Owner Nico Pasquali plans to open at Exchange Quay in the next few weeks
Good news: award-winning Italian coffeeshop Lupo has a new home. Bad news (for us and probably you): it's two miles out of the city centre.
Having weathered a turbulent summer, with business knocked by nearby rail works, Lupo's owner Nico Pasquali was looking forward to a more settled autumn and winter on Chapel Street.
That is, until last month when his landlord served him notice.
Since then, Pasquali - who opened the coffeehouse on a shoestring in 2015 and went on to win 'Best Coffee Bar' in the city - has been on the hunt for new premises.
Now, following a mini social media campaign and a few subsequent offers, Lupo has found a new home at The Boat Shed - a previously unremarkable nineties office block in Salford Quays recently renovated by Urban Splash.
Pasquali and partner Georgie Wood are currently busy stripping the old shop out, but expect to open at the new site on Exchange Quay in the next two to three weeks.
"We're sad to leave Chapel Street, but really happy to have a new home and to meet new customers," Pasquali told us over the phone.
"The new site is a little bigger, maybe 20-25 covers, meaning we can do more, such as coffee classes, wine tastings and traditional Roman supper clubs... we're even thinking of hosting some Italian language lessons."
"But the focus will always be on really good coffee and the same great Italian dishes, such as lasagne, parmigiana and our famous tiramisu."
Due to the location's mostly daytime midweek crowd, Pasquali says they'll open from 8am to 5pm Mondays to Fridays, leaving Saturdays free to experiment with those supper clubs and Sundays to do what Italians do on Sundays... eat and passeggiata.
And what of a return to the city centre?
"There's been offers," says Pasquali, "perhaps next year..."
You can keep an eye on their progress via Twitter.
