Red’s to turn green as Tokyo plans Irish bar

The former Red’s True Barbecue site on the corner of Albert Square in Manchester is be reopened as an Irish-themed pub.

The 6,000 sq ft restaurant at the top of Lloyd Street closed in 2023 and is now being redeveloped by its owner Tokyo Industries.

Internal strip out work is ongoing and Tokyo Industries chief executive Aaron Mellor took to LinkedIn to canvas for ideas on what to call the bar.

“Deciding on names for venues is always so hard,” he said in a post.

“We’ve come up with about 300 names and suffering choice fatigue…”

Among the names on the longlist are the Craic Den, Reds True Irish, and Oscar Wilde, Mellor said.

Mellor added that the venue would have an “Irish American feel” and provide, among other things, “the finest Guinness and all-day Ulster breakfasts”.

The Newcastle-based firm bought six out of seven Red’s sites across the country when the founding company entered administration in 2019.

Tokyo Industries also operates Manchester’s Impossible and Deaf Institute.