Vegan & gluten-free options are available on request. Before ordering please speak to our staff if you have a food allergy or intolerance. All dishes are subject to availability & change of specification / market pricing. We cannot guarantee that nuts or nut traces will not be found in our food. Please note a discretionary 10% Service Charge may be added to bills. It is your right not to pay. If we fail to justify it in any way, if you are

unhappy about this for any reason, or if you simply disagree with the principle, please bring this to our attention & we will strike the amount off from the bill. If you have any special requirements please contact us on toms@vicchopco.com.

Chop House Fish & ChipsBattered Scottish haddock, hand-cut chips, mushy peas, tartare sauce & lemon (gf)

£14.50

Mushroom Forestière Pudding (v)Steamed suet pudding served with wilted kale, celeriac purée & vegetable gravy

£14.50

Goosnargh ChickenPan-roast Goosnargh Chicken breast with grain mustard creamed leeks

& crushed new potatoes (gf)£14.50

Steak & Kidney PuddingThe classic steamed pudding served with mushy peas, chop house chips & gravy

£15.50

Mr Thomas’s Famous Corned Beef Hash 10 day’s in the making to our own secret recipe, served with a poached hen’s egg &

crispy dry-cured bacon (gf)£15.50

Chop House Fish PieSmoked West Coast haddock, cod, salmon, mussels

& garden peas in a rich fish cream topped with cheese mash £15.50

Beef Shin, Mushroom & Guinness PieAn epic pie topped with puff pastry, dressed with bone marrow & tarragon

£16.00

Sausage & MashGrandad’s Bangers Old English Sausage Ring with creamy mash & onion gravy

£13.50

Spring Speltotto (v)The British grain risotto with seasonal peas, beans & baby spinach – dressed with lemon

£14.00

~ STARTERS ~ ~ MAIN COURSES & CLASSICS ~

~ WHILE YOU WAIT ~

Rib Eye Steak250g 21 day dry-aged, heritage breed rib eye served with

watercress, peppercorn sauce & chop house chips (gf)£25.00

The Chop House BurgerIn a brioche bun with streaky bacon, smoked cheese,

pickle, relish & chop house chips £14.00

Pork Rib Eye Chop450g marinated with sage, garlic & lemon and char-grilled,

served with chop house chips & young watercress (gf)£16.50

Sweet-cured Bacon ChopServed char-grilled on champ mash with wild garlic & cockle broth (gf)

£17.00

~ CHOPS & STEAKS FROM THE GRILL ~

~ SIDE ORDERS ~

Celeriac & Apple Soup (v)Dressed with Garstang Blue cheese (gf )

£6.50

Potted MackerelPotted Port of Lancaster smoked mackerel, served with celeriac & grain

mustard slaw & sourdough croutes£8.50

Smoked SalmonHand-carved Port of Lancaster Smoked Scottish salmon with capers,

shallots, boiled egg & lemon£9.00

Lamb SweetbreadsPan-fried with peas, broad beans & chicken broth (gf )

£9.00

Goat’s Cheese (v)Crispy goat’s cheese pearls with pickled beets & truffle mayonnaise

£7.50

Chicken Liver PâtéServed with quince jam & sourdough toast

£8.50

Walnut, Pear & Chicory Salad (v)With agave & walnut oil dressing

£7.50

Baked Artisan Granary Bread for the table, served warm

with beef dripping & gravy£3.50

Devilled WhitebaitWith garlic aioli

£4.50

Nocellara Olives£3.50

Cornichons£2.50

Spicy Chilli ChipolatasServed in garlic butter

£4.50

Rump Steak170g served with two fried Burford Browns free-range hen’s eggs, chop house chips & young watercress (gf)

£15.50

Wilted Kale & Capers (v)(gf) £4.00

Chop House Chips (v) (gf) £3.50

Champ Mash (v) (gf) £4.00

Peas, Bacon & Lettuce (gf) £4.50

Chop House Salad (v) (gf) £3.50

Onion Rings (v) (gf)£4.00

Tender Stem Broccoli with Toasted Hazelnuts (v) (gf)

£4.50

WHO WAS MRS. SARAH STUDD?The inspirational story of the woman who really ran Thomas’s Chop House in its Victorian heyday

