In this month’s edition of our series A Manc’s Guide To, we venture south of the city to Stockport.
It feels like there’s nowhere in Greater Manchester that wears its history on its sleeve quite as proudly as Stockport.
This is a town where higgledy-piggledy cobbled streets tumble past listed buildings and centuries-old monuments stick out in the skyline.
But Stockport has also carved out a more modern reputation as a launchpad for independent business and a hub of brilliant food and drink.
It was the birthplace of nationally-acclaimed restaurants like The Allotment and Where the Light Gets In, and champions smaller indies through its Foodie Friday events and smaller stalls inside the Market Hall.
Stockport. Credit: Unsplash
There’s a booming scene of independent shops here too, with plenty more already in the pipeline.
And it’s where some major global talent was born, including The Crown’s Claire Foy, Fred Perry, and all five members of Blossoms.
Here’s our handy guide to all the things that make Stockport one of Greater Manchester’s brightest gems.
Food and drink
No guide to Stockport would be complete without mentioning its most prestigious restaurant, Where the Light Gets In.
Led by chef Sam Buckley, WTLGI is known for its ‘no menu’ approach where every visit is a surprise. Housed inside a former coffee warehouse, the restaurant In boasts a green Michelin star for its championing of sustainability.
Foraging is big amongst its chefs, and WTLGI also has a kitchen garden, The Landing, on the roof of a Stockport carpark where they grow fresh produce throughout the year.
Elsewhere, Baekdu is a family-run Korean charcoal BBQ restaurant, named after a Korean mountain, which flies somewhat under the radar in Stockport thanks to its off-the-beaten-track location on Lord Street. Adding a bit of theatre, chefs cook right in front of you on fire pits at your table.
Stockport Market is the equivalent of Manchester city centre’s Mackie Mayor – a giant food hall filled with a range of different independent traders. There’s so much to discover here, but we highly recommend visiting Kambuja (formerly known as Angkor Soul).
Serving up everything from Tamarind ribs to fish sauce-laced noodle salads, this Cambodian eatery claims to be the only one of its kind in the UK.
Also in Stockport Market is newcomer Sticky Fingers, an artisanal Polish bakery that opened just this month with an array of traditional breads and indulgent sweet pastry treats. You’ll also find freshly-brewed coffee and cakes for sale over the counter here – after all, what is cake without coffee to wash it down?
Sticky Fingers in the old market hall. / Image: The Manc Eats
A traditional Polish poppy seed bun at Sticky Fingers. / Image: The Manc Eats
A popular choice at lunchtime, the deli at Tyros Lebanese serves up medium and large boxes filled with various flavoured rice, fresh flatbread, and a choice of different meat and vegetable dishes. Think huge portions, and some of the tastiest Lebanese food this side of Edgware Road.
Formerly known as the George & Dragon, Bakers Vaults is a brilliant little market boozer. Boasting ten different hand pulls, it’s somewhat of a local beer institution.
Sitting on top of the foundations of the old Stockport castle, the original 1775 building was demolished in the late 19th century then rebuilt in the ‘gin palace’ style you see today. It had a huge refurbishment in 2014, courtesy of the team behind Gullivers, The Castle and the Eagle Inn.
Opened by Britain’s Got Talent flair finalist Neil Garner, Cherry Jam celebrates the town of Stockport through and through with drinks like ‘192’ and ‘Queens of Cale Green’ nodding to the market town’s history. Find it on Mealhouse Brow inside a former software superstore, often frequented by Garner as a child.
Inside Rack Sandwiches. / Image: The Manc Eats
Toasted Rueben and vegan onion bhaji butties from Rack. / Image: The Manc Eats
At Rack’s, it’s all about the sandwiches. All handmade to order, find ingredients stacked between sourdough or squashed into shiny, buttery brioche.
Grilled cheese is another speciality, the three-cheese classic served with red onion dipping gravy on the side. Breakfast boxes and salads are also available, with prices starting from £4.40.
Back on the subject of pubs, and The Wellington is a comfortable little joint created out of two former shop units. The walls, full of clocks, do not display the right time – but that’s part of its charm. There’s a good selection of guests beers, usually sourced from the Heineken list, alongside regular casks like Wainwright, and a lovely courtyard garden outside.
And finally, it’s the recent winners at this year’s British Pie Awards – Ate Days a Week is not long for Stockport – soon, it’s destined to relocate into Manchester city centre and become known as Come Together. When it departs, popular dive bar Notion will take over both floors with its quirky cocktails and chicken wings.
