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Burger & Lobster For MCR: Another Major London Player
Jonathan Schofield asks is there room?
HAWKSMOOR, Iberica - now Burger & Lobster are to open their first restaurant in the UK outside London.
There's going to be a lot of food competition on King Street with some very big operators too. Is there a market for this gargantuan array of mainly mid-range dining mansions?
Ship Canal House on King Street is said to be the location of their eighth venture. There are six already in London and another in the pipeline for New York which should open before the Manchester restaurant.
Burger & Lobster are owned by the Goodman Restaurant Group and their plans are big. Not only will most of the ground floor of the 1924 Portland Stone building host an expansive new 167 cover restaurant, but there'll also apparently be a 45 cover bar.
Burger & Lobster live up to their name, importing Nebraskan beef and Nova Scotian lobster. The company hopes for an average customer spend up to £27.
King Street's beautiful Grade II Ship Canal House
So more burgers then? Oh good. So, thank the Lord, there's lobster to spread the load. The seafood is the route by which these people will have to carve a niche for themselves - we know all about burgers in Manchester.
If the company can present lobster as shown in the main picture at the top of the page, the place may work. We already have Steak & Lobster in the Radisson Edwardian Hotel but there should be sufficient space between the two rivals to give a standalone, non-hotel, venue more than a good chance of success.
Still there's going to be a lot of food competition on King Street with some very big operators too: Jamie's, Miller & Carter, Room, Brown's, Rosso and the new Hotel Gotham above Jamie's also featuring a restaurant.
That's, what, more than 700 covers? Is there a market for this gargantuan array of mainly mid-range dining mansions? Is this the food equivalent of the way Peter Street overheated on vast drinking barns before its very different recent and yet to complete, renewal? Time will tell.
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Wonder if they're going to change their pricing policy. I can't see many people happy to pay £20 for the lobster roll or burger options as they do in London. Steak and Lobster offer steak as their other option for a reason.
£20 for a lobster butty????
Currently working in London, just asked a colleague what they think of B&L. Apparently the lobster roll is 'amazing' (big shout out for the sweet brioche bun) but the burger is average.
I've been told the burger is good but why would anybody go for it over the lobster roll?
It should open in Media City. Better demographic, plus it'll remind them of home.
You don't have to have the lobster in a roll though. You can have grilled or boiled lobster too, representing great value for money. A burger, at the same price, however is another story.
Meh, I'm still going to chose www.radissonblu-edwardian.com/…/alto… Tasty!
Why on earth would you choose a burger over a lobster for the same price? Steak and lobster is a much better concept. The Manchester burger market is saturated as it is.
I don't like lobster
They dont have a menu online because, apparently (and I quote): "it adds to the anticipation"......erm ok then!
Why do they need a menu? There's only three options
The city centre food scene is getting better and better and with more people living in it and visitors numbers up year on year, more quality establishments can only be a good thing
Big shout for the Steak & Lobster at the Radisson Edwardian hotel - consistently good and fantastic value for money!!
King Street had the chance to be a good mid to high end dining destination, unfortunately I think the openings of Pizza Express, Miller & Carter and the forthcoming Zizzi have stopped that from happening.
Pizza Express has been there over twenty years though, and was a bit of a trendy place back then as it was the only one. King Street would make a great foodie row of outlets.
The 5 star Hotel Gotham should lift things again with its restaurant, club and roof-top bar
What will it 'lift', Rinkydink?
The down-market trend implied by the original anonymous poster
No it won't, but it will be 'another' place for people that frequent 5 star hotels, its club and roof top bar. Hardly one for the masses.
Which was precisely my point
Yeah!...who needs the masses. More champagne for Maggie...YAY!
Absolutely!
All these restaurants are opening in former shop units.This might be good news if you come into Manchester for dining,but for retail it's a disaster.Manchester used to have the highest concentration of high end shopping outside the capital,now it cannot even compete with Leeds.Without high end shoppers it will be more difficult to have the customers to pay £20 plus for lunch,as the city does not have large number of corporate business lunch spenders that London has.
Are they? The Ship Canal Unit Burger and Lobster are occupying has never been a shop; the Miller and Carter unit has never been a shop; the Hawksmoor unit used to be a courthouse. The only once replacing retail are those on The Avenue
The Trafford Centre will always leech the lifeblood out of the city centre retail outlets.
It's always good to hear of the opening of another restaurant in the city. And one in that beautiful space on the ground floor of Atlas Chambers and Ship Canal House is especially welcome. But I really can't get excited over another glorified burger joint even if a bit of lobster is being thrown in. Doesn't London have anything else we could bring north? It'll get to a point where we've had enough and then what will all those places do?
How does Burger and Lobster fit into the 'Italian Quarter'? It doesn't make any sense!
I'm going to open a restaurant called the 'Pie & Whine' for the ManCon peeps.
Dear Anon part two, I think this is a more reasonable rant stream than usual
How does this fir with the refurb of the corn exchange?
fit!
How can we be sure this place isn't yet another fucking Italian Yafi ?
Lobster is for holidays in the sun.
Super location, but no thanks..Neither appeal as menu options...WANT things here to survive but expect will go way of the Relais....
I think that Manchester has missed an area with a concentration of restaurants, everything seemed to always be a bit too dotted about. Not sure if this will work and it might take some time to happen but I don't think that the top end of King Street being a foodie destination is a bad thing, it's probably the nicest looking area of Manchester and if it becomes a place to be dropped off to take your pick then great. Hopefully the redevelopment of the corn exchange won't impact.
The Manc's need to be more creative and do their thing in the city if they can. What works in London isn't working here. It must be their pricing. Sack off burgers, BBQ, pulled pork, YAFI's and coffee shops and let's see something original. The thing is, what else is there? An all you can eat pie shop?
Deja vu?