Gail’s has revealed the opening dates for not one but two new Manchester bakeries as the hit London bakery continues its rapid expansion into the north of England.
The customer-facing bakery and cafe chain – famed down south for its artisan sourdough breads, pastries, sandwiches, and cakes – has revealed it will open its brand new Manchester city centre site on 7 June.
Moving into the former White Stuff shop on King Street, the new bakery-cafe will be Gail’s third in the north of England.
The new bakery will serve Gail’s artisan sourdough breads, pastries, sandwiches, and cakes alongside its speciality House Blend coffee, which changes four times a year with the seasons.
An outside terrace on the historic shopping street will give fans the option to enjoy a spot of al fresco drinking and dining, whilst a lower floor space offers the chance to host local events and gatherings.
The King Street opening will be followed later in June by a second site in Didsbury village, which is tipped to open inside the old HSBC bank on Wilmslow Road on Friday 21 June.
Ahead of its King Street opening, the beloved bakery will throw itself wholeheartedly into Manchester’s famous Flower Show, which returns on 27 and 28 May.
The bakery will be collaborating with local artist Amy Coney, who will be live painting a floral mural onto its windows as part of the festival, as well as with award-winning local florist Chloe Robinson.
Chloe has worked with Cheshire growers to create hand posies which will be given away with a loaf of GAIL’s Waste Less Sourdough between 11-1pm on Saturday 27and Sunday 28 May whilst stocks last.
The bakery will open on King Street,trading from 6.30am-6pm Sunday-Friday and until 7pm on Saturdays.
The opening of Gail’s bakeries in the region reinforces its long-standing ties to the area following Gail’s wholesale bakery, which opened in Openshaw in 2017.
It has since supplied high-quality, artisan breads to some of the region’s top restaurants, cafés and hotels. The new bakeries will create new careers for people in craft baking, specialty coffee and bakery management.
For the past six years, Gail’s wholesale bakery in Openshaw has been supporting FareShare as well as local schools, presenting and teaching students about the benefit of healthier craft bread.
A newly established partnership with Manchester-based EatWellMCR will allow the distribution of any surplus food to those in the region who need it most in Manchester and surrounding neighbourhoods.
Featured image – Google Maps Street View
Eats
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.
Georgina Pellant -
24th May 2023 
