In a gutting bit of news, Indy Man Beer Con have revealed that they will not be returning for 2024 and that last year’s edition of the beloved local festival was their final outing.
Coming to an end after more than a decade of delighting beer fans around Greater Manchester, the North West and the UK as a whole across what they have now looked back on as “10 incredible festivals”, the organisers of Indy Man Beer Con are bringing their successful run to an end.
Following the announcement on Monday, 25 March, founder Jonny Heyes – one of the brains behind Common, Nell’s and Port Street Beer House – said, “The last 12 years have been an amazing journey”.
The independent beer and brewery convention confirmed the news on social media, admitting that it was a “difficult decision” but that they worked with “some of the world’s best breweries” and are full of gratitude to everyone who came through the doors and helped make the festival so popular.
Indy Man Beer Con has sadly come to an end after 12 years.
As per Beer Today, Heyes added: “It’s been a huge privilege to witness the UK craft beer scene blossom in front of our eyes, to work with so many fantastic breweries, and witness their creativity, industry, and growth.
“I am humbled that lots of people have taken a great deal of joy and satisfaction from the little event that we’ve spent over a decade putting on. I am beyond chuffed that you chose to spend your time with us deep in the pool at the incredible Victoria Baths.”
The festival went on to note highlights from down the years and urged previous festival-goers to do the same in the comments, citing instances such as the year of the giant cheese wheels, the ‘Beer Trumps Hate’ foam fingers from 2017 and those extremely stubborn temporary tattoos from last year’s festival.
We’ve certainly created plenty of our own memories in our years attending the festival too, and if we had known 2023 was going to be the final one we certainly would’ve poured one out in its memory.
When the beer festival first started out.How far it’s come since then.Little did we know IMBC 2023 was to be the last. RIP. (Credit: Indy Man Beer Con (via IG/The Manc Eats)
Having made a home at the iconic Grade II-listed Victoria Baths in Chorlton-on-Medlock for four days every year, the Manchester beer festival truly was one of the most highly-anticipated events on the calendar and we’re are genuinely gutted to see it go.
Seeing the reaction from countless other fans online, it’s clear we’re by no means the only ones either.
From one group of fellow beer lovers to another, thanks for the memories and we sincerely hope to see Indy Man Beer Con make a glorious comeback one day.
Featured Images — Indy Man Beer Con/The Manc Group
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.
Danny Jones -
25th March 2024 
