Prestwich is set to get a new ‘Anglo-Saxon’ style pizzeria on Bury New Road this month.
Brought to the north Manchester suburb by the same team behind popular Ancoats restaurant Elnecot, the new pizzeria Dokes will open its doors in Prestwich early next week.
After originally opening in the Society food hall on Barbirolli Square in May 2021, Dokes will now move over to Prestwich -reinventing its city centre micro diner under a new banner altogether.
At Dokes, chefs will continue to put British produce front and center – drawing on extensive research conducted over the last five years at their sister restaurant, Elnecot.
Chef-Patron Michael Clay has built up relationships with a long list of incredible producers across Britain, so the people of Prestwich can expect to eat cheeses from every corner of the country, alongside salamis and nduja from Curing Rebels in Brighton; creamy British burrata from the home counties and exquisite truffles from Wiltshire.
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The restaurant will also be working with the organic Cinderwood Market Garden in Cheshire, beloved by many of Manchester’s best restaurants, using an ever-changing list of beautiful and locally-grown fruit and vegetables on Dokes’ seasonally-evolving menu.
Pizza dough, meanwhile, is made using extra virgin rapeseed oil from Yorkshire and a blend of flours, using British heritage grains from Gilchesters organic farm in Northumberland, as well as Shipton Mill in Gloucestershire.
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Image: Society MCR
Beyond pizzas, the menu will also feature seasonal salads and pasta (supplied by the wonderful Yorkshire Pasta Company) alongside other regularly-changing small plates. Brunch will also be served on the weekend.
Speaking on the new opening, Michael Clay, Chef-Patron of Dokes Pizzeria, said, “We are really looking forward to opening in Prestwich; it really felt like the perfect location and in the short time I’ve spent there, it seems to have a real community feel and strong spirit.
“We hope that we can provide a welcoming atmosphere for everyone while serving up delicious pizzas on Bury New Road.”
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The new 40-cover Prestwich site offers a mixture of booth and table seating, with an open-plan kitchen allowing diners to look in and watch as Doke’s pizzaiolos fire up the ovens.
It’s not been plain sailing with the build of Dokes pizzeria in Prestwich and the team are opening quite a lot later than they originally intended.
Co-owner, Wesley Downham said, “We took the lease on for the unit just before Covid struck so, finally, two years later it will be very exciting to get the doors open. We have worked with the excellent Phaus interior architects to design the restaurant and we think it is a great looking space for the people of Prestwich to come to.
“Prestwich is a particularly exciting area at the minute, it has some great operators investing in the town and it’s being talked about in the national press as being one of the best places to live in the country. We can’t wait to get started and add to an already vibrant community.”
Dokes Pizzeria in Prestwich will open on 449A Bury New Road for lunch and dinner from 12pm until 10pm from Wednesday to Friday, then 10am until 10pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Whilst walk-ins are always welcome, for those who want to book the diary for reservations will be open from Friday 15 July, 2022.
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Chester Zoo named one of England’s most popular tourist attractions with 1.9m visitors
Emily Sergeant
Congratulations are in order, yet again, for Chester Zoo… as this time its been one of England’s most popular attractions.
Merely months after being named the UK’s best zoo for the second year running, thanks to receiving more than 11,000 ‘excellent’ reviews from TripAdvisor, Chester Zoo has now got itself another prestigious title, as a major VisitEngland (VE) report has ranked it the third most-visited ‘paid for’ attraction in England – and the most visited outside of London.
The national tourist board for England gathered information from a total of 1,373 attractions across the country, and ranked the UK’s biggest charity zoo as the third overall in terms of popularity, with a whopping 1.9 million visitors in 2024 alone.
The Tower of London took top spot with 2.9 million visitors, while the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew was second place with 2.3 million visitors.
When it comes to free attractions, on the other hand, it wad the British Museum that claimed the top spot with 6.5 million visitors, while the Natural History Museum (5.9 million visitors) took second place, and the Tate Modern (4.6 million visitors) got third.
So as you can see, the south and London in particular is a pretty dominating force in England’s tourism industry – which is why it’s even more impressive to see Chester Zoo ranked so highly.
The new VE title also comes after the zoo was recently given £4 million of lottery funding to help ‘transform’ the local environment and restore wildlife habitats across the Cheshire and wider North West region.
Not only that, but if course follows Chester Zoo’s unveiling of its new immersive experience named Heart of Africa, which is the the largest zoo habitat ever created in the UK and is home to 57 iconic African species.
Chester Zoo has been named one of England’s most popular tourist attractions with 1.9m visitors / Credit: Chester Zoo
“As a major international wildlife charity, everything we do is focused on supporting global conservation,” commented Chester Zoo’s Commercial Director, Dom Strange.
“Whether it’s caring for highly-threatened animals and plants, making scientific discoveries, influencing Government environmental policies, impacting the National Curriculum to better connect young people with nature, or our conservation efforts in around 20 countries, we’re fully committed to protecting endangered species for the future.
“But none of this would be possible without our visitors.
“Every person who comes to the zoo for a fun and inspiring day out is helping to fund our vital work, so we want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported us and helped us to rank so highly in VisitEngland’s latest report.”
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Manchester Museum saves a ‘national treasure’ to ensure it stays in the UK
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Museum has made a stunning new addition to its natural history collections, and in the process has ensured a ‘national treasure’ stays in the UK.
Not long after claiming the coveted title of European Museum of the Year for 2025, Manchester Museum has done it again – this time working together with John Rylands Library to acquire Henry Dresser’s unique personal copy of his anthology A History of the Birds of Europe so that this ‘invaluable resource’ can remain in the UK for future generations.
The beautifully-illustrated collection of books provide an important historical record to help understand how and why bird populations have changed over time.
Dresser’s personal copy is heavily-annotated with personal notes and observations.
These books are deemed to be of ‘outstanding significance’, not only for scientific purposes but also for their aesthetic value, as they have also been illustrated by some of the leading wildlife artists of the day.
The volumes were recognised as a national treasure by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, which is supported by the Arts Council, and this meant that the Government placed a temporary export deferral on them to allow time for UK buyers to raise the funds to keep them in the country.
Brilliantly, the acquisition of these books reunites them with Dresser’s own bird specimens that are already cared for by Manchester Museum, including species such as the Slender-billed curlew, which is now believed to be extinct.
The now-extinct species’ presence in both Dresser’s beautifully-annotated volumes and the ornithological collections at Manchester Museum highlights the vital role that historical records play in tracking biodiversity loss over time to uncover the long-term impact of environmental change.
Manchester Museum has saved a ‘national treasure’ to ensure it stays in the UK / Credit: Manchester Museum
“Threats to the natural world and biodiversity have never been greater and while this anthology has historical value, it also speaks to the urgent issues of the present,” commented Esme Ward, who is the Director of Manchester Museum.
“These books are breathtakingly beautiful, and by bringing them together with natural history collections, we believe they will not only provide scientific benefit, but also capture the hearts of future ornithologists and conservationists.”
A History of the Birds of Europe will be officially unveiled at a private view on Friday 27 June, before being displayed to the public for the first time in Manchester Museum’s ‘Living Worlds’ gallery from Saturday 28 June 2025 right through until Sunday 25 January 2026.
Georgina Pellant -
15th July 2022 
