One of the Northern Quarter’s staple bars and restaurants has announced its closure today.
Cottonopolis, which has sat on the corner of Newton Street and Dale Street since 2015, will not reopen after its busy festive period, owners have confirmed.
The Asian-inspired restaurant and bar has already shut its doors for good – but there’s a new concept planned for the space.
The historic Grade II-listed site will undergo a full renovation and relaunch with a brand new food and drink offering in early 2024.
Owners Nick and Hayley Muir have made the decision to close Cottonopolis after eight years, believing it has ‘reached the end of its journey in its current guise’.
They say the restaurant, which served Japanese food and high-end cocktails, will be replaced by something ‘something just as fresh’.
That 200-year-old pub had been derelict for years before Nick and Hayley took it on and transformed it into what’s already been recognised as one of the best gastropubs in the UK.
They’ve yet to confirm what direction the Cottonopolis site will go in, but are promising an ‘exciting new concept.
Cottonopolis in Manchester’s Northern Quarter has announced its closure. Credit: The Manc GroupCottonopolis in Manchester’s Northern Quarter has announced its closure. Credit: The Manc Group
Nick Muir, director, said: “Cottonopolis has become known as a staple part of the Northern Quarter bar and restaurant scene, we believe we’ve reached the end of our journey in its current guise.
“It’s been great, we’ve thrown some great parties, hosted weddings and worked with fantastic brands but we want to do something just as fresh. Like when it first came onto the NQ scene. It feels like the right time to bring an exciting new concept.
“We’ve already been hard at work with our team behind the scenes to develop our next adventure, which will bring a new quality place to eat and drink to the NQ, with the same exceptional standards we’ve become known for at Edinburgh Castle.
“We’d like to thank all of our guests for their loyalty over the last eight years, and we’re looking forward to sharing the next part of our journey with you.”
Further details will be revealed later this month, with plans to reopen to the public early 2024.
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.
Daisy Jackson -
3rd January 2024 
