Pull Up at Swan Street
IT’S a grey, icy cold January afternoon. The buzz of the Northern Quarter’s bars and pubs is behind me, replaced by the buzz of a hundred car engines crawling down Great Ancoats Street.
Down on Swan Street, the short stretch between Oldham Road and Rochdale Road (two concrete arteries that feed into the city centre), things seem quiet – there are a few office workers plugging away at laptops inside the Swan Square building, but otherwise shutters are mostly down.
But here, on the very fringes of Manchester’s city centre, the food and drink scene is beginning to really stir.
It’s not just Mackie Mayor, the monolith at the western end of the street, brought back to life by the same team behind Altrincham Market, that’s drawing crowds here (although as we’ll see, it certainly helps).
Nor do people come here and head straight to a gig at Band On The Wall, as might have previously been the case.
Joining the street in recent months and years are ShinDigger, Ciaooo Pizzeria and Pull Up, plus several old faithfuls sensitively picked up and tweaked by new blood, such as the Smithfield Market Tavern and The Burton Arms. Then there’s the old faithful, faultlessly eclectic Bar Fringe serving Belgian beers.
Standing proudly on the corner of Swan Street and Oak Street is Band on the Wall, the live music venue that’s been a part of Manchester’s cultural blueprint for the best part of a century.
Although an old-timer in the area it’s never standing still, with plans in place to sensitively restore and expand into the derelict Cocozza building behind.
It’s such an institution that it earns a Best Live Venue nomination year-onyear at the CityLife Awards.
Its immediate neighbour is The Burton Arms, an often-overlooked pub showing live Sky Sports. It’s been here for as long as most can remember.
But change may well be afoot, with new landlords stepping in in the last couple of weeks. Co-owners Chris Slater and Leigh Hanford have been running pubs with a music focus down in London and are the same team behind live music venue Night People on Princess Street.
“The pub’s in good condition and it’s got a crowd of regulars,” Leigh says. “We just want to change the aesthetic a bit and put our own stamp on it.
“We’ve got a stage for some live music. There’s no kitchen so we’ll only be able to do a basic food offering but we’ve got a huge beer garden, which a lot of people don’t know about, and we want to get street food events happening out there.”
The Smithfield Market Tavern has been operating as a pub for decades, but has only been under the Blackjack Brewery umbrella for four years, this year earning a CityLife Award nomination for best pub.
James Darcey of Blackjack says: “It was definitely underdeveloped. We used to walk past this pub on our way to the brewery and we were worried it was going to be turned into flats for a while – but thankfully not, and we’ve got a sister bar in there now.”
The most recent opening is Pull Up, a late-night, laid-back Jamaican joint serving up powerfully spicy and authentic food.
Ez Saunders, who was previously coowner of The Drop in both Chorlton and Altrincham, has gone solo for his first city centre venture.
Inside, the space has been transformed with floor-to-ceiling murals, mismatched furniture, plants, and a textured sea grass ceiling.
Manchester-born Ez said: “I’ve been living in the area for almost 10 years so I could see how it was changing. The price we got the lease for and size of the site, I just thought ‘This is a bargain.’
Paul Delamere of ShinDigger Brewing Co. secured a warehouse space on Cross Keys Street, just off Swan Street, with business partner George Grant in 2016.
“We do feel like the ring road creates a bit of a barrier. Having said that, you look at Ancoats and that’s managed to make the leap. I just don’t know if this side would have the same vibe now that there are big hotels going up.”
The regeneration of Swan Street and the arrival of Mackie Mayor, along with Band on the Wall’s expansion and flurry of new business, has expanded the Northern Quarter.
Swan Street is becoming its own destination.
Whether this cultural growth will manage to push beyond this trafficheavy part of town remains to be seen.
We’ve got a huge beer garden which a lot of people don’t know about Leigh Hanford, co-owner of The Burton Arms