16 months, 76 events, four power cuts, three iconic Victorian locations, two Scotch Bonnet incidents, one DJ Jazzy Jeff and over 75,000 punters later, Friday Food Fights have called it a day.
The other two we're turning into two bars: The Crooked Claw and Beer'd; alongside a Caribbean jerk shack, Rock Lobster.
"Food Fight has run its course for us," says B.Eat Street organiser Chris Legh, "We're proud of what we've created but it's time to let it go."
Before B.Eat Street hit Manchester street food in the city was mainly three to four beardy fellas pissing about with hotdogs in a soggy car park.
Then in March 2014 Friday Food Fight stormed the sleepy Campfied Market Hall in Castlefield, bringing strobe lights, massive extractors, proper DJs, a fully loaded bar and big name chefs to trade side-by-side with Big Barry and his burgers.
Manchester swallowed it whole. Queues wound down Deansgate to Rochdale as Castlefieldians bolted their doors and locked away their young. Food Fights proved too raucous for Campfield, so B.Eat Street made off to a faraway old Ancoats aviation factory to keep things rolling with their outdoor summer food party series, Up In Your Grill, then to Great Northern warehouse to continue Food Fights through winter and into 2015.
But ten months in one location has made the boys itch, and now they're preparing to launch their next big project - titled simply 'B.Eat Street'.
"We're moving, but we're not moving far,"says B.Eat Street co-founder and Imbibe Magazine's 'Bar Personality of the Year 2015', Lyndon 'Liar's Club' Higginson. "We've taking over five of the empty terraced units outside Great Northern." (pictured)
"Three of the five units we're splitting into six 'micro diners'" he continues, "the other two we're turning into two bars: The Crooked Claw and Beer'd; alongside a Caribbean jerk shack, Rock Lobster."
"Outside we're going to give Manchester a crazy mashed-up food and drink street with themes, props, graffiti artists, heated undercover spaces and a large mezzanine deck - it's an outdoor indoor party," says Higginson.
B.Eat Street will take over Great Northern's idle concourseFor the next three years, from Wednesday to Sunday (midday to midnight), B.Eat Street will absorb half of Great Northern's uptapped outdoor alleyway running parallel with Deansgate, with plans in the future to run B.Eat Street from the cinema entrance all the way down to the Hilton.
Taking over one full unit, Rock Lobster, they say, will 'become Manchester's own Caribbean shanty town."
"Myself and Lyndon have spent so much time touring the Caribbean courtesy of rum companies," says James 'Bart' Murphy, former manager of Hula Tiki Bar and the latest member of B.Eat Street. "We couldn't help pinch a few ideas."
"There's this famous jerk place in Kingston called Scotchie's," chips in Higginson, "now I wouldn't like to say we stole his recipes... but yeah we stole his recipes."
Meanwhile, Beer'd, they say, will be a 'homage to the British craft beer movement', stocking only British beers; while upstairs The Crooked Claw will be B.Eat Street's 'rowdy late-night drinking den'.
The alleyway will transform into a 'crazy mashed-up food and drink streetAs for the six micro-diners, B.Eat Street are inviting street food veterans, first timers and 'restaurant chefs tired of working for The Man' to come forward and apply for a three month rolling residency.
"We want to be an incubator for these guys," says Legh, "There's no reason why, if people love them, they can't stay on for longer than three months - but they need to come and sell themselves to us; what makes them so special?" (apply here)
"I imagine people will draw comparisons with what's going on at Spinningfields Kitchens," Legh continues, "We actually think it's great down there, but then, there was already street food before Friday Food Fights showed up... and look what happened there."
Friday Food Fights will throw their closing parties in Great Northern on Friday 31 July and Saturday 1 August (5.30pm to 11pm) - get your name down here.
B.Eat Street will trial applicants throughout August and hope to launch by October.
