Northenden Hive Creates a Buzz in South Manchester

Hey guys, I’ve got something a little different for you this week. A guest post from my good friend James, a food-loving aspiring writer from Manchester. I met James on my travels earlier this year, in Goa, where we shared some fab travel experiences including eating alllll the amazing Indian food! But today James is taking over my blog to tell you all about Manchester’s latest foodie pop-up, and it sounds absolutely delicious! 😋

Taking over a disused unit right in the centre of Northenden, Chelsea Campbell’s pop-up is the first occupant of the space on Church Road. Northenden Hive brings a rotating roster of stall vendors to the quiet Manchester suburb each week from Wednesday to Saturday.

Enticed in last week by the smell of freshly baked sourdough bread, I was immediately drawn to Romi’s Pantry. Her Multi-Cereal Hemp-Seed Sourdough didn’t disappoint. The hemp seeds popped delightfully when crunched, and the bread was so good I had to keep going back for more.

I ate the sourdough with generous helpings of Dude and Dudette’s Carolina Reaper Chilli Jam. Made with the hottest chilli in the world, I effortlessly munched through my jar of it very quickly indeed. My tolerance to heat is quite high though; friends found the spice too much. Darren grows his own chillies and makes the jams from scratch. Of his less potent versions, the Chilli and Garlic version is his best seller.

Jessie Hanna’s stall The Eastern Dream and Henna caught my eye too. Selling high quality modern and authentic vintage clothing, scarves, purses and baubles, her designs all have an Eastern theme to them, and she offers bespoke Henna tattoos. One of her nomad-inspired scarves matched my favourite jacket perfectly, and at £18 it was a bargain for the quality.

Another food stall whose offering I tucked into was Levant Street Food. I chose their homemade hummus with pita chips. The hummus was the perfect texture to complement the crunch of the chips, and I gladly opted to add their juicy lamb chunks. Washed down with their excellent cardamom coffee, I can’t wait for Levant to visit again.

At the Hive most weeks will be Chelsea’s own Wholesomejunkies vegan street food stall. As a festival, market and pop-up regular, I also saw Chelsea and her team dish out healthy sustenance at Moovin Festival in Stockport this year. This certainly came in handy for me; her jerk jackfruit with sweet potato fries getting some nutrients in me when I needed it most.

Chelsea’s list of more than two hundred vendors ensures that in the coming months there will be plenty of variety. In the coming weeks, Northenden Hive will treat us to fresh smoothies courtesy of Juicee beets, Dr Pepper BBQ pork from Fry, tasty cakes from Molly Gray’s, neon lighting from The Original Sign Company, and plenty more.

Wholesomejunkies are so popular that they’ve attracted the attention of the BBC, who approached Chelsea, inviting her to compete in their forthcoming programme ‘Million Pound Menu.’ After battling her way through a rigorous application process and into the final, Chelsea will be filmed running her own restaurant for three days to impress potential investors, hopefully gaining investment to take her concept into a bricks and mortar restaurant of her own.

We wish Chelsea the best of luck with both ventures, but in the meantime, I’ll be tucking into some more tasty sourdough with fiery chilli jam.

You can catch James on Twitter @ccbouncycastle, and make sure you follow @NorthendenHive to keep up with all their latest news and traders info!