Northern Quarter stalwart kicks off Kampus lettings 

Leisure operator Common & Co is to open a pub and a pizza restaurant at Capital & Centric and HBD’s £250m development on Aytoun Street in Manchester.

The company, which has run a bar on Edge Street in the Northern Quarter for the last 15 years, is the first commercial tenant to sign at the mixed-use scheme, taking 4,700 sq ft across two units.

The pub, Cornerstone, is described as “a traditional boozer reimagined for the 21st century” while Nell’s Pizza, which features at Common’s Edge Street site and at the Beagle in Chorlton, will operate next door.

Both Cornerstone and Nell’s Pizza are part of the Common & Co group, run by husband-and-wife team Jonny and Charlotte Heyes.

Common & Co owners Jonny and Charlotte Heyes

The new premises, situated on the ground floor of the 140-apartment North Block and opening out onto Kampus’ shared garden, are due to open in July.

There is around 40,000 sq ft of commercial space at Kampus in total.

Adam Higgins, co-founder at Capital & Centric, said: “Kampus is all about having the best independent food and drink operators in amongst it. Cornerstone will be at the heart of the Kampus community, just like the local pub should be.

“Now more than ever, we really wanted to work with independent Manchester businesses and help them recover from what’s been a pretty crap year. Common is going to set the tone for what we’re creating at Kampus: independent, laid back and for everyone.”

Jonny Heyes, co-founder of Common & Co, said: “Kampus represents a development with a sense of purpose. Lots of developments end up being a bunch of buildings searching for a reason to be. We got the impression that the vision for Kampus would be something we, as an independent operator, could get on board with.”

The 533-home Kampus, designed by a trio of architects comprising Mecanoo, ShedKM, and Chapman Taylor, is made up of five blocks.

The new-build North Block and South Block comprise one- and two-bedroom apartments,  including Dutch-style townhouses in lieu of penthouses, and work to convert two former shipping warehouses, Minto & Turner and Minshull Warehouse, into apartments is ongoing.

The final element is the conversion of The Stack, a 1960s brutalist tower that was part of Manchester Metropolitan University’s estate, into one- and two-bedroom apartments.

The five blocks, with interiors designed and fitted out by Youth Studio, sit around a public garden designed by Exterior Architecture.

Capital & Centric and HBD bought the 2.3-acre site for around £9m in March 2014, beating off competition from Bruntwood, Allied London and Ask, among others.

The joint venture aims to complete the project later this year.