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. Sleuth sometimes even gets serious @mcrsleuth
MOVEMENT AT BAR 38?
Following the news of Home Sweet Home's launch in Great Northern and B.Eat Street's plans for two new bars and a new restaurant in the sleepy alleyway running parallel with Deansgate, there's more movement over on Great Northern square. Sleuth hears from a reliable source that Tokyo Industries, the Newcastle-based operator behind Manchester's South and Factory clubs, is ready to begin work on the cursed former Bar 38 and Purity giant glass box unit opposite Revs De Cuba.
Tokyo reportedly took on the lease back in 2013, just when Peter Street was beginning to find its feet again, but have done sod all with it since. Now Sleuth hears the group are readying to launch their award-winning Get Baked: The Joint concept in the unit. Get Baked first opened in Leeds and prides itself on (you guessed it)... dirty burgers.
For f...
Get Baked BurgerMcCHICKEN SANDWICH, MA'AM?
A Greater Manchester McDonalds is to be the first outlet in the UK to trial table service. McDonald's in Mottram will offer customers the chance to order through a touchpad, pay by card, then go plonk themselves at a table and wait for a server to deliver their filth... erm food. Sleuth hears rival fast food giants, not wanting to be left behind, have already started to install their own restaurant elements. Burger King in Bognor Regis have employed the chain's first sommelier, while KFC in Coventry have implemented a stringent door policy; 'No trainers? Not tonight lads..."
Warning: Your food won't look anything like thisSLEUTH’S OLDEST SHOPS OF THE CITY
Sleuth was sad when Manchester's oldest retailer Edwards Shoes from 1830 closed earlier this year. But this week Sleuth needed a plectrum for his guitar, an A-board to advertise tours and some stationery to make posters. So he went to Forsyths (below) from 1857 on Deansgate, Shopfittings Manchester from 1864 on Thomas Street and Fred Aldous from 1886 on Lever Street. Sleuth thus visited 435 years of Manchester retail history in an hour. 435 years ago Queen Elizabeth 1 was on the throne and the Spanish Armada was eight years in the future.
SLEUTH’S OLDEST POSTER OF THE WEEK
Look, there on Portland Street, high on an old warehouse is a 2,000 Olympic bid poster cum sticker. Manchester failed to win the Olympics in 1993 so that's a 22-year-old reminder of misplaced optimism. Sleuth was there in Castlefield Arena with 20,000 plus people in 1993 to watch on a big screen the incorruptible, no backhanders, Jose Maria Samaranch, president of the IOC, announce the winner as "Sydney". Sleuth was downcast but then uplifted as the Manchester crowd broke into a rousing rendition of the Monty Python song, Always look on the bright side of life.
NO OYSTER WOE
Sleuth got a little ahead of himself in Week 24. Sleuth was informed by an Allied London bigwig that Spinningfields' new Leftbank beachshack installation would become a new 'crab shack-cum-oyster bar'. Sleuth got excited, Sleuth loves little more than sliding a bivalve mollusc down his gullet. Still, it wasn't to be. Sleuth's told they couldn't get the necessary power to the shacks and alas, the new Maloca bar will be booze only. On the upside, the new bar will be focussed on cocktails and craft beer, which we all know can be a nightmare to find in Spinningfields.
Maloca - LeftbankAND THE BEST PLACE TO BE A BLOKE IS...
...The Lawn Club in Spinningfields. Perhaps it's the venue's pretty white colonial interiors, the delish lobster rolls or the morning yoga classes out on grass. Whatever the reason, if the UK's biggest weekly men's mag say so, then that it is. Following the news Sleuth met his pals Vinny Jones, Ray Winstone and Phil Mitchell off the telly for a round of strawberry bon bon infused gin & tonics and to start a scrap.
SLEUTH’S DISH OF THE WEEK
Sleuth was at the new 63 Degrees in the former Market Restaurant in the Northern Quarter on High Street. The food was as superb as ever. Sleuth had the sea bass tartare with a mousse that was ludicrously delicious. This is a variation on a 63 Degrees' signature dish which the Editor-at-Large, Schofield, loved four years ago and described as 'packing in flavours like people cramming into a Mini to get a Guinness World Record'. Sleuth says it still bloody does this.
SLEUTH AND REFRIGERATOR REVELATIONS
Sleuth was in Whalley Range famous for its diverse population. This is a suburb comfortable with its city mix of ethnicities and sexualities. Sleuth learned the 'white goods' are equally diverse as well.
SLEUTH’S DESPERATE MARKETING OF THE WEEK
The award this week goes to Jamie's Italian on King Street.
SLEUTH'S CRAZIEST PUB DECORATION OF THE WEEK
Yes, there in Mother Mac's pub in Back Piccadilly, four tankards on the ceiling and two military helmets. Rum pub Mother Mac's, Sleuth wouldn't be surprised if the locals don't drink out of tankards... and the helmets.
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SLEUTH'S NEW MANCHESTER DICTIONARY PART FOUR
Market Street: noun. 1) Chaos, bedlam. Example: I went to a wild house party, it was marketstreet everywhere.
To deansgate: phrasal verb. To swerve to the right dangerously into on-coming traffic because of a sudden obstruction placed in the road. Example: The taxi-driver deansgated across the road causing a graphic designer to fall off his Brompton and scratch his beard.
Ancoated: adjective. To possess great promise stifled by an overabundance of wire metal fencing. Example: Her land was lucrative but Ancoated to buggery.
