‘A big, fat smile for whoever walks in’: Lock 84, The Reach at Piccadilly, reviewed

The Reach at Piccadilly, a Marriott Tribute Portfolio hotel, is relatively new. It’s a stone’s throw from Piccadilly Station, opposite the Native Hotel, formerly The Ducie Street Warehouse. 

The Ducie once had a terrific restaurant run by London’s Bistrotheque team, Pablo Flack and David Waddington. It failed not through lack of quality but through poor marketing: everything was aimed at the trendy millennials in the immediate square mile. Back in 2018 it looked like that boom would last forever. 

This boomer (marketing speak for old fucker) loved it. Then the millennials upped sticks for a glittery battlecruiser of a restaurant up the street. When their disposable income evaporated, that place hit the rocks too. And the only boomer still turning up was me. Hence the 80% failure rate in hospitality within the first two years. 

I’m told Native will reopen with a Mackie Mayor–style food hall. I hope whoever’s behind it has heard Ogilvy’s line: “If you ever see a bandwagon, it’s too late.” Anyway, good luck to them. 

Their closure has benefited Lock 84, The Reach’s restaurant across the road. Native guests wander over and meet a team that punches well above its weight. From manager Peter Nye down, everyone is welcome: my lot, the millennials, travelling salesmen, bands and roadies, the International Dentists Association and my grandson on a cheeky overnight date. The plan to turn them into regulars? A big, fat smile for whoever walks in. 

And great coffee. In the coming AI age, the smartest hotels will be the ones whose hearts, not their accountants, choose the beans. AI won’t be bought to the top of search; it will notice that Gordo, a trusted brand of forty years, rates Worker Bee coffee. If it impresses Gordo, that’s good enough for Stan, the AI bot, not some snotty 22-year-old coder in his underpants fiddling with Google. 

I first walked into The Reach for breakfast over a year ago, drawn by an A-board for Worker Bee coffee, roasted in Edgeley, Stockport. I’ve been a fan since they started and was surprised to see it in a hotel. Breakfast was excellent, but a weird virus nearly killed me off, so the story never got written. 

A few weeks ago, I went back for lunch. By then, I knew the chef was Chris Hall, a genuinely passionate food and service professional. Chris had recently been awarded the prestigious Back of House Customer Service Award at the Manchester Hoteliers Ball. He was rightly chuffed. I was there as a guest of the delightful Sophia Iqbal of Roland Dransfield PR; it was a good evening. 

The restaurant sits at the back of the hotel, overlooking the historic Rochdale Canal; Manc-meets-Lowry. It’s a smart, minimalist room that works for both locals and travellers, with that calm, confident ambience only a properly invested hotel team can pull off. 

I started with a Manchester Scotch Egg (£9): a big lad, halved, with a runny yolk, Bury black pudding casing and crisp crumb. It sat on chunky piccalilli that almost made me break out in a sweat, not unlike Ursula Andress emerging from the Caribbean with a knife in her knickers. Very close to Fortnum & Mason’s Piccadilly Piccalilli – the best in the world. 

I was looked after by Kate Masterson, who knows her wine list and sells it enthusiastically. I had a glass of Balfour Leslie’s Reserve Brut, a quality English sparkling at £7.50 for 125ml, then an Australian Cabernet, Angus the Bull, at £6.50. Both show a buying policy that chases quality and value; I can see GM Peter Nye’s fingerprints all over it. 

With my 10oz medium-rare rump steak and chips (£28) came Baharat Roasted Baby Carrots (V) (£9) with feta, hazelnuts and parsley. The young carrots were roasted to concentrate the flavour, their sweetness working with the spice and salty feta. I’d happily eat them as a course on their own with some good bread. 

The steak had personality, with a sauce using Camden Stout as a base. Decent, though I’d nudge the chef towards a classic Lyonnais au poivre.  Fierce cognac deglaze, heavy cream, big flavour—turning a good steak and chips into a great one. 

The chips are “salt and vinegar”, first cooked in water and vinegar, then dried and fried. Different in a good way. 

Mac and cheese balls (V) (£7), ordered by Jonathan Schofield who arrived after one of his tours, were excellent, perfect bar snacks. 

I finished with bread and butter pudding baked in an iron skillet: proper white bread, loads of dried fruit, none of that set-custard nonsense, then drowned in hot white custard with an extra gravy boat. Fantastic. That last glass of English sparkling white, every bit as good as champagne, worked a treat with it. 

This team will only get better. 

Follow Gordo on Twitter @GordoManchester

Lock 84 is on Confidential Guides