Where The Light Gets In, Stockport: ‘The most exciting food I’ve eaten in years’
Not so much new Nordic as new northern, this is a procession of brilliance
Let’s get it out of the way from the get-go: Where The Light Gets In serves the most exciting food I’ve had in years. And it’s not in London, Copenhagen or Portland, Oregon; it’s in Stockport. Never have I trudged so dutifully to a destination only to exit at the other end quite so starey-eyed and evangelical.
Stockport: seriously? Before high horses are clambered upon, chef/owner Sam Buckley is equally wry about the location. It is, simply, not where you’d expect this kind of firecracker creativity in £65-a-head, tasting-menu-only format. Stockport boasts restaurants called Elvis’ Kitchen (“three-course luxury meal cooked by the ELVIS chef”, which, if I’m honest, appeals hugely). And the town centre is not, well, edifying. But here, around the old market building, there’s a pleasing, brick-lined moodiness, the air scented with malt from the Robinsons brewery. Finding this former coffee warehouse proves tricky: we teeter down vertiginous Rostron Brow (“famous for its 19th-century alehouses of ill repute”) more than once before we find the entrance. So far, so Lowry. Inside, it’s a different matter, not so much open kitchen as a vast, lustworthy actual kitchen with Ercol tables dotted around. It’s the ultimate, wood-burning-stove-heated loft pad with rooftop views.
There’s no menu.
Tartare of Macclesfield trout. Photograph: Rebecca Lupton for the Guardian Salt-baked beets, toasted hazelnuts, jaggy little jack-by-the-hedge leaves – aka garlic mustard plant, with all the pungency that conveys – a swirl of jammy beetroot puree and a smooth blurt of airy hazelnut almost-butter. Vegetarian wizardry, this swayed even the table’s beetroot-loathers.
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A meaty broth, as limpid as tea, with a powder puff of wild garlic blossom to dunk in it like a teabag. It scents the broth, the broth “cooks” the blossom: brilliant in its simplicity and insanely delicious.
A cube of pink middlewhite pork, aged for five weeks in caramelised cultured butter, its fat crisped in a pan (which is where the building’s lack of extraction becomes painfully evident). Nothing else on the plate bar a few fried, fragrant leaves, herbs and flowers (they say ramsons this time, possibly sleight of hand to deflect us from other wild garlic appearances). “This,” says charming GM Emma, “is the dish that made me hand in my CV.” I’m tempted to follow suit.
I haven’t room to wax lyrical about the wine flights, notable for the consistent delivery of pure pleasure (not a given with natural and biodynamic). There’s nothing that doesn’t dazzle, from the cocktail that comes with candy-striped bags of crisps and tins of create-your-own-flavour powder made from produce that would otherwise be wasted (dried scallop plus kombu: blimey), to the tiny pastilles with the coffee that flood the mouth with sweet, boozy Buckfast, that “tonic wine” beloved of the Glaswegian jakey. Oh, OK, there is one fish dish I don’t love, woolly and underseasoned, but otherwise this is a procession of brilliance.
The Council are aware of the problems with unauthorised vehicles using Lower Hillgate and Little Underbank and will shortly be installing new rising bollards to control traffic flow. There will follow a programme of repairs to the paving and stone setts. This work is being funded from the Town Centre Access Plan, more details of this can be found athttps://goo.gl/O0ssZ2
Overview
Scheme overview: The Town Centre Access Plan is an ambitious vision and development plan seeking to improve access to and around Stockport town centre by all methods of travel and ease congestion for buses and general road traffic. Benefits: Investment in transport is needed to tackle congestion within Stockport and remove barriers to movement between town centre areas, particularly caused by the A6 and M60. This investment will address these issues and transform access to, from and around Stockport town centre for all. Timescales: The scheme proposals will be delivered in two distinct phases, see Key Plan (PDF 7Mb). Construction of the Phase 1 schemes is expected to take place from 2015 to late 2017. The Phase 2 schemes were subject to a further phase of consultation in Autumn 2015. The feedback of the consultation will be considered in the development of the scheme designs. Subject to approval, construction of the Phase 2 scheme is expected to take place from 2017 to 2020. Key partners: Stockport Council and Transport for Greater Manchester. Funding: Funded by the Government’s Local Growth Fund, the Stockport Town Centre Access Plan is part of the Investing in Growth component of Stockport Council’s Investing in Stockport Programme. Investing in Growth will see a range of ambitious projects launched across Stockport, aimed at ensuring the town continues to grow and meet the needs of modern day life.
No mention is made of any public response to the development plans because the zone was comprehensively depopulated in the 1950s and 1960s, so lacks an effective "voice". Chestergate is not linked in the report but is the key to success of the Underbanks because it is the terminus piazza for Little and Great Underbanks. A new architect designed structure at the junction of Mealhouse Brow and Little Underbank (on the site below) will serve coffee and compete with the coffee bars that have already built a client base. So may ruin them. Currently this proposed redevelopment site retains a flourishing music shop in a shabby 2 storey terrace that actually functions well (but is just not pretty)......
The proposed area for demolition eclipses a beautiful view of the 19th century Bank Building above it. I refer to this as one of the acropolis brows of the Underbanks. A "temple" on a hill. The proposed building will mostly screen off the promise of this part of the upper town.
Without the planning for a total traffic ban, the Underbanks, Chestergate, Royal Oak Yard, High Bankside and the future of the brows there can be no economic improvement. The advising clients swerved the creation of a York type "SHAMBLES" pedestrian place although it is clear they are heritage professionals and their instinct was heritage conservation led. They were clearly warned off from shutting any streets. But this is precisely how the economic life would have taken off without spending any money on the area. Commercial clients would have flocked in if tables had been sited in the middle of the road.
