Tag: monton high street

[VIDEO] “Monton, keep supporting events like this!”: The Monton Summer Mingle proves hit amongst locals

  • The Monton Summer Mingle was hosted by the MVCA and Monton Unitarian Church on Saturday 6 July
  • Monton locals enjoyed market stalls, fairground rides, and entertainment throughout the day
  • The community is urged to keep supporting future events

The Monton Summer Mingle welcomed locals for a day of festivities on Saturday 6 July.

The event, which was hosted jointly by the Monton Village Community Association (MVCA) and Monton Unitarian Church, opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony with Reverend Anna Jarvis, before locals were welcomed onto the church grounds.

A fairground on the site of the former Boddan Lodge proved a hit amongst the community, as did numerous market stalls selling handmade crafts, local produce, and refreshments.

Following the success of the event, Marie Hargreaves’s, Monton Mingle Lead at the MVCA, urged locals to keep supporting these events and the local businesses in Monton.

Debbie Reeves, owner of the Garden Bar, headline sponsor of the event, also praised Monton for its community spirit, and alluded to the possibility of market-style events in the restaurant in future.

See more about how the day unfolded below:

Artisan butcher and fishmonger to bring fresh, sustainable produce to Monton high street

  • Wandering Palate have teamed up with Butcher’s Quarter to open Farm & Fish on Monton Road
  • Customers will also be able to enjoy a drink on site and dishes made up of the shop’s produce
  • Locals have raised concerns over the application for an alcohol license seen in the shop window

A new butchers and fishmongers will be opening on Monton Road this March as a collaboration between Butcher’s Quarter and Wandering Palate.

Farm & Fish will have a butchers counter and fish counter, as well as offering deli items and fresh fruit and vegetables.

The addition of indoor and outdoor seating will mean that customers are also able to have a drink or enjoy dishes made from the store’s produce of the day.

Monton locals have been without a place to buy fresh fish and meat on the high street since Oscar’s closed in 2015.

Butcher’s Quarter, a Manchester based artisan butchers, has two locations already in the city centre on Tib Street and Deansgate.

When looking to expand, they considered various Manchester suburbs before deciding on ‘delightful’ Monton.

Refurbishments are currently underway

BQ’s Charlotte Roberts said: “It just seemed like the perfect place to go, there wasn’t anything like that in the area.

“It just seems absolutely delightful. It’s really up and coming and people are obviously crying out and interested in that kind of thing.”

Their collaborators, Emma and Will Evans of Wandering Palate, discovered and ‘fell in love with’ Monton when delivering beers to Malt Dog from Will’s other business, Manchester Union Brewery.

Having lived in the Manchester suburb for 7 years, they opened Wandering Palate after craving the ‘Friday night treats’ they were unable to get at Tesco, and initially planned to host seafood-tasting events.

Concerns over space led them down the charcuterie route instead, but when another unit on Monton Road became available, the pair were keen to go through with their original plans.

Meat will be sourced from local farms

Both Wandering Palate and Butcher’s Quarter were nominated for Food and Drink Retailer of the Year 2021.

Charlotte explained: “We kind of just got chatting properly there and just hit it off, our values were just in line, and we realised that it’d be a great collaboration.

“We’ve all got something to offer to the table and it’d just be fun more than anything.”

After an alcohol license application went up in Farm & Fish’s window, some Monton residents voiced concerns on the Monton Chat Facebook group that the new butchers would turn into ‘just another’ bar.

Addressing this, Charlotte said: “Generally it will be daytime trade.

“We’ll do off-license for wine so you can come in and it’s a bit of a one-stop shop for everything, so if you want a delicious meal for two, you can come in and get your steaks, get your veg, get your wine.

“You can pop in for a lunch and have a little glass of wine with that.”

Fish and shellfish products will be appear in the store the day after they are caught

Charlotte also alluded to the possibility of evening events: “That’s why we’ve applied for so late as well.

“We might have a little wine tasting on, we might do a supper club where we invite a chef.

“They get free range of the counter, they make a menu out of that and then we pair wines with it.

“It’s certainly not a restaurant and it’s certainly not a bar.”

Emma added: “Will and I are very conscious of that, you know, it’s our community as well.

“We’re going to have a lovely wine menu if you want to come in and have a wine, but it’s not a bar, it’s much more than that.

“We just want to bring some really good quality meat and fish to Monton.”

Farm & Fish will source and dry-age meat products from local farms within a 45 mile radius.

Charlotte said: “It’s all highest levels of husbandry, beautiful, local, ethical and sustainable, which is super important to us.”

Their fish will be line-caught from day boats by Wild Harbour, a Cornwall fishery that supplies ‘sustainable and traceable’ fish, and will be with Farm & Fish the day after it is caught.

Fish products will be line-caught from day boats

Shellfish such as lobsters and scallops will be sourced from Scotland.

Renovations are currently underway, and while an exact date has yet to be confirmed, Farm & Fish will be open in March after a ‘couple of soft launches’.