MasterChef winner Simon Wood to open restaurant in Manchester

Winner of MasterChef 2015 Simon Wood has revealed plans to open his first restaurant in Manchester.

Wood Manchester will be located on Jack Rosenthal Street at the city's First Street development and is expected to open this summer. Head chef at the restaurant will be former Grenache head chef Mike Jennings, with James Cunningham joining the team as general manager.

Formerly a data manager, Wood has worked as executive chef at Oldham Athletic FC and Oldham Event Centre since 2015 He has recently launched pop-up restaurant the Boardroom by Simon Wood in the Event Centre.

Wood said: "For me Manchester is the best city in the country; it's friendly, vibrant, busy and has incredible night life complemented by some great restaurants. What's more its food and drink culture is thriving and we see our restaurant enhancing that already amazing existing offering."

Leon Guyett, development director at Ask Real Estate, added: "We are delighted that Simon has chosen First Street to debut his very first restaurant in Manchester. We have really enjoyed working with Simon over the last few months to bring his vision of a premium dining venue at First Street to life."

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