Merseyway Shopping Centre demonstrates its (limited) economic success because it is traffic free. A textbook example to follow, surely?
The arch opposite the steps to St Petersgate on the Heritage Magazine front cover
HERITAGE MAGAZINE Vol. 8 No 12 Spring 2017An important contributor to wider community awareness of the potential of this beautiful little road. Here the photo shows the footings and sandstone quoins, corner blocks, of St Petersgate Bridge 1868. The Egerton Arms from the 17th century at the top of the steps and the Queen's Head at right. The photo is particularly important because the place is lateral and not just a road for linear traffic.The Underbanks were Stockport's original 18th century business district serving the county merchants in Stockport Market Place. Many pubs were found here, used as temporary offices, dining and meeting spaces. The view is from the steps leading directly up to the Market Place. This has a tall two storey opening which is echoed in the beautiful arch leading into Royal Oak Yard seen below. The lintel at the lower right marks the closure of the old narrow passageway into Little Underbank. This could be reopened as it is narrow as certain Venetian "calli" or alleyways. This is the centre of Stockport but is at risk in ways that cannot be understated. Much of it is nearing an unsafe condition as water has penetrated the structures which have been left untenanted by landlords.
A 2018 one day street dressing public festival: "let's paint Little Underbank better" The re-birth of a lost medieval street
The AIMS would be as follows:
1. re-assign the function of Little Underbank from failed roadway to secure child safe public pedestrian space (like the Shambles In York).
2. all the brows and Royal Oak Yard to be tied into the project to make an exciting little pedestrian labyrinth (like a little Venice).
3. to create a brand for the area that is distinct from Merseyway: the Heritage Lanes of medieval Stockport (Underbanks Protected Conservation Area.) Or the STEPS and BROWS of the UNDERBANKS?
The MEANS would be creative community activist intervention with a website dedicated to community feedback. Every day in Little Underbank could be festive. The pavements could be permanently inlaid with designs and signs. Called a renaissance when this happens
A street festival. A one day (Sunday 10-4) community event in 2018 along the length of Little Underbank with a pedestrianised carriageway “dressing” from White Lion to the bollards below the brewery entrance. (Please see attachment renders) At least thirty 300cm x 300cm fabric panels with images sponsored by schools, local retailers, artists and sponsors. Fabric bunting above the road.
Only gov.uk commitment can make this happen. A number of agencies such as car parking owners, stakeholders, retailers and shuttle bus operators would need to give their support for the six hour event (+ preparation time)
The events will be filmed by BBC and other media platforms and published.
Public consultation questionnaires at the time of the event may help to persuade the Stockport MBC road lobby of the economic advantage of a Shambles type urban district. The potential for this area is greater than both the Exchange and Redrocks developments at a fraction of the cost.
A partnership with local heritage representatives is essential for this first step in a Stockport revival. The sum of money voted to "improve" the area could easily miss its target unless demonstrable social interaction with the place can specify needs and suggest solutions.
A reconstruction render of Little Underbank with a painted or part floral street dressing s proposed. Work undertaken by a wide range of community partners; schools, sponsors, local artists. The design is not proposed here but comes from a popular event at Bolsena, Italy.
Little Underbank looking towards St Petersgate Bridge in a hypothetical render. Street dressings in a variety of media placed on temporary calico or linen supports. Bunting above celebrates the space of the curve of the road. An end wall of the shop units is here given addressing of the Stockport Coat of Arms in the yellow and blue found in the paintwork of St Petersgate Bridge. Note how Mealhouse Brow can be used as part of this event. The success of Little Underbanks has a great impact on Market Hall prosperity. There is already a fine piazza at this junction but it has never been put to use because it is still a hazardous motor carriageway.
Recent heritage cobble surface at Little Underbank. If the road is pedestrianised then there are no double yellow lines so FLY PARKING is seen as a risk worth taking. Wardens report that parking tickets issued are challenged as "entrapment"
The 300 Metroshuttle bus is part of the problem in Little Underbank: "The bus dominates the narrow medieval street - it is intimidating for people walking in the street and also limits possibilities for shops and cafes to spill out into the street. • The buses damage the cobbled surfacing with the heavy wear. • The speed of the buses, the noise from the rumbling on the cobbles and the space taken up in the street all create a negative impression, particularly along Little Underbank and Lower Hillgate. • Market Place & Underbanks has a relatively low priority in the routing of the bus; for instance if someone got on the bus at the interchange they are first taken to Merseyway, then on to Tesco before looping back around into Churchgate and back into Underbanks. The presence of the bus makes the street less attractive to walk along, the spaces are less shared space and are very much weighted in favour of the movement of the bus when it is there. Despite the presence of the bus stops, Little Underbanks suffers the highest rates of empty shop units in the area. This is not a correlation; the bus is not causing the empty units but clearly the help that the bus provides is limited. Without the bus there is a thought that more space would be available to walk in, pavements could be used to spill out into. The bus would still get people into the edges of the area but it would no longer run right through the heart".
UV006109 -L- Masterplan Report B Client: Carillion/Stockport MBC Document issued: June 2015
300 METROSHUTTLE emerges from Little Underbank and negotiates the unregulated driver chaos of CHESTERGATE. The current resurfacing work (April 2017) and repairs to RBS and White Lion seem to make the environment more challenging. Only contractor vehicle access is required in this zone.
