Another month, another round of new openings – and there’s plenty to get stuck into.
Whether you’re into glitzy late-night hang outs, casual dining turnarounds or award-winning burritos, let’s just say there’s something on the list for you this October.
From the brand new Shogun Ramen and Bar, which sees beloved Chorlton restaurant Peck & Yard give it ‘one more shot’ with a ramen and sushi concept, to Mayfair celeb haunt Mnky Hse, keep reading to discover where to put on your list this month.
Shogun Ramen and Bar
Image: Shogun Ramen and Bar
Image: Shogun Ramen and Bar
Fans and staff alike were heartbroken when Chorlton restaurant Peck & Yard announced it was closing its doors for good in August, so we’re all happy to see the team return under a new guise.
Switching from baskets of fried chicken to steaming bowls of ramen and handrolled sushi, bosses will try something entirely new as they delve into the world of Japanese cuisine.
ADVERTISEMENT
The concept is something they had originally considered before opening Peck & Yard, and they said that “with the times we’re in” they thought “why not go back to the original idea and give this one last shot”.
Soft launch 1 October from 5pm, open from 6 October.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mnky Hse
Image: Mnky Hse
Image: Mnky Hse
Late-night bar and restaurant Mnky Hse (pronounced “monkey house”) is set to be taking over a space in Lloyd House this month.
First opened in Mayfair, London, in 2016, it will be the second UK site for the restaurant and its first in the north of England when it opens its doors this September.
Known for its ‘hidden entrance’, Instagram-friendly interiors, live music, extensive cocktail menu and Latin American dishes, here you’ll find a great range of tacos – both soft and crunchy – alongside a range of sushi, ceviche and grill dishes.
ADVERTISEMENT
14 October
Tortilla, Oxford Road
Image: Tortilla
Image: Tortilla
Mexican food chain Tortilla has arrived in Manchester, bringing a new burrito shop to the Oxford Road student stretch this month.
Offering a range of award-winning burritos, nachos and tacos, you’ll also find quesadillas, chips and salsa, salad bowls and more on the menu.
The most hyped brunch restaurant in the city is opening a third site at the Circle Square development on Oxford Road at the end of this month.
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.
A new arrival in Longridge, Fell Bistro comes from former Masterchef the Professional finalist Oli Martin who previously spent eight years at four AA rosette restaurant Hipping Hall.
With head chef Rikki Hughes, previousl of Tom Kerridge’s Michelin pub The Hand and Flowers in Marlow, heading up the kitchen we expect great things.
The menu offers a selection of classic dishes with their wood fired oven and grill featuring prominently. Elsewhere, find hearty Sunday lunches and light bites.
Open now
Bread and Bowl, Spinningfields
There are carb overloads, and then there is Bread & Bowls‘ Full English breakfast in a hollowed-out loaf.
ADVERTISEMENT
First launched in February 2020, these ginormous loaves of sourdough – stuffed with fry-up favourites like high-grade local sausages, crispy streaky bacon, beans, cheese, mushrooms, grilled tomatoes and hash browns – became something of a hungover lockdown sensation.
Now, you can find them at the new Spinningfields coffee shop 92 Degrees, housed inside the no.1 Spinningfields building Served between 8am and 4pm every day.
Open now
Bold Street Coffee, Oxford Road
Liverpool-born Bold Street Coffee has just opened its second shop here in the space of a few months.
Moving into the universities territory, the new site is found at University Green just off Oxford Road.
ADVERTISEMENT
Serving the same menu as its Cross Street site, head down for egg boxes, signature BSC frys, and hearty bowls of super porridge and granola.
Open now
Feature image – Federal / Tortilla / The Manc Eats
The Guides
A Manc’s guide to: Rochdale, the Northern town whose reputation precedes it
Thomas Melia
It’s a well known fact that Rochdale has received a bad rep, but this town has a fair few hidden gems waiting for people to try them – and don’t knock it ’til you’ve checked these out.
