Damson set to turn into chicken Roost

THE owners of Damson in Heaton Moor are to reopen the site as rotisserie chicken restaurant, pizzeria and craft beer bar Roost.

The neighbourhood fine dining spot closed after a final service on Monday with owners Steve Pilling and Simon Stanley hailing it ‘the end of an era’.

Now they have revealed their new plans for the Heaton Moor Road building, with an A-board outside revealing the name and a glimpse at the menu.

Speaking to the M.E.N., Steve said: “We’ve bought a rotisserie from Paris, very similar to the one I used to work on at the Midland Hotel in the late 70s to 80s, and we’re going to be doing rotisserie Goosnargh corn-fed chicken with lots of nice sides like slaws and sweet potatoes.”

Woodfired pizzas - a mainstay on the menu at Steve’s Pall Mall cocktail bar Liquorice - will also be served alongside a range of craft beers sourced from far and wide, including a house ale brewed at his First Street microbrewery bar The Gasworks.

Half of the building has already been turned into a Spanish tapas bar, La Cantina, which opened last September and quickly expanded to a second site in Didsbury Village.

Pilling and Stanley also closed their second Damson restaurant at MediaCityUK around the same time.

The rest of the site is about to undergo a revamp ready to open in early April - but it might not be the last diners see of Damson.

“We’re not letting go of it, we’re cryogenically shelving it,” said Steve.