First look at the Stock Market Grill's smart new look and spectacular £7 chips

Farewell to the Bull and Bear, and hello to the Stock Market Grill. The Stock Exchange Hotel’s long-awaited new brasserie opens next week, and the Manchester Evening News got in for a first look.

Formerly celebrity TV chef Tom Kerridge’s domain, the restaurant is now being run by the Schofield brothers, who already run the hotel’s cocktail bar Sterling in the basement, as well as Schofield’s Bar - recently voted the fourth best bar in the UK - and Atomeca at Deansgate Square.

Though this is their first restaurant project, the pair are confident that they can pull it off, with a brand new menu, a revamped dining room (the divisive TV screens showing rolling sports that held court previously are gone), a great chef at the helm and a new partner in wine expert James Brandwood.

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"I feel incredibly excited about the opening, we've got a great time lined up and I'm feeling very relaxed, which is a bit unheard of in the world of food and drink,” Joe Schofield told the M.E.N. The Schofields had landed on hotel owner and former United legend Gary Neville’s radar through their much-loved bar on Little Quay Street, of which he's said to be a big fan.

They then opened Sterling in the old bank vault beneath the hotel, and were the first choice when the dining space was ready for a change.

"When the news broke about Tom Kerridge and his team leaving Manchester, we had a conversation with the hotel who we have a great relationship with and said we would be interested in opening a restaurant together,” Joe said. “This will be our first restaurant venture but we do have 20 years experience in world class restaurants during that time.”

The pair, originally from