Things are shifting in Stockport town centre. Life is being breathed back into the old town, with street food events, market days, pubs, bars and restaurants springing up left right and centre.
The unstoppable success of Foodie Friday, the street food celebration that takes place on the last Friday of every month, coupled with the steady pint-slinging at the Bakers Vaults has turned the area around Market Place into its own food and drink destination.
Even the controversial Produce Hall is generating a healthy amount of foot traffic and proving itself as a valuable meeting place for locals.
One of the most talked-about additions in recent years (along with Where The Light Gets In), was The Allotment , the vegan fine dining restaurant that was showered in awards. But then it was gone, moved into Manchester and leaving its corner unit on Vernon Street empty.
That spot has finally been snapped back up, and the offering couldn't be much further removed from the days of confit aubergine and buckwheat brownies.
The 6 Vernon Street site will soon be home to a Viking-inspired tapas bar, where decor includes enormous axes and diners can swig mead from a horn.
It arrives hot off the back of the final season of Game of Thrones, which concludes this week, and fans of the hit show will recognise the vaguely Westerosi/Medieval style decor.
Dan Ray is the man behind Vinaböd Tapas Bar and its Andalusian-inspired menu, which will focus on meat and fish. Along with business partners Danny Scott and Jill and Bob Williams, they hope to create an atmospheric but welcoming venue for Stockport.
The food will be based on the tapas of southern Spain, where Dan grew up, and where he remembers seeing pig legs and skinned rabbits hanging in the window.
"We won't go that far," he says, "But it will be that sort of rustic take on tapas. We'll have an Iberian leg of ham on the bar and a really meat and fish-led menu, though there will be things to cater for vegetarians and vegans."
A core menu of eight to ten tapas dishes, priced between £3 and £6, will be bolstered by several specials that will rotate each week depending on the best produce Dan can source.
There will also be plenty of meads - he's aiming for between 20 and 30 - from stockists including Lyme Bay, Lancashire Mead Company, and Viking Mead from the Shetlands. El Toro Wines will dominate the wine selection.
Vinaböd will boast an interior inspired by Norse mythology, complete with handmade wooden furniture, faux fur animal skins, and ornaments made of 'bones'.
"It's been a real team effort," Dan, who was previously head chef at nearby Remedy, said. "We couldn't have got here without all our friends and family who have got involved.
"My mum's hand-painted flags and hung driftwood ornaments that look like bones. My parents collect things they find and have managed to get raw iron chairs that are hundreds of years old. All the benches and tables have been made by hand. There are real red deer antlers as well as resin antlers that will act as coat pegs.
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"I handmade an axe handle a few years ago and I've been weathering it ever since. There'll be a massive axe too, too big for anyone to actually use so it's just decorative. There's a Norse god called Forseti who carries an axe, so this will be a nod to him."
A centrepiece in the restaurant will be a 9ft by 4ft mural by artist Castle, which Dan and his team have acquired and hung across one wall.
Dan met Bob while working at Remedy, and the two quickly realised they could go it alone and started the hunt for a site where they could show off their love of Norse mythology.
"We want it to be authentic," said Dan. "Obviously no one can recreate what life was like 1,000 years ago but there's so much in the area now that's quite similar, lots of gin bars and things. We just thought wouldn't it be great if we could create that kind of warm tavern feeling, something different.
"It will have a proper warm, welcoming family atmosphere. You know, crusty bread rolls and bowls of olives when you sit down, all the balsamics and chilli oils."
As well as welcoming local families, Vinaböd will host monthly meetings of the Stockport Beards community, part of the British Beard Club who both celebrate facial hair and raise money for testicular and prostate cancer research.
Dan said: "We've made a lot of friends in the area. It was always going to be Stockport.
"We've got a great spot, we're so close to High Street and to the Bakers [Vaults], which is always such a busy pub.
"I really want to get involved with Foodie Friday, it would be amazing to have a pig on a spit roasting just outside.
"We'd love to have live entertainment too - a lyre player, jugglers, my friend is a fire breather too. Even to have Medieval battle reenactments outside, if I'm allowed! They can actually get quite tense to watch, it's really dramatic."
Vinaböd Tapas Bar is expected to open within the month at 6 Vernon Street. You can follow them on Facebook for updates.
