Manchester's food and drink scene is weathering the storm buffeting the nation's nightlife better than most other places, new figures show.

The number of new restaurants in the city continues to grow against a bleak national backdrop of around 18 closures a week, according to data from Stockport-based food and drink data consultancy CGA.

Across the country, restaurant numbers have fallen by 3.4 per cent in the last 12 months - the equivalent of 18 restaurants closing every week - dipping from growth of 2.5 per cent over the past five years.

Nationally, bar and club numbers have dwindled by 2 per cent in the last 12 months, part of an overall drop of 7.9 per cent compared with five years ago.

Meanwhile in Manchester , the number of restaurants has risen by more than a quarter in the last five years, standing at 232 in June 2019 compared with 183 in the same month of 2014. And while its pace has slowed in the last year, the city's restaurant scene is still growing overall - rising by 1.3 per cent in the last 12 months.

Most other major cities' restaurant scenes have tipped into decline in the last 12 months, except Liverpool and Leeds. The bar and club scene continued to grow in Nottingham, Birmingham, Edinburgh and London - but Manchester was the only city with growth in both the restaurant and bar sectors.

Karl Chessell, business unit director for food and retail at CGA, said the figures still represented a slowdown with a lot of churn underneath it - but Manchester's nightlife was proving more robust than in many other places.

"It's in reasonable shape compared with other towns and cities. It's very much the second city nowadays, in financial terms and in its workforce, and that's helped to sustain a demand," he said.

"It seems to be still an area that people want to invest in, particularly when they want to go outside London. Manchester is very much next on the list - it's a young, vibrant, growing city."

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

Some of the city's recent arrivals reflect this, with major London players including Dishoom, The Ivy and Honest Burgers opening over the last 12 months and Franco Manca and Bistrotheque soon to come.

Jonathan Downey, founder of London street food market business Street Feast, also has plans to open three sites in Manchester over the next 18 months.

"I never thought what I was doing was quite right for Manchester until quite recently," said Jonathan, who was born here and moved to the capital in 1990, where he operates venues and pop-ups including Dinerama in Shoreditch and Winterville on Clapham Common.

"I feel in the last three to five years, Manchester has come into its own. It feels like a proper European city now. Now, there's this extra vibe which makes it a more exciting place, to me, than Munich, Berlin or Barcelona.

"Regardless of what's happening in London and elsewhere, it feels like it's booming."

(Image: The Wharf)

He told the M.E.N he had found an 'astonishing' difference in attitudes towards nightlife in the city compared with the capital, where boroughs including Hackney have begun imposing strict limits on new bar licences.

"In Manchester, there seems to be a much more of a can-do attitude," he said.

"In London, the answer is no, no way. In Manchester it's yes, let's work out how we can get on with it. It's refreshing, it really is. The difference is astonishing."

Swathes of the capital, including parts of Shoreditch, where he operates Dinerama, have been slapped with strict licensing rules known as Cumulative Impact Policies which restrict the number of new bars that can open within their boundaries, and impose rigid curfews on those that do.

They're a tool commonly used by councils to curb crime and anti-social behaviour in areas with a high concentration of nightlife.

Manchester is 'unique' in not having any such zones in the city centre, according to Felicity Tulloch, partner and head of licensing at Manchester law firm Kuits, making it a less restrictive environment for operators.

"Almost every other city and lots of towns have Cumulative Impact Policy areas. Manchester is unique in that it doesn't have that in the city centre," she said.

"Manchester has got an appreciation of the value of the night time economy and the jobs and the money it creates. People travel from far and wide for the nightlife."

(Image: Kuits)

She described the policies as 'a blunt instrument' that tended to 'fossilise' problem areas.

"When you bring one in, it doesn't solve the problem that's already there. It stops new people coming in but it doesn't tackle the causes of the problems that were there," she said.

"It prevents new operators to the market coming in and raising the bar. If they were [allowed to open], that would raise standards and I think would help the situation.

"They have their value and they do serve a purpose but I think they can be a bit of a blunt instrument and it's reactive rather than proactive. It's far better to shape an area in other ways."

She points to Peter Street as an example of how such a policy could have stifled its now-thriving nightlife.

"A few years ago it was pretty rough and then [all the bars] closed down and it went from being a very busy area - though not a very nice one - to being deserted," she said.

"Slowly, Revolucion de Cuba arrived at one end and BrewDog at the other, and of course Albert's Schloss, and all of a sudden it's thriving.

"What could easily have happened is the council could have implemented a CIP but had they done that, it would have been very difficult for those new places to come in. It creates a presumption against the granting of new licences."

CIP areas are in place in other parts of Manchester, including Fallowfield, while a special policy has also been brought in to cover the rapidly developing neighbourhood of Ancoats and New Islington.

It prevents bars from serving later than 11pm in the week and midnight at weekends, extended slightly from 11.30pm after collective pressure from operators in the area.

Jonny Eyre, who runs CityLife Award-winning Ancoats bar The Jane Eyre with his brother Joe, was among those to push for the later opening hours but said the new, slightly more relaxed rules struck the right balance in the residential area.

"From my point of view that's absolutely fine - it suits us," he said.

"Because we've got the Northern Quarter over the road, people know they've got that to go on to. A lot of residents like to be able to go home to bed.

