Manchester's Solita restaurants have been sold - and there are changes afoot

Manchester's much-loved Solita burger brand has sold up, and is being taken over by a well-known UK street food group.

Hull-based events company Shoot The Bull, which is also behind The Old House pubs in both York and Hull, has snapped up the two remaining Solita sites in Manchester.

The burger giant suddenly closed its Prestwich location last June, followed by its Mexican sibling El Taquero in the city centre earlier this year, leaving only the Northern Quarter and Didsbury restaurants operational.

Now under the steer of its new owners, there are some changes in the pipeline for Solita - including a new bar in Didsbury.

Shoot the Bull CEO Chris Harrison said: "The brand is obviously well-known and well-followed and we of course want to maintain that and nurture that.

Solita Didsbury (Manchester Evening News)

"Our research has found that there are a few people who have maybe lost touch with it, and we want to put a new lease of life into it and get it back to being a Manchester burger institution."

Shoot the Bull is a big advocate of Wagyu beef and will be pushing that, alongside new street food dishes, through Solita.

"We believe that will get the spark back in the business and get it right back in the spotlight," said Chris.

"The Big Manc will stay! Don't worry about that. But we will be making some changes - we've changed the fries already, we'll be bringing our bretzel bun - it's half pretzel, half bread."

The Big Manc burger at Solita Restaurant (Matt Ratcliffe)

It's not just the menus that are in line for changes either - Shoot the Bull will be adding a new cocktail and craft beer bar to the upstairs of the Didsbury site.

The Northern Quarter's beer garden will also be given a facelift in time for summer.

The Shoot the Bull brand already has a presence in Manchester through events, having worked with both Man City and Boohoo in the past.

This will be its first permanent, bricks-and-mortar operation in the city.

They will also be opening a new-look Solita over in Leeds.

The staff from the existing restaurants have all been retained.

It's expected that the changes will be fully implemented within the next two months.