From a brutalist icon to a green oasis complete with a ‘secret forest’ treehouse canopy and three new restaurants and bars, there’s an exciting new development coming to Deansgate in 2023.
Called Treehouse Hotel, it will completely transform the former Renaissance site with 216 new bedrooms, a magical treehouse canopy, and three brand new dining and drinking experiences – all run by top northern chefs and restauranteurs.
In an announcement made today, the hotel has revealed it is working with local hospitality heavyweights Mary-Ellen McTague, Sam Grainger, Luke Cowdrey (aka Unabomber) and Justin Crawford to bring its food, drink and music offering to life when it opens its doors here in Manchester.
Left to right: Mary Ellen McTague, Luke Cowdrey (aka Unabomber), Sam Grainger and Justin Crwaford. / Image: Supplied
Working with some of the north’s biggest names in hospitality, Treehouse will bring three unique new dining and drinking experiences to the city.
The new luxury hotel will feature a ground-floor eatery with a seasonally-changing all-day menu, a 14th-floor restaurant and bar with uninterrupted views of the skyline, and a crowning rooftop party venue, bar and terrace.
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Mary-Ellen McTague of The Creameries and Eat Well MCR will curate the new ground floor offering, serving a menu based on seasonality, sustainability, and a sense of place.
Image: Treehouse hotel London
Fresh pastries and hot and cold sandwiches will kick start the day here, followed by a regularly-changing all-day menu completed by a carefully-chosen list of low intervention wines.
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Up on the fourteenth floor, meanwhile, Sam Grainger of the critically-acclaimed Liverpool restaurant Belzan, not to mention relative Manchester newcomers Madre and Carnival, will oversee the hotel’s destination restaurant and stand-alone bar.
BBQ lambs heart, salsa verde, black tahini at Belzan Liverppool. Image: gringlepie
Known for his eclectic mix of dishes, diners can expect to find inventive South East Asian dishes here – elevated by the use of Japanese and European ingredients and techniques.
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Sam will also be collaborating with Manchester DJs and hospitality heavyweights Luke Cowdrey and Justin Crawford on the food and drink side of things, as well as working with them to bring the 14th-floor space to life with Manchester’s most cutting-edge musicians and entertainers.
The pair are known for hosting seminal club nights over the years such as Homoelectric Electric Chair here in Manchester, as well as introducing the city to popular eateries Volta, Electrik and The Refuge.
No strangers to a good time, they will also curate events in the Rooftop bar and the ground floor restaurant at Treehouse.
Evidently, it’s all change for the long-standing Deansgate hotel the Renaissance. Previous announcements also hinted at plans to install a kitchen garden that could harvest its own rainwater and a rooftop apiary that will produce the hotel’s own honey.
Elsewhere, stepping stones in the lift lobbies and a unique ‘living wooden art piece’ guest book – which you’re actually encouraged to carve your name into – will set Treehouse apart from other hotels in the city when it opens its doors here in 2023.
Feature image – Treehouse Hotel
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Extremely rare ‘dancing lemur’ that’s only the size of a tennis ball born at Chester Zoo
Emily Sergeant
An extremely rare ‘dancing lemur’ that weighs 100 grams and is only the size of a tennis ball has been born at Chester Zoo.
Primate conservationists at the UK’s largest charity zoo are celebrating the birth of the critically-endangered Coquerel’s sifaka – also known as a ‘dancing lemur’ – with the tiny baby arriving to parents Beatrice (12) and Elliot (12), and bringing an end to a five-month pregnancy.
The first images released by Chester Zoo show mum Beatrice carefully cradling her new baby, who was born with thick fuzzy white fur, as it clings to her belly.
Chester is the only zoo in the UK, and one of just three in Europe, to care for Coquerel’s sifakas.
Unlike other species of lemur, sifakas stand perfectly upright and use their powerful legs to spring side to side along the forest floor, hence them being affectionately nicknamed the ‘dancing lemur’.
ChDuke Lemur Centre in America to establish a conservation breeding programme across the continent that’s working to prevent the rare primates from becoming extinct.
The unique primates are found in only one place on Earth, the northwestern forests of Madagascar, where its wild population has declined by 80% in the last 30 years due to widespread deforestation, and as a result, the species has sadly been listed as the highest conservation priority there is – critically endangered.
Currently just nine sifaka reside in the whole of Europe, with four now found in Chester.
An extremely rare ‘dancing lemur’ that’s only the size of a tennis ball has been born at Chester Zoo / Credit: Chester Zoo
Chester Zoo has worked with the Duke Lemur Centre over in America to establish a conservation breeding programme across the continent that’s working to prevent the rare primates from becoming completely extinct.
Primate experts at the zoo say the new baby will begin to branch out and explore on its own at around six months old, and it’s at this point they’ll determine whether it’s a male or female.
“Every Coquerel’s sifaka birth is a huge cause for celebration,” commented Dr Nick Davis, who is the Mammals General Manager at Chester Zoo.
“There are very few remaining globally and every addition within the European conservation breeding programme is vital to the work we’re doing to safeguard the future of this species.
“The new baby has spent the first vital few weeks of life quietly bonding with mum, Beatrice, and we’re very happy to report that they’re both doing great so far. We’re seeing positive signs – they’ve been inseparable so far.”
Featured Image – Chester Zoo
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Police continue searches and issue public appeal to find missing Wigan man ‘known to many in the area’
Emily Sergeant
Officers are continuing searches to find missing Wigan man Darren Orme who’s said to be ‘known to many in the area’.
A public appeal for information has now been issued.
According to Greater Manchester Police (GMP), Darren was last seen shortly before 9pm last Wednesday (5 March) at the junction of Woodhouse Lane and Scot Lane Beech Hill Lane in Wigan, and officers have been searching several locations since he was reported missing the following day.
Darren is 54 years old, around 6ft 3in tall, and of slim build with short red/ginger hair.
He was last seen wearing blue jeans, blue trainers, a navy-blue Wigan Athletic jumper, and a three-quarter length blue Wigan Athletic jacket, police explained in their appeal.
Since Darren’s family reported him as missing, a large GMP response has been underway – including specialist search advisors, an underwater search team, and police dogs, alongside officers from Wigan Police Station.
If you have any information on Darren’s whereabouts, or you have any footage which may show Darren since he was reported missing, please call us on 101 quoting log 2423 of 06/03/2025. pic.twitter.com/5UCKtUYlmL
Darren’s family said in their own heartbreaking plea for him to return home that they ‘implore’ anyone who has any information to contact the police immediately and ‘help return Darren to us’.
Their direct appeal to Darren continues: “Darren, you’re not in any trouble. We just want you home. We need you to know that we love you and we’re here for you. Even though it may feel you have the world on your shoulders and you’re under a lot of stress, you’re not alone and the people of Wigan are right behind you.
“We will do anything we can to take this weight from you. We just want you safe, please come home to us.”
Detective Inspector Lee Shaw added: “Specialist officers from across the force are continuing to search for Darren… and we remain hopeful of finding [him] and want to retrace his last known movements.
“The number of people who have shared our appeals and are out looking for Darren shows how loved he is by the local community, and I would like to urge the public in continuing to share our appeals and information which may assist us.
“We know Darren is known to many in the area, and we appreciate all the help from people who have joined the search over the past few days.”
Anyone with any information on Darren’s potential whereabouts, or any footage which may have shown him since he was reported missing, are urged to call police on 101 quoting log 2423 of 06/03/2025.
Georgina Pellant -
8th June 2022 
