When Gooey first arrived in Manchester in 2020, it did so in perfect step with the pandemic.
Tentatively launching the same month the country plunged into lockdown, no one knew just how much its salty-sweet treats would shape the course of our isolation.
Beginning life as a small pop-up in borrowed space, its bakers soon became Manchester’s go-to sugar dealers as the business pivoted into home delivery.
Two and a half years later, as we wander around inside Gooey’s new bakery and cafe, we can’t help but wonder how many deliveries (and kiosk collections) it took to get here.
Now, the team is trying something new, with the launch of their very own cafe, which will offer an all-day brunch menu when it opens its doors this Friday.
Light, airy, and modern, with a full kitchen and on-site bakery, Gooey’s cafe will be serving up all-day breakfast, brunch and lunch dishes made using special breads baked on site.
Housed in the former Cat cafe unit, some serious work has gone in here over the past few months, not least the installation of a proper extraction fan.
Gooey French toast, a magnificent tower of lighter-than-air eggy bread layered with vanilla creme patisserie and swimming in maple syrup. / Image: The Manc Eats
Four crispy hash browns and a classic black pepper-cured bacon sandwich on toasted Shokupan bread. / Image: The Manc Eats
On the counter, fans of Gooey’s signature melt-in-the-middle cookies and fluffy donuts can still pick up their favourites, to eat in or takeaway, or ogle a new selection of changing pastries, cakes and specials.
The biggest new addition is the new cafe menu, which caters to breakfasters, brunchers and lunchers from 9am-6pm with a range of different things on toast, in sandwiches or salads.
We cut open the Gooey French toast, a magnificent tower that’s somehow swimming in maple syrup and still lighter-than-air, only to find its insides oozing with dulce de leche and vanilla creme pat.
A Kewpie egg mayo sandwich on toasted Japanese Shokupan bread, a plump whole egg running through its middle, is a modest showstopper, as is a vegan-friendly wild mushroom toast on toasted chia brioche, smeared with a generous helping of roasted black garlic cashew cream.
A Kewpie egg mayo sandwich on toasted Japanese Shokupan bread. / Image: The Manc Eats
vegan wild mushroom toast with roasted black garlic cashew cream on toasted chia brioche. / Image: The Manc Eats
Other menu highlights to look out for this Friday include the char sui bbq glazed baby back rib sesame sub, panko-fried chicken katsu brioche, and the hefty bricks of ‘side portion’ halloumi, which come slathered in a (pleasantly spicy) chilli jam.
A full coffee menu is also available, alongside a list of fresh, cold-pressed juices in orange (carrot, ginger and orange), or green (cucumber, kale, pear and grape),
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
If that’s not doing it for you, you’ll also find ‘fancy schmancy’ iced strawberry, vanilla and matcha lattes, a caramelised white chocolate mocha, and cold-brewed green and white tea with added coconut, pineapple and hibiscus on the drinks menu.
As for those who like life’s simpler pleasures, rest assured you can also get a proper builder’s brew here.
Prices start from £3.20 for a Yorkshire breakfast tea and £4 for slabs of toasted brioche loaf served with a pot of seasonal jam.
At £6.90, the aforementioned Kewpie egg sandwich is a steal, As for the French toast, at £11.30 it might be the most expensive thing on the menu but if you don’t order it you are seriously missing out. You can always split it with a friend.
Opening this Friday, 26 August, the new, dog-friendly cafe will welcome customers from 9am to 6pm seven days a week.
Feature image – The Manc Eats
Manchester
An Oasis lookalike competition is happening in Manchester city centre this weekend
Emily Sergeant
Manchester, we’ve made it.
It was only a matter of time, but after celebrity lookalike competitions absolutely took the world by storm last summer, with droves of Timothée Chalamet, Paul Mescal, and Pedro Pascal wannabes gathering in the streets of New York and London over several different weekends, Manchester is finally getting in on the action this year.
And of course, what else could be more fitting on the weekend Oasis returns to their hometown than a Gallaghers Lookalike Competition?
In case you (somehow… really, how?) hadn’t heard, Liam and Noel have finally buried the hatchet and reformed as Oasis for the first time in more than a decade – with the long-awaited Live ’25 tour getting underway in Cardiff over this past weekend.
