The Refuge: Come As You Are
| 11th July 2016
?Volta Team Breathe New Life Into Listed, Manchester Landmark
On Monday 4th July 2016, The Refuge, a creative lobby in an iconic and beautiful space, soon to be a public bar and dining room from the award-winning Volta team, is giving Manchester media a sneak preview of the evolution of the building so far. There is a public launched planned for mid- September, with more details and announcements over the coming weeks.
The curators of the space and the two men behind The Refuge are DJs turned award-winning restaurateurs, Luke and Justin, of Unabombers fame.
The Refuge is 10,000 square foot of breathtaking space, which has been cleverly carved up into atmospheric areas, including:
• A 139 cover relaxed dining restaurant with an open kitchen, booths, private dining room and high benches perfect for sharing plates.
• a winter garden housed inside a glass atrium cascading with natural sunlight and serving afternoon and champagne teas.
• a cosy den creating the perfect breakout and working space.
• a 40ft granite bar with 18 craft ale taps and a drinks menu hand selected by Volta
…. plus an exhibition canvas running along an entire wall of this grand room.
Modern design works, such as enormous lightshades, industrial bar features and stylised chairs, sit effortlessly alongside the original features of the building that was once the home of The Refuge Assurance Company ltd, a life insurance and pensions company who purpose built the head office in 1895. ??Huge tiled arches and stunning black and white marbled tiles floor are amongst features that have been brought back to life – much of these stunning, original facets of the building have been rediscovered and restored by the team, having been previously hidden away for decades. The room is filled with remainders of the superlative class that buildings of the Victorian era possessed.
Masters at creating atmosphere and inspired their gastronomic adventures, becoming restaurateurs was a natural progression for Luke and Justin, taking them from house music to neighbourhood restaurants, where their guests once again felt at a ‘home from home’. They opened Volta in West Didsbury in 2013, creating a neighbourhood restaurant serving small plates influenced heavily by their travels. Signature cuisine at Volta is an eclectic collection of dishes from as far and wide as Japan to the Mediterranean, and in particular, their biggest influence, San Sebastian – a place where chefs roll up their sleeves to create no-nonsense, incredible food served straight from the heart and soul.
Volta has been recently recognised with three Manchester Food and Drink Award nominations for 2016, was crowned City Life Restaurant of the Year in 2014, won Manchester Food and Drink Festival Chef of the Year and Bar of the Year in 2014, and has featured a number of times in The Observer Food Monthly and The Guardian.
Luke says of The Refuge: “We love the fact that you can relax in inclusive hotel hang outs like the Hoxton in London or places in Amsterdam, for a coffee and just stay all day on your computer, have a little bite to eat, then maybe have a cocktail, and meet people in the restaurant later on.
“So when we were asked to get on board, we thought ‘wow, we’d really love to do that. Volta at The Refuge will retain the charm of its birthplace, serving small plates and informal dining, just on a bigger scale and at a new Southern Quarter, Manchester address.”
Dining at Volta at The Refuge need have no beginning, middle or end – customers can go for grills, frills and fine wine; a bottle of house and a few plates to a share, or just beer and breads. Like everything that the Unabombers team have established, a sense of community is central to the vision, they aim to deliver a high quality but down to earth retreat for anyone who enjoys fine food and drink – just come as you are.
The Palace Hotel is in the final stages of a multi-million pound renovation by owners Starwood Capital to all 271 bedrooms and suites; to its Ballroom and 16 other private dining and event spaces; and of course, to create The Refuge Public Bar & Dining Room by Volta.
Between now and the official launch, the space may be used on occasion by the guests to accommodate the renovations in the hotel.
Key dates:
• July 2016 – The Refuge part opens to hotel guests (excluding Volta).
• August – Press menu preview hosted by Luke and Justin.
• 12th September 2016 – The Refuge opens
Unabombers
It was the summer of 1995 when The Unabombers first detonated their underground bomb, The Electric Chair, in a sweaty basement below the pavements of Manchester. In the decade since it’s become the worst kept secret in the world of clubbing. A mystic brew of house, disco, hip-hop, broken beat, Latin, R&B, techno and northern sulphuric soul. The heart of Mancunia, a fabled land where everyone parties as one – strangers and soul mates, straights and gays, north and south, students and scallies. Anyone can open a club. Not everyone can open hearts and minds.??The chair outgrew its original home and moved onto a bigger basement club, The Music Box, but somehow the tricky alchemists Luke and Justin Unabomber retained the chemistry and the vibe. Over the years, I’ve had the time of my life with the best bunch of friends there, and woken up not being able to remember a thing. I’ve also danced all night on my own and remembered every minute. ??I’ve seen clubbing legends like Joe Claussell, Laurent Garnier and Francois Kevorkian blown away by the energy and the soul of the club. Joe was almost evangelical afterwards, returning to NYC enthusing about the power and the beauty of the spiritual energy that was at that party.??This is a club to hold close to your heart. A club without a membership, but a club where you can belong. A club to treasure. A club I will tell my grandchildren about. A club I should have told my grandparents about. A club which has changed lives. A club that’s still changing lives. A club where the weak become heroes and everybody feels love.??Electric souls forever.
The Refuge Assurance Building
Dominating everything at the Oxford Street and Whitworth Street junction is the Palace Hotel, formerly the Refuge Assurance building, an insurance company. One of the most colourful descriptions ever given to a Manchester building is CR Reilly’s from 1924, who thought it resembled ‘a tall young man in flannel trousers escorting two charming but delicate old ladies in lace’.
It was built in stages between 1891 and 1930. The first part, by Town Hall architect Alfred Waterhouse, rose at the corner of Oxford Road and Whitworth Street where the doorway is capped by a terracotta castle, a symbol of security for those trusting their money with the Refuge Assurance. There’s dazzling tilework just inside the porch, often with an intertwined RA. There’s more tile work inside the main lounge, while the huge 1910 entrance under the 66m (217ft) clock tower is equally impressive. The quarters on the clock tower feature a stylised Manchester bee.
The roof of the building was chosen for the closing scene of classic British film noir, Hell is a City, with Stanley Baker, from 1959. The Refuge Assurance left for the suburbs in 1987 and the building was eventually taken over as a hotel.
The Palace
The Palace Hotel is being given a multi-million pound facelift. Brand new, loft-style bedrooms and suites offer some of the most comfortable, distinctive and generously appointed hotel rooms in the city, with brand new beds and televisions.
The Palace is owned and operated by Principal Hayley, a group of more than 50 hotels across the UK that was acquired by Starwood Capital Group in 2013.
For more information visit:
The Palace Manchester
Volta