Well, well, well I’ve been trusted with the job of writing a guide to my hometown, and as someone who is self-proclaimed ‘Rochdale born and bred’, you can guarantee this guide is packed with all the best bits this small but mighty town has to offer.
I have gone against the famous saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ with the title but it’s safe to say that Rochdale has had its fair share of slander, even by the people that live here.
But one thing is for sure, we don’t half have some good spots that are well and truly slept on.
If there’s one thing Rochdale is sure to sort you out with it’s a good hearty meal, a nice brisk walk and some top notch night time locations, this town has got you covered.
Food and drink
Rochdale guide – SuburbThe Martlet in Rochdale
Suburb – Instagramable and tasty, this cafe and restaurant has everything you could need from gorgeous hot chocolates to irresistible pastries. Avocado toast girlies, this one’s for you, the egg menu is chef’s kiss.
Pavilion – Nothing quite hits the spot like a good curry and Pavilion have got this dish mastered. Sit under a flowery ceiling while eating some floury offerings like their poppadoms with pickle trays and soft doughy naans, and of course these are paired with their wonderful curry variations.
The Martlet – Fine diners unite, this exquisite kitchen is serving up some local and luxury cuisine that’s situated in Rochdale’s most gorgeous site, Rochdale Town Hall. Expect proper northern dishes like bacon chop crispy, Scotch eggs made with Bury Black Pudding, and hearty puddings.
Vicolo Del Vino – Just next door is this gorgeous wine cellar and after stuffing your face with small plates, there’s only one remedy to wash it down with, wine. Still peckish? Order a bowl of tiramisu, because what good night ended with a salad?
La Mancha – Everyone boasts about the Mediterranean diet, well Rochdale’s been doing it since 1998. Tucked away down a ginnel on Bull Brow is La Mancha, with plenty for seafood fans, chorizo lovers and veggies alike.
Pavilion Indian restaurant in RochdaleThe Baum pub in Rochdale
The Baum – A place which serves proper ‘pub grub’. Located on Toad Lane, which is like a mini window into Rochdale’s past, sit back, unwind and undo your jean button because you’re about to eat one of the best cheese and onion pies of your life.
Russells – There’s one thing every town needs and that’s a right good caff, Russells is Rochdale’s equivalent. Full English, toasties, jacket potatoes, you can’t go wrong with these lunchtime favourites, and if you’ve left room for more, try a jam and cream scone, absolute heaven.
Milnrow Balti House – This curry house has built quite the name for itself winning numerous awards, most notably, in 2023 winning ‘Best Restaurant in the North West’ doubling down on this by also achieving ‘Champion of Champions’ the same year.
Mr. Thomas’ – Nothing beats chippy chips especially when you can eat them with lovely scenery of Rochdale’s main attraction, Hollingworth Lake.
Bella Vista – This place takes ‘Food with a view’ to a whole new meaning. Not only are you being presented with some of the best Italian home comforts, you’re accompanied with a picturesque bird’s eye view of this lovely town and beyond. Bellissima!
Nightlife and Hotels
Hoochi Koochi – Think 42’s but on a much smaller and intimate setting. Much like the Manchester staple night out venue, there are numerous famous faces adorning these walls and you’ll hear some of the best indie and rock classics.
Hogarths – Ever fancied drinking in an impressive and historic old bank? Enjoy a drink or two in the heart of Rochdale’s town centre while admiring this public house’s grand interior. One of the old safe rooms even doubles as a karaoke booth.
Empire – Rihanna, Tina Turner, ABBA, you name it they’ve played here – tributes of course! Either way, you’re guaranteed a good turnout at this late night establishment.
In terms of hotels… there’s a Hampton by Hilton right in the centre of town if not try staying near Hollingworth Lake, trust me it’s stunning.
Music and culture
Volunteers at the Fireground MuseumThe Fireground museum
Rochdale Town Hall – After years of painstaking work, the magnificent, historic Rochdale Town Hall reopened its doors to the public last year following its multi-million pound revamp. This incredible building is packed with history, sweeping staircases, and hand-painted walls and ceilings. A must-visit.