Shopping
You can happily lose hours of your life wandering around the Underbanks, a historic cluster of streets dubbed the Soho of the north thanks to its melting pot of independent retailers.
It’s also one of the most unusual streets in the north west thanks to the way it weaves along way below street level – you can get a bird’s-eye view of it from Market Place before you descend the stone steps tunnelled into the ancient walls.
This lovely part of Stockport Old Town is home to the likes of SK1 Records and Rare Mags, where you can pick up collectibles and rarities from independent businesses.
On a mission to bring more green to our very grey city region is Plant Shop on Mealhouse Brow, selling houseplants of all shapes and sizes.
One of the newest openings in Stockport deliberately doesn’t look particularly new at all – influencer superstar Sophia Rosemary has opened her own vintage clothing shop, Top of the Town vintage, on Lower Hillgate.
It’s a haven of all things kitsch and retro, fitted out with patterned wallpaper and mid-century furniture.
Soon to open its doors will be Still Life Story, which has shifted over into a lovely new premises on the corner of Mealhouse Brow and Market Place, where it can continue to sell its range of Nordic-inspired gifts and homeware.
Where The Light Gets In’s newest project, Yellowhammer, is also on the way, and will be a home to pottery extraordinaire Joe Hartley as well as a bakery.
There’s more shopping to be done inside the historic Market Hall too, which is worth a visit just to see inside the beautiful structure.
Nightlife and hotels
Image: Bakers Vaults
Honestly, there aren’t many nights out in Greater Manchester that are better than a Stockport pub crawl – and it still means you can hit the hay at a reasonable hour.
You can weave your way between acclaimed boozers like The Magnet, Bakers Vaults, and the Petersgate Tap.
Things have moved on a little from real ale in recent years too, thanks in no small part to actor Joseph Patten.
He’s the man behind The Cracked Actor (cocktails and blues, The Glass Spider (a Victorian-style craft beer bar), and now Dr Feelgood’s (live music and American-style food).
Image: The Good Rebel
If you like classic cocktails done really well, The Good Rebel is a must. From on-point daiquiris to signature cocktails like chocolate espresso martinis, this Mealhouse Brow watering hole has it all. Wines, spirits and European beers abound and it’s dog friendly, too.
When it comes to resting your head at the end of your night out, there are all the usual faithfuls, including a Holiday Inn Express right by the train station.
You could also stay slightly further afield at the legendary Bredbury Hall Hotel.
Culture
Hat Works in Stockport. Credit: Facebook, Hat Works Museum
History buffs can’t go wrong with a day out to Stockport.
The town is home to the Air Raid Shelters museum, a network of rooms and tunnels carved into the sandstone cliffs that give a taste of what life was like in wartime Britain.
There’s the Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery too, and you can wind the clock back even further in time at the Stockport Museum.
Stockport’s oldest house, known as Staircase House, has been turned into a visitor attraction, where you can learn about how people lived in the 15th to the 20th centuries.
Our guide to Stockport includes a tour of Robinson’s Brewery. Credit: Stockport
It’s currently closed for a refurb, but the Hat Works, housed in a listed mill building, takes visitors on a journey through the history of Stockport’s hatting industry.
That’s right, it’s a museum dedicated to hats. There are more than 400 bits of headgear from across the plant and a recreation of a Victorian factory. It may sound weird, but we promise it’s wonderful.
Love beer? You can take a tour of the Robinsons Brewery, which is based right in the heart of Stockport, and learn more about how the liquid gold is made.
Music plays a major part of its cultural pedigree too, and in recent years the Etherow County Cricket Club has thrown open its doors to summer open-air concerts.
Property
It will surprise literally no one to learn that Stockport’s house prices are creeping ever-higher.
The average house price here now is £282,251, up 12% on the previous year, with the majority of homes sold being semi-detached.
If you don’t want to share a wall with anyone else, you’ll be forking out around half a million pounds for a detached pad in Stockport. Eesh.
Stockport is notoriously tram-free, but the day is saved by almost alarmingly frequent trains back into Manchester city centre.
It’s usually included as a stop on the speedy trains up from London and practically acts as an extension fo Manchester Piccadilly.
You can get door-to-door in less than 15 minutes if you get the quick trains.
Beyond that, you’re reliant on buses.