Now that Cardiff is done and dusted, the brothers – along with more than 300,000 fans – are returning home and will be descending on Manchester’s Heaton Park from this Friday (11 July) for five nostalgia-drenched gigs full of iconic tunes.
Anyone heading to the second Oasis gig on Saturday 12 July, or even anyone who isn’t, is invited to practice their best Gallagher impressions and make their way over to St Peter’s Square in the heart of the city centre to take part in a lookalike competition that’s bound to get plastered all over social media.
The competition is being hosted at The Manchester Shop – the legendary local gift emporium on the ground floor of Affleck’s – from their dedicated stall at the MCR Live ’25 pop-up markets in St Peter’s Square, which is set to see hundreds of Oasis fans gather to soak up to atmosphere during the day, before journeying over to Heaton Park.
An Oasis lookalike competition is happening in Manchester city centre this weekend / Credit: Stefan Branding (via Wikimedia Commons) | Flickr
At the markets – which are part of the wider MCR Live ’25 events – you’ll also find local makers, artists, and indie traders gathering for a celebration of sound, style, and city pride.
But we have no doubt the Gallaghers Lookalike Competition is going to draw in crowds.
“Think you’ve got the swagger of Liam? Or the scowl of Noel? Prove it at our Gallagher Brothers Lookalike Competition,” event organisers wrote on social media.
So, no matter whether you’re ‘mad fer it’ or you just fancy a bit of a laugh ahead of what is one of the most important gigs of the century so far, make sure to dig out your parkas and tambourines, come dressed to impress, and get ready show off your best Gallagher vibes.
Prizes, tunes, and Mancunian mayhem are ‘guaranteed’.
You’ll even get ‘extra points’ for donning bucket hats, and Manchester City tops too, as well as for having sideburns and big thick eyebrows.
So if reckon you got what it takes, or just fancy watching the madness unfold, then head down to St Peter’s Square this Saturday 12 July from 1pm.
Featured Image – Simon Emmett (Publicity Picture)
Manchester
Stereophonics have announced another UK tour this winter, including a massive Manchester gig
Danny Jones
British rock legends aren’t waiting around for long as after wrapping their most recent raft of shows, Stereophonics are getting straight back on the road at the end of the year for a UK winter tour, with big gigs in Manchester, London, Glasgow and more.
With tours in Australia and the US also coming in the interim, not to mention having just played multiple festivals right off the back of their own springtime shows, they’ve got to be one of the busiest and hardest-working bands around right now.
The legendary Welsh group released their new album, Make ‘Em Laugh, Make ‘Em Cry, Make ‘Em Wait – which happens to be their 13 studio LP to date – back in April, and haven’t wasted any time in touring it, nor the all-time classics that have made them such a much-loved named here in the UK.
Now, though, fresh off a huge sell-out crowd at Finsbury Park down in the capital, lads are gearing up for more domestic shows,
Legendary Welsh band Stereophonics announce a UK Arena Tour for December 2025.@coopuk members get first in line for tickets Find out more: https://t.co/amNXniakHf Co-op Member Presale: 09:30 9 July 2025 General Sale: 09:30 11 July 2025 pic.twitter.com/BXLs7ZXftU
Their latest record went to number one back in May, which is then the ninth time they’ve achieved the feat, and the Cynon Valley veterans seem to show absolutely no signs of slowing down whatsoever.
We’ll Iechyd da to that.
Other shows here in the North of England include South Yorkshire’s Utilta Arena (our friends over at The Sheff will be buzzing with that one), as well as a Liverpool date at the M&S Bank Arena.
Earlier this month, the band also played another showstopping headline set at this year’s Isle of Wight festival, with music outlet Rolling StoneUK dubbing the band’s set as “the highlight of the night” that “upheld every expectation” for 55,000 festival goers.
It was much the same story at Finsbury this past weekend, too, which has already seen the likes of Fontaines D.C., Slayer, and soon Drake arrive for Wireless Fest 2025.
Making their Co-op Live debut when they arrive in Manchester this winter, Stereophonics are to play the world-leading arena on 12 December.
Official Co-op members get the first lot of early access via the venue’s presale window, which opens from 9:30am on Wednesday, 9 July, but general admission tickets will be available from the same time on the following Friday (11 July).
Georgina Pellant -
24th August 2022 
