Greater Manchester’s original Detroit pizza spot, Corner Slice, is opening a second site in the centre of Manchester.
The popular Failsworth pizzeria, which was the first to bring its Motor city-inspired rectangular pizzas to Manchester after a ‘light bulb’ moment during lockdown, has now confirmed plans to open a second site in the heart of the city this February.
Image: Corner Slice MCR
Serving deep pan pizza with traditional Italian toppings and a curly cheese crust, the new site will open first as a dark kitchen – giving city dwellers a chance to try East Manchester’s original Detroit-inspired pizza slices at home for the very first time.
And if it all goes well, owners Frank Brashaw and Danny Broadbent say they also plan to open a permanent shop in the city too.
The pair told The Manc, “We’re opening a dark kitchen to expand our delivery radius in February, and if it goes as well as we hope we will be looking for a permanent shop in the centre”.
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Image: Corner Slice MCRImage: Corner Slice MCR
Corner Slice is known for its saucy, fluffy deep-pan squares, which come topped with the likes of Italian sausage, smoked garlic chicken, pepperoni, nduja, ‘hot honey’, banana peppers and a signature house cheese blend.
Traditionally topped with tomato sauce and Wisconsin brick cheese that goes all the way to the edges, the base of the Detroit-inspired pies is fluffy and similar in texture to focaccia.
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The pizzeria also has some great veggie and vegan options, as well as making all of its pies available with vegan cheese, ‘crispy walls and all’.
Think square pies loaded with the likes of Korean Cauli, Portocini (a mix of portobello and porcini), a simple ‘Red Top’ with just cheese and red sauce, or regularly changing specials.
This months? A vegan special loaded with vegan sausage, piquillo peppers, pickled raisins and harrissa roasted broccolli.
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Even better, if you can’t decide you can opt for a ‘half and half’ pie – combining two choices in one.
Image: Corner Slice MCR
Elsewhere on the menu, you’ll find complementary sides like fried chicken and waffle fries alongside homemade sauces including chilli’d honey, garlic and herb and BBQ ranch.
Corner Slice also offers a small but carefully curated selection of beers, wines and soft drinks to enjoy with its food.
Despite being right out on the edge of town. the tiny Failsworth pizza shop has made quite a considerable name for itself.
Its owners shared the news about the move in a social media post asking for new talented pizza chefs to join their team of self-described Detroit pizza peddlers.
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Image: Corner Slice MCR
The job advert read:
“BIG CITY LIFE.
“We’ve heard your cries and are expanding our radius to town and beyond, by opening a second kitchen in the city centre.
“We’re looking for a few keen pizza peddlers to join us in slinging out Detroit pies to the good people of Manchester.”
The news has created considerable excitement amongst its fans, who were quick to share their enthusiasm for its arrival in Manchester city centre.
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One wrote, “OMG!! 2022 is my year!!!!!!!!”
Another added, “This is sick -bout time.”
A third said, “Best news ever !!! Best pizza” whilst another follower agreed, saying “Totally agree!! Absolutely great news!! We love your pizza in the city centre!!”
The official opening date for the new kitchen is yet to be confirmed. To keep up to date with developments, make sure to follow Corner Slice on Instagram here.
If you’re interested in working for Corner Slice, you can send your CV to the team at [email protected].
Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Georgina Pellant -
10th January 2022 