"It's a very mixed clientele. It's not just young people wanting to party hard.

"It's a good thing that it's not any later than 12am, that's my personal view. If it started going to 1am or 2am it would have the danger of turning into another Northern Quarter.

"I don't think that would work for Ancoats. It would ruin the feel and the vibe of it, and ruin it for residents."

The restrictions have not been so warmly welcomed by everyone, however.

Michael Clay, the chef behind Cutting Room Square bar and kitchen Elnecot - which opened before the policy was put in place and is allowed to open until 12am every day - said he understood the council's reasoning but he couldn't understand the harm in allowing a few more hours of trading at the weekends.

"Nobody is asking to open until 5am," he said.

"At the moment we've got lots of nice places, lots of restaurants and bars - but would it hurt to give them a little bit more time at the weekends, maybe until 1am or 2am, police it on a case by case basis rather than a blanket time?

"All it would do is improve the economy of the area."

Another former Ancoats operator said it had been a 'fight' to get hours extended, adding that planning and licensing policies were 'harming the growth of independents in Manchester'.

But the rate of new openings in Ancoats suggests operators haven't been put off by the rules.

In the last year, the neighbourhood has welcomed newcomers including fine dining restaurant Mana, bakery Trove and its sister restaurant Erst, chocolatier and cafe Cocoa Cabana, urban chippy Hip Shop Chip Shop and Portuguese restaurant Canto, joining established names such as Sugo, Rudy's and Seven Bro7hers and Second City.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

The relationship between residential developments and nightlife is not always an easy one: take the Night and Day row that saw the long-standing Northern Quarter bar and music venue threatened with closure after residents complained about noise levels in 2014 .

Night tsar Sacha Lord, appointed last year by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to champion the city's night time economy, is campaigning for an 'agent of change' planning rule to be implemented that he believes could prevent such issues arising in future.

"I think it should be adopted across the whole of Greater Manchester," said the Warehouse Project and Parklife boss, citing the Night and Day case as an example.

(Image: STEVE ALLEN)

"A great operator who's been there for many years and all of a sudden a developer opens up apartments next door and rents out to someone who then makes complaints about the noise. It was touch and go whether they were going to close. [The residents] knew they were moving next to a live music venue.

"Agent of change means it's up to the developer to completely make sure it's soundproofed and make sure the person buying or renting is very much aware there is a restaurant or bar and there may be some noise.

"On the flip side, if the operator decides to put in a new, much louder sound system, then it’s up to the operator to soundproof and make sure it doesn’t affect the resident.

"It's developers and operators working hand in hand. It's complete common sense."

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

Implementing the principle is one of a number of pledges in his official blueprint published this month, which sets out ways to strengthen and support the region's night time economy.

Improving late-night transport, piloting later opening hours at cultural institutions, and promoting smaller towns' nightlife are also on his agenda, as well as establishing services to support businesses and their staff.

Manchester is a city that has 'always understood' the importance of the night time economy and welcomes operators 'with open arms', Sacha believes.

"I'm convinced it stems back to the days of the Hacienda, when the world was looking at what Manchester was doing," he said.

"It brings in so much money. During Parklife alone we bring £10m to the economy in restaurants, taxis and hotels, and the council have always understood that.

"They allow me to put parties on in car parks and derelict warehouses. I laugh about that, but if I went to another city I'd find it very difficult and have to jump through hoops."

(Image: Gary Brown)

He added: "Manchester has always been really supportive of nightlife but I do definitely feel there's been a turnaround. It feels almost like it did 20-odd years ago. People are realising the rates and greedy landlords down in London aren't viable and are now looking elsewhere.

"We all know why high streets are dying. We need to look at something to try to reinvigorate the streets. I'm also delighted at the fact it seems to be the boutique independents that are winning. I think the days of these faceless chains - and it is very sad because there are huge job losses - are finished.

"People want more, they expect more. They expect more quality. They want to know who are the people behind it and feel wanted."

That independent businesses are driving Manchester's nightlife growth is borne out in the data from CGA. The number of independent restaurants has grown by 18.9 per cent over the last five years, slowing to 2.3 per cent in the last 12 months.

Meanwhile the number of new chains has flatlined at 0 per cent in the last year following a 38.9 per cent boom in the last five years - reflecting high profile closures such as Jamie's Italian and Carluccio's.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

"Nationally the last year has seen consolidation in restaurant numbers and numbers are falling," said Karl.

"There were a number of high profile brands that struggled and some that closed their doors such as Jamie’s Italian. However Manchester bucks this trend and is still growing in overall terms. There will still be winners and losers and clearly Manchester is very competitive so it is not necessarily easy for operators.

"We have seen the new managed openings such as Dishoom and Ivy Collection that we referenced last year. However the growth has actually been driven by smaller independent openings adding to the diversity and choice for consumers."

Despite Manchester's relative resilience, there are still challenges ahead, he cautions - not least the spectre of Brexit and the effect it may have on hospitality staff, many of whom come from Europe, and the potential impact on food imports in the event of a no deal scenario.

"A lot of operators are very concerned about what it will do - to the supply chain and also staff availability and consumer confidence," said Karl.

"That said, the hospitality sector has been remarkably robust when you consider what's happening in traditional high street retail. People still seem to value going out and having good experiences which is what hospitality offers. I think it will continue to innovate."

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