Resident: A new five-floor bar, kitchen & record store heading to Deansgate

A new five-floor bar, kitchen, record store and club is set to open on Deansgate this month.

Resident will take over the historic building nestled between The Lost Dene and the Sawyers Arms, with bosses saying the new concept has been crafted around the city’s underground music culture.

The concept will open in stages throughout the next year, with the first phase set to launch on Thu 12 Nov. Kicking things off will be Electric Pizza Shop, a red-lit room built around a DJ booth, serving pizza both by the slice and by the box, alongside classic cocktails and house specials.

After dark, the basement and ground floor transform into a club, with Resident promising a DJ lineup chosen ‘for the quality of their selections, the crowd they bring and the culture around them, not for their follower counts or what the data says.’

Each headliner will be paired with Resident’s own DJs, and visitors will be able to peruse and purchase records from those performing. The first season of parties is free, with guest list sign-up through the venue’s website, running Thursday to Saturday.

The core residents are Urbi, Shimrise, Groove Division, Joe Roche, Bay, SUI 13, Rhod Parry, Jacinta, Jordan Villa, Pez and Maclo, covering everything from Chicago and deep house to percussive Latin house, garage and acid.

Opening night belongs to Belfast DJ, producer and Free the Night co-founder, Holly Lester. Holly has hosted residencies at Chibuku Shake Shake and The Warehouse Project, spent three years on Manchester’s Limbo Radio, and turned a Boiler Room set at Belfast’s AVA Festival into an international career that has taken her from Ibiza’s DC10 to Europe, Australia and beyond.

Resident is also home to a record shop run by Do As You Please (DAYP), the Manchester label, vinyl store and DJ collective founded by Niall Roche in 2018. Its crates focus on short-run and hard-to-find electronic records from Europe, the US and Japan, and DAYP will host listening parties and in-store events on the ground floor.

As the year goes on, the ground floor will become home to Asian kitchens and the first floor to Latin and Mexican kitchens, each run by up-and-coming chefs, with applications open now.

Arytom Dmitrijev, founder of Resident and Electric Pizza Shop, said: “It’s about independents coming together to make things happen. Every beer we pour is independent and local, with no big names. We’re working with strong local creatives and artists, produce-led chefs and DJs, partnering with the people who deserve it and championing Manchester’s creative, musical and culinary scenes.

“The venue’s design is upcycled, using materials gathered locally and reused. The design journey has unfolded during the build itself, shaped by what feels right for the space and by the materials and furniture I’ve had to work with.

Niall Roche, founder of Do As You Please, said: “DAYP is the product of persistent exploration of Manchester’s music scene and being surrounded by purpose-driven people . Over the past few years it’s become it’s own world of incredible, talented friends, sonic rarities and fun, interesting art. Deansgate hasn’t had a record shop for almost thirty years, so giving the store a home here, under the same roof as the club, means more than I can say. We hope to do the city’s legacy justice in our own vibrant, contemporary way and would love to welcome you to be a part of it.”