unlike some hotels that punish you for booking the ‘basic’ room by giving you a view of an air conditioning unit and a kettle balanced on a luggage rack, every room type at Mollie’s feels far more premium than the actual price tag.
For our stay, we were welcomed with batched cocktails and a mini fridge filled with treats like canned wine (which feels deeply respectful of modern traveller needs), plus a Grind coffee machine, fluffy robes, giant TVs, rainfall showers, and Cowshed toiletries.
If you end up on the better side of the hotel, you’ll have views of the city skyline from your bed, your sofa, or your bath.
Design details in a Mollie’s Manchester roomGrind coffee machine in the roomA Dyson Airwrap in the wardrobe of a studio roomAnd an actual Peloton bike in your room, tooThe beautiful bedroomA bunk room at Mollie’s Motel ManchesterViews from your bedA Mollie’s Motel suite
There are bunk rooms you can book too, where up to four people can climb into stylish wooden sleep pods, so cool I’m immediately planning a girls’ night out where someone can hand me a martini as I climb into a luxury bunk bed.
Downstairs in Mollie’s, which has taken over the former Granada Studios, you’ll find a cocktail bar that seems to pay homage to the building’s history.
Studio IV has vintage TV screens above the bar, music performances and DJs on stage, and cocktails inspired live music you can enjoy from a loungey vintage-patterned sofa.
Breakfast at Mollie’s ManchesterCocktails in Studio IVMollie’s Diner is open nowBurgers and fried chicken at Mollie’s DinerStudio IV cocktail barInside Mollie’s Motel & Diner Manchester
Then there’s Mollie’s Diner, which fully commits to recreating 1950s Americana. Inspired by a vintage Cadillac, the interiors are all deep burgundy leather booths, glowing globe lights, and polished chrome details.
The menu is exactly what you want from a diner like this: thick milkshakes, burgers, steaks, and fried chicken in the evenings; waffles, French toast, eggs any style in the mornings.
Mollie’s Manchester may be inspired by the Golden Age of Hollywood – but it’s heralding in a new Golden Age of hotel for Manchester too.
Daisy Jackson -
18th November 2021 
