Eats
Renowned Stockport restaurant Where The Light Gets In is heading to Manchester for a very special event series
The series includes a conceptual pop-up fast-food diner and a banquet.
Daisy Jackson -
15th October 2024 
Acclaimed Stockport restaurant Where The Light Gets In has just announced details of an exciting five month-long residency in Manchester city centre.
The Green Michelin Star restaurant, famed for its seasonal tasting menus and natural wines, will be opening a temporary concept restaurant and a series of events right across town.
Where The Light Gets In: A Play in the City will take over two venues (as well as the city streets) – The Bungalow at Kampus and community space Altogether Otherwise in NOMA.
It’s a bit of an unusual concept but just bear with us here.
Although billed as a ‘four-act programme’ that has been presented like a play (complete with scenes), this incredible project from Where The Light Gets In (WTLGI) is really a series of pop-up events, from workshops to dining experiences, across Manchester.
The events will include a free night of natural wine and food, a conceptual pop-up fast-food diner, film screenings, walking tours, a pop-up restaurant, panel talks, and a full-blown banquet.
You’ll even be able to go litter-picking and trade in your bag of rubbish for a glass of wine.
Where The Light Gets In: A Play in the City will run between 21 November and 30 March, kicking off for the first month with ‘A Man Eating A Leg Of Chicken’.
This will be a free-entry, no-reservations pop-up where you can drink natural wines and ‘gorge on shellfish and animals roasted over wood’.
There’ll also be weekend takeovers from WTLGI’s favourite labels and record shops at Altogether Otherwise.
From early January until 2 February, Where The Light Gets In will turn The Bungalow at Kampus into a conceptual fast-food restaurant The Land of Cockaigne, from wood-fired burgers to ice cream floats to spritzy grape juice.
It’ll involve self-serve counters, name tags and sauce udders, with the option to order a takeaway with an automated phone service.
In February, it’ll be Une semaine de bonté (A WEEK OF KINDNESS) at The Bungalow, with a restaurant ‘dressed with the beginning of spring’ serving simple dishes celebrating the arrival of a new season and delicious wines.
And finally in March, there’ll be the Luncheon of the Boating Party banquets, where guests sit at one long table and eat family-style platters with plenty of wine.
Alongside those four main events will be masses of foraging and gardening workshops, walking tours, Q&As and loads more.
The intention of the concept restaurant and residency is to bring Where The Light Gets In’s passion for sustainability and great food right into the bustling city centre for five months that combine food, art, and urban living.
The restaurant team has asked: “Are we heading to a cataclysmic dystopia or can we rewrite the future?
“Set against the backdrop of the city of Manchester, this programme explores the tension between city life and rural tradition, asking critical questions about food systems, and our own identity within nature, the city, and the arts.”
Where The Lights Gets In in Stockport is headed up by acclaimed chef Sam Buckley and is easily one of Greater Manchester’s best and most exciting restaurants.
Tickets are available from midday on Tuesday 15 October.
Full programme for Where The Light Gets In: A Play in the City Manchester residency
ACT 1: “A MAN EATING A LEG OF CHICKEN”
SCENE: A bustling Metropolis.
When: Thursday to Saturday, 21 November to 21 December 2024, 5pm-11pm
Where: Altogether Otherwise, NOMA, 6-10 Hanover St, Manchester M4 4BB
What: We raid the cellars of WTLGI to bring you our favourite natural wines from the continent. Gorge on shellfish and whole animals roasted over wood. Weekender takeovers from our favourite labels and record shops. Welcome to your now. Welcome to the city.
How: Free entry, no reservations
ACT 1 events highlights (running alongside):
Opening night party: Living Room Dance Club 21st November 2024, 5pm-midnight
Honest shop: Thursday, Friday & Saturday 12pm-4pm
ACT 2: THE LAND OF COCKAIGNE
SCENE: A fast food restaurant.
When: Monday to Sunday, 10 January – 2 February 2025. 5pm-late
Where: The Bungalow at Kampus, Aytoun St, Manchester M1 3GL
What: A conceptual fast-food diner. Churning out wood-fired burgers, ice cream floats and spritzy grape juice. It’s self-service counters, name tags and sauce udders. Eat in or take away using our automated telephone service. Grab a tray and find a seat, welcome to the future of convenient feeding: fast-paced and unlimited choice.
How: Head HERE to reserve your seat, or order a takeaway for collection on our phone line. Open for walk-ins also.
ACT 2 event highlights:
Film screenings. Altogether Otherwise
DATE TBC Silo: The Zero Waste Blueprint – Q&A with Douglas McMaster & Sam Buckley
DATE TBC WTLGI X SILO MEAL
Manchester Utopia – The Modernist walking tour
ACT 3: Une semaine de bonté (A WEEK OF KINDNESS)
SCENE: A pleasant garden; simple and sufficient
When: Monday to Sunday, 3rd February – 2nd March 2025. 5pm-late
Where: The Bungalow at Kampus, Aytoun St, Manchester M1 3GL
What: A clean and well-lit restaurant dressed with the beginnings of Spring. We offer a moderate choice of simple dishes carefully prepared with ingredients selected for their freshness and relevance to the time and place. A thoughtful selection of wines from small-scale producers.
How: Head to HERE to reserve your seat. Open for walk-ins also.
Act 3 event highlights:
Panel discussion on the history of communal green spaces.
Open Call for Manchester Chefs: Master Whole Animal Butchery with Samuel Buckley and Marcus of Littlewoods Butchers, followed by a meal for EatWell.
TRIAGE: A Pickling walk-in centre. Drop in with your veg and we’ll help you to preserve it. 12-2 Friday.
Film screening Altogether Otherwise
Urban Foraging Walk & Litter Picking: A guided exploration of local green spaces, teaching participants to identify and gather wild edibles. Pick a bag of litter, get a glass of wine on us.
Book tables with a stranger – In this act we encourage discussion and conversation around the dinner table. It is often the non-tangible delights that arouse pleasure and satisfaction.
ACT 4: LUNCHEON OF THE BOATING PARTY
SCENE: A long wooden table in the middle of a garden.
‘And if one day my wisdom should desert me – ah, it loves to fly away! – then may my pride too fly with my folly’
When: Monday to Sunday, 3 March – 30 March 2025. 5pm-late
Where: The Bungalow at Kampus, Aytoun St, Manchester M1 3GL
What: Join us for a banquet to celebrate the finale of our residency in Manchester. Guests will sit at one long table and enjoy an array of dishes designed to eat family-style. Platters of vegetables, meats and fish will adorn the centre of the table. We will share, we will pour wine.
How: Head HERE to reserve your seat at the table.
Act 4 events:
Hand-drawn ‘fruit maps’ that plot the locations of fruit trees and foraging spots, growing on, or overhanging, public space in Manchester.
Urban Gardening Workshop: Led by Manchester Urban Diggers, participants learn to cultivate their own urban gardens, regardless of space constraints.
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Featured image: Supplied
