Marple Bridge Restaurant Guide

“Very modern, Scandi-style with much foraging and fermenting” characterise the dishes at Sam Buckley’s famous foodie destination, which occupies the “beautiful”, airy space of a brick-walled former coffee warehouse in central Stockport, complete with bright windows and hip post-industrial vibes. It’s all “very well done and service is very good” too, but it’s never inspired the vast volume of feedback that its illustrious reputation would imply, perhaps due to what has historically been the high expense of dining here. Perhaps that’s all about to change, though, as in September 2025 the venue announced a major change of gear, with a considerably cheaper, new five-course sharing menu for £75 per person, with the aim stated on its website of “a format that feels more open, more generous and more relaxed”. What’s more: “The chefs’ table will always be open to walk-ins, offering wines and cocktails by the glass, along with a bar menu for those who just want a drink and a small bite”. More reports on the new approach please!

2022 Review: Any new project involving Sam ‘Where the Light Gets In’ Buckley is news in these parts, and so it will likely be with this new community bakery, pottery and deli – a forthcoming collaboration with potter Joe Hartley and baker Rosie Wilkes. We are promised buns a-plenty, alongside pies, pizza, artisan pottery… and to cap it off, a sound system playing vinyl.

2023 Review: Rachel Winter Jones and Marc Molé opened this new French spot in a fascinating historic building owned by the local council – built as a Victorian jewellers and clockmakers – in April 2022 (too late to inspire any feedback in our annual diners’ poll). Marc, an architect from Paris, and Rachel, a lawyer with a 20-year career at the World Bank, met on a blind date in a bistro in Paris and here that’s exactly the style of cuisine they are emulating. Open from the morning onwards for coffee and pastries.

Good vibes surround Joshua Reed-Cooper & Mike Thomas’s funky newcomer – a casual small (30 seats and stools) shop-conversion in the still-gentrifying area, behind the shopping centre, with open kitchen backed by white tiles. ‘Stockport cool’ is akin to ‘Shoreditch cool’ in this case – it wines praise in early feedback for “very good, very interesting if not particularly small plates” and also for its “extensive and interesting wine list”. More reports please! Top Tip “sit opposite the prep area which is fascinating”.

“In an attractive old cotton-spinning and paper-making village” – reached after “a lovely drive over the Derbyshire dales” (although it’s also “full of walkers” who’ve arrived on foot) – a “wonderfully welcoming gastropub” run by husband-and-wife team Luke & Emma Payne. The former oversees dishes that are “packed with flavour”.