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. Sometimes Sleuth even gets serious @mcrsleuth 

HALLE PLACE PLANS

Sleuth sees plans for Manchester Arndale’s new £11m dining court, Halle Place (pictured above), have gone up on the council website. From what Sleuth can see of the plans, there’ll be ten new dining units on the ground floor (currently occupied by the likes of JD Sports, EAT and Paul’s Hair World), whilst up on the second floor there’ll be two new units, one in the old Pastiche dress shop and one in the corner outside Wilko’s.

No idea on operators just yet, though Arndale owners Intu have promised a 'step-change' for the centre's food and booze offering, which could mean a move away from the mundanity of the Wagamamas, Pizza Expresses and Cafe Rouges, but will almost definitely still include a Byron.

Work is expected to complete in 2018.

(Oh and mostly unrelated this, but interesting nonetheless, whilst Sleuth was combing through the plans, he learnt that Manchester Arndale generates 3,400 tonnes of waste a year, equivalent to almost 30 blue whales. Save that one for the boozer.)

.Halle Place plans: ground floor
Upper floorHalle Place plans: upper floor

 

SLEUTH'S BEASTLY NEWCOMER

Over to Spinningfields now, where Sleuth has had a sneak peak of new plans for Leftbank. The victors of The Kitchens street food start-up project, Bangers & Bacon, are to relaunch next month with their first standalone restaurant, BEASTro – a meaty all-day bistro serving dishes such as short rib bonbons, bacon swirls and oxtail risotto. Here Sleuth, whilst waiting for a full English wedged between two pancakes, got the first look at designs for the new gaff.

Looks alright, eh? And is that a chef's table Sleuth sees? Good. Though Sleuth does reckon they might need to spend less on the chairs, and more on kitting out that kitchen. @BEASTro

BEASTroBEASTro will open next month

 

THIN AND BAD JOURNALISM

Sleuth is annoyed by the new tactic of the Chadderton & Failwsorth Evening Rag in kicking a man when he’s down. This week the crime obsessed daily that purports to represent Manchester reported a particularly narrow-minded Guardian journalist’s particular dislike of any restaurant that’s not homespun and ‘authentic’ - whatever that is supposed to mean. This was the laziest journalism imaginable, reporters reporting about reporters, navel gazing of the worst nature and all to hurt and harm a local business without satire or comment. Dear MEN, says Sleuth, grow up and find a story about Manchester that hasn’t been written by someone else or isn’t a press release from the council or the police that you’ve taken five minutes to ‘adapt’. Everybody knows the one thing you don’t do is kick a man when he’s down. That’s plain cowardly. Shame on you folks.

 

NEW MANCHESTER TOURISM PHENOMENON

Sleuth bumped into Lyndon, the manager of the King Street Townhouse Hotel, this week. “Been busy this summer,” he said. “Been having guests from the UAE over, staying for weeks some of them. They were tired of the endless churn of London so they’ve decided to adopt Manchester. After all it has loads of department stores in the city centre and the Trafford Centre, easy access to national parks, Alton Towers and Cheshire Oaks for more retail. In the end one family had bought so much we had no room to store anything. "I’ll book another room, said the patriach of the party, and we’ll put it there."" A whole luxury room for luxury goods. How very London after all. It’s a curious world, thinks Sleuth.

 

ONGOING MANCHESTER TOURISM PHENOMENON

The above story wasn’t the only news from the Townhouse. “We had one family staying here from China. They were going round the UK with their kids on a Pokemon Go hunt. They’d come to Manchester because they’d heard the Pokemons in Manchester Cathedral were very rare and of high value.” Sleuth was thinking that the medieval choir was pretty good too. “And were they satisfied with God’s holy house Pokemons?” Sleuth asked. “Oh yes,” said Lyndon, “they said they were some of the best.”

.Pokemon dragon found in the Cathedral

 

HELICOPTER ARCHITECT

Sleuth was in Maggie’s, close to the Christie Hospital in Withington, marvelling at one of the most beautiful places in Manchester and one designed to help in the battle against cancer for so many people. One of the fine folk who work there described the visit to the centre of the architect, Manchester’s own Lord Norman Foster, after completion of the building. “Shall I pick him from the station,” she asked the starchitect’s people. Pause. “No need,” came the reply, “he’ll be coming up in his helicopter.”

MaggiesMaggie's by Foster + Partners

 

SLEUTH’S LEISURE SEATING IN THE NORTHERN QUARTER

Sleuth isn’t sure whether the new leather seating arrangements in the Northern Quarter are entirely practical but at least they should be wipe clean.

 

THE TONY GUBBA MEMORIAL DESK

Tony Gubba was a BBC sports presenter who in his time commentated on Sportsnight, Match of the Day, Grandstand and even Dancing On Ice. He covered every Olympic Games, both summer and winter, from 1972 to 2012, as well as every World Cup from 1974 to 2006. He died age 69 in 2013. Gubba cut his journalistic teeth as a reporter on newspapers in South Manchester. Sleuth knows this because he spotted where, as a naughty cub-reporter, young Gubba had carved his name into the desk in Manchester Coroner’s Court, even recording the date, 1967, and his organ, the Sale Guardian. The Court is part of the London Road Fire Station complex and this minor act of vandalism is one of many, including curiously a police officer who helpfully added his badge number and Confidential’s occasional correspondent Jill Burdett who decorated her desk with her initials. It’s as though everybody was handed a compass when they entered and the Coroner said, “Ok, get it over with, carve something on the desk. You’ve got five minutes and then we’ll get down to business."

.The court
.The carving
.The man

 

SLEUTH'S RAY OF SUNSHINE

Over to you Mick...

 

 

SLEUTH'S HONESTY OF THE WEEK

Following a public consultation event in which developer Allied London revealed diminished plans for their Trinity Islands scheme - which, after Historic England stuck their oar in, has been chopped from a lofty, bold and elegant 50 storeys at their peak, to a rather dull and dumpy 38 - some took to twitter to voice their disapproval.

'So ugly, almost purposely so' said @BeardedGenius.

'Looks like Stratford' said @LeftyV7.

To which Allied London boss, Mike Ingall, replied: 'It's not even that good!'

.New designs for Allied London's Trinity Island's scheme


.Stratford, London - better than Trinity Islands, says Trinity Islands developer

 

SLEUTH'S UNORTHODOX GROUNDSKEEPER OF THE WEEK

Over to Allied London's Old Granada Studios now, where, following hints of a new tennis court for St John’s Central Village, Ingall has also been busy putting to work his somewhat unorthodox groundskeeper on a new cricket pitch for Old Granada Studios. Put the camera down and your hand in your pocket would you Mr Ingall, that woman needs a roller...