Yahoo News Empty Ancoats bar to become pizza parlour 'with dishes you can only get' there
An Ancoats sports bar which has been left empty for a year has re-opened as a Euros pop-up bar — but it will become a restaurant later in the summer.
Second City, on Cutting Room Square, closed down last April — despite fans loving it for being ‘great for the football’. The unit has been unoccupied since then, but many fixtures and fittings remain.
That’s led Brewski, the company behind deep-dish pizza restaurant American Pies, to re-open the space as a ‘Euros pop-up’. Fans will be able to catch the best of the action from Germany via its huge screens, and enjoy a selection of beers on-tap.
But that isn’t the end of Brewski’s involvement with the unit. After the football finishes, it will undergo a major refurbishment and be transformed into an American Pies restaurant from mid-August onwards.
“We are very lucky to have built up a huge following in the last couple of years thanks to a great team who consistently put out a great product,” said owner James Daly. “We strive to come up with dishes you can only get at Pies such as potato dauphinois garlic bread, beef wellington garlic bread burritos, and deep fried duck lasagne, but our bread and butter is always our Chicago style deep dish pizza pies.
“We are going to have over double the capacity at the new site which should make it slightly easier for people to get a table. We will also have outdoor seating and draught beer at last!”
A new licensing application submitted to Manchester council added: “This premises will be a 90 cover restaurant with a small bar area for our customers to wait prior to dining with us. We believe the premises benefits from a designated outdoor area in Cutting Room Square.”
The new American Pies will replace its existing branch on Mosley Street in the city centre, but that will stay open 'right up until' the Cutting Room Square site opens. Parent company Brewski started out in Chorlton, and now also has satellite branches in Chester and Sheffield.
News of American Pies’ arrival will be a welcome boost for Ancoats, which has seen Trove bakery, Nam restaurant, and Rigatoni’s pasta bar close since the start of 2024. Earlier this month, the MEN spoke to several managers in the area who suggested Ancoats was not immune from the challenges facing the whole hospitality industry.
“I think it’s the general economic situation,” said Chris Griffith, the co-owner of Cafe Cotton, inside the Halle. However, Mr Griffith accepted there are some unique challenges with being a business here. He went on: “Ancoats is a destination. There’s the Northern Quarter where you can walk through. Here you are stuck out on your own. We definitely have to make it a destination to go there.”
