SleuthSleuth is a sideways glance at the city every week, it's the truth, but Sleuth's truth. He's several people all at once. We give £25 for every story/rumour and piece of absurdity you find for us to publish. Sleuth sometimes even gets serious. We ask for the money back if any legal action follows. Follow Sleuth on twitter @mcrsleuth
Avalanche Restaurant Snowballs
Avalanche is set to expand. The Booth Street Italian restaurant in the city centre apparently turned over the remarkable amount of £2m in its first trading year. Now the bosses want to build an empire. The plans are for another two Manchester restaurants and then a move to London. One of the Manchester restaurants will be in the city centre and one in a 'south Manchester suburb'. Sleuth thinks they probably mean Wythenshawe. Avalanche are saying they've put £1m aside for each launch. Wow.
It's all great news though, Sleuth thinks we simply can't have enough Italian-style restaurants in the city, even though they're everywhere already. Indeed Sleuth woke up this morning and found a small Italian restaurant had opened in his navel. "Ciao," it said to him. "Ciao," Sleuth said back with a wink.
Avalanche seafood at 2011 launch
Has The MEN Become More Sensationalist?
Or rather has the MEN in recent months become more desperate chasing readership. One story this week was the snappily titled: 'Cab Companies React With Fury To Launch Of California-founded Private Hire Firm Uber'. Total bloody fury apparently as the quote from Manchester Cars' spokesperson a Mr Bragg reveals. He said, "We are not threatened by the competition. It is good for the marketplace." Funny really, all that distortion. Why do this - to gain a few more reads? Not funny, sad.
Spot the difference
Litter With Eyes
Sleuth feels that the social responsibility of grafitti is not what it should be so he's pleased that at last some of the buildings in the Northern Quarter are growing eyes to bring people's attention to street cleansing.
"Clean this up now," says the wall on Whittle Street
Oysterphilia - It's Legal, We Think
The poems which make Sleuth happy are all about oysters. There are so many of them, especially the only two Sleuth can remember: Lewis Carroll's The Walrus and The Carpenter and Manchester-based and nowhere near as dead, Adam O'Riordan's In The Flesh reproduced here. Thus, when Sleuth found them back on the menu at Grill he yelped joyously - see picture at the top of the page. There has been some sort of oyster blight somewhere and they've been hard to track down in the city. And now they're back. What were these oysters like? They were juicy, madam, briny with sea salt, slipped down the throat like the dawn of a sunny day. Very sensuous.
More Skyscrapers For Manchester
Hodder Remaker TowersThere's a row brewing over the proposal for two more skyscrapers off Whitworth Street West and Cambridge Street close to Oxford Road Station. These are by Stephen Hodder Partners and incorporate 282 apartments in two towers of 22 and 29 storeys. The nearby Student Castle is 37 storeys high or 106m. Some provisional visualisations are here. Sleuth thinks the more tall buildings the better as long as they contribute to the skyline. Student Castle does that and is also by Stephen Hodder Partners. The images released presently are sketchy but Sleuth has the faith, let's get them built.
Hodder tower plans
Sleuth's Definition Of Manchester Confidential's Gordo
Sleuth was pleased to have this word passed to him by Eleanor Wotherspoon from the Oxford English Dictionary. 'Abligurition, n.: a now rare term for extravagant spending on food and drink.' Sleuth got an NYPD profiler in and found the term was an exact match for Gordo, the Confidential food and drink writer and Officer-in-Chief of Chowing.
Sleuth’s Crazed Tweet Of The Week
This from Almost Famous Burgers the morning after a mad midweek night. ‘YES it’s early (fuck off sunlight). YES it’s not even weekend (fuck off calendar inventors).’ Sleuth loves a haiku (almost) of crapulous desperation fronted by brassiness. Sleuth recognises it. Sleuth's howled at the moon far too often himself. Maybe a bit of abligurition was taking place down Almost Famous way.
Representatives of Manchester Confidential and Almost Famous plan the day after the night before
Sleuth's Lies To Tell Tourists
In olden days the heads of criminals were placed on spikes on prominent buildings as an example to other bad 'uns. In Manchester we now place the criminal on the big wheel in Piccadilly for all to see - as happened this week with 'notorious gangster' to quote the MEN, Dominyk Noonan. Here he is in the picture below. So if visiting Manchester be sure to check out the wheel. Crim spin day is Tuesday.
Noonan on the wheel rather than head on a spike
