There might be more food halls and markets on the horizon with the likes of Shipyard,Oldham Town Hall, DieCast and Salford Central Bay coming soon to Manchester, but it seems this city is already home to the best in the UK. Global travel site, Big 7 Travel, and hospitality specialists, Enjoy Travel, teamed up to find the best food halls in the UK and low and behold one of Manchester’s popular city centre food halls took the crown.
Mackie Mayor, the food hall located within an 1858 Grade II-listed market building on the edge of Manchester’s Northern Quarter, scooped the top spot beating the likes of London’s Eataly, Sheffield’s Cutlery Works and Liverpool’s Baltic Market. The food hall, which has space for almost 500 people, is housed within the old Smithfield Market Hall, which reopened as Mackie Mayor following a huge refurbishment in 2017.
The spot is currently home to food and drink traders Tender Cow, Eagle Street Coffee, Honest Crust, Pico’s, New Wave Ramen, Mumma’s, Chilli B and BlackJack Brewtap. Mackie Mayor was described as being “crammed full of top-notch food and drink vendors” and one of Manchester’s “most popular spots.”
Big 7 Travel and Enjoy Travel gave mentions to Honest Crust for their “exceptional seasonal sourdough pizzas”, and Tender Cow, where “punters can tuck into lesser-known cuts of beef from some of the best producers and farms in Britain”.
While second place went to Italian-inspired concept Eataly in London, Altrincham Market and Society also made it to the top ten of Enjoy Travel’s best food hall list for the UK, coming in fourth and eighth respectively. Venues were ranked on several factors including range of cuisines, selection of vendors, unique and special events and overall atmosphere.