There’s a tea room in Bolton serving up a hearty fish and chips afternoon tea, and it sounds absolutely incredible.
Curley’s Dining Rooms, located in the rural town of Horwich just outside of Bolton, sits down a quiet country lane and offers stunning views across Rivington Reservoir.
With a charming suntrap outdoor terrace and its own ice cream parlour, Frederick’s, even without the hefty afternoon tea offering there’s a lot to draw you in here.
The menu includes an all-day breakfast served until 4pm, but it’s the handsome afternoon tea offering with its generous portion of fish and chunky chips that’s really got the town talking.
The fish and chips afternoon tea at Curley’s includes mini fish goujons and proper chunky chips. / Image: Curley’s
Curley’s also serves a classic portion of fish and chips for the same price. / Image: Curley’s
The restaurant is already famous for its epic portions of fish and chips, which feature jumbo cod, hand-cut chips and tartare with mushy peas, but since launching the afternoon tea it has become just as popular.
Priced at just £19.95 per person, for that diners can dig into a platter loaded with a basket of freshly-fried mini fish goujons and chips, crustless finger sandwiches, huge slabs of quiche, macarons and more.
Sandwich fillings can be chosen in advance from a choice of ham, cheese, tuna mayonnaise, turkey, beef and egg mayo, with three fillings available per afternoon tea.
Also included in the price is a small cup of homemade soup each, a pot of tea, ramekins of coleslaw, tartare and salad, plus traditional fruit scones with clotted cream and jam and a selection of mini patisseries.
Coffee is available to enjoy instead of tea, and for those who fancy a few bubbles there is also the option to upgrade to prosecco.
If you fancy booking into Curley’s to try the fish and chips afternoon tea, make sure to book in advance. The afternoon tea must be reserved with at least 24 hours in notice, and diners are required to pay a £10 deposit per person that will then be deducated from their bill.
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 -
15th May 2023 
