Oldham welcomes 'spectacular' new food hall The Egyptian Room - which 'will rival Mackie Mayor'

The Egyptian Room in Oldham is the latest addition to the region’s food market scene, promising a contemporary dining experience in the luxurious restored halls of the borough’s Grade-II listed town hall.

Up to 150 diners will be able to enjoy a choice of six eateries surrounded by beautiful vintage architecture ‘set to rival Mackie Mayor’ in Manchester city centre.

The opening date was delayed from the summer due to ‘complex restoration works’. The venue’s managers, the Northern Lights Group (NLG), run a number of popular restaurants and entertainment venues across the North West.

The restaurants include Manchester favourite Ply Love Pizza, who’ve moved to the new venue following their shock closure on Stevenson Square earlier this year. A brand new addition to the Greater Manchester food scene is Seacoles, a vendor promising ‘authentic Caribbean vibes and mouth-watering dishes’.

And burger and Greek gyros experts, The Last Stop are also taking new quarters at the venue, along with Manchester-born Wings of Power will also be whipping up fried chicken and fillet burgers.

TukTuk, an off-shoot of Cambodian restaurant and Stockport staple Kambuja, are giving punters the chance to try ‘one of the least well-known cuisines in Britain’, with traditional dishes like Lok Lak (stir fried marinated beef) and Cha Kuthiew (Cambodia’s version of Pad Thai).

And for the sweet-toothed among us, another Stockport favourite, Sticky Fingers, is on-site to offer an irresistible selection of cakes and pastries.

The Egyptian Room also features a bar and generous dining space under the boughs of ‘Egyptian-inspired’ Victorian architecture. With a decorative glazed wall and column tiling, parquet and terrazzo flooring, plastered ceilings and original arched windows and doors, the space is tipped to become ‘one of the most spectacular new food halls anywhere’.

The food hall is part of a wider plan supported by the council to breathe new life into Oldham’s town centre, which saw a serious decline in footfall after the pandemic. The local authority was awarded an external funding grant of £1.1m from the Future High Street Funds towards the costs of renovating the hall.

The townhall boss Arooj Shah previously said the venue represented ‘the future of Oldham’s town centre’ and a ‘milestone’ in the borough’s regeneration plans.