ALL ABOARD FOR FOOD AND DRINK FUN
‘FORGOTTEN’ STATION WILL SOON BE HOME TO THRIVING MARKET AS FOUR-STOREY EVENT HUB PROJECT BEGINS
Developers of a vibrant four-storey events space including a food and drink market, craft beer bar and gig venue inside Manchester’s forgotten railway station, Mayfield Depot, have revealed plans for their exciting new venue.
DEVELOPERS revealed earlier this year plans to create a vibrant four-storey events space including a food and drink market, craft beer bar, and gig venue inside Manchester’s forgotten train station, Mayfield Depot.
London-based developers U+I have now named local street food company Grub – best known for their events at Alphabet Brewery – as directors of the weekly food market, which will start on May 19.
Visitors to the new Grub Food Fair will find four storeys of shipping containers housing street food traders at ground level, and, over time, a community garden will be created next to the River Medlock.
Plans reveal that the covered market will be constructed with an eclectic decor, inspired by DIY dive bars such as the Szimpla Ruin Bar in Budapest, Hungary and slick Scandinavian schemes.
In addition to local street food favourites (Whats Your Beef, Yakumama, Wholesome Junkies, The Ottomen, Holy Crab, Chou Choux Patisserie and many more) Grub will ship in traders in from across the country such as Ital Fresh, Tandoori Naan Hut, Street Cleaver, Press De Cuba and, for the opening Saturday, Sai Buddha Belly (Ex-Masterchef and British Street Food Award winner) will make a special appearance.
Meanwhile, 12 keg beer lines and two cask lines will serve beer strictly from Manchester and the north of England, with Runaway Brewery making house beers unique to the new venue.
Semi-permanent spaces will also be available to local artisan traders to set up shop - although the tenants are yet to be confirmed.
Run by husband-and-wife team Jason and Jules Bailey, Grub started life in 2015 providing a small selection of food traders for the coffee festival Cup North. Now, the pair will be running one of the largest weekly street food events in Manchester, managing one of the biggest selection of craft beers, and providing a roster of live entertainment.
Jason said: “I feel privileged to be providing the anchor to such a historic site in the city.
“We are looking forward to bringing Manchester the very best street and artisan food and breathing new life into an area of the city which has been neglected for far too long.”
“It’s massively exciting, and as much as we’ve loved all our collaborations we’re at the point now where we really want to break away on our own, to be able to look after every bit of the event is fantastically exciting.”
The Grub Food Fair at the Mayfield is free to enter and will take place every Friday and Saturday between noon and 10pm starting on Friday May 19.
The 24-acre site on the Baring Street end of Mayfield will act as a three-year ‘pop up’ to kick off the site’s £850m regeneration.
The Mayfield buildings were last in regular use in 1984 when the Royal Mail operated a parcel depot from the site.
According to developers, the scheme will breathe new life into the area, forming the foundations of a 10-year project to provide 1,300 homes, 850,000 sq ft of office space, a 350-bedroom hotel, retail and leisure facilities on the site.