Northern Quarter favourite Home Sweet Home has announced it will close its doors for good after one final service on Saturday.
The popular brunch and burger restaurant – beloved for its cakes, pancakes and milkshakes – has been feeding loyal fans on Edge Street for over a decade, but now bosses say it’s time for them to ‘move forward’ with ‘new projects’ instead.
Sharing the news of the eatery’s closure in a heartfelt post on social media on Thursday night, bosses wrote: “After 10yrs of milkshakes, cheeseburger toasties, a million breakfasts and a whole bunch of happy tummies sadly guys it’s time for us to go.
Saying, unequivocally, that ‘it sucks’, they continued: “sadly HomeSweet just has to float away into the chocolate river.”
Image: Home Sweet Home
“It’s been the most wonderful of times and we will miss soothing your hangovers and satisfying your cravings. Drop in, say goodbye and get your final fix.”
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The American comfort food joint first opened on Edge Street in the Northern Quarter in 2012, followed by a second site at the Great Northern Warehouse in 2015, which closed in 2019.
Beautiful Drinks, the company behind Home Sweet Home, also owns a number of other restaurants in the city including burger bar Almost Famous, Tex Mex eatery Lust Luck Liquor and Burn.
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In recent years, it has also closed its ‘hidden’ cocktail bar Convenience Store, which sat in the same building as Almost Famous and Lust Luck since 2017, having previously been known as tiki bar Keko’s.
Comments poured in from Home Sweet Home fans last night following the announcement, with one person saying: “End of an era! Me and @maguire40 lived round the corner when you opened and for your first 5 years. We were major fans of your cheeseburger toasties and milkshakes! Kept me fuelled when I was preggo with the twins. You’ll be missed.”
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Another person added: “Very sad news. Many brunches, lunches and cakes have been consumed on your premises!”
A third commented: “Absolutely gutted to read this. Home sweet home became the place I’d reunite with my uni friends and catch up over lovely food from lovely people. I will miss this so very much”
The full post read: “Bittersweeet… After 10yrs of milkshakes, cheeseburger toasties, a million breakfasts and a whole bunch of happy tummies sadly guys it’s time for us to go. I know it sucks right, your go to place for fun and friends and a warm glow will be no more.
“HomeSweet will close its doors forevers after service on Saturday 23rd July.
“We’re moving forward with exciting new projects and sadly HomeSweet just has to float away in to the chocolate river. It’s been the most wonderful of times and we will miss soothing your hangovers and satisfying your cravings. Drop in, say goodbye and get your final fix.
Home Sweet Home will close its doors for one last time following its final service on Saturday 23 July. It is not yet clear what new projects Beautiful Drinks is working on next.
Feature image – Home Sweet Home
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Entertainment union Equity makes £1 bid for Manchester Pride to protect workers from ‘further exploitation’
Emily Sergeant
Performing arts and entertainment trade union Equity has made a £1 bid for Manchester Pride.
You may remember that, back in October last year, Manchester Pride – the charity / organisation that ran the Manchester Pride Festival – entered into voluntary liquidation, and news emerged last week that the assets were being sold off to the highest bidder by liquidators.
By offering a ‘symbolic’ £1 for the assets – which include the Manchester Pride brand name and associated domain names – Equity says its bid has been made to give workers the opportunity to ‘decide the future’ of the event.
The bid is also said to have been made to prevent a repeat of 2025 – which apparently left Equity union members more than £70,000 out-of-pocket in unpaid fees.
Equity’s variety organiser, Nick Keegan, warned that selling the Manchester Pride brand to a commercial buyer risks ‘undermining the values’ of the event and the community that built it.
He worried it could also leave performers and workers ‘vulnerable to further exploitation’.
“Manchester Pride is not just a city-wide party,” Mr Keegan explained. “Its roots in protest are as important today as then.”
He added: “Manchester Pride was built by the LGBTQ+ workers of Canal St and beyond who provide a space and a community for LGBTQ+ people all year round. The event should not be treated as a commodity to be bought and sold off to the highest bidder.
“The cultural workforce are at the heart of Pride, without them, there is no festival.
“After what happened in 2025, with members left tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket, we don’t want to see history repeat itself.”
Equity says that if its bid is successful, the workers will have control over who the ‘asset’ goes to.
“Our bid is about protecting Pride as a community asset, not a commercial one,” the union’s statement continued.
“Allowing the people whose labour was used to build this ‘asset’ to decide how the trademark of Manchester Pride is used in the future will help protect them from further exploitation, as well as preserve the values and the longevity of the event itself.”
Featured Image – Manchester Pride (Supplied)
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New police hub to be set up in Piccadilly Gardens to help reduce anti-social behaviour
Emily Sergeant
A new police hub is set to be established in Piccadilly Gardens.
In case you missed it, it was announced last week that council tax in Greater Manchester could be increased to help fund improvements to policing, and that a consultation on it has been launched – with local residents urged to have their say.
The police precept helps Greater Manchester Police (GMP) to build on a range of improvements, including the speed of answering 999 and 101 calls, road and transport safety across Manchester city centre, and bringing more sex offenders to justice, among many other things.
Greater Manchester council tax is set to be increased again to help fund improvements to policing, and a consultation is now live. 🏘️🚔📝
But on top of this, Mayor Andy Burnham has also pledged to deliver a new police hub in Piccadilly Gardens as part of a wider drive to improve policing.
GMCA says its ‘top priority’ is to build strong communities where people feel safe, and it is Mayor Andy Burnham and his Deputy Mayors’ responsibility to enable GMP to be an ‘effective and efficient’ police force.
Local leaders say their ambition for 2026 is to maintain a ‘high-performing’ police service by tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, and protecting residents and businesses along the way – and part of this ambition is to increase police visibility in Piccadilly Gardens, which is a much-maligned part of the city centre, by launching a new ‘prominent’ police hub.
The increase in the police precept is also being touted to help increase ‘hot spot policing tactics’ in town centres and other key locations to help drive down theft and other violent retail crimes.
A new police hub is to be set up in Piccadilly Gardens to help reduce anti-social behaviour / Credit: Gerald England (via Geograph) | Rawpixel
“We need GMP to be properly funded if it is to continue to deliver an effective and responsive service for people in Greater Manchester,” commented Mayor Andy Burnham. “The cost of running a modern police force is going up and this is at a time when our city region has become the fastest-growing economy in the UK, with visitor numbers increasing year after year.
“So much is happening here and that includes a number of major and complex incidents over the past year, including a terrorist attack. These incidents added significant pressure to police resources.
“We recognise the ongoing impact of the rising cost of living and do not take the decision to increase the precept lightly. But right now, this increase is our only option to ensure GMP can continue delivering an effective police service that ensures that people feel safe in their own communities.”
Georgina Pellant -
8th July 2022 
