Anyone who lives in or near Stretford will probably know all about the Mall. A concrete travesty, it’s exterior is by no means the worst bit.
Step inside and you’ll feel like you’ve been transported back to the dark days of 1981 with bad clobber, amusement arcades with teapots in the window and worst of all – tonnes of empty units.
The revitalisation of the Mall and its surroundings is well under way though and got off to a fantastic start this weekend with the opening of a brand-spanking new FoodHall from the team behind the hugely popular Ancoats General Store.
The FoodHall promises to provide all of the following …
Convenient Store . Coffee . Craft Beer . Streetfood . Events . Plants
So the convenience store bit is exactly what you’d expect from the kind of pedigree that Ancoats General Store provides. There’s an extensive range of groceries, fresh fruit and veg, freshly baked bread, toffees, beers, ciders and wines – plus anything else you can think of.
A large focus on the produce is based around sustainability, and one section where this comes to the forefront is the self-dispenser area – where you can get your larder staples from pick ‘n’ mix style dispensers, weigh them and feel good about yourself as you walk home with it all in brown paper bags.
As a man who struggles to get out of bed without drinking a tin of Strongbow, I must say that the booze selection is mightily impressive, with a range of local beers, ales and ciders from a plethora of local breweries including Beatnikz, Cloudwater, ShinDigger and Seven Brothers plus some proper random little beauties.
People of a particular persuasion will also be happy to hear that they sell big bottles of Buckfast – perfect for the weekend, or a difficult Tuesday morning.
Just like Ancoats General Store there’s also much, much more going on. There’s the coffee shop, complete with cakes, pastries and freshly baked bread, a proper bar with 7 pumps and loads of liquor, street food collaborations, plants for sale and even plans for events throughout the week.
In terms of street food, at the moment the FoodHall plays host to Basilico Pizza, who aim to offer eco-conscious authentic Italian pies, as well as Manzoku Street Food serving up Asian inspired ramen, bao buns, katsu curry and more.
There’s due to be more traders turning up in the near future with the aim to have an almost constant rotation of food offerings each week.
It’s still early days but when I popped in this Saturday to pick up a tin of cider and a KitKat on my way to Maccies it was heaving. There’s clearly a market for it in Stretford and things can only get bigger and better. I will certainly be in there again.
For all the information on what’s going on at the Stretford FoodHall, keep an eye on their Instagram
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Stretford FoodHall
Open: Mon – Sat, 7am – 11pm (Sun 8am – 11pm)
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