Boxpark heading to Manchester 

The London leisure operator is plotting its first site outside the capital within Allied London’s Enterprise City. 

Allied and Boxpark are close to agreeing a lease on the 30,000 sq ft Albert Shed on the corner of Water Street and New Quay Street in Manchester’s St John’s district.

“The deal is not done yet but we have shaken hands and that is good enough for me,” Allied’s chief executive Mike Ingall told Place North West. 

Boxpark, a street food, retail and entertainment concept whose sites are constructed out of reconstituted shipping containers, opened its first site in Shoreditch in 2011. 

A further two London venues have launched in the intervening years, one in Croydon and one in Wembley. 

The Manchester site was earmarked for a leisure and hospitality venue called Shipyard under Allied London’s Enterprise City masterplan. 

“We are seeking to add as much diversity as we can to St John’s and support the commercial buildings with other uses,” Ingall added. 

Boxpark Manchester is targeted to be open by June 2022, according to Ingall. 

A similar concept already exists in Manchester, Bruntwood’s Hatch on Oxford Road, which boasts food traders, bars, and independent retail. 

Boxpark declined to comment.