Rowntree’s Cafe is the kind of place you can sit all day and watch the world go by. There’s a reassuring rhythm to much-loved caff in the Arndale Centre. The shutters have barely come up, but at 8am sharp, regulars head in, take their usual spot and put in their orders.
Most days, Lui Chrisostomou has already begun preparing their fry-ups, barms and ‘things on toast’, because after 43 years in the business you tend to know your customer’s preferences pretty well.
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Here in Manchester, there’s plenty of places offering smashed avocado and eggs, oat milk flat whites and smoothies with ingredients like bee pollen. But sometimes, you just want a proper brew and a no-nonsense full English.
At Rowntree’s Café that’s exactly what you’ll get. And, if you fancy a portion of fish and chips for your breakfast, Lui will cook that up for you too - nothing is too much trouble.
He’s been looking after hungry Mancunians since he was 17 when he started working for his dad, Cyprus native ‘Mr Chris’, as regulars called him. His dad owned several eateries in the city centre, way before Manchester’s food and drink scene really took off.
The café has had several homes over the years and was temporarily moved to Bury following the refurb of the Arndale in the aftermath of the 1996 IRA bombing. Eventually relocating back to the shopping centre, Rowntree’s has been on High Street for around 15 years and is flanked by Sports Direct on one side and Arndale Food Market on the other.
It looks out onto a William Hill bookies and a series of boarded up shops including city centre favourite Cafe Metro, which sadly shuttered for good at the end of last year. While Rowntree’s has been going for over 30 years, Lui knows it’s not immune from the challenges that the cost of living crisis presents both for consumers and businesses.
“It has definitely been getting harder, but we’re not doing too bad as we rely on a lot of regular customers, and they’re still coming,” he explains. “We’re also lucky that we’re on electric here rather than gas.”
Lui’s success is also due to his freshly made meals, affordable prices and willingness to put his loyal customers first. “When we started off forty odd years ago, there weren't as many coffee shops and sandwich shops, there were only us and a few others. Because we’ve been here so long, people feel like they know us. People will come up to us and say ‘we used to come as kids and now we bring our own children too’, so it’s just keeping that going.”
Recognisable from its bright orange entrance, banquette seating and numerous pop-art style pictures of past and present Coronation Street characters hanging from the walls, Lui’s café may not boast the trendy exposed brickwork, neon signs and greenery of popular brunch shops in the Northern Quarter, but it does offer up a slice of nostalgia and welcomes all those who come by.
“We put Corrie on the menus and the walls because it’s just so Manchester. We were going to put football but if you put United you have a problem, and if you put just City you have a problem. Coronation Street is in the middle, everyone knows it.”
Lui’s all-day breakfast comes in at £6.50 for a takeaway breakfast box packed full to the brim with bacon, eggs, sausages, beans, mushrooms, black pudding, a round of toast and a tea or coffee, and is one of their most popular dishes. “We’re always very busy in the morning because we’re well known for our breakfasts.
“We also serve it all day long, unlike a lot of places. Customers can have a fish and chip from 8am if they really want to - I’m happy to do that for them. We also do homemade pies, fresh fish and chips, liver and onions specials, you know all the traditional food that people love.”
All the potatoes are peeled on site, fried in vegetable oil for perfectly cooked chips, while peas are done the old fashioned way, stepped overnight. Lui says cooking fresh and to order also allows him to serve up dishes exactly to customer’s preferences.
“People say it’s a greasy spoon but it’s more of a classy place than that, because unlike places where everything is pre-done like slices of things, we do everything on the job so if people like their bacon crispy or overdone I can do that for them. I also like to try and keep the local traders going, so I get my vegetables from the family-run business from over the road and my bread from Trafford Park - you know it helps the local economy.”
As well as hearty Full English breakfasts, homemade pies and fish and chips anytime of day, Lui also serves up delicious omelettes (£3.75), hot dinners like lasagne, steam pudding and gammon and eggs from £6.25, and a jacket potatoes from just £4.25. Fancy a chip butty, or just some chips with curry sauce? He does that too.
Today, there’s a string of new cafes and restaurants popping up in the Arndale, but just last year Lui and his team picked up the award for best Café, Bar and Restaurant of the Year at the Manchester Arndale Retail Awards, or MARAS as they’re known in these parts. Lui proudly showed me a video of the ceremony, where in a tongue-in-cheek introduction, Rowntree’s was described as having ‘better service than the Midland’.
“It went mad, listen to us all whooping. We didn’t expect to win as it looks to highlight ‘shining stars’ of the shopping centre and we’ve been here a while, but there we go,” adds Lui humbly.
He nips behind the counter to shine the award plaque for a photo, and in the meantime the cafe, full with regulars as well as a group of Sevilla FC fans ahead of their fixture with Manchester United, settles back into its normal rhythm. “Are you ready to order love, " says a smiley server to two men who have just taken their seats in the window.
“And tea or coffee?” It’s the same with every table she takes the order from, and there’s something very comforting about that. Meanwhile, a father and daughter offer to move to a smaller table so the group of Sevilla fans can take the booth seating at the back. A man next to me has long finished his fry-up but is slowly nursing a steaming hot cup of coffee, and simply watching the world go by in the greasy spoon that’s seen it all.
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