The Foundry ‘creative neighbourhood’ will feature beer hall, night market, bakery and food hall
We hate to say we told you so, but we told you so. Pig puns, smelting, large warehouse environs. The rumours were all true. Shout out to a certain chap who confidently decried it all fake news in our DMs (winky face).
The team behind Ramona and The Firehouse are indeed planning something large, much larger than we even anticipated, and it’s coming in the form of The Foundry, a 200,000 sq ft former factory site on Store Street. The "creative neighbourhood", split into two parts, Diecast and Diecast studios, will comprise a beer hall, night market, bakery and food hall as well creative studios, tech hub and gym.
It comes with the territory, but expect tall ceilings, corrugated metal, preserved industrial features and very little carpet
The new site, which will be located between Ducie St Warehouse and Store Street will take up a former die-cast foundry as part of the development, hence the names, and will be transformed into a multi-use set of venues making the most of the historic architecture. A consultation is currently open for the development until 28 February.
A taste of what’s in store
It’s another bold move from the Ramona and The Firehouse team. The aforementioned creative team, known for their innovative hospitality projects across the city are set for their biggest challenge yet, with development taking on the aforementioned die-cast foundry, which dates back to 1870 as well as an adjoining larger, more modern warehouse from 1983.
It comes with the territory, but expect tall ceilings, corrugated metal, preserved industrial features and very little carpet.
The site will be a landmark development for the Piccadilly East area. The former Presbar Dicastings factory, one of the biggest of its kind in Manchester, will comprise a large beer hall and brewery, a night market for independent retailers, a bakery, offices and what they hope will be “expansive green gardens” in the city centre.
Said gardens will line the canal and feature long tables as well as herb gardens and bee hives. All of which sounds delightful.
Show me the bacon
Although exact details of the food and booze offering remain under wraps, Diecast has revealed the space will house an artisan bakery, deli, coffee shop and taproom, as well as the barbecue open kitchen which we teased last month.
Billed as “simple, rustic street food cooked on the wood grill” by them, we have a sneaking suspicion it’s going to be a big old pork roast showdown, done stylishly, inspired by the smelting infrastructure that used to grace the respective site.
According to the consultation, the beerhall side of the project will open on Thursday and Friday evenings, and on Saturday and Sundays from noon until no later than 1am. The offering will include craft and heritage beers as well as small-batch local spirits.
The consultation also mentions that the project will work closely with local arts organisations to support musicians, performers and those involved in production in the arts - 3% of the site's turnover will be donated to charity.
The project will be headed up by A Very Inc, made up of directors Joel Wilkinson, Adelaide Winter and Dan Mullen, founders of Mission Mars and creative minds behind the likes of Albert’s Schloss, Deaf Insititute, Ramona and The Firehouse.
Diecast will add another exciting spin to a quickly evolving part of Manchester surrounding Piccadilly, be it east or west.
A stone’s throw away from Ancoats Marina, fifteen minutes from Escape to Freight Island and the Mayfield Park developments and a similarly brisk or boozy walk (depending on direction) from the Manchester beer square mile, comprising the likes of Track, Cloudwater Manchester Union Lager and Alphabet.
Kampus is ten minutes away too. It’s all coming up Piccadilly.
The Foundry, Store St, Manchester M1 2WD
Follow Davey on Twitter and Instagram: @dbretteats
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