Mary-Ellen McTague, former head chef proprietor of Aumbry and sous chef at the Fat Duck, is fronting a campaign to bring a stunning Chorlton building back to life.
Together with her business partners Sophie Yeoman and Soo Wilkinson, the trio will take on the Edwardian former creamery on Wilbraham Road - which was previously just used as storage for the neighbouring garden centre - and transform it into a bakery, bar, and kitchen.
The building will keep its original name The Creameries, and will host regular bread-making workshops, supper clubs, life drawing, and a children's art and baking club.
Once open, customers will find pastries, breakfasts and coffee from 8am, and a selection of local beers and natural wines untill 11pm. Sunday will also see a sharing menu made with a selection of sustainable and local produce.
Speaking about the new venture, McTague said: "This a very exciting project for me - I'll be working with some wonderful, local suppliers who will provide us with produce at the peak of freshness, and completely in tune with the seasons.
"It's a sustainable, ethical and ultimately very rewarding way to cook for people. The focus will be on a small, well-considered menu that will work alongside the staples of bread and cheese, beer and wine that we have on offer. I cannot wait."
“We have considered every aspect here,” adds Wilkinson, designer of The Lawn Club and Baratxuri among others.
"Be it the open bakery where people can watch their food being made, the edible plants on the walls, or the well-thought-out events programme we have put together - we want people to experience something new, and get together to share food and each other’s company”.
“The heritage of The Creameries is really important to us”, says Yeoman, former teacher and now baker.
“I’ve always loved this place. We were dead set on keeping the name and the iconic tiles on the front, and most importantly, we wanted to base our menu on British cheese and locally churned butter in keeping with the history of the building.
"To this mix we’ve added homemade bread as what else goes so well with said cheese and butter? Three of the greats right there”.
Although work has already started on resurrecting the old building using £60,000 of their own funds, the three friends need another £20,000 to buy baking equipment. For this, they've launch a crowdfunder, and are calling on supporters to help them fully fund their project.
Supporters of the appeal will be rewarded with an exclusive gift, ranging from a meal for two to private hire of their conservatory space with bespoke wines, bread and cheese.
The Creameries will be up and running by March 2018, and their crowdfunding campaign begins at 7am on Monday, November 27. Visit their funding page here, or follow The Creameries on Facebook , or Twitter.
