Federal Cafe & Bar is opening a third restaurant in Manchester city centre
Speaking exclusively to The Manc, Claudio Ribeiro, founder of the popular Kiwi and Aussi-inspired brunch spot, shared details of plans to open a third site on Oxford Road later this year.
Federal Cafe & Bar is opening a third restaurant in Manchester city centre, its owner has revealed in an exclusive with The Manc.
Not content with stretching huge queues of eager brunchers down High Street and Deansgate, Federal owner Claudio Ribeiro has now got plans to bring his famous Antipodean brunch commotion to studentland too.
Moving into a unit at the new Circle Square development next door to Hatch (and just down the road from innumerable blocks of student halls), he tells us his third Manchester site will look and feel the same as the other cafes, but with the addition of ‘something a bit different’.
The new Federal Cafe Bar, the third in Manchester, will move into an end unit at Circle Square next to Hatch. / Image: Google Maps
Menu-wise, diners can expect to find everything they would want from the existing cafes, as well as a few new surprises.
Plans are still in development, but there has been some experimentation with new, ‘healthier’ dishes (when we meet, Claudio happens to be tucking into a prototype seeded crab and avocado bagel).
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He also confides that he’s been putting some thought into introducing a new French toast menu over there, although that is not a guarantee as of yet.
With seating both inside and out, Federal 3.0 will also feature a dedicated retail space so that brunchers can pop in and do a bit of shopping when it opens in a few weeks time.
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A quick hop onto the cafe’s Instagram will leave you in doubt as to its popularity. The pictures of its long queues snaking down the pavement say it all.
Everyone knows it is the most hyped brunch restaurant in the city, but less is known about the man behind it – even though, to this day, you’ll still find him working alongside his teams in the cafes.
Having grown up in restaurants (his mum has her own in Palma, and his brother now has another in New York), he has hospitality in his blood and definitely caught the bug early.
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Moving over to the UK from Portugal in the early 2010s, he grafted his way up from the bottom: first starting off as a KP in Lincolnshire before eventually managing a hotel in Manchester – a job he continued to hold on to for two years after opening Federal.
Having bought the cafe on a whim, he says he didn’t tell anyone until the sale had gone through. Not even his fiance, even though he used their wedding fund to pay for it and so had to organise and cater their wedding himself. (As we understand it, she’s forgiven him now).
Whilst his situation has changed a lot since 2014 – he’s been on the side of a bus and appeared on TV as part of a programme shot with the BBC – his early passion for the business is still incredibly strong.
Asked what he would let it go for, he doesn’t give a figure. He merely says ‘time’, time to travel, time to be with his daughter. Yet, we get the feeling that that won’t happen for a while. He’s too invested.
It’s rare to hear an owner talk about handling customer complaints at all, let alone with heartfelt sincerity, but that’s what happens.
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It’s a joy to hear how important the experience of every single table is to him.
Claudio clearly cares more than most. We wonder if, perhaps, this is the key to Federal’s success.
Read more:The natural wine and small plates bar in a picturesque town 30 mins from Manchester
With a later license allowing it to stay open longer and serve cocktails, beers and natural wines into the night, Federal Cafe & Bar will look to host occassional events at its new home
Plans for the new site include a new cafe set up, the addition of a corner shop, as well as a late alcohol license.
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Federal currently has two sites in Manchester in the Northern Quarter and on Deansgate, and maintains its reputation as one of the city’s best brunch spots nearly a decade on from its first opening.
The new Federal Cafe at Circle Square will open from 7am to 11.30pm, Monday to Sunday, at Circle Square this autumn.
Feature image – Federal Cafe & Bar
News
Parklife pumps more than £155,000 back into Greater Manchester community projects
Danny Jones
Parklife is once again proving why it’s such an important event for Greater Manchester, not just in terms of music and culture, but through the money it pumps back into the community through grassroots projects.
The annual music festival at Heaton Park raises significant funds for local initiatives with each edition via the official Parklife Community Fund.
Partnered with the Manchester, Bury, and Rochdale councils, the finances generated through those who attend not only Parklife but also other concerts held at the outdoor venue, such as the recent Oasis shows, help local groups that make a positive, tangible difference in their neighbourhoods.
