‘Old school’ pub The Ancoats Lad to reopen its doors this summer
The traditional Manchester boozer is reopening on Oldham Street under a new name and new ownership, but pretty much everything else will stay as it was
Five months after owners bid it a heartbreaking farewell via a letter plastered to its shutters, tiny Oldham Street boozer The Ancoats Lad is being given a new lease of life.
At the time of its closure, landlord Phil Bell seemed firmly set against selling the micropub on or getting someone in to manage it, saying “to be truthful there was only one ‘Ancoats Lad’ and together we made it ours.”
Howver, after being introduced to local lads Joshua Stones and Perry Morrissey through a friend of a friend, it appears all he needed to find the right person to pass it on to. “Someone local, someone of the same ilk,” the pair tell us.
Joshua and Perry will reopen the pub under a new name in July, but are keen to stress that they “don’t want to lose Phil’s crowd” and have been working pretty hard to ensure that it will still cater to loyal regulars in much the same way it did before.
Long known as a place that ‘encouraged awkwardness’ with ‘old-school’ customers, the miniscule pub, sandwiched between Gullivers and Chakalaka, will reopen as The Mancunian next month – with a hyper-local offering to reflect its new moniker.
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Drinks will come from the likes of Salford Rum, Manchester Union Lager, Manchester Gin, Shindigger, Seven Brothers and more. “Pretty much everyone you could think of”, Perry and Josh tell us, adding they want to keeping everything as traditional and Manchester-based as possible.
They’ve even spoken with Phil on what they should stock, telling us: “[he] let us know which ones was the big sellers, a bit of what the Ancoats lad used to drink.”
Their attitude of preservation extends to the decor, too, which will only see small changes made – with new murals from local artists Quebek and Dave Draws, a fresh lick of paint and a few new pictures of the city to mix in with the old.
Those who’ve visited the pub before will likely know its former-landlord kept a lot of memorabilia on the walls from over the years.
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These will stay as they were, say Perry and Josh, who are working with local photographer Manc Wanderer (aka Nathan Whittaker) to add in more modern images to show “how the city’s changed now.”
Image: Google Business
Image: Google Business
Image: Google Business
Josh and Perry also tell us they have their eyes set on “where all the old pubs and lost pubs of Ancoats are”, adding: “this is our foot in the door to get back into town.”
It’s not their first foray into hospitality. Perry already has another pub The Treeehouse in Bury, which he opened just before the pandemic hit, and his family has a long history of owning nightclubs in the city centre – including the famous Ampersand and Paparrazi.
He also happens to be a cousin of Morrissey’s, who he says he is “trying to get down” to the pub for its reopening.
With a great appreciation for the dying breed of traditional boozers, the pair say that once they get The Mancunian up and running they hope to take back some more of these lost venues – stealing them away from the trendy cocktail bars that have run amock in this part of town for the past however-many years.
God speed, we say. There’s something to be said for a great traditional boozer, and, sadly, they’re becoming a less and less of a frequent sight nowadays – not just in the Northern Quarter, either, but across the country.
The Mancunian’s official reopening date is set for Saturday 16 July.
Feature image – Google
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Simon Wood announces gutting closure of Manchester restaurant after seven years
Danny Jones
Celebrity chef and Manchester local Simon Wood has announced that his self-titled WOOD Restaurant has sadly closed its doors.
The Oldham-born chef-owner who won MasterChef back in 2015, revealed the unfortunate news on Wednesday, 2 October, confirming that the First Street site will be closing immediately. Truly gutting.
Wood has remained one of Greater Manchester’s most-renowned chefs for the past decade, not to mention a huge advocate for supporting the hospitality industry, especially post-Covid and during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Sharing an emotional post on Instagram, he wrote: “It is with much regret that I have to inform you that I must close the doors here at WOOD for good, with immediate effect.”
“We have had 7 years as part of the Manchester city dining scene and I’m very proud of what the team and I have achieved”, the 48-year-old continued.
“Sadly with COVID rent arrears now being demanded by our landlord and an increasingly difficult marketplace, energy increases, ingredient costs and soon-to-be spiralling business rates we just cannot make this work.”
“I’d like to thank everyone for your support and patronage over the years. Thank you, Simon.”
It was only at the start of the week that Wood shared a frustrated post about a group of no-show customers over the weekend that failed to even pre-warn that they would no longer be attending one of his most exclusive and costly experiences.
We’re starting to lose count of how many local businesses are unfortunately struggling in the face of the rising business rates and energy bills that all independents are facing at the minute.
It was only last month that we saw Almous Famous had to call it a day with their Withington location and beloved sandwich spot Micky’s sadly suffer the same fate. Even cult favourite Cafe Marhaba looks to have gone up for sale. So tough to swallow.
We’re genuinely gutted for everyone involved with the brand. All the best, Si – we know you’ll be back stronger than ever one of these days.
Featured Images — The Manc Group
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No trams to run through major Manchester city centre station this weekend
Emily Sergeant
Arguably Manchester city centre’s most important tram stop is set to be out of action this weekend, with no services running through it.
In what is another part of Transport for Greater Manchester‘s (TfGM) ongoing programme of works intended to “maintain and improve” the Metrolink system and ensure tram journeys in Greater Manchester remain “safe, reliable, and accessible”, it’s been confirmed that no trams will run through Cornbrook this weekend.
Due to this, there will be a change to operating patterns across the majority of the Metrolink network on both Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October.
As is often the case in instances like these, disruption to passengers is expected.
On Saturday and Sunday [5 and 6 October], no trams will operate through Cornbrook.
There will be a change to operating patterns and replacement bus services will be in operation.
On Saturday (5 October), the tram service pattern will change to Altrincham – Old Trafford, Bury – Ashton-under-Lyne, East Didsbury – Firswood, Etihad Campus – Bury (peak time only) / Victoria (after peak only), Manchester Airport – Firswood, Rochdale Town Centre – Deansgate-Castlefield (via Exchange Square), and The Trafford Centre – Wharfside.
Similarly, on Sunday (6 October), the only difference to the above service pattern is that the Etihad Campus tram will only run to Victoria, not Bury.
Services will operate every 12 minutes, except for on the Eccles line, where no trams will run at all.
TfGM is also warning that there may be changes to the first and last tram times during these works, but, in bid to help people still get to their destinations, three bus replacement services will operate from Firswood to Victoria, Old Trafford to Piccadilly, and Eccles to Piccadilly.
No trams will run through major Manchester city centre station Cornbrook this weekend / Credit: TfGM
The Old Trafford to Piccadilly bus service will run through Wharfside, while the Eccles to Piccadilly will travel via MediaCity.
“These works are a vitally important part of maintaining a safe and reliable network for all our customers,” explained
Ian Davies, who is TfGM’s Interim Network Director for Metrolink, said these works are “a vitally important part” of maintaining the Metrolink, and that work has been scheduled by TfGM to “minimise disruption to passengers and residents as much as possible”.
Georgina Pellant -
29th June 2022 
