Sessions Arts Club arrived in a disused Clerkenwell courthouse in 2021 with the kind of considered nonchalance that takes a great deal of effort to produce. The building — Grade II listed, high-ceilinged, its walls hung with art rather than finished — housed a restaurant that felt like a private house belonging to someone with extremely good taste and a large natural wine cellar. The food, under chef Florence Knight, was seasonal and precise and confidently unfussy. The room was, and remains, one of the most distinctive in London.
The announcement of a Manchester residency — six months in a Northern Quarter space that the team has spent several months preparing — is the first time Sessions has operated outside Clerkenwell and comes at a moment when Manchester's food and hospitality scene has developed to a point where a concept that would have felt niche in the city five years ago has a clear and ready audience.
The residency format, rather than a permanent opening, reflects a deliberate approach. Sessions' founders are treating the Manchester period as a genuine experiment — understanding how the concept travels, whether the natural wine and art-driven identity resonates with a Northern audience, and what adjustments the kitchen might need to make for a market with different sourcing relationships and different expectations.
The Space
The Northern Quarter site is a former textile warehouse, the interior of which has been adapted by the Sessions team with their characteristic approach: existing elements — exposed brick, original floors, industrial ironwork — left untouched, art works added, a kitchen designed to be visible from the dining room. The aesthetic is consistent with Clerkenwell without being a replica.
Seating runs to 55 covers across two floors. A natural wine bar on the ground floor will function as a standalone space for walk-ins and aperitivo drinking, independent of the main dining room upstairs. Members of the London club will receive first access to bookings; the remaining covers will be available to the public.
The Food
Florence Knight is understood to be involved in the residency's culinary direction, though the Manchester kitchen team is being recruited locally rather than transferred from London — a decision that reflects both a practical commitment to embedding in the region's culinary community and a genuine curiosity about what local sourcing relationships in the North West can offer the Sessions aesthetic.
The menu will follow Sessions' established format: a short, seasonal offer that changes with supply rather than with the calendar, wine-driven rather than food-driven in its pacing, with vegetable and grain dishes given equal prominence to protein. Natural wine — the cellar at Clerkenwell has become one of the most respected small lists in London — will be the drinks programme centrepiece, with a focus on bottles sourced directly from growers the team visits each year.
Sessions Arts Club Manchester opens in September 2026 for a six-month run to February 2027. The residency's continuation beyond that point will be assessed based on the experience.