TIME to call iconic Manchester spaces by different names. It’s a bit like when they rename football stadia with sponsor’s names and the fans still call them by the original ones. ToM doesn’t think that loyalty will apply to the Palace Hotel, now The Principal (see picture below).
To sugar the pill owners Starwood Holdings threw the glitziest party we can recall (even if we were disappointed we got Mark Ronson when we were expecting Jon). Still if you’ve spent millions revamping the run-down Refuge Assurance building into a smart 21st century hotel with a terrific food offering, the Refuge by Volta we do owe you.
So on to Grand Pacific. That you may recall was the baby sister of Australasia, but they are transferring the title to their major venture of 2017, the transformation of the former Room site at the top of King Street. See the ‘before’ pictures below and let’s look forward to the ‘after”.
Living Ventures snapped up the first floor premises, perhaps the city’s most beautiful dining space, when struggling Room shut at the start of 2015. Their late head Tim Bacon loved the Venetian Gothic space, which began life as the Reform Club in 1871. As Manchester HQ of the Liberal Party, its balcony was a platform for the likes of Gladstone, Churchill and Lloyd George. In more recent times United star Dwight Yorke, a regular, waved to the adoring crowds in King Street below.
By then the space, all oak ceilings and panels, turrets and sculptured ceilings, was occupied by Reform at the end of the Nineties. The most decadent restaurant/bar in the city’s history added vast velvet drapes, chandeliers and grotesque paintings to the mix.
]In his vivid account of those years in his book Crispy Squirrel and Vimto Trifle (£12.99 from MCR Books) chef Robert Owen Brown recalled: “A brigade of chefs that gave me their all, hard working, aggressive, caffeine-fuelled monsters. Each with their own demons, all dancing to the beat of my drum. Waiting staff? Girls in high heels and mini-dresses so tight and short that serving food decently was almost impossible. A client base of footballers, movie stars, gangsters and their entourage.
“A Spice Girl ordering poached fish and steamed vegetables with a jug of aged balsamic to pour over it. She was on a diet. When she ordered two crème brulees she wasn’t. Then there were others who just came to stare. Champagne was delivered and consumed by the pallet load. We sold caviar, a lot of caviar, touching 500g a week.... The amazing, wonderful Reform.”
So a hard act to follow for Grand Pacific! But what a space to play with for LV CEO Jeremy Roberts and his team. Renowned interior designer, Michelle Derbyshire, will oversee the transformation and deliver their shared vision for Grand Pacific, having worked closely with Tim on a number of previous projects including Australasia and Artisan.
Jeremy is keeping his cards close to his chest on what direction the menu will take, but it veers away from the Australasia template.
Grand Pacific at 81 King Street is ecpected to open in April 2017.
