New subterranean music venue, 4am bar and restaurant to open in Manchester

Canvas, the city’s newest music venue, members’ club, late night bar and restaurant, is set to launch soon at Circle Square, the heart of Manchester’s Oxford Road Corridor. 

The new venue comes to the city from the team behind two of London’s most prolific music establishments, The Pickle Factory and Oval Space, and has been founded by the team behind MAMA Group, which owned and operated Lovebox, Wilderness and Great Escape festivals as well as Hammersmith Apollo, Jazz Café, Forum, Manchester Ritz and G-A-Y venues. 

Canvas will feature live music, club nights, a members’ lounge with a programme of events, a 4am 7-days-a-week bar and restaurant, and digital platform.

It will also welcome a number of creative music, art, wellness and technology programmes.

Pioneering and creative, Canvas will nurture the city’s visionaries of music, culture and the arts, say owners.

Here, the space will host a series of live gigs from both national and international acts, album launches and listening parties.

Notable acts will follow suit from programmes as seen at Pickle Factory and Oval Space, who have hosted the likes of Jamie XX, Thom Yorke, Chase & Status, Peggy Gou, Pink Pantheress and Nina Kraviz.

A 600-capacity subterranean space, Canvas will feature a full day-programme.

By night, the venue will host a diverse range of established and rising creatives, plus a club programme from some of the newest promoters in the city.

A platform for the under-represented, Canvas has a mission to create a ‘blank space’ for underground talent.

Canvas will also be home to a food and beverage lounge, which will become a late night bar after 10.30pm.

Here, the restaurant will serve global small plates across breakfast, lunch and dinner sittings, with a menu curated by Miam Miam Glou Glou, the hospitality consultancy behind Manchester’s much-loved Peru Perdu.

Music and culture is at the heart of this newest neighbourhood hub, with regular late entertainment.

The Canvas breakfast menu will include fresh juices, health shots and breakfast plates, such as ‘Persian’ – with Merguez sausage, hummus, spinach, harissa, soft-poached egg; ‘Cali’ – with avocado, chilli, lime, soft-poached egg; and ‘Hunan’ –  with fried rice, dumplings and chilli-fried egg.

There will also be vegan options, such as ‘Planta’ – spinach, bell pepper, tomato, avocado, mushroom and tofu, as well as breakfast cocktails and speciality hot drinks, to stay or to go. 

Meanwhile, The Canvas all-day menu will feature the likes of ‘Sumac Lamb Chops’ – with chickpeas, pomegranate and mint yogurt; ‘Korean Chicken’ – with barbecued chicken, peanut and Asian salad; and ‘Disco Fries’ – with truffle, parmesan, garlic butter, and saffron aioli and jalapeños.

Items from the global large plate menu include ‘Chilli Butternut Squash’, with hazelnut, watercress and agave; ‘Slow Chicken’, with corn-fed thighs, sweetcorn fritters and collard greens; ‘Bavette’ – a loosely textured 10oz flat-cut steak, with roast tomatoes, garlic mushroom and chimmi; and ‘Duck Leg’, with sweet and sour roast plum, pickled cucumber and salad pancakes.

There will also be a selection of sandwiches (brioche, white flour wrap, ciabatta) available from 12-5pm every day.

Canvas members’ lounge will invite those who are part of the membership programme to participate in events, panel discussions and wellness classes; all with an emphasis on music, wellbeing, visuals, sound and the arts.

Hosting some of the city’s most enterprising young professionals, the Panel Discussions are set to offer a range of in person Q&A events, with the likes of TV commissioners and producers, philanthropists, emerging talent in the tech industry and DJs, producers and artists in the music industry.

Canvas’ Managing Your State programme will provide a focus on wellbeing and will teach participants about the tools required to manage our own internal and emotional state – particularly when we are faced with difficult or challenging times.

Late summer will see the arrival of a plunge pool and sauna as part of the membership programme, giving members the access to their very own serenity in the midst of the city.

Canvas is also proud to support charitable musical organisations that give back to the community.

Through a series of music-led workshops that will take place within the venue and at communal sites across the region, Canvas will run regular fundraising events and workshop collaborations to support the Marcus Intalex Music Foundation – a platform to support and nurture talent in many aspects of music development and the culture that surrounds it.

“We’re thrilled to finally open our doors at Canvas,” said Dean James, co-owner and co-founder.

“With authenticity at the forefront of everything we do, our key ambition is to provide the most innovative space where emerging music and new talent can grow.

“Through the development of Canvas membership programmes, our long-term vision is to forge an environment that young creatives and grass-roots talent are not only excited to be a part of, but we also hope that they share in a sense of ownership with us too.”

Canvas will open 8th June at Unit 5, Building 4, Circle Square, Oxford Road, M607HB. Memberships will be available from £15 a month for under 30s, with a membership option for the over 30s. You can find out more here.