Touchstones Museum – Currently undergoing a refurbishment, this is your go-to for any Rochdale history related queries, you name it, they usually know the answer. It’s very interactive and perfect for any age, especially kids.
Fireground Museum – Rochdale’s old fire station is now an engaging and interesting building dedicated to the history of fire and rescue in Greater Manchester. The site showcases a handful of old engines, an onsite cafe, and the volunteers on hand are all ex-fire workers, wow.
Rochdale Pioneers Museum – The birthplace of The Co-operative Group and that proper pub grub we mentioned earlier is just next door. Once you’ve enriched yourself in culture, you have to enrich yourself in a hearty homemade meal as well, right?
Rochdale has a rich music history
Music – Did you know that Joy Division recorded their music here from 1978 onwards and even had equipment custom built into the recording studio ground floor on Kenion Street?
The same recording studios were used to film ’24 Hour Party People’, in a scene that recreated the New Order and Joy Division drummer Stephen Morris playing his drums on the roof of the building.
Rochdale is also home to local star and hitmaker Lisa Stansfield whose 1989 single ‘All Around The World’ topped the UK charts alongside groundbreaking album ‘Affection’ released the same year.
And you can’t mention music without paying homage to ‘Our Gracie’. Perched outside our iconic town hall, is triple threat Gracie Fields, who contributed to film, music and TV – the 1930’s equivalent to Taylor Swift.
Walking routes
Greenbooth in summer. Credit: The Manc GroupGreenbooth in the autumn
Hollingworth Lake – This is an accessible and flat walk suitable for all and if you’ve worked up an appetite there’s an ice cream truck courtesy of Northern sweet-treat greats Grandpa Greene’s on Lake Bank.
Greenbooth Reservoir– Situated in Naden Valley, there’s three different reservoirs to walk around, you can choose how many you feel like tackling. A real hidden beauty spot.
Healey Dell – There’s grand arches, big trees and a nice cake and a cuppa waiting for you in the nearby tearoom.
Wardle Reservoir – A dog friendly circular trail around a man made reservoir. If there hasn’t been a downpour for a while, you can catch a glimpse of the old village that’s now underwater.
Purple Plaque Trail – Rochdale have purple plaques dedicated to their favourite daughter, Gracie Fields. You can visit nine town centre locations relating to the northern star, check out the trail HERE.
Transport
Rochdale Town Centre is the very last stop on the Metrolink dropping you in the middle of all the action and helpfully right next to the town’s bus station too.
There are also excellent train links with Manchester and beyond.
If you enjoy your own company the M62 is close by, why not take a trip over the hill to Huddersfield, you can even make a pitstop in Oldham on your journey home.
ADVERTISEMENT
Shopping
This borough is home to some lovely little independent retailers ranging from clothes and records to trinkets and cakes, it really does have it all.
Butterworth’s – An independent retailer that has sat on the streets of Rochdale for over 40 years bringing the biggest brands like Adidas, Berghaus and Fila.
Okeechobee – Marketed as a ‘Ladies’ Boutique’, this vendor sells everything you can think of including chunky knits and formal office wear.
Rocks Off – Adorning Drake Street for over 30 years with music releases from all the greats, Rocks Off brings Rochdale physical music to Rochdale, like vinyl, cd’s and even cassettes.
Little Gift Box – Halfway between Rochdale town centre and Littleborough, this family-owned business stocks cute decorations and ornaments, as well as wholesome cards and keepsakes.
ADVERTISEMENT
Brown’s Cakes – Not hard to miss, if the bright pink shop front doesn’t entice you in, the cakes in the window will. Everyday is your birthday over at Brown’s, after all that shopping you deserve a treat.
Property
House prices in Rochdale have an overall average of £217,343 over the last year.
The majority of properties sold in this borough over the last twelve months were terraced, selling for £156,553 on average.
