OK, they are never going to compete with 20 Stories for sheer altitude but it’s good to see that city centre roof terraces are in vogue. Certainly this feature is a big selling point for 33 Oldham Street, a huge new multi-level music bar, restaurant, coffee space and club due to open late October in the Northern Quarter. (We’ve no fancy CGI imagery to convey the potential splendour, mind, just abstract tile and wall shots!)
Just don’t expect to take in the air on the third floor at the launch – the rooftop space will follow on in 2019, according to 33’s Andy Smith, co-founder of the award-winning Kendal Calling, Off the Record and Bluedot festivals.
Andy’s partner in 33 Oldham Street is Jason McGuire of Manchester Coffee Company (which currently occupies the site) and caffeine looks to play a central daytime role in the ground floor bar/cafe with cocktails, unsurprisingly kicking in after dark.
The first floor offers ‘The Listening Room’, which is inspired by Japan’s famed omakase joints – intimate jazz cafés and vinyl bars found in Tokyo since the 1950s. During the day this lounge will double up as a workshop space.
Designed by Grammy-award winning record producer Steve Levine, whose credits include, Culture Club, The Beach Boys, and Motörhead, the room is as acoustically perfect as a state of the art recording studio. Its programme will include weekly ‘selector’ sessions showcasing the exploratory side of a DJ’s record collection, album listening parties, artist takeovers, radio broadcasts and ‘in conversation’ Q&As’.
Move up a floor to the ‘Creative Space & Lounge’ with newly restored impressive arch windows overlooking Oldham Street, and there’ll be a members’ club feel without the fee.
Table service across all floors will be available via the use of a downloadable phone app, enabling customers to both order and pay for food and drink service at their tables.
The ‘Rooftop Terrace’ on the third floor will be the largest in the Northern Quarter, and a sun trap all year round (except when it rains).
Andy told us: “33 Oldham Street brings together everything I love about the Northern Quarter and adds some extra touches I’ve fallen for elsewhere. It should be the kind of space you pop in for ten minutes and leave five hours later – we want people to come to here because it’s special all the time, and free to get in.
“The festivals are amazing but take a whole year to plan and then, boom, suddenly they’re over. I’m really excited that this gives a space to curate the whole year through.”
There’s a similar promoter background to the recently launched Yes bar/music venue in Charles Street and yes that sports a roof terrace (below). Good to see such adventurous indies rising as an alternative to the corporate big buck invaders.
