This month award-winning piemakers Great North Pie Co will officially open in Manchester city centre, bringing its high-quality goodies to Kampus for the very first time.
Serving up a modern take on traditional pie and mash dinners, a new, seasonal menu features four butter-pastry pies, stuffed to the brim using only the best ingredients from North West producers.
From 14-hour braised beef and ale pies, to roast chicken and mushroom and the company’s hero classic Lancashire cheese and onion, pie fans can expect to find classic flavour combinations done well at the cosy and intimate new space.
Each pie on the menu is served with a wide range of sides, with choices including buttery mash or proper home-style chips, cauliflower cheese, pickled red cabbage, mushy garden peas or chip shop mushy peasall served withroast onion and brown sauce gravy or the house curry sauce- the ultimate feed.
There will also be weekly comfort food specials such as lamb and pea steamed suet puddings, corned beef hash, Lancashire Hot Pot, and keema and chips.
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Image: Great North Pie Co
Image: Great North Pie Co
To round off the perfect meal, puddings include school dinner-style sweet treats like chocolate sponge and custard and the classic sticky toffee pudding.
Breakfast sandwiches will be served daily between 10:30am and 2.30pm and will feature quality versions of all the breakfast classics including Cheshire Smokehouse honey-cured bacon and Stornoway black pudding.
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The drinks menu, meanwhile, includes the likes of Manchester Union Lager on draught, a selection of quality wines and proseccos, plus a handful of spritz style cocktails.
With booth-style seating for 20 inside and an outdoor area seating area for up to 30 more overlooking the Kampus garden and canal, the cosy new pie cafe is the first resident to arrive on the cobbles of Kampus’s Little David Street.
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Neil Broomfield, co-founder of Great North Pie Co, said: “Since we started making pies it’s always been an ambition to have a base in the city centre.
“We’d been looking for a while and as soon as we saw Kampus, Little David Street and the gardens, we knew it was the right place for us. While it’s our first city centre venue, we don’t have plans to rollout out any more, as we place our focus on keeping the quality and consistency we aim for.
Image: Great North Pie Co
Image: Great North Pie Co
“We just want to concentrate on doing one thing and doing it well. The mix of traders coming into Kampus is amazing and we’re so proud to be part of it.”
Great North Pie Co also has venues in Lake District’s Ambleside and in Altrincham Market. Its products can also be found at monthly farmers markets, where they started the business, in locations such as Urmston, Knutsford, Northwich, Altrincham, Chester, Wilmslow, Chorlton, Bakewell, Macclesfield and West Didsbury.
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The pie brand supplies pubs and restaurants nationwide and also supplies to the likes of Booths, Robinsons’s brewery, Dukeshill Hams, Manchester City Football Club, Stockport County FC, and other popular pubs and restaurants across the country.
Its new cafe will officially open its kitchen & bar at Kampus on Monday, 27 February, with its handcrafted pies available to take away cold as well as eat in.
Feature image – Great North Pie
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Lavish Spanish restaurant backed by Pep Guardiola announces shock closure
Daisy Jackson
Tast, the luxury Spanish restaurant in Manchester that was launched with the backing of Pep Guardiola, has announced its sudden closure.
The beautiful restaurant in King Street, led by acclaimed executive chef Paco Pérez, said that it’s taken the ‘difficult decision’ to close the doors for the ‘very last time’ this week.
Tast opened back in the summer of 2018, taking over the site that was previously home to restaurants like Quill and Suri.
It had a much better run of things than those previous occupiers, thanks to its menu of Catalan-style rice dishes and traditional but refined tapas.
Sadly, Tast Cuina Catalana has now decided that it’s reached the end of the road, and will be closing its doors for good on Saturday 20 December.
They cited a number of factors leading to the closure, including ‘exceptionally challenging trading conditions’ and ‘increased costs’, stressing that the restaurant’s ‘shareholders and the dedication of our team’ have seen the restaurant through the last seven years.
Tast wrote in a statement: “We are proud to have been able to share some of Catalunya, our beloved country, with the people of Manchester.
Tast will close for good on 20 DecemberTast on King Street launched in 2018 with backing from Pep Guardiola
“Between now and our final service on 20 December, we look forward to welcoming you and celebrating what Tast has always been about: great food, great people and memorable moments shared around the table.”
Other restaurant owners in Manchester have been sharing their messages of support with Tast, including Beeswing, who wrote: “This is so sad to read. Such lovely food and thoughtful service — a real reflection of how hard things are for hospitality right now. Manchester will miss you.”