Other properties include semi-detached which sold for an average of £209,529, and detached properties fetching £343,025.
The best things to do in Greater Manchester this week | 17 – 23 February 2025
Emily Sergeant
Now that Valentine’s Day has been and gone, it’s all about half term.
Schools across the region are now out for February half term, so as you can imagine, there’s absolutely no shortage of things for the whole family to be getting up to in Greater Manchester throughout this week – both free things, and those that’ll set you back a few pennies too.
Finding it a bit tricky to pick what to do though?
We’ve chosen a few of the best bits for another edition of our ‘what’s on‘ guide, so here’s some of our recommendations.
___
Operation Ouch! Brains, Bogies and You
Science and Industry Museum
Monday 17 February – onwards
Operation Ouch! Brains, Bogies and You / Credit: Science Museum Group
You can plunge headfirst into the incredible world of our senses at a new immersive museum exhibition that’s now arrived at the Science and Industry Museum.
Back by popular demand after a successful run over these past two years, but with a fresh new adventure lined up for 2025, Operation Ouch! is giving you the chance to journey through an ear canal covered in gooey wax, squeeze past sticky snot, and delve deeper into how our brains interpret the world.
Tickets to Operation Ouch! Brains, Bogies and You are now on sale, and visitors are being told to prepare themselves for an “epic exploration of the senses”.
NEW OPENING – Oxygen Activeplay / Credit: Jamie McPhilimey
A brand-new indoor activity park is opening in MediaCity this week, just in time for half term.
Salford was chosen by Oxygen Activeplay as the location for its next venture, and the brand-new park has descended on Quayside MediaCity, just above bustling food hall Kargo MKT, following a £2.5 million investment – with state-of-the-art equipment and activities to help local families stay active whilst having fun at the same time.
The new park features more than 30 trampolines, a mega-air bag, a high ropes course, a ‘Rollglider’ aerial ride which flies over the facility, and Oxygen’s signature illuminated sensory experience ‘Excite Tunnel’, along with even more “epic” activities.
Parents and cares can take their little Mancs down to the People’s History Museum throughout this week so they can build their own robot, inspired by the Deceptioncon robot costume which has recently made its home at the museum.
A whole host of colourful junk will be waiting in the museum’s Playful Protest Space, ready to be recycled into your own characterful junkbot that you can either take home or add to the imaginary picket line.
This family-friendly activity is suitable for those aged five-12 years old, making it the perfect half term activity, and it’s free to attend.
Freight Island’s Six Nations fanzone has returned for 2025.
The iconic international tournament is now underway, and so is Freight Island’s fantastic fan experience, providing an unparalleled level of excitement beyond being inside the stadium.
Already proving to be even bigger and better than last year, it’s the largest of its kind anywhere in the country, with everything from free pints and prosecco, live music, top-notch scran from Freight’s in-house vendors, and so much more.
Looking for other places to watch the Six Nations?
We’re absolutely spoiled for choice with places showing all the sporting action across Greater Manchester, so if you’re looking to get together with your mates, we’ve rounded up some of the best places to head to here.
___
The Super Duper Family Festival
Manchester City Centre
Monday 17 & Tuesday 18 February
The Super Duper Family Festival / Credit: ManchesterBID
A brand new festival full of free activities for all the family has arrived in Manchester, and you only have a couple of days left to get involved.
The new event, which is called The Super Duper Family Festival and is free to attend, is featuring a series of pop-up play zones at a variety of outdoor spaces and popular venues across the city centre, all of which will be free to use and ready to explore.
There’s six play zones providing unique experiences for all ages.
Fancy designing your own Rudy’s pizza to be in with a chance of getting added to the menu?
Oh, and getting free pizza for a year too if yours is chosen?
Yes that’s right, you can leave your mark on the Manc pizza world in one of the biggest ways imaginable by taking part in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – the chance to get your pizza creation on the official menu of Manchester-born pizzeria Rudy’s for all to enjoy.
