GLASS blowing and bell making will be the name of the game at NOMA’s newly proposed pub, The Pilcrow.
We want those who will be drinking at The Pilcrow to be able to say ‘we built this, this is our pub’
Plans submitted today to Manchester City Council by The Co-operative Group and Hermes Investment Management indicate that the new pub will be built by volunteers using dying construction skills. Professional craftspeople will take the lead whilst training an army of volunteers in a series of free-to-attend workshops, ranging from beekeeping to dry-stone walling.
As a temporary structure, The Pilcrow will be moved around the NOMA neighbourhood as the scheme develops. Its first spot will be the as yet-unnamed square, close to Manchester Victoria Station.
Local labour and traditional construction techniques will be used to create everything from the pint glasses to the last orders bell. The modern craft beers that fill the glasses will be from local producers, as will the food.
Drafting up the PilcrowDescribed as a ‘contemporary space’, the pub will feature a public studio, learning and workshop space.
The Pilcrow is the brainchild of Ben Young at Capital Properties: “Skills that were once common place have become endangered. Craft dies when we find a faster, cheaper way of doing business. Faster and cheaper are both fine, but we are interested in better. The build won’t be quick and it won’t be easy, but we are looking to preserve quality. We want those who will be drinking at The Pilcrow to be able to say ‘we built this, this is our pub’.”
Subject to planning approval, construction is expected to begin in January 2016 with a prospective opening in autumn 2016.
Volunteers can sign up from October and will be able to do so here.
Follow @ThePilcrowPub