This year alone, the total includes £55,000 raised from guest list donations by festival attendees, as well as a further £100k generated from other events held in Heaton Park, making 2025 one of, if not the biggest, years for donations to date.
Distributed by the City Council and the local authorities in Bury and Rochdale throughout the respective boroughs, the aim is not only to give back but to enhance local life, through everything from important youth programmes to community wellbeing and improvement schemes.
Launched back in 2017, the festival fund is approaching nearly half a million pounds raised on behalf of local causes, strengthening its connection with the nearby communities surrounding its host site.
The region’s vast and stunning green space is a huge tourist attraction in itself, meaning literal grassroots causes like the woodland management group are vital to maintaining that beauty and status.
Other projects include an astronomy group, as well as fitness drives like ‘RockFit’ (seen above), which now meets at Heaton Park regularly to promote exercise for both physical and mental health.
It’s also worth noting that the fund covers surrounding areas like Higher Blackley and Crumpsall; Sedgley, Holyrood, St Mary’s and even South Middleton.
You can see more examples of the charitable community work in action down below.
Credit: Supplied
Sam Kandel, founder of Parklife Festival, said of the fund: “Parklife is proud to call Heaton Park home, and it’s really important to us that the festival has a lasting, positive impact on the local community.
“The Community Fund is our way of saying thank you to residents and supporting the brilliant grassroots projects that make Manchester, Bury, and Rochdale such special places to live.”
Councillor Lee-Ann Igbon (Exec Member for Vibrant Neighbourhoods) added: “Parklife brings people from Manchester and beyond to our wonderful Heaton Park, and it is right that the communities living close by benefit from the event through reinvestment in local initiatives that will leave a legacy for all.
“The Parklife community fund means that local communities choose what’s important to them and they have the opportunity to bid for funds to invest in projects that enhance local amenities, strengthen community connections and wellbeing for the benefit of everyone.”
Those looking to benefit from the fund can apply online now and you can find out more information by contacting the relevant councils’ neighbourhood pages.
Work finally begins on Greater Manchester’s new ‘innovation hub’ in Atom Valley creating 20,000 jobs
Emily Sergeant
It’s official… work has finally begun on the first major development in Atom Valley.
If you’re not familiar with Atom Valley, this new project is set to be a unique innovation ‘cluster’ – plans of which were approved by local leaders all the way back in summer 2022 – with the potential to create up to 20,000 new jobs in Greater Manchester once it’s complete.
Greater Manchester wants Atom Valley to become a ‘springboard’ for new and emerging companies and researchers, giving them the support and the opportunities they need to trial and commercialise their innovations right here in our region.
The new development which ground has now been broken on is a Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Centre (SMMC) – which is set to become a thriving hub of innovation.
Today is a big day for GM.
We break ground on a new research centre at Atom Valley – our emerging world-class cluster in advanced materials and manufacturing.
Here, start-ups and emerging companies will be able to pioneer new technologies and scale up their ambitions, all while creating jobs and driving growth across the region in the process.
Located next to the Kingsway Business Park in Rochdale, it will offer 30,000 sq ft of new laboratory space, workshops, and design studios, as well as a lecture theatre, meeting rooms, office space, and flexible workspace for start-ups.
With the ‘right’ support, local leaders say the SMMC will also be a vital link between Atom Valley and the Oxford Road Corridor, ultimately forging a pathway for new companies and projects to expand from the city centre out into the wider city region.
Work has finally begun on Greater Manchester’s new ‘innovation hub’ in Atom Valley / Credit: DLA Architecture
Mayor Andy Burnham says this is the ‘most ambitious development’ in Atom Valley so far
“It will help unleash the untapped potential of the world-leading research taking place across our city region, bridging that crucial gap from invention to bringing those new innovations to the market,” he explained. “And it will create a new hi-tech corridor from the out to the north of Greater Manchester, creating jobs and new opportunities for start-ups to scale up their ambitions.
“This is integrated, well-connected development in action, and a clear sign of our mission to spread the benefits of growth right across our city region.”
Georgina Pellant -
24th August 2022 
