Beloved independent cafe Pot Kettle Black has announced that its opened a new site in Manchester Airport ready for when the crowds return.
The city’s airport may be a little quieter than usual at the moment due to flight restrictions amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but when the hustle and bustle of holiday-goers descend upon the terminals once again, they’ll have a new refreshment place to stop off at for their pre-travel caffeine fix.
Pot Kettle Black – or PKB, as it’s affectionately known – has opened up in Terminal 2.
After “surviving this pandemic thanks to [their] amazing customers and staff” and aptly describing the last 12 months as “a journey”, the antipodean coffee house and eatery is now getting ready to serve travellers ahead of a journey of their own.
The Manchester Airport site is the third location for the Manchester-based independent business.
It joins PKB’s original location in the iconic Barton Arcade – based just off Deansgate in the heart of Manchester city centre – which first opened to the public back in 2014, and comes after the brand’s second successful site opened up inside the impressive No.1 Spinningfields building a few years after.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKQx9oOg8g9/
Announcing the opening of its third site to loyal fans and customers on social media, Pot Kettle Black – which has been keeping the coffee flowing by operating a successful takeaway service for the duration of the ongoing pandemic – said: “Wow… we are surviving this pandemic thanks to our amazing customers and staff. What a journey the last 12 months has been.
“Speaking of journeys – next time you and your loved ones pack your bags to leave these shores, you can have a Pot Kettle Black fix”.
They continued: “The usual great coffee and brunch to start your holiday in the right way”.
Along with the “usual great coffee and brunch” that Mancunians have come to know and love PKB for over the years, the Manchester Airport site will also sell mouthwatering pastries and bread from their sister bakehouse Half Dozen Other, and will also be serving a selection of craft beers in collaboration with ever-popular Salford-based brewery ShinDigger.
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.
Emily Sergeant -
20th January 2021 
