Beloved Manchester breakfast, butty and late-night boozing spot Bowlers Cafe has quietly closed and is set to be turned into a tapas and pintxos bar next month.
News of the cult favourite closing went under the radar but posters in the window of the now former Bowlers site went up over the weekend, confirming that the popular city centre lunch spot is set to receive a Spanish makeover.
Although the exact September opening date is still unconfirmed, the new small plates and snack bar located just off Albert Sqaure will be called El Kabron and is set to be operated by well-established local restaurant, La Bandera.
Now open for a decade, La Bandera is categorically one of the go-to Latin establishments in Manchester, picking up countless awards including the best Spanish restaurant in the city and being voted among the top three best tapas places in the UK by The Times.
The posters for a new Manchester city centre tapas bar are up. (Credit: The Manc Group)
While the same Spanish-Canarian influences will no doubt be in the mix, you can most likely expect El Kabron to be a more pared-back concept than its parent brand.
Said to be “inspired by the northern Spanish taverns”, the poster only gives away that there’ll be tapas, pintxos – pronounced ‘pinchos’ in case you were wondering – bocadillo-style sandwiches and lots of lovely cured meats. Give us all the Jamón (ham), por favor y gracias.
Naturally, as a tapas bar, there’ll also be lots of imported beer, sangria, wine cocktails and other boozy options when they soft launch to the public very soon.
As Bowlers was also known for regularly staying up in the evenings to host live music and entertainment, it no doubt comes as welcome news that the replacement will carry on the late-night culture.
From this……to something more like this.Credit: Bowlers Cafe (via Facebook)/La Bandera (via Instagram)
It remains to be seen whether the new opening will carry on any kind of breakfast service like their predecessors but we can smell a lovely Spanish lunch deal coming winging its way to us very soon.
In the meantime, La Bandera themselves have extended their current 50% off until mid-September, meaning you can make the most of their discounted food and get a better idea of what might be to come from El Kabron.
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 -
27th August 2024 
