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
The Wright Stuff
There's going to be a new traditional chippy in the city centre on Cross Street close to Albert Square and the Town Hall. This doesn't sound a particularly noteworthy or newsworthy event but given the location of the new place and the fact it'll be a proper old fashioned chip shop, and given the city centre's relative dearth of such businesses, then this is bigger news than it otherwise would be - although not as big as that sentence.
The chippy is called Wright's and is a new start - there isn't a parent shop in Bury or some such. It will open 11-7 weekdays, 11-8 weekends, and starts frying for the public next Wednesday. Sleuth suggested Fryday might be a more appropriate day. It was such a good joke a passerby collapsed on the street outside laughing so hard. Fortunately Sleuth had his pocket defibrillator to hand.
Wright's Chippy
The Least Surprising Fact Of The Week: Britannia Hotels Are Crap
Which? has done a survey of customers and found QHotels the best hotel chain in the UK and Britannia the worst. QHotels got 78% satisfaction rating, Britannia got 36% with rooms described as 'shabby' and 'rundown'. One customer was alarmed to find in some Britannia Hotels windowless rooms - both Manchester city centre Britannia hotels feature these horrors. The customer was even more alarmed to find that he had to pay a £10 supplement for a room with a window - as though being able to see out is a luxury. Britannia Hotels Group has a similar low rating with most Mancunians over another matter. Their behaviour over London Road Fire Station has been despicable - click here. By the way the editor wrote about the Britannia Hotel, Portland Street here.
Britannia Hotel at night
Sleuth And The New Britannia Hotel
Sleuth's been sent this exclusive picture of a proposed new Britannia Hotel for the Northern Quarter. Rather than having internal rooms with absolutely no window space, it's going to consist of external rooms with lots of fresh air. There is a proposed £20 supplement for this level of amenity.
The proposed external bedroom Britannia Hotel
The French At The Midland Wins Again...It's Biggest Prize Yet
Sleuth learns that The French at The Midland won the Cheshire Life Manchester Restaurant of the Year recently. It will never face tougher opposition. It was shortlisted against the mighty Avalanche, the Booth Street restaurant that is a bit Italian. A bit. Avalanche has never been shortlisted before for anything at all. The French and Avalanche. Sleuth's sat at his desk looking at some chalk and some cheese and trying to compare them. It isn't happening.
The Bigger Restaurant Prize
Meanwhile The Sunday Times top 100 list of restaurants has been published, and hurrah, we've got a city centre restaurant on it at last. Go on guess which one, go on? No madam it is not Avalanche, but it is The French at the Midland. Simon Rogan, the executive chef, is going to have to get his trophy cabinet enlarged. His L'Enclume restaurant in Cartmel is, of course, on the list as well.
The French
Japan Empty Letters
Sleuth mentioned the other day how he'd met a Japanese film crew and how they were filming an hour long programme in the city over the course of several weeks. He met them again on Wednesday and filmed a sequence with them, involving posting a letter - actually an empty envelope - in the Princess Street/Albert Square post box. After posting the letter he'd 'bump' into the group and have a chat. Sleuth had to repeat this five times with the crew because of buses revving, people beeping their horns and so forth. Those empty envelopes are going to confuse the postman.
Confusing for the postie
Japanese Love
Kenko the presenter of the Japanese show said: "We've loved Manchester. Everyone is so friendly and happy to see us, we've had no trouble in all the time we've been here, with our equipment or anything. Last time we were filming in London we found it so difficult and so expensive. Just for an hour in a Royal Park costs £500. All the locations are expensive, in Manchester they're free. And Manchester people are so generous. We filmed the mosaic artist Mark Kennedy in a pub and we asked him what his fee was and he said, "Give over - yes that was it - give other, just get me a pint, I'm just chatting to you." So we bought him a Guinness." Sleuth knows Mark Kennedy. Guinness to him is worth pure gold.
Lovely crew from the East
Letters Again
Sleuth went to post a letter at the Spring Garden post office. He couldn't - the external letterboxes were all blocked up. But as he tried to push his letter in and failed he noticed peeping out of the box a postcard that had never been collected. It was very tatty and very faded - just like a Britannia Hotel room. Must have been there for months if not years. So for his good deed of the day he took the letter into the post office and posted it. Sleuth is a kind gentleman.
Postcard trapped in town
Erection Threatened By Cheeky Boards
Sleuth's been amused by the 'cock campaign' being waged on the perimiter fence of the MMU Birley fields site in Hulme while the new campus there is being erected. The logo has a funky white dotted line motif on the perimeter fence and locals (many of whom protested against the notion of the development as it was being built on an open site - Hulmites can't resist a protest) keep drawing massive dotted line male members in the same white paint in such a way they look part of the design. The poor site managers keep having to block out the offending anatomical images. It's not a very reproductive use of their time Sleuth hears.
Computer Projection Of The Cock-Attacked Building
Sleuth And The Ghost of Christmas Future
Sleuth was walking through Albert Square this week. "Hello," he said, to a familiar face, "How are you feeling?" "To be honest," said Santa, "I'm in bits."
Santa in bits
Sleuth's View Of The Week
Sleuth found a good morning last week and cycled into Manchester city centre on his Brompton Dock bike - the foldaway Brompton bikes you can hire from Piccadilly Station. This is a view of Manchester from the west. Sleuth will let people take nerdy guesses about the exact location.
Beautiful, just after dawn
Sleuth And His Little Castle
Every seven days or so Sleuth is stopped in the street by policemen, concierges, Japanese film crews, Simon Rogan, people looking for fish and chips, a man called Avo, residents of the Britannia Hotel, a dissected Santa Claus, cock campaigners and all the customers of Avalanche, and asked: "Where in Manchester can we find a lovely pair of castle towers and a gate made out of terracotta?"
"Why," says Sleuth, "they would be on the Palace Hotel, formerly the Refuge Assurance Company, built as Phase One of the complex in 1891-5 by Alfred Waterhouse, renowned architect of Manchester Town Hall. The little castle symbolises security, showing customers their money is safe with the Refuge Assurance."
And to prove this he showed policemen, concierges, Japanese film crews, Simon Rogan, people looking for fish and chips, a man called Avo, residents of the Britannia Hotel, a dissected Santa Claus, cock campaigners and all the customers of Avalanche, this picture.
Little castles of safety