Cross Street was the main artery of the fledgling city. When Thomas’s opened the original Town Hall stood opposite, the iconic and hugely influential Cross Street Chapel was adjacent, the business hub of the city, the Exchange, was less than 100 yards down the road and The Manchester Guardian was only a few further. Thomas had the best spot in town. It was the closest licensed premises to St Ann’s Church, the point from which all distances to and from Manchester were measured. It stood at the heart of the city.

grew large and fast, with eight children born in seventeen years. But Sarah was not only the homemaker. By 1874, just seven years after opening, Thomas became too ill to work in either a kitchen or the city. His damaged chef ’s lungs obliged him to convert their home in Heaton Mersey into a nursery. He was entering floral display competitions. By this time the restaurant business had grown and a second Chop House at 47 King Street was also firmly under the steady hand of Sarah.

Even before this, in 1871, the Guardian reports the existence of a Ladies Room in Thomas’s. This may not seem a progressive business decision by today’s standards but it was for the time – three decades before Emmeline Pankhurst chose to fight for emancipation. It allowed women close if not in to the men’s world, a decision which would no doubt have seen resistance from the clientele of the day.

Sarah Studd was determined, efficient and immensely resilient. Thomas sadly died in 1880 at just 45, leaving the licences, officially, to his wife along with the nursery business. Under Sarah’s strong leadership, six years later in 1886, Tom’s was serving 300 to 400 meals per day. And if you just look around at the size of our beautiful building you will recognise just what a monumental feat that is.

Sarah maintained the license and the business for three quarters of the 33 years the Studd family were in charge. At an incredibly significant time in Manchester’s history. She raised her children. She nursed Thomas who died slowly with a terrifying chest condition. She sold his beloved home to raise funds for her family and for the business. She did not just keep it afloat, she thrived. She served the most important people in the city in her time. She honoured her husband’s name. She passed Thomas’s on to her eldest daughter, also Sarah, who took full charge as her honoured

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86

First MPs returned to parliament since 1656

Married at All Saints Church, Chorlton upon Medlock

Born Sarah Townsend, Southowram, West Riding

Starts at Browns Chophouse, Exchange Hotel

Sarah begins work as a waitress at Browns

Shoreditch, London

Raising funds through furnitureand catering equiptment sale

New Town Hall opens on Albert SquarePuts Grange Villa Nursery on the market because of ill health

Manchester Ship Canal Opens

Enmmeline Goulden (later Pankhurst) born

Co-proprietor ofBrown’s with Mr Brown

Dissolves partnership with Samuel.

House on St Ann’s Passageway“opposite the Town Hall”

Birth of daughter Sarah

Birth of son Alfred

at 47 King Street

American Civil War causes cotton recession

Chophouse with brother Samuel, on Cockpit Hill

First ever Trades Union Congress held in city.Birth of Daughter Lily

Granted city status Peak cotton mills – 108 in total

Sam’s relocates to 44 MarketStreet, 1500 diners per week

Chest condition develops similiar to Black Lung.Buys Grange Villa, opens Nursery “a rival to the makers of the best bouquets.”Birth of twins Amy and Amelia

Sarah dies with daughter Lily in Clacton on Sea, Essex.Emmeline Pankhurst forms the Women’s Social And Political Union

Society formed

Birth of son Samuel

American Civil War endsBirth of son John

Living with family onUpper Brook Street

Sarah now ‘Head of the Household’ and ‘Restaurant keeper’ in census

Construction starts on36 mile Ship Canal

Refused spirits license3-400 covers a day,

2000+ per week

At least 12 chop houses advertising in the city

Manchester/historic context

Sarah Studd key events

1867

1880

Samuel re-opens as Sam’s London Chophouse.

Sarah Studd visualised by illustrator Paul Gamble

Sally/Sarah Townsend’s baptism record, 1835

Sarah & Thomas’s marriage record, All Saints Church, Chorlton upon Medlock, 1855

The opening day advertisement from the front page of the Manchester Guardian, just below the masthead, 16 April 1867

A TIMELINE FOR THE STUDD FAMILY & VICTORIAN MANCHESTER

honoured her husband’s name. She passed Thomas’s on to her eldest daughter, also Sarah, who took full charge as her mother retired to the seaside. And she died just as Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Social and Political Union.

