A new all-day café and cultural space is set to open at Manchester’s Depot Mayfield on Saturday, 26th September, as White Label brings together exceptional coffee, simple food and vinyl culture in one of the city’s most exciting neighbourhoods.
Created at the front door of Mayfield in the iconic Depot Mayfield, White Label is a place to arrive, meet, pause and return to throughout the day. The new café will move naturally from morning coffee and breakfast to lunch, after-work drinks and an evolving programme of music and events.
At the heart of White Label is a love of music and vinyl culture, taking inspiration from Manchester’s long relationship with house music, club culture, DJs and independent record shops. Music at White Label will be curated by Manchester DJ Stu Richards, who brings 20 years of experience spanning jazz, funk, soul, reggae, disco, house, techno and drum and bass.
The name White Label references the plain vinyl pressings traditionally circulated among DJs, record shops and promoters ahead of a track’s official release. Associated with discovery, experimentation and hearing something first, white labels became part of the culture around house and club music, moving new records from producers to DJs and onto dancefloors.
It is a fitting reference for Mayfield. Over recent years, Depot Mayfield has played its own part in Manchester’s cultural story, hosting The Warehouse Project, Manchester International Festival and Freight Island, while sitting alongside longstanding neighbouring venues including the Star & Garter. Together, they have helped establish Mayfield as a key destination for music, food, art and culture for Manchester and the wider region. White Label takes inspiration from that history while creating something designed for everyday use.
Throughout the day, a carefully curated record collection will be played through a modernised Vintage HiFi System using the latest speakers from Vestlyd, creating the soundtrack to the space. As the day progresses, White Label will become more social, with vinyl listening sessions, guest selectors and occasional creative talks forming part of an evolving programme.
Coffee and food are central to the White Label experience, with a simple, considered menu designed to suit the rhythm of the day. Coffee will be supplied by Manchester-based speciality coffee roaster Heart & Graft.
Breakfast will include sourdough and pastries from the incredible Half Dozen Other, house made granola, overnight oats, and breakfast brioche rolls, followed by an all-day hot sandwich menu built around White Label’s signature toasted brioche. Dishes include a house Stracotto beef, bacon, egg and cheese; a spicy mapo sweet potato and tofu; and an Italian sausage, greens and chilli with candied walnut.
Located moments from Manchester Piccadilly Station, White Label is also well placed for those passing through Mayfield to the award-winning Park, or grabbing a coffee and something to eat before a train, meeting for lunch, working nearby or stopping for a drink after work. There will be a well executed wine list, a short mixed drink list as well as two impeccably kept draft lines from local master-brewers Cloudwater.
With its combination of hospitality, vinyl culture and cultural programming, White Label is designed to become an everyday meeting place for the people living, working and visiting the city, while adding another layer to Depot Mayfield’s evolving creative identity.
The opening also comes at an exciting moment for the neighbourhood, with the Avanade Intelligent Garden located directly outside White Label.
Originally created for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025, the garden explores how technology and AI can support the long-term health of urban trees. Now relocated to Depot Mayfield, it will continue as a living laboratory, with sensors collecting environmental data to inform future approaches to urban greening.
For White Label, its arrival creates a new green setting directly outside the café, giving guests another place to sit and spend time over coffee, food and drinks. Together, White Label and the garden will bring a new everyday destination to this part of Mayfield as the neighbourhood continues to evolve.
To mark its opening, White Label will be giving away free soft serve ice cream to the first 100 people through the door on Saturday 26th September.
Opening hours are from 8am until 8pm daily. Walk-ins welcome.
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