Featured image: Stockport Market Hall / Plant Shop Stockport
Stockport
Angela Rayner’s statement in full as she resigns as Deputy Prime Minister
Daisy Jackson
Angela Rayner has shared her resignation letter this afternoon as she announced she is resigning from Government, stepping down as both Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
The Stockport-born politician has been the subject of an investigation into her tax affairs by PM Sir Keir Starmer’s independent standards adviser.
Angela Rayner admitted that she had underpaid stamp duty on a flat she bought in Hove, East Sussex, earlier this year.
It’s reported that she paid £40,000 less than she should have.
Rayner has now publicly shared her resignation addressed to Sir Keir Starmer, in which she says: “I accept that I did not meet the highest standards in relation to my recent property purchase.”
She said in her lengthy statement that the ‘ongoing pressure of the media’ is taking ‘a significant toll’ on her family.
Rayner wrote: “While I rightly expect proper scrutiny on me and my life, my family did not choose to have their private lives interrogated and exposed so publicly.
“I have been clear throughout this process that my priority has, and always will be, protecting my children and the strain I am putting them under through staying in post has become unbearable.”
She also said: “For a teenage mum from a council estate in Stockport to serve as the highest level of government has been the honour of my life.
“The challenges of government are nothing compared to the challenge of putting food on the table and getting a roof over our head when I brought up kids working as a home help. Too many people face the same across our country.”
Thank you for the personal and public support you have shown me in recent days. As you know, on Wednesday I referred myself to your Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards, Sir Laurie Magnus, to conduct a thorough investigation into my personal financial circumstances after I became aware that it is likely I inadvertently paid the incorrect rate for Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT).
I have always taken my responsibilities as Deputy Prime Minister, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as a Member of Parliament with the utmost seriousness. I have long believed that people who serve the British public in government must always observe the highest standards, and while the Independent Adviser has concluded that I acted in good faith and with honesty and integrity throughout, I accept that I did not meet the highest standards in relation to my recent property purchase.
I deeply regret my decision to not seek additional specialist tax advice given both my position as Housing Secretary and my complex family arrangements. I take full responsibility for this error. I would like to take this opportunity to repeat that it was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount. I must also consider the significant toll that the ongoing pressure of the media is taking on my family.
While I rightly expect proper scrutiny on me and my life, my family did not choose to have their private lives interrogated and exposed so publicly. I have been clear throughout this process that my priority has, and always will be, protecting my children and the strain I am putting them under through staying in post has become unbearable.
Given the findings, and the impact on my family, I have therefore decided to resign as Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.
For a teenage mum from a council estate in Stockport to serve as the highest level of government has been the honour of my life. The challenges of government are nothing compared to the challenge of putting food on the table and getting a roof over our head when I brought up kids working as a home help. Too many people face the same across our country.
I’ve always known that politics changes lives because it changed mine. The last Labour government gave me the tools I needed to build a better life for me and my young son, and that’s why l’ve been working relentlessly from day one in government to do the same for the next generation. Every day I had in office, I worked to serve working class communities like the one that I grew up in, which are too often overlooked by those in power. I am proud that in every decision I made, I did it for them. I would never have become Deputy Prime Minister if not for the decisions taken by the last Labour Government, giving me a council house to support me, Sure Start to help raise my kids, and the security of a minimum wage – and I can only hope that the changes I made in government will have the same impact for young girls growing up on council estates like I did.
Through my Employment Rights Bill people across the country will receive the biggest uplift in workers’ rights in a generation. This landmark legislation will be game changing for millions of people stuck in insecure and low-paid work, giving them the dignity and security they don’t just need but also deserve. I am and will remain deeply proud of that legacy. I am so proud to have worked alongside the trade union movement, who have given me everything, to deliver that.
Our Renters’ Rights Bill will finally ban the oppressive rule of no-fault evictions and will reset the balance between renters and landlords through ground breaking protection for renters. Everyone deserves to live in a safe and decent home, and I know this legislation will deliver that for millions of people across the country.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill will also be instrumental in getting the homes so many people across this country need built, and I am so proud that at the Spending Review we announced the biggest investment in social and affordable housing in a generation with the overwhelming amount of this going to genuinely social rent homes.
And last week, I introduced the English Devolution Bill to Parliament. The largest single package of devolution from any Westminster government to local people across England. This landmark legislation will permanently change the balance of power, giving true control to those with skin in game. We delivered an Elections Strategy which will mean 16 and 17 year olds getting the vote for the first time, as well as ambitious plans to ensure the most marginalised communities are registered to vote. We took steps to stabilise the broken foundations of local government and deliver the first genuinely fair funding review and the first multi-year settlement for a decade.
