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

ARC SLIPS BENEATH HAWKSMOOR

Rumours have been circulating recently about the future of the hefty site lurking beneath Hawksmoor at the Grade II-listed Courthouse building on Deansgate, described merrily in 1895 by the Manchester Guardian as a building of 'utterly commonplace design of no interest whatever'. Steve Pilling, the Manchester greengrocer-turned-restaurateur behind Damson, The Dockyard pubs, NQ's Guilty bar and Liquorice, secured the lease for the space all the way back in the summer of 2011, announcing plans to launch the 6,000 sq ft, 150-cover 'Mr Pilling's Roast Restaurant & Oyster Bar'. Then landlords, contractors, bollocks and Hawksmoor happened, with Pilling hopping on over instead to Leftbank to concentrate on Spinningfields' new Dockyard (see below).

Now Sleuth has word that Leeds-based Arc Inspirations, the bar and restaurant operator behind multiple venues in Leeds, Harrogate and York, including Arc, Manahatta and Banyan (which will soon open in the all-new Corn Exchange this summer) have designs on the Deansgate site and are ready to take over the lease. First whispers suggested Arc was poised to launch their BBQ concept, The Pit (think ribs, steak and Boston Butt) beneath Hawksmoor, however, Sleuth has word that Arc are planning 'an exciting new concept delivering something new to the North of England'...

Don't say it... don't you dare bloody say it... 'how about more burgers' (snort, snort, snort).

 

NEW CITY CENTRE PUB

As mentioned above Steve Pilling's Dockyard pub on the riverside under Left Bank apartments has opened. It's very like its sister establishment at the Quays, a rough and ready fit out, big outside areas, a simple, whole-hearted menu, real ales and wines. It's going to be a success, Sleuth can smell it. It's a very different beast from the dreary Cafe Rouge which used to occupy the site, a 'restaurant' that got excited when it had ten customers in all at the same time. There'll be a review of Dockyard in the next couple of weeks, after Sleuth's drunk all the varieties of real ale on offer, not because he wants to but merely because he wants to report accurately back to readers.

 

ANTHONY BURGESS SNUBBED BY NAUGHTY ENGLISH HERITAGE

Sleuth heartily agrees with this from Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. ‘In common with many friends and colleagues, I am a great fan of the late Anthony Burgess, that gobsmackingly prolific author, critic and composer. Our sister paper the Observer sponsors an arts journalism prize in his memory. So it was with some chagrin that we learned that English Heritage has turned Burgess down for a blue plaque on the house in Chiswick, west London, where he lived in the 60s. Apparently 'his overall significance and profile were not yet strong enough'. Ouch. Well, he only died in 1993. Perhaps his reputation must be given time to grow. I can only hope that it matches current blue plaque luminaries (in London) such as Alfred Bestall, illustrator of Rupert Bear (Surbiton), Sir Edwin Saunders, dentist to Queen Victoria (Wimbledon), and John Christopher Smith, Handel’s friend and secretary (Soho).’

SLEUTH'S BEST JOB EVER?

Sleuth and a pal had a drink in the Mark Addy pub (which will be delighted to see Dockyard open across the Irwell, no doubt). They stopped to watch some burly demo men pull down that god-awful 80s abomination; City Wharf on New Bailey Street. "I think that may be the best job ever," said Sleuth's pal, as the Demolition Dinosaur tore another 100 pounds of flesh from the structure. "What makes you think that?" quizzed Sleuth. "You spend all night on your own in a tiny box for one thing..." "There is that," replied Sleuth's pal, "but you do get to rip buildings to pieces while on the piss..." As he said this he pointed to the man in hi-vis and hard hat carrying two Tesco carrier bags filled with Stella onto site."

 

WINE & SOCKS

Sleuth was buying socks. Summer's coming on and he needs some natty knitwear to match his sandals. M&S have come up with a fine promotion. Put red wine next to the socks and in front of the boxers. Come on ladies you love a man coming at you in his M&S socks and boxers all tooled up with a modestly priced Chilean red.

 

MANCHESTER, FREUD & VISITORS

So recently Sleuth took a guided tour round Manchester with two Germans, a French woman, a Swede, an Austrian, an American, a Glaswegian family and a New Zealand family. He promised to reveal links between Manchester and all their countries. He was struggling with an Austrian connection when he remembered Sigmund Freud. 

John Rylands Library has letters from Freud to his Manchester relatives in particular Sam Freud, the son of Emanuel Freud, Sigmund's half-brother, who’d emigrated to Manchester in 1861 from Austria. The letters paint a personal picture of Freud. He adored the Manchester Guardian newspaper and said he’d like ‘to become an Englishman, in spite of the fog, rain, drunkenness and conservatism’. After WWI his modest Manc relations sent food packages to Vienna because of the awful conditions there. Emanuel, by the way, died falling from a train between Manchester and Stockport. 

“It was the original Freudian slip,” Sleuth joshed to rapturous applause for the wittiest pun of 2015. 

“Shame Sigmund's story had to end with him being forced to leave my country because of Nazi repression,” said the Austrian young lady. "Not the happiest link to Manchester." Oops, though Sleuth.

 

THE BIGGEST PRAWN COCKTAIL IN THE WORLD

In the restaurant of recently opened Hotel Gotham lurks a food monster, and, despite this elegant picture, we're not talking Sleuth's Confidential compatriot and food sampler Gordo. We're talking the largest prawn cocktail in the world. Look at that thing in front of Gordo, you could hold a scuba diving competition in it, you could house a family of mermaids. 

 

THROUGH THE ARCHED WINDOW

The restaurant and terraces in Hotel Gotham offer extravagant views across the city centre in all directions. Sitting on the north side terrace in the sunshine with a vodka martini (shown being prepared below by a Dutch mixologist) Sleuth sighed and thought, ‘Nobody really understands how hard this writing job at Manchester Confidential can be, the hours we have to put in, the things we have to put ourselves through.’