The city’s most popular establishment, fuelling the stomachs and minds which oversaw Manchester’s rise, was run by two women. If you venture to the rear of the pub and look up at the mahogany

honours board listing the historic licensees suspended above the rear fireplace, you will see their names. Two more of Manchester’s ground breaking, social norm defying women. They may not have secured the vote or created an enduring arts or science legacy. They did not build the city a library, and no streets recall their name. Nonetheless Sarah Studd

pioneered in her own way. She carried her family and her business on her shoulders, and she ensured that Thomas’s Chop House stands proud still over 150 years later.

ORIGINAL RESEARCH INSPIRED BY THE WOMEN WHO SHAPED MANCHESTER EXHIBITION

In 1845 it was the most powerful economic force in the world. A city of great wealth.

It was also hell on earth.

In spite of this Manchester was one of the world’s biggest magnets. The inspiration for Marx and Engels as much as for Rolls and Royce. Arkwright built a mill here. Bridgewater created the world’s first successful canal here. Rutherford split the atom in this place. John Dalton gave the world his Atomic Theory. And Elizabeth Gaskell was a rock star novelist married to the great preacher of his day, William Gaskell. Bizarrely, the Posh and Becks of their day. Later Alan Turing pioneered computer science on these streets.

Victorian Manchester led the world with its cotton and textiles. The world’s first commuter railway station opened on Liverpool Road. This city helped shape the world’s thinking in politics, economics and science. Manchester’s global contribution includes free trade, the co-operative movement and emancipation.

Defoe’s great mere village waited until 1832 for its first democratic representation in parliament. And was not officially designated a city until 1853.

Yet it sucked people in from far and wide. Which is how Thomas and Sarah Studd met here.

MANCHESTER - THE WORLD’S FIRST INDUSTRIAL CITY

As was the way in the mid nineteenth century, the Studd family grew large and fast, with eight children born in seventeen years. But Sarah was not only the homemaker. By 1874, just seven years after opening, Thomas became too ill to work in either a kitchen or the city. His damaged chef ’s lungs obliged him to convert their home in Heaton Mersey into a nursery. He was entering floral display competitions. By this time the restaurant business had grown and a second Chop House at 47 King Street was also firmly under the steady hand of Sarah.

Even before this, in 1871, the Guardian reports the existence of a Ladies Room in Thomas’s. This may not seem a progressive business decision by today’s standards but it was for the time – three decades before Emmeline Pankhurst chose to fight for emancipation. It allowed women close if not in to the men’s world, a decision which would no doubt have seen resistance from the clientele of the day.

Sarah Studd was determined, efficient and immensely resilient. Thomas sadly died in 1880 at just 45, leaving the licences, officially, to his wife along with the nursery business. Under Sarah’s strong leadership, six years later in 1886, Tom’s was serving 300 to 400 meals per day. And if you just look around at the size of our beautiful building you will recognise just what a monumental feat that is.

Sarah maintained the license and the business for three quarters of the 33 years the Studd family were in charge. At an incredibly significant time in Manchester’s history. She raised her children. She nursed Thomas who died slowly with a terrifying chest condition. She sold his beloved home to raise funds for her family and for the business. She did not just keep it afloat, she thrived. She served the most important people in the city in her time. She

THOMAS’S NEW CHOP HOUSE opened at this location in 1867 selling chops, steaks and sandwiches.

Its proprietor was then the city’s most famous restauranteur Thomas Studd, who began life in Shoreditch, London. He trained as a chef, and worked in or opened five chop houses in boom town Victorian Manchester. His name still lives, 150 years on. Chop Houses were then all the rage. Places for the businessmen of the city to make big deals powered by chops which were the most fashionable and agreeable food of the day.

Women were strictly forbidden. The Chop House was a man’s world. But Thomas’s broke this norm. From the start, the young upstart chef owner Thomas Studd was supported by the great woman behind him – his Yorkshire born wife Sarah, a farmer’s daughter. They met whilst working together in Brown’s Chop House on Market Street. She was then a waitress.