To be in with a chance of winning, budding pizza aficionados just need to roll up their sleeves and submit their pizza creation by 9 March, when entries will be judged on creativity, adherence to Neapolitan style, seasonality, taste and marketability.
As well as your creation being chosen, there’s plenty of other prizes to be won too – including pizza ovens, and of course, that year’s supply.
Smash-hit musical Dear Evan Hansen is currently out on a UK tour for the first time ever, and it’s making a stop off here Manchester this week.
Known for being one of the most beloved new musicals of the last decade, having scooped up dozens of coveted awards after it first debuted on Broadway and the West End, Dear Evan Hansen tells the story of Evan – an anxious high school kid who wants nothing more than to fit in.
ADVERTISEMENT
But the only thing is, on his way to fitting in, he didn’t tell the whole truth, and now must give up on a life he never dreamt he’d have.
The hugely popular wizard-themed steam train will be back travelling through Greater Manchester once again this week.
Aspiring witches and wizards for all ages are invited to enrol in the spellbinding school of sorcery on the East Lancashire Railway this summer as they take a “wacky and wonderful whistle stop tour” of the Wizard Academy.
They’ll get to learn to become a master of mystery and magic during this immersive interactive experience through the Irwell Valley of wonders that’s hauled by a genuine steam – and spell – powered train.
Did you see that Chester Zoo is giving away more than 30,000 free tickets to kids this year?
The UK’s largest charity zoo is on a mission to help nature to “survive and thrive”.
And so, in a bid to do just that, has announced that it will once again be handing out tens of thousands of tickets to schoolchildren for completely free of charge, so that they can explore the zoo up close and learn all about the inspiring work the conservation charity does.
With the hopes of empowering as many youngsters as possible, and sparking their passion for saving species once again, the zoo has now opened the scheme back up for the 2025/26 season – with a whopping 33,000 tickets available for schools, nurseries, and colleges to claim.
Those who secure tickets will have the opportunity to visit the zoo between this November and February 2026.
Little Mancs can try their hand at becoming a pilot, as the popular Flight Academy is returning to Manchester Airport.
After proving to be massively popular with families during plenty of school holidays in recent years, the Flight Academy programme is back at Runway Visitor Park later this week, just in time for half term across the region.
During 90-minute sessions, curious kids will get the chance to learn all about the different job roles that help keep Manchester’s airport in action throughout the year.
Bottomless Pizza Front / Credit: GRUB | The Manc Group
GRUB is teaming up with Pizza Mutt to host a Bottomless Pizza Brunch this weekend.
We’re not just talking bottomless drinks either, you can also tuck into an unlimited number of Tavern-style pizza slices, choosing from toppings such as marinara, double cheese, and pepperoni (with vegan cheese available) – within each 90-minute session.
You can then wash it all down with a selection of drinks, including Aperol spritzes, lager and ales, cider, and both non-alcoholic and soft drinks.
Brickhouse Social’s 90s-themed brunch is back by popular demand.
The Manchester social hub is inviting music lovers down to enjoy 90-minutes of bottomless pizza slices, fizz, bottled beers, and select cocktails on its ooftop terrace every Saturday over the nexr couple of months – with a resident DJ playing all the best tunes from the nineties.
There’s two brunch sittings available, so you can opt for 1-3pm or 3:30-5:30pm, and you can get booking your table now.
Looking to book a last-minute half term staycation?
Well, Cheshire’s premium country estate, the beautiful Carden Park in Chester, could be just the place you’re look for, as it’s offering kids the chance to stay there for free alongside their families on selected dates this half term.
Families visiting Carden Park this half term can enjoy countless on-site activities for completely free of charge.
Think scenic trails around the estate’s luscious gardens, championship golf courses, vineyard and sculpture garden, as well as adrenaline-fuelled experiences like ziplines, climbing, archery, mini quad biking, and more for the thrill seekers.
Georgina Pellant -
30th September 2022 
