BRUNTWOOD are really getting down to business as they seek to establish their ‘West Village’ community, sweeping around from Portland Street through to Oxford Street. ToM’s waiting patiently for the whole jigsaw to come together; certainly the trebling in size of Hatch on Oxford Road seems very positive. Ditto Ditto Coffee at Oxford Place, further along the student corridor.
This coffee shop debuted in Liverpool’s Jamaica Street last year as an evolution of Ditto Music, the world’s largest digital distribution and label service provider. You might just have heard of some of the artists they’ve worked with – Ed Sheeran, Stormzy and Chance The Rapper.
Music and coffee combine sweetly in the cafe/store concept they expect to roll out across the nation. When the Oxford Place Ditto opens in May we’ll see what all the fuss is about.
It is billed as a 'creative hub for independent artists, music and coffee lovers', offering gig space, an in-store 'demo dropbox' and opportunities to display records and merchandise.
Location is handy. Close the Royal Northern College of Music and Access to Music next door, venues such as Gorilla, Deaf Institute and YES are an easy walk away.
Coffee has always played a big part in the music brand’s global conquest. After expansion to Melbourne and falling in love with the coffee scene there, Ditto Music founders, the brothers Matt and Lee Parsons (above, outside their Liverpool place) had their Eureka moment that a coffee shop community was the next big step.
CEO Matt told us: "We believe coffee shops have a unique community spirit, and throughout our journey building Ditto into a global business, we’ve found them to be the perfect place for people to come together, share ideas and make new connections. Manchester as a great music city is a perfect fit.”
Founded in 2005, Ditto describes itself as 'one of the world’s biggest musical distribution services' with offices in 16 countries supporting over 150,000 artists.