THING OF THE WEEK
FOOD HALL CALL…Restaurant operator the Milestone Group is calling for a trio of food traders to join the mouthwatering line-up at the General Post Office food hall at the redeveloped Metquarter in Liverpool. Bullion Craft Bean Café, Restaurant Konjo, Jail Bird Nashville Fried Chicken, Patty B’s Burgers, Thai 25, Dirty Herb Vegan Kitchen and Bubble Tea are already signed up at the 16,000 sq ft venue, and are preparing to sling tasty meals into the mouths of ravenous customers when GPO opens in spring. Matt Bigland, founder and director of the Milestone Group said: “If you think your brand is a good fit, we want to hear from you. GPO will champion independent regional operators above all else, we’re urging people to get in touch and pitch to us.”
PADDLE UP…Peel L&P has conducted a survey asking the public how the Bridgewater Canal has contributed to their wellbeing during lockdown. Out of 335 people surveyed, 284 said the canal had positively impacted their mental health and wellbeing, according to the developer, which owns and operates the canal. Those questioned were also able to request potential improvements to the canal, which runs between Leigh and Runcorn via Manchester, and chief among the requests was the introduction of paddleboarding provision. Diversifying the morning commute is all well and good, but who wants to turn up to work dripping in pungent canal water having been blown off their board by a stiff breeze?
CANAL PLAN…It is not just Peel L&P that is mulling over how it can improve its waterways. Holiday park operator Lakeland Leisure Estates is positioning itself to take advantage of what could be a big summer for UK tourism, as the new threat of serious prison time prevents holidaymakers from venturing abroad. The firm has lodged an application with Cheshire West & Chester Council to install six floating holiday lodges at Tattenhall Marina, which it owns. Designed by PB Architecture, each gently bobbing chalet would feature a bijou-style bedroom, kitchen, living room and private deck overlooking the Shropshire Union Canal.
BIN-SPIRATION…Having outsourced the naming of its fleet of gritters to the punderfully imaginative residents of Manchester, the city council is now giving Mancunians the chance to name its fleet of 27 electric bin lorries. The names can be “witty or more earnest”, but “should relate to electricity, the vehicles’ eco-friendly credentials and/or waste collection and recycling”. Who said decarbonising can’t be fun…?
COMMUNITY SPIRITS…Residents of Barley near Pendle Hill in Lancashire have clubbed together to save their local boozer after its previous owner was placed into administration last year. KPMG was appointed to sell the Barley Mow pub but a group of community-minded locals have stepped up to the plate and hopes to reopen the pub this spring, subject to the lifting of national restrictions. Talk about putting money behind the bar.
TV DRAMA…Stockport’s cobbled backstreets are being used as a set for a new Sky TV drama, which got us thinking about what it might be about. Perhaps Sky has caught wind of Stockport’s sniping over, and subsequent withdrawal from, the GMSF and decided to buy the rights to the whole sorry saga. The series will build to a crescendo as bickering between the warring Labour and Conservative factions reaches fever pitch, before exploding into a bloody battle on the cobbled streets of the Underbanks, where cries about the protection of Green Belt will be drowned out by the sound of gushing blood. Or something.
