One of Manchester’s oldest and most iconic pubs has been listed for sale at a cool £1.4 million, leaving some wondering whether developers might swoop in and take one of our favourite city centre boozers away.
However, operators have confirmed they are not going anywhere – and even hinted at plans for a second site opening later this year.
The Grade II-listed Crown and Kettle pub in Ancoats has been a boozer since the early 19th century, but the building itself dates back to 1734 – having operated as a courthouse prior.
Famous for its historic ceiling, It was fully refurbished in 2020 after it cut its old brewery ties and came under the management of Alex Daw, also behind Sheffield arts venue Sidney & Matilda.
His company, Crown & Kettle Ltd, has occupied the building for about three years and has a long-term lease on the site with 20 years remaining.
A spokesperson for the business confirmed to The Manc that the sale would not affect the pub, which continues to do a roaring trade from its Ancoats perch.
In fact, they revealed that the team has spent the past year and a half working behind the scenes to expand The Crown and Kettle – and will soon be submitting planning permission to extend the pub’s customer seating after purchasing the building next door.
Image: The Crown and Kettle
Image: The Crown and Kettle
Edwards & Co Surveyors is marketing the sale of the business for the building’s owner, but the pub itself will continue to trade as normal.
Speaking to The Manc, a spokesperson for the pub revealed that operators were in the advanced phases of planning guest accommodation upstairs after purchasing the site next door.
They also revealed that Crown & Kettle Ltd has taken on a 20-year lease of a second historical pub site in Manchester city centre.
A Crown & Kettle spokesman said: “We have bought outright the building that’s immediately next door, and we’re going to expand the pub so the customer area will be larger.”
They added that the process had taken a year and a half due to the listed status of the building, but they were now ‘just about ready’ to put in planning permission and, all being well, start renovations.
If successful, the application would see the pub add two floors of guest rooms upstairs in order to future proof the business.
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 -
19th July 2023 