Mary-Ellen McTague, the renowned chef at Pip, said: “Really sad news! Sorry to hear it.”
Tasts’s full statement reads: “After much consideration, we have made the difficult decision to close Tast’s doors for the very last time on 20 December 2025.
“Tast has been built on the passion, talent and commitment of an exceptional team, and we want to begin by thanking every single person who has worked with us over the years. Your creativity, care and professionalism have been the heart of Tast.
“To our loyal customers: thank you for choosing to dine with us, celebrate with us and support us. Your belief in Tast has kept us alive for seven years and it has been a privilege to welcome you through our doors.
“We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to our suppliers, producers and partners. Your quality, reliability and collaboration have played a vital role in shaping what Tast stands for.
“Like many in the hospitality sector, we have faced exceptionally challenging trading conditions and increased costs. But the unwavering support of our shareholders and the dedication of our team have seen us through these past seven years.
“Above all, we are proud to have been able to share some of Catalunya, our beloved country, with the people of Manchester.
“Between now and our final service on 20 December, we look forward to welcoming you and celebrating what Tast has always been about: great food, great people and memorable moments shared around the table.
“Thank you for being part of our journey. With gratitude, Tast Team.”
Anyone with vouchers to dine at Tast will be automatically refunded if they can’t be spent in the next few days.
Tast will officially close on Saturday 20 December.
Inside Mollie’s Motel and Diner in Manchester as beautiful new hotel opens with rooms from just £109
Daisy Jackson
Mollie’s Motel & Diner has arrived in Manchester, with beautiful hotel rooms from just £109 plus a retro diner serving American classics.
The space has taken over five floors of the iconic Old Granada Studios down at St John’s, with interior design that celebrates the building’s history.
Mid-century modern details like dark woods, textured upholstery, and retro lamps abound in this stylish new opening for Manchester.
Soho House Design has worked on the build of Mollie’s Motel to preserve the modernist facade of Old Granada Studios and make playful nods to the building’s vibrant history.
This is particularly obvious downstairs in Studio IV, a cocktail bar with a live music stage, where vintage TVs have been inserted over the bar and guests sink into plush couches for pre-dinner drinks.
You can already check out Mollie’s Diner, which is open now (with a decent discount for its launch – more on that below), with the Mollie’s Motel bedrooms set to launch early 2026.
The hotel rooms at Mollie’s Motel Manchester
A bunk room at Mollie’s Motel ManchesterA Mollie’s Motel suiteAnd a tub with a viewThe bedrooms are all beautifully designed
Hotel rooms at Mollie’s Manchester start from an incredibly reasonable £109, with different size and spec bedrooms and suites for guests.
There are cosy bunk rooms where up to four guests can tuck into their own bunk pods, suites that have their own Peleton room, and cosy double bedrooms with gorgeous views of the southern side of the city.
Regardless of the level (or price) of your chosen room, you’ll have the same design detailing (dark wood panelling, terrazzo and aged brass finishes), plus rainshowers, a super king bed, Dyson hairdryers, GHD straighteners and Cowshed toiletries.
Mollie’s Diner in Manchester
Mollie’s Diner is open nowBreakfast dishes at Mollie’s DinerBurgers and fried chicken at Mollie’s DinerClassic thick milkshakes
The diner space itself looks like it’s been lifted straight out of Hollywood’s Golden Age, with deep burgundy leather banquettes, counter seating, and globe pendant lights.
It’s all been inspired by the interior of a vintage Cadillac, and has space to 110 diners plus private dining for 30.
As for food and drink, you can expect everything from waffles and French toast to huge burgers and steaks, with thick milkshakes to wash it down.
You can get 50% off food if you book Mollie’s Diner HERE.
The rest of the spaces in Mollie’s Motel & Diner, Manchester
Studio IV cocktail barStudio IV cocktail barThe library snug
As you enter this reimagined building, you’re plunged straight into its design-led vision, with couches and cosy corners everywhere.
The communal reception space has a library snug, coffee counter, and beautiful bar, but you head downstairs you’ll find the real treat – Studio IV.
This beautiful bar is built around a magnificent central bar, with retro TV screens above it and scalloped leather bar stools surrounding it.
There’s a mid-century-era stage, too, which will host live entertainment to a crowd gathered on couches before it.
You can get 25% off signature cocktails in Studio IV if you pre-book HERE.
Georgina Pellant -
7th February 2023 
