FOR workaholic Gino D’Acampo What’s Next? is almost a way of life, but it’s a giant leap opening his first My Pizza & Prosecco Bar in the flagship store of the fashion chain of that name.
That’s the reason ToM braved the mayhem of Black Friday in the Arndale to attend the launch. Great bit of marketing as an opening date and the look of the 200-cover bar/restaurant on the first floor of the expensively refurbed Next lives up to the hype.
OK, the green leather, marble and general shininess, inspired by his favourite Italian yacht builder Riva, are par for the posh Italian course – think San Carlo and Gran Caffe Grande Piccolino – yet they haven’t got this view.
The sheer glass facade takes in Cathedral Gardens and some of the city’s most iconic rooftops as well as down below across the tram tracks Gino d’Acampo: My Restaurant in the Corn Exchange. This original collaboration with Steven Walker of Manchester-based Individual Restaurants has spawned a chain, almost shrinelike in its devotion to telly pin-up Gino (below).
Here there are the same promotions of his commercial interests (you could fill a kitchen shelf with his spin-off cookbook oeuvre), but there are fewer pictures of the man and a genuine air of sophistication, blighted only by muzak seeping in from the store – ‘Santa Claus Got Stuck In My Chimney’ being particularly memorable.
The fit-out centres on a 23-metre island prosecco bar and there’s also a cold counter including an ice cream bar (build your own sundae, kids), but the pride and joy for Naples-born Gino is obviously the open kitchen featuring two handmade, copper, wood-fired pizza ovens.
The Prosecco Bar features over 30 proseccos, superior franciacorta and wines, all available by the glass plus iconic Italian cocktails, artisan bottled beers and real Neapolitan coffee.
Gino told us: “I’m super excited to be opening My Pizza and Prosecco Bar in Manchester and with my new partnership with Next. What more can someone want than great pizza, great prosecco and a bit of retail therapy?”
Inevitably, this will roll out across the nation’s Nexts, latest chapter in the remarkable success story of Gino D’Acampo, whose TV series Gino’s Italian Escape won best food show at this year’s TV choice awards. His new primetime show, Gino’s Italian Coastal Escape, is attracting four million viewers.
Gino D’Acampo: My Pizza & Prosecco Bar, Next, Arndale Centre, 100 Corporation Street, Manchester, M4 3AJ. 0161 839 1919. Access from first floor of the store and a dedicated entrance on Corporation Street. Open 10am-11pm, seven days a week.
