Northern Roots Urban Farm and Eco-Park

Northern Roots has confirmed its first major hospitality appointment. Mary-Ellen McTague – chef, food writer and co-founder of food poverty charity EatWellMCR – has joined as Chef Partner, tasked with setting up the café and catering operation ahead of opening.

Her remit covers menu development, operational setup of the café and catering offer, and recruitment support for the food team – including the search for a Head Chef, who will report to an F&B General Manager and work alongside McTague on a menu built around produce grown on site. CEO Anna da Silva said the appointment reflects the charity’s long-standing focus on food and farming as central to the project’s wider aims.

The Head Chef vacancy is live now, with an deadline of midnight on Sunday 5 July 2026. The role is £35,000 a year for 40 hours a week, covering café operations, food production for the on-site shop, and event catering. Applications go through the Northern Roots website.

Construction on the site’s first permanent buildings – the Welcome Building and Forestry Skills Centre – is under way, delivered by Willmott Dixon with £12.9m from the government’s Town Deal and Levelling Up funds. The 6,300 sq ft visitor centre will house a café, production kitchen, shop and two classrooms; the Forestry Skills Centre adds workshop and office space. Oldham Council and Northern Roots have given a summer 2026 completion target for the buildings, with the Northern Roots press office separately citing an autumn 2026 opening for the visitor destination itself.

The 160-acre site – a former landfill off Kings Road, Oldham – remains open to visitors throughout construction, with an established wildflower meadow and six wildlife ponds already in place from the project’s first phase.