Former Emmerdale star Adam Thomas has shocked residents by announcing the sudden closure of his popular Gatley restaurant The Spinn.
This week, locals noticed that the restaurant and bar has been boarded up on Gatley Road and that its external signage had been removed, leading to some discussion as to whether this was a refurbishment situation or yet another closure.
Sadly, the TV star has now confirmed the worst, leaving local fans of The Spinn heartbroken.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, he said that he had ‘learnt so much’ and felt that now was the ‘right time to move on’.
Image: The Spinn
Image: The Spinn
However, this is not the end of his ventures into hospitality as the I’m A Celebrity and Waterloo Road star has also recently opened a second site on Stockport’s Underbanks, appropriately called The Spinn Off bar.
He’s also behind the popular Oh My Glaze burger sauce company, which hosted a hit pop-up at the Trafford Centre at the end of last year.
As a result, staff at the now-closed The Spinn site on Gatley Road will all be able to stay working with the company, says Thomas, who added: “Thanks again to everyone who has supported us along the way and continues to support us and to all our staff who we will continue to take on this journey with us.”
Speaking on the closure of The Spinn site, he told the MEN: “Unfortunately we have decided to close The Spinn.
“We did what we had to do with The Spinn and we learnt so much building our first venture and more importantly we had an absolute blast…
“But after 3 years we felt the time was right for us to move on. We are now focusing on the next chapter of The Spinn … The Spinn off and Oh My Glaze.
“With the success The Spinn Off is having and Oh My Glaze, we wanted to concentrate on building and expanding them and in order for us to do so we had to close The Spinn.”
Feature image – The Spinn
Food & Drink
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 -
14th September 2022 