My department, through my excellent team of Ministers, has also provided the largest ever investment in homelessness prevention services to local authorities, to get Britain back on track to ending homelessness for good. We’ve worked relentlessly to bring an end to the building safety crisis and developed new measures to get peoples’ homes fixed quicker and hold rogue freeholders to account. We’ve also worked to boost community cohesion, tackle hate crime and reset the relationship with faith communities.
I have been lucky to work alongside the most talented group of Ministers who worked with dedication to deliver for working people. I thank Matthew Pennycook, Jim McMahon, Alex Norris, Wajid Khan and Sharon Taylor. I too am grateful to my brilliant parliamentary team, Harpreet Uppal, Mark Ferguson, and Gen Kitchen.
For me, being in office is the chance to change the lives of the people I grew up alongside. I will do whatever I can to continue doing so.
Thank you for your leadership and for your friendship. I will continue to serve you, our country and the party and movement I love in the weeks, months and years ahead.
The Michelin Guide adds THREE new Greater Manchester restaurants
Daisy Jackson
Three brilliant Greater Manchester restaurants have been added to the prestigious Michelin Guide this week.
All three new additions to the guide have been open for less than a year, and join an impressive roster of 15 other local restaurants.
Manchester also now boasts two Michelin stars after going decades with none, thanks to the opening of Skof last year.
While stars remain the most prestigious accolade in the hospitality industry, Michelin also dishes out Bib Gourmands, and Michelin Guide entries to recognise excellent restaurants at lower price points.
Greater Manchester now has 15 entries to its name, with a new trio added yesterday.
Up first is Winsome, a restaurant from former Chef of the Year award-winner Shaun Moffat.
Winsome has also made it into the Michelin Guide. Credit: The Manc GroupInside WInsome on Princess Street. Credit: The Manc GroupWinsome has also made it into the Michelin Guide. Credit: The Manc Group
The modern British bistro, which stands on a corner of the Whitworth Locke hotel building, features playful and classic dishes like asparagus with dippy eggs, gigantic pies with gravy served in cow-shaped jugs, and soft bread rolls with lashings of butter.
The Michelin Guide said: “Manchester’s industrial history feels like it’s had an overt influence on this buzzing brasserie with a large kitchen counter and a stripped-back look.
“The cooking has an admirably gutsy, straightforward quality to it, with hints of nostalgia. Think cold cuts, whole fish, hearty homemade pies and a mixed grill. It’s all executed with skill and the ingredients are of obvious quality, resulting in no shortage of flavour.
“The young and enthusiastic service team are a perfect fit for such a fun place.”
Winsome said: “Today is a good day! We’re absolutely chuffed to tell you that we’ve made it into the Michelin Guide!”
Across town, the next Manchester entry into the Michelin Guide is Pip, a new spot from acclaimed local chef Mary-Ellen McTague.
Pip by Mary-Ellen McTague has been added to the Michelin Guide
Pip, at the foot of the Treehouse Hotel, opened earlier this year and has already received glowing national reviews thanks to its seasonal, proudly local dishes.
There are pies, oysters, British charcuterie, sardines on toast, cheese and onion tarts, chops, hot pots, and plenty more, with suppliers including Littlewoods Butchers, Organic North, Courtyard Dairy and Kindling Farm.
Speaking on the recognition, Mary-Ellen McTague, chef partner at Pip, said: “We’re over the moon to be included in the Michelin Guide so soon after opening!
“It’s an incredible honour, made possible by the dedication of our amazing team and the support of our wonderful suppliers. Working with them to showcase the very best of the North West is a daily joy.”
And completing this month’s entries to the Michelin Guide is Cantaloupe, an achingly stylish new local restaurant for Stockport.
Inside, it’s all white brick walls, wooden furniture, and bold art, with a frequently-changing menu built around the best produce they can get their hands on.
The Michelin Guide wrote of Cantaloupe: “There’s a fresh, clean feel to both the décor and the cooking at this welcoming little wine bar and restaurant. The concise but appealing wine list will appeal to traditional oenophiles, with quality established growers to the fore.
“The menu has a Mediterranean leaning, so whilst it changes daily, it will likely include a pasta dish and possibly some whole fish. This is cooking that relies on simplicity and skill, with immense care poured into dishes like peri peri octopus and duck fat crisps, so that the natural flavours shine.”
Daisy Jackson -
18th March 2022 
