Blank Street, a coffee shop that has become a global sensation for its pretty drinks and stylish interiors, will open its doors in Manchester this week.
There are endless locations available for a brand that prides itself on its aesthetics, from the clean new builds of Spinningfields to the edgy cool of the Northern Quarter to the charm of Barton Arcade.
But Blank Street took one look at Manchester and went ‘Oh, what about Piccadilly Gardens?’. Weird choice…
The city’s busiest and most central square hasn’t exactly built up a good reputation over the last decade, with crime and pigeons both rife.
But things may be turning a corner with the addition of new food and drink businesses nearby, from Franco Manca to Bundobust to Popeyes.
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Blank Street is the latest to open here, officially opening to the public on Wednesday 13 December.
It’s just across the way from viral Korean corn dog peddler Bunsik, with both businesses taking on the vacant units built into the infamous Piccadilly ‘wall’.
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Blank Street Coffee at Piccadilly Gardens Manchester
Blank Street isn’t stopping there either – the popular coffee shop already has signage up for a second Manchester site on Cross Street.
The coffee shop chain started off as a humble coffee cart in Brooklyn, but thanks to its stunning pastel-coloured iced lattes soon became a social media sensation.
It’s drawn in loads of famous fans, with chief influencer Molly-Mae Hague herself a loyal customer.
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Blank Street’s incredibly aesthetic green-and-white-fronted stores are found all over London these days, with people always traipsing out the door clutching beautiful swirling coffees, pistachio lattes, and blueberry matchas.
To mark the launch, Blank Street’s new Manchester store will be offering lucky locals an exclusive buy one, get one free deal from 15-17 December on their new winter menu drinks: Candy Cane Cold Brew and Chocolate Orange Mocha.
One of Manchester’s grandest restaurants has finally reopened TWO YEARS after fire
Daisy Jackson
One of the most historic restaurants in Manchester has reopened at last, two years after a fire forced its closure.
Mount Street Dining Room & Bar – which many of us may remember as Mr Cooper’s – stands within the Grade II-listed Midland Hotel.
The grand dining room dates all the way back to 1903, when it opened with the hotel as the Grill Room.
The restaurant was at the epicentre of the Industrial Revolution and was frequented by railway travellers, perhaps best-known for hosting a lunch between Charles Rolls and Henry Royce in 1904, who went on to form the world-famous Rolls-Royce brand.
The Midland’s restaurants has gone through several changes in the decades since, undergoing a major £14 million refurb in 2020 to relaunch as Mount Street Dining Room & Bar.
Its interiors are inspired by the hotel’s early 1900s art deco and railway heritage, with a menu that focuses on locally-sourced British produce.
But the restaurant has been shut since early 2024, when a fire damaged the entrance and trellising around its main entrance on Mount Street.
The beautiful bar areaA glimpse of the menu at Mount StreetCocktails and British food
The Midland has finally managed to get the restaurant back open again this month, with a new food and cocktail menus, which aims to offer refined but simple British dining.
Expect dishes like pork and black pudding bonbons, white onion soup with crispy potatoes, smoked British salmon with lemon gel and dill mascarpone, and slow cooked beef daube with confit garlic mash.
Plus desserts such as rice pudding with Anise glazed pearsand Bakewell pudding with cherry syrup.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen inside this beautiful, storied dining room – and it looks just as beautiful as we remember.
Daisy Jackson -
12th December 2023 
