Sleuth 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
Ill-fated tourSleuth was intrigued the other day when he found a Thai Restaurant, Nam Ploy, had opened in the decidedly rum looking Merchants Hotel on Oldham Street. He didn't have a camera so he went back a week later to take some pics and found the place had been repossessed. The end of Oldham Street which contains the Merchants is possibly the ugliest strip in the city, choked by buses and clogged with poverty. If we ever think we've cracked hardship in this city spend three and a half minutes at the bus stop next to the very quick Thai restaurant that came and went in the twinkling of a third eye.You'll soon realise the scale of the problem.
As for Nam Ploy, what's that expression: location, location, location?
Oh dear
Ryan Giggs And The Venison Pudding
This week Sleuth went to George's Restaurant in Worsley with Gordo to meet Debbie Halls-Evans from Bolton who had just been announced the winner in Channel 4's cookery comp, The Taste. There's an interview going up next week with the lady. Ryan Giggs has a stake in George's and had a chat with Sleuth. Good lad, very polite, totally different from the typical footy player caricature. Then again he is a bit older.
Giggs was excited about the new fans' hotel opening next season outside Old Trafford. He's one of the investors. "It's going to have a Cafe Football too. We were really pleased when Jay Rayner reviewed the first one we opened in London and loved it. This one's going to be just as good."
"Hey Ryan," Gordo called with his mouth full, "come and have a picture with me while I stuff myself with this terrific venison pie." The pie was Sleuth's dish of the week. You can see Giggs and Gordo (top picture) with the pudding waiting to be consumed.
Debbie Halls-Evans, very happy in George's
The World's Best Sponger Is From Salford
"This is my friend Tony," said Giggs with a grin after being pictured with Gordo. "He's a Salford window cleaner." And then some. Tony Camilleri started off with a ladder, sponge and bucket but ended up climbing the ladder as far as he could in Manchester and then Europe. He now has the window cleaning contract for every hotel in the city and, on the Wednesday Sleuth met him, his boys had been abseiling down Beetham Tower's 47 storeys polishing the glass. "We also have the contract for Wembley Stadium and this year I'm sending a team out to France cleaning the windows at Roland Garros." As Sleuth says, there are window cleaners and window cleaners.
Tony puts a shine on it
MCR's Most Asinine Office Sign
Sleuth’s chum works at an Accountancy firm in the city centre. He was plodding along his regular morning routine: arrive, coffee, emails, sums, bowel movement, toaster… when he came across this motivational sign that had been put up in the office communal kitchen over night by Corporate and Ridiculously Asinine Posters. Sleuth’s chum stood looking at this sign for three hours and still couldn’t make heads or tail of it. Having reasoned that this was the worst piece of corporate motivational nonsense he’d ever seen, Sleuth’s chum went back to his desk, ate his calculator and put his head through his monitor.
Erm... what?
Bijou Popcorn Bonanza
Sleuth likes a bit of decadence on a Thursday afternoon and Harvey Nichols has served up its latest indulgence with truffle popcorn. The price is £20 for a glass of Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial, which is then served alongside the admittedly gorgeous if tiny box of popcorn. This is available for the rest of March at the Second Floor Bar of Harvey Nichols. There are worst ways to spend a Thursday thought Sleuth lying back exhausted from all the hard work on his chaise longue as nymphs pop grapes into his gob.
Popcorn and champagne
Drake Is A Manc
Alana Sherrard, star of the Middle Table in Confidential, was at the Drake gig at the Phones4U Arena this week. Her friend got a snap of the fella's missus looking regal which was nice, but wasn't sure about Drake trying to put on an urban Manc accent and saying: "Who’s the loudest city blad? Is it London (boooo) is it Liverpool yeah? (booooooooo) Is it Birmy blad? (boooo) or is it Manchester? (woooooooooooooooooo)". Apparently the accent wasn't convincing. Sleuth has let Drake's agent know and has received assurances that next time he's in the city Confidential can give him lessons. Innit.
Rihanna (credit @Mr_Billyonaire)
Sleuth And Lazy Workers
Every seven days or so Sleuth is stopped in the street by policemen, concierges, the contestants of The Taste, Ryan Giggs, window-cleaners, Drake, Rihanna and all the closed Thai restaurants of the world and asked: "Where can we see some proper lazy workmen carved in stone in Manchester?"
"Why," says Sleuth, "that would be on top of the 1877 office building by Clegg and Knowles in Piccadilly. These lazy sods have been doing nothing for 137 years now."
And to prove this he showed the policemen, concierges, the contestants of The Taste, Ryan Giggs, window-cleaners, Drake, Rihanna and all the closed Thai restaurants of the world, these pictures.
Idle ancient workers
Taking it easy in the sun
