Browns to replace crap pub

Mitchell & Butlers Plc is set to open a Browns Brasserie in the Athenaeum unit on Spring Gardens.

Browns Manchester will open in November and is currently recruiting for a head chef, offering a salary of £35,000 a year.

A statement on the firm’s website said the firm wanted ‘an experienced head chef with genuine passion and flair for high quality food’.

The candidate must have two years experience in a high volume operation. Experience of new openings is also an advantage.

‘Browns restaurants are synonymous with style and quality, and are at the heart of metropolitan life with venues in prime locations in all major city centres,’ the application says. ‘As head chef you will be fully responsible for all aspects of running a busy kitchen, including, controlling your own food stocks, employing and developing your own team and ensuring all procedures are being adhered to at all times.’

The firm currently operates 14 locations, including six in London. Athenaeum opened in the 1990s.

This is good news for the site, formerly Parrs Bank, with its spectacular Spanish green marble interior. At present the grand old building is a decayed pub offering two for one deals to a lively clientele of hardened drinkers that look as though they’ve wandered in from that Star Wars bar in the first George Lucas film.

Built in 1902 and designed by Charles Heathcote, number 43-45 Spring Gardens is one of a number of buildings scattered around the city centre by the latter architect, including the Lloyds Bank at the King Street/Cross Street junction and the building which hosts Abode Hotel and the Michael Caines restaurant on Piccadilly.