An empty industrial unit in Manchester could be transformed into an enormous beer hall and night market.
The proposed The Foundry site would include a walled garden, independent shops, an open-kitchen barbecue restaurant, a bakery, a coffee shop and a gym.
If it goes ahead, it will see the old Presbar Diecasting Foundry on Store Street turned into a food and drink venture.
The exciting new plans come from some local hospitality heavyweights – A Very Inc. is headed up by Adelaide Winter and Joel Wilkinson, the team behind Ramona and The Firehouse as well as previously founding the likes of the Albert Hall, Albert’s Schloss, Gorilla and Rudy’s.
A glimpse inside the site. Credit: The Foundry
The Foundry is set to take shape in the Piccadilly East neighbourhood near Manchester Piccadilly, on a 200,000 sq ft plot.
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The site would be split into two – Diecast, which would be home to the bars, bakery and night market; and Diecast Studios, with creative studios and a tech hub.
Its Beer Hall will include a craft brewery and long communal tables, while the corner of the building closest to Store Street will have a more daytime offering of coffee, and deli and baked goods.
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The Foundry’s plans. Credit: The Foundry
The outside space would be turned into a beer garden, with lights strewn across the yard, a herb garden and beehives.
The Foundry would be open on Thursday and Friday evenings, Saturdays and Sundays from midday, closing no later than 1am.
Due to the residential properties in the area, the plans also include sound-proofing the warehouse.
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The Foundry comes from the same team behind Ramona and The Firehouse. Credit: Ramona
It’s set to create 1000 jobs for the local economy.
A public consultation is now set to take place before planning permission is sought for the project.
A statement on The Foundry’s website says: “Our passion is for reimagining, reusing and breathing life into historic, derelict buildings and neighbourhoods in this amazing city.
“Our next adventure is one of our biggest challenges yet. We want to transform the former Presbar Diecasting Foundry on Store Street into a new creative neighbourhood, providing a resource and community for local residents and visitors to Manchester.
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“We have created this website to tell our new neighbours a bit more about our plans and to ask for your feedback. We’d also love you to come and say hello in person.
“At our venues we take pride in the positive relationships that we have with our neighbours. We’re looking forward to getting to know you all and hopefully having a good time along the way.”
Manchester City youngster Nico O’Reilly earns surprise England call-up
Danny Jones
Manchester City youngster Nico O’Reilly has earned himself a surprise England call-up for this upcoming international break.
The impressive young utility player, who has been deployed as both a defender and a midfielder under Pep Guardiola, has proved to be a popular member of the squad among Man City fans.
A north Manchester-born academy product, O’Reilly has represented the Three Lions throughout various age groups across the youth level, but this England camp will be his first senior call-up.
Yet another local lad flying the flag for 0161 in the national team.
The 20-year-old arrived at St George’s Park on Monday afternoon along with a number of ther young English stars such as Myles Lewis-Skelly, Elliot Anderson, Jarrel Quansash, who have recently been integrated by national team boss, Thomas Tuchel.
O’Reilly has been added to the squad following the withdrawal of fellow defender Reece James, with the Chelsea fullback having picked up yet another injury in the Premier League.
As detailed by England Football: “The Chelsea captain sustained an injury playing for his club over the weekend and has been ruled out of England’s October internationals following medical assessments.”
With O’Reilly able to play not only in defence but on either flank, as he has already done in Guardiola’s ever-fluid system, the versatile Man City rotation player isn’t just looking more and more like a first-team star but could soon be a capped England international.
Looking forward to seeing more of this on the big stage:
As you can see, Pep has continued to deploy him in even the biggest of games, and it seems as though he’s clearly impressed Tuchel enough to make him first in the queue to replace James.
Rightly so, we’d hasten to add; it remains to be seen whether or not he will feature in the two upcoming fixtures against Wales and Latvia.
Commenting on the moment of recognition, City expressed their pride and congratulations, insisting that the decision “also helps further cement what has been a quite magnificent start to the season for the 20-year-old” in which he’s already made nine first-team appearances across all competitions.
That now makes the number of Greater Manchester-born/based players in the current England squad to four (just one of those being from Man United in Barcelona loanee Marcus Rashford) – an admittedly smaller number than we’ve come to expect over the years.
Nico O’Reilly signed a fresh new deal at Manchester City just last month.
Electronic icons Kraftwerk announce first Manchester gig since 2017
Danny Jones
Pioneering German band Kraftwerk have announced their first UK tour since 2017, with fans having to wait almost a decade for another Manchester gig.
Thankfully, they’ll be heading back down the Autobahn and across the channel for a return to our shores soon enough with a long-awaited list of British and Irish live dates.
Kraftwerk remains one of the most groundbreaking groups in the electronic scene to this day, having paved the way for generations of new artists to keep experimenting with the genre in the 50+ years since their formation.
Heading back to Manchester early next year, die-hards will no doubt snap these tickets faster than you can say ‘Das Model’.
For anyone unaware of these veritable legends of electronica and the world of alternative/Euro-synth pop, Kraftwerk formed all the way back in 1970 and went on to shape the modern music industry, bridging the gap between music and the digital age.
Best known for tracks like ‘Computer Love’, ‘The Robots’, ‘Pocket Calculator’ and the aforementioned on named after the national motorway network, they spearheaded futurism in the musical landscape from the outset.
It seems only fitting, therefore, that their upcoming highly anticipated return to the UK comes as part of their ‘Multimedia’ tour.
While they have played a number of live shows all over the globe this year, including an extensive run in the US, next spring will be our domestic visit from Kraftwerk in nine long years.
Credit: Press shot (supplied)
You can see the full list of UK and Ireland tour dates – including a handful of Northern gigs – down below:
Spanning a total of 15 UK dates, as you can see, there will also be tickets to see Kraftwerk nearby in the likes of Liverpool and with our mates over in Sheffield.
Kraftwerk legend Ralf Hütter famously played a set inside our city’s velodrome at the National Cycling Centre for Manchester International Festival (MIF) back in 2009, and has collaborated with the event on multiple ocassions.
In fact, that very performance was seen as a turning point for MIF, so the Manc Kraftwerk connection speaks for itself; O2 members can obviously get pre-sale, but general admission tickets go live from 9am this Friday, 10 October.
Daisy Jackson -
14th February 2022 
