Five weeks ago, Katey Mack and Kenny Cottam were working at their renowned café, Wolfhouse Kitchen & Bakery in Silverdale, when a call came through.
It was Nick Johnson, the man in charge of Altrincham Market.
Would they consider taking a space in Market House – and could they move in almost immediately?
It was a big ask. Aside from the distance – Silverdale is near Lancaster, and a full 75 miles from Altrincham – the couple had worked hard to build up the reputation of Wolfhouse since being offered the chance to run it two years ago.
Their initial reaction was ‘no way’.
But Johnson, who had become an ardent fan of the café over several trips to Silverdale, persevered. Mack and Cottam agreed to come and meet him – and were blown away.
“We walked in and just thought ‘wow, we have to be here’,” says Mack. “And about a week later, we were.
Below: Wolfhouse Kitchen in Market House
“We’d seen a few pictures and it looked nice, but when we walked in on a Thursday night, the atmosphere was just completely different to anywhere else that we’d been.
“Everyone looked so happy, and the food was just incredible. It was just such a nice place to be, and so much better than anything we had expected. We just thought we had to be a part of it.”
And so on October 20th, Wolfhouse opened an unexpected Altrincham branch in the space previously occupied by The Ginger Kid.
What happened to The Ginger Kid, aka Kevin White? Johnson says it simply didn’t work out, and that in the end it was mutually agreed that White should move out.
Within a day Wolfhouse had taken over the kitchen and filled the counters with its distinctive take on American fast food classics. So alongside the array of handmade cakes and salads, there are delightfully quirky offerings such as bonemarrow bacon cheeseburger, buttermilk fried chicken with waffles and French toast with bacon and maple syrup.
“We like to have a lot of fun while making food,” Mack explains. “We try to challenge people and do things that people might not expect in terms of our combinations.”
Below: Some of Wolfhouse’s cakes and salads
The pair – both 25 – actually met as 13-year-olds while working at the Lunesdale Arms in Tunstall, near Kirkby Lonsdale.
They reunited again in Paris, where Mack had gone to study at university, and both wound up working at the Rose Bakery. She learnt to bake, while Cottam worked on savouries.
After Mack graduated, they headed home to the Lunesdale with a plan to save up enough money to move to London. But then the Wolfhouse opportunity came along – “it was what we always wanted, so we had to do that”, says Mack.
Fast forward two years and life has taken another unexpected turn, this time to Market House. They’ve installed a manager to look after the Silverdale cafe, and for the time being – to allow for that 150-mile round trip – they’re handing over the kitchen in the evenings to steak specialists Tender Cow.
Once they’ve found a place to live in Altrincham in the new year, they’ll be open six evenings a week as well (with Tender Cow moving to a new unit).
But for now, the couple are seemingly smitten with their unexpected new home. “Originally we were going to see how it went until Christmas, but it’s just such a great place to be,” Mack says.
“I look forward to coming here every single day, and we definitely want to stay.”
Below: More of Wolfhouse’s cakes, all baked at Market House, and Kenny Cottam and Katey Mack
