Manchester vegan and veggie junk food favourite Wholesome Junkies has found a new permanent home in the archways behind Victoria Station.
Taking over the former Umezushi space at 4 Mirabel Street, owner Chelsea Campbell shared the news with followers on Instagram on Wednesday in an ecstatic post.
She said: “After years of heartbreak searching for the perfect space, we’ve finally got our own place to call home.”
“Follow our journey as we take these next few months to make it into a Wholesome Junkies Restaurant.”
Wholesome Junkies has revealed it will be taking over the former Umezushi site. / Image: Wholesome Junkies
Revealing plans to start a KickStarter in the next few weeks, Chelsea shared her hope that their 43,000+ followers would be able to help make her long-standing dream of opening a restaurant space a reality.
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She first shot to fame in 2018 after appearing on BBC2’s Million Pound Menu, when she appeared on the show, filmed in Spinningfields, to ask for 95,000 to open her own restaurant in Manchester.
Prior to that, she’d been running her Wholesome Junkies concept as a street food pop-up at sites like Grub and Ancoats General Store.
Whilst her bid to impress the BBC judges was not successful at the time, the TV appearance put her on the map and within a year she had her own Arndale market stall – moving into a newly developed section alongside the likes of Holy Crab and Blue Caribou poutine.
Founder Chelsea shot to fame after appearing on BBC’s Million Pound Menu in 2018/ / Image: Wholesome Junkies
Image: Wholesome Junkies
Image: Wholesome Junkies
The popular kitchen has been operating successfully from here since 2019, but now it’s taking an exciting new step forward in its journey.
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Set to open in a number of months, most likely sometime later this summer, the space is small and will offer an intimate dining experience. When home to Umezushi, it seated just 20 diners.
As for Umezushi, widely considered one of the best sushi restaurants in the city (and now turned members-only), its Japanese Omakase experience will move into Unit 3 for the month of April – the former home of The Sparrows restaurant.
When she first began venturing into the world of vegan cooking, the culture still had a stigma of lentils, chickpeas, and ‘rabbit food’.
Image: Wholesome Junkies
Chelsea, it’s fair to say, has been a large part of reshaping that narrative here in Manchester through Wholesome Junkies.
Known for taking familiar dishes and putting her own twist on them, she has built up a loyal following with her vegan junk food concept.
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Given the arrival in recent years of competitiors from out of town – Frost Burgers, V Rev, JJ’s Vish and Chips and What The Pitta, just to name a few -now seems the perfect time to expand into a new permanent home.
To keep up with Wholesome Junkies journey and restaurant build over the coming months, follow the eatery on Instagram here.
Feature image – Wholesome Junkies
News
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 -
21st April 2022 
