Legendary burger restaurant Almost Famous has said it’s ‘so grateful’ after it received a huge outpouring of support from customers following a vulnerable post.
The restaurant had said that one of its most beautiful locations was ‘struggling’, and they feared they would have to say goodbye to it for good.
In a heartfelt statement shared online and addressed to people living in south Manchester suburbs, Almost Famous shared a ‘mini cry for help, not a beg’ to help its Withington restaurant keep the doors open.
And just one day later, the burger joint confirmed that the people of Withington ‘pulled through’.
Customers were waiting outside the restaurant before the doors were even open on Wednesday night.
With just one incredibly honest post, Almost Famous went ‘from an empty restaurant to fully packed’.
They’ve since said that they are ‘so overwhelmed at the support, adding: “I’m not crying it’s the hay fever.”
Inside Almost Famous in Withington. Credit: The Manc Group
Almost Famous also wrote: “OMG Manchester, this is what makes us special and beautiful, a city that takes care of its own and feels like a giant family. So overwhelmed at the support.
“We love you all so much and you know we are there for you like you are for us.”
Almost Famous opened last year inside a beautiful Grade II-listed building in Withington, which had previously (very briefly) been The Libertine pub.
Inside, it serves the huge burgers the brand is famed for across the UK, and now also has pool tables, big screens for the Euros, and plenty of food and drink offers.
Their initial post said: “Calling all people of Withington, Chorlton, Fallowfield, Didsbury, South Manchester and beyond! This is a mini cry for help, not a beg. Almost Famous Withington is struggling, it’s the most beautiful of our sites, and we adore it. But we need your love and support to keep its doors open.
“Opening in the suburbs hasn’t been like anything we’ve done before, and while we’re rockin it on Deliveroo, there’s just not enough people coming through to experience the magic in the restaurant. We get it, times are tough for everyone, so we’ve been offering 50% off burgers all the time to give our baby a much-needed boost.
Burgers at Almost Famous in Withington. Credit: The Manc Group
“Withington is the coolest place with an incredible community vibe, and we’re proud to be part of it. It would be heartbreaking to say goodbye, so come down, show some love, grab a half-price burger and have a good time.”
Almost Famous later wrote: “Our hearts are full, we’re so grateful, OMG Manchester, this is what makes us special and beautiful, a city that takes care of its own and feels like a giant family.
“So overwhelmed at the support. From an empty restaurant to fully packed tonight this is mental and amazing. We love you all so much and you know we are there for you like you are for us.
“We’ll be back at it from midday tomorrow with half price burgers all day. We’re also going to extend our half price birthday burger sale for another month, so you can get 50% off your favs all through June
“We know times are tough for everyone at the moment and we just want to make people happy and make burgers!! Thanks for letting us do this and spreading the word – let’s keep it going and save Withington.”
Lively Irish pub Nancy Spains set to open in Manchester for the first time
Daisy Jackson
An Irish bar famed for its live music is heading up to Manchester for the first time, and is promising £2.50 pints to lure us in.
Nancy Spains will be venturing out of London for the first time promising to bring the ‘ultimate traditional Irish pub experience’ to the Northern Quarter.
If you were to ask what the hottest trend in hospitality is right now the answer would, apparently, be Guinness. We’re drowning in the stuff.
This latest opening is more about Murphy’s, another Irish stout, than Guinness (they actually won’t serve Guinness at all) but the craic will be much the same.
Nancy Spains is actually set to open almost directly opposite the aforementioned Salmon of Knowledge, taking over the former Corner Boy unit on Stevenson Square in the heart of Manchester.
To celebrate its opening, the pub will be serving its first 5000 pints of Murphy’s for just £2.50, so that it can show off the atmosphere that’s established it as ‘one of London’s favourite pubs’.
They’re promising an array of Irish whiskeys behind the bar, live music performances, and a lively late-night setting.
Nancy Spains was set up by three brothers who travelled all over their home county of rural Kerry researching Irish pubs, before launching two venues down in London.
They want it to balance a traditional pub with the vibrancy of the city.
Peter O’Halloran, co-founder of Nancy Spains commented, “We’re so excited to be launching in Manchester, bringing Nancy Spains to the heart of the Northern Quarter.
“After the success of our two venues in London, it was only right to bring Nancy Spains’ infectious spirit and Irish pride to Manchester. Slainte!”
Nancy Spains will open its first Manchester pub on Saturday 15 March at 21 Hilton Street.
Lucky Mama’s – The Italian restaurant serving pasta in a dough bowl and ‘pregnant’ pizzas
Daisy Jackson
Lucky Mama’s is a local sensation, thanks to its slightly whacky but delicious Italian creations like pasta served in a bowl made of pizza dough and its latest offering, a ‘pregnant’ pizza.
What on Earth is a pregnant pizza, you ask? Firstly we should stress this is a nickname we’ve bestowed upon the dish, rather than Lucky Mama’s chosen branding.
But essentially it’s a helping of fresh pasta that’s folded into the bubble crust of the pizza, like a half-calzone.
Lucky Mama’s started life when founders Mamadou Dhiam and Gaby Santos set up a trailer in their backyard in Eccles in the depths of lockdown.
But thanks to a formidably loyal following that’s spread the word of Lucky Mama’s far and wide, it now has two pretty pink restaurants in Greater Manchester.
Back in 2022, they threw open the doors to their Chorlton restaurant, before returning back to home turf for spot number two in Monton in 2024.
The recipes are fresh and pretty authentically Italian up until the last step, when they throw a curveball by loading their pasta into unconventional vessels.
‘Pregnant’ pizzas at Lucky Mama’sTraditional Roman pizzasLucky Mama’s pink restaurant in Chorlton
Their pasta pizza bowls are what they’re best known for and they fly out of the kitchen – this is where pizza dough is placed around a metal bowl before being baked in an oven.
Then it’s piled high with freshly made pasta, with popular flavours like cacio e pepe, mushroom alfredo, and rasta pasta.
Pasta is available in a regular ceramic bowl too.
You’ll find Lucky Mama’s at 565 Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton; and 217 Monton Road in Eccles.