NEW BAR FOR NEW CROSS...
ALBERT’S SCHLOSS FOUNDERS PLAN OPENING
THE co-founders of Albert’s Schloss are planning to open a new venue in Manchester’s New Cross neighbourhood. A licence application has been submitted for Swan Street Firehouse, a new cafe, bar, restaurant and event space.
It will be based inside an old MOT station on land being redeveloped by Capital & Centric and the Kamani Property Group, on the fringes of the Northern Quarter.
The team behind the venture includes Adelaide Winter and Joel Wilkinson, who launched Thomas Street bar Trof in 2006 - an offshoot of their earlier Fallowfield cafe - along with long-time business partner Daniel Mullen.
They also opened The Deaf Institute, Gorilla and Albert Hall before joining forces with Revolution bar founders Neil McLeod and Roy Ellis to form hospitality group Mission Mars.
Together they opened Peter Street party palace Albert’s Schloss in 2015.
Joel, Adelaide and Daniel have since left Mission Mars, and Gorilla and the Deaf Institute were recently sold to bar and club operator Tokyo Industries.
Adelaide, creative director of the new venture, said: “We have been searching for the perfect site for ages and we couldn’t believe what a find the Capital & Centric site is.
“It has so much potential and we are really excited to be opening a brand new venue in the Swan Street neighbourhood.
“The flexible business model we are working with Capital & Centric on has meant that we can progress together, despite these uncertain times, creating jobs and opportunities in the city centre.
“We are still at the planning stages and more will be revealed soon.”
The all-day venue will be situated close to the Mackie Mayor food hall and legendary gig venue Band on the Wall.
Its proposed opening hours would be from 9am to midnight, according to the licence application.
The MOT garage was used as a storage depot and drop-off point for donations to help the city’s homeless community during the early stages of the coronavirus crisis.
Its transformation into Swan Street Firehouse will form part of the wider 40 Swan Street development being planned by Capital & Centric and Kamani Property Group, which will include around 150 to 200 new homes.
Capital & Centric co-founder Tim Heatley, who starred in recent BBC series Manctopia, said: “The urgency [behind the donations drive] has now passed and we can go back to our original plan which is let’s do something interesting in the meantime, as we’ve done elsewhere with places like the Track taproom and Chapel Picture House cinema at Crusader Mill.
“Joel and Adelaide are well known for creating great places elsewhere and we were thinking what can we team up on, what can we do together?
“Their track record is phenomenal and they’re always going all over the world checking out new places and new things, pushing Manchester forwards and pushing boundaries - and they’re sufficiently bonkers to try out new stuff.
“I’m dead excited to see the plans taking shape. The point is to bring people in to that side of Swan Street. The Mackie Mayor side is busy already but we want people to cross the road as well.”