Enter Sandman
THE site of Stockport’s Viking tapas bar is to be brought back to life as a new restaurant and bar from the owner of The Cracked Actor.
Vinabod announced its closure this week after less than a year. But the Vernon Street spot, which was previously home to vegan restaurant The Allotment before its relocation to Manchester city centre, won’t stay empty for long.
Joseph Patten, who opened The Cracked Actor on Little Underbank last year, has signed for the unit for his next venture, The Sandman. He said it would be ‘the evil twin’ to his popular craft beer and blues bar, with the same theatrical flourishes drawing from his acting background.
“I wanted a second premises and had been looking at lots of different ones,” he told the M.E.N.
“The Cracked Actor has taken off as well as it can and capacity has just become a problem, getting people in on weekends.
“I wanted somewhere where I could do a food offering and the Vinabod site does have a kitchen licence so it made a lot of sense.”
That food offering will centre around roast dinners, available from around noon until 9pm every day the bar is open, as well as hot beef or roast pork and stuffing baguettes, vegan options and lunchtime deals.
“The one thing that’s missing from Stockport is fresh food, especially vegan options,” he said. “The biggest thing I want to focus on is around lunchtime. It’s really difficult to get anything that’s fresh and quick but still healthy.
“There’s a lot of bars opening in Stockport now, there’s going to be a lot of competition, so it would be pointless me doing just another bar.”
They’ll be served alongside a range of craft beers, building on the reputation Joseph has established at The Cracked Actor.
Joseph, who spent months painstakingly restoring the Little Underbank site himself, is getting to work to transform the Castle Chambers building and hopes to open The Sandman by summer.
“It’s going to have a Victorian style in keeping with The Cracked Actor and I want to take it back to how it would have originally looked,” he said.
“It’s going to be like an old Victorian bank. It’s quite a grand building and it has good potential.
“It’s in a good spot in the Market Place.”