{"id":314141,"date":"2025-08-03T09:12:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T09:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/314141\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T09:12:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T09:12:16","slug":"i-visited-an-old-fire-station-for-breakfast-and-found-something-ive-never-seen-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/314141\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I visited an old fire station for breakfast and found something I’ve never seen before’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The place is full of unique charm and character, and the food is pretty impressive too\"Adam<\/p>\n

Adam is a senior What’s On and LGBTQ+ reporter for the Manchester Evening News, covering new restaurant and bar openings, food reviews, gig reviews, and issues that matter to the LGBTQ+ community. Adam joined the M.E.N in 2019 as a Facebook Community Reporter and also runs the LGBTQ+ Bulletin newsletter. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe Old Fire Station in Salford is doing something special<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a little after 9am on a midweek morning, and I find myself standing bewildered in-between a queue as I eyeball some very impressive cakes and pastries in front of me whilst waiting to put in my coffee order.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m not just at any old caf\u00e9<\/a> or coffee shop in Greater Manchester – oh, no. I\u2019m in an incredibly fascinating building that forms a big part of the city-borough\u2019s history, and it just so happens to be a fire station-turned-caf\u00e9-bar opposite Salford University.<\/a><\/p>\n

First opened in 1903 as Salford<\/a> Central Fire Station, the weight of the history surrounding the Old Fire Station, just off The Crescent, is felt almost instantly with the red bricks and big appliance bay doors of the fire engine bays making it all-but impossible to ignore its past.<\/p>\n

Despite pretensions, the building hasn\u2019t actually operated as a fire station since 1986. Owned by the university, it\u2019s become home to Salford University\u2019s Council Chamber whilst the fire engine bays – with fireman poles still intact – have been turned into a brewery, a bar, and a bakery: the three big B\u2019s.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s exactly where I find myself. Having passed the area on numerous occasions (mostly due to attending Salford Pride at the almost-opposite Peel Park), it\u2019s somewhere I\u2019ve never visited before – but the character of the place takes me in right away and never lets me go.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Old Fire Station Bakery is on the site of the former Salford Central Fire Station, which first opened in 1803(Image: The Old Fire Station)<\/p>\n

Led by head baker Erick Molero Delgado, who has worked in leading venues across Europe and the US, and head brewer Jack Dixon, from Lark Hill Brewery and formerly at Seven Bro7hers and The Star Inn, there\u2019s an accomplished team behind this very special place – and it means that there has been just as much of a focus on the food and drink offering as there has been in setting the scene and creating something out of this important venue.<\/p>\n

Making baked goods, breads and pizzas from scratch with their on-site bakery, there\u2019s an immediate sense of comfort as you walk in and catch the scent of freshly-baked goods and freshly-brewed coffee.<\/p>\n

On the menu, there\u2019s a range of brunch and lunch options including sandwiches and toasties made with house sourdough, as well as their new slow-fermented, hand-stretched NYC-style pizzas with vegan and vegetarian options also available across the board (in some cases, using vegan butter all the way from the Netherlands).<\/p>\n

\"TheThe brewery, bar and bakery first opened up in 2023(Image: The Old Fire Station)<\/p>\n

But I get caught up on the early brunch menu which, alongside sage and black pepper sausage rolls and spicy avocado and tomato on sourdough, catches my attention right away with the very intriguing French toast which is made with a croissant loaf.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s two options when it comes to this perhaps-brilliant offering, with a choice of bacon, maple syrup and blueberries or strawberries, blueberries, lime and mint, which is served with vanilla mascarpone and coconut. Whilst I would like to say I ordered the all-out fruit one, there was just something about the bacon and maple syrup that I just couldn\u2019t get past once I\u2019d seen it.<\/p>\n

Having put my order in, alongside an oat milk latte, I managed to ask more about the aforementioned croissant loaf. Whilst refusing to go big on too many specifics to avoid sharing their own recipe, it basically is cooked in a way that the crust becomes flaky and croissant-like. Consider me incredibly interested.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe French Toast, made with a croissant loaf, was superb<\/p>\n

Arriving not long after having sat down and settled into the surroundings, which sees a bundle of office workers, university staff and students make their way in for take-out\u2019s or sit-down\u2019s, and the brunch laid out in front of me is something else.<\/p>\n

The French toast is thick, with that croissant-crust, and it\u2019s slathered with syrup alongside some perfectly-crispy bacon and a handful of blueberries. Priced at \u00a39.50, it\u2019s certainly not the cheapest option – but it looks decadent, naughty and fulfilling.<\/p>\n

And, there\u2019s no beating around the bush here, it\u2019s absolutely delicious. Whilst incredibly sweet and perhaps a little much for some people so early on in the day, it\u2019s an immediate sugar rush that is complemented well with the savoury saltiness of the bacon.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s actually bewildering to me how it managed to be both French toast and croissant at the same time, and it\u2019s something that my mind struggles to really comprehend. The usual crispy golden crust of French toast has been upgraded to also be flaky, with the sweet flavours retaining on the inside.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe former fire engine bays now house the brewery, the bar and the bakery(Image: The Old Fire Station)<\/p>\n

Whilst I had potentially already had more of my sugar intake for the day, I still wanted to check out the cakes and sweet treats available to order from the counter – although this had to be a take-away option considering I was so full up from the French toast.<\/p>\n

The towering laminated brioche (\u00a32.80) had caught my attention already and it was something I felt I needed to try. Devouring it later in the day at home, it was also another example of something done special.<\/p>\n

Layered with more butter than a usual brioche, it\u2019s a little crunchy on the top, with a lovely, sweet honey-style drizzle, whilst the inside is just a pillowy soft delight. Honestly, I think it may be the best brioche I\u2019ve ever had and it wasn\u2019t a sweetness overload either.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe laminated brioche (\u00a32.80) was too good to avoid, so I took one home on my way out<\/p>\n

Whilst I may never have visited the Old Fire Station before now, I can guarantee I will be back again – not only to try more of what I thoroughly enjoyed, but to also soak up more of the atmosphere and potentially try the rest of the menu too.<\/p>\n

I also need to return to try out some of the beer from Lark Hill Brewery too, who have their own little bar set-up next to the caf\u00e9. All in all, the Old Fire Station is truly a great use of the historic space – being able to form its own identity without taking too much of its original character and charm away.<\/p>\n

The Old Fire Station Bakery is on 47 Albion Place, Crescent, Salford, M5 4NL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The place is full of unique charm and character, and the food is pretty impressive too Adam is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,8829,2465,8827,8937,280,1290,84555,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-314141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-m-e-n-explore","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-cafes","14":"tag-pubs-and-bars","15":"tag-restaurants","16":"tag-salford","17":"tag-salford-university","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114964067242483625","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}