Living Ventures, the Tim Bacon-led pub, bar and restaurant operator, has expanded on the thinking behind and details of its fine-dining venture Manchester House, the Aiden Byrne-led project, which is set to open in mid-July.
The company, which is aiming to raise £750k towards the project through an Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), said the venue that will be situated in Tower 12 in Avenue North, Spinningfields, will be spread across two levels featuring a 15m bar and 76-cover restaurant.
On the top 12th floor will be a lounge bar with a unique 360° view, a floor to ceiling, the 15m bar at one end and an external terrace on each corner. The 76-cover restaurant is on the second floor, with Byrne and his team situated right at the centre of the scheme.
Bacon said: “The reason Manchester hasn’t had a Michelin Star restaurant for so long is simply because Manchester doesn’t get the pomp that comes with traditional fine dining places. We’ve opened lots of places in Manchester and know the market and its people pretty well. So when we first talked about creating something like Manchester House we knew it had to ‘redefine fine dine’, have a bit of edge, a bit of swagger, a bit of do-it-different. The Manchester way of doing things I suppose.
“This place is all about understatement and discretion, somewhere to live it up in a dressed down way. Manchester House will The menu will perfectly encapsulate their ethos, with beautiful ingredients put together in a way you may not normally expect. Manchester House will be at the top end in terms of quality and food innovation, be that from the a la carte menu or the taster menu.”
Manchester House will be open from mid July with bookings being taken from Thursday 28th March.
Talking to M&C Report in January, Bacon said that fundraising had already had an “amazing response”.
The group is offering a 30% shareholding in the business though the EIS.
He said: “I wanted to do something that meant the community had a stake in the success of what we hope will be the city’s first Michelin-starred venture and therefore we are offering 30 investors or ‘member partners’ from the Manchester area an opportunity to each take a 1% stake for £25k. In return, shareholders will receive a yearly yield on their investment and a dividend. They will get access to priority bookings as well as a monthly expense account. We’ve had a lot of interest in it already.”
Bacon said that the group, which hopes to report turnover of £50m for 2013, will open its third pub, and second The Botanist under its New World Pub Company vehicle in Leeds, along with its third Alchemist at the Trinity development.
