Award-winning Manchester pie shop Ate Days A Week has closed
"I took a risk, I took a shot and sometimes these things don’t work out and that’s life sadly. Would I change anything? Absolutely. Would I do it again? Right now, I’m saying no"
Five-time British Pie Awards winner Ate Days A Week has closed its Manchester city centre pie shop for good after less than a year.
Having first opened in a former chip shop in Stockport, the music-themed pie shop quickly rose to dizzying heights – winning numerous awards and becoming the stuff of legend in Stockport.
As a result, post-pandemic the team decided to close their Vernon Street shop and up-sticks into Manchester city centre.
They took over the former Porky Pig unit by Manchester Town Hall in spring 2022 and received rave reviews from local foodies for their mouthwatering pies, roasts and breakfasts. But sadly, that chapter has now come to an end.
Sharing the news in a long, heart-rending Facebook post on Saturday night, chef-owner Andy James said that he had taken a risk opening the musical-themed pie shop, reflecting that ‘sometimes these things don’t work out’.
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Image: Ate Days A Week
Image: Ate Days A Week
In large part he blamed the cost of living crisis, saying that food and drink costs were ‘rising rapidly’ and ‘utilities are absolutely out of control’, before adding that ‘the landscape of our economy is so obscured it’s frightening.’
The post also spoke of the toll the situation had taken on Andy personally, referring to ‘many sleepless nights’ spent ‘worrying, stressing and searching for ways this could be avoided.’
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And of course, being a musical-themed restaurant, there were a few cheeky song lyrics worked in to ensure Ate Days A Week’s goodbye post was on brand: opening with lyrics Leonard Cohen’s Closing Time and closing with words from Taylor Hawkins’ favourite Foo Fighters track, Aurora.
Despite the sad news, however, Andy insisted that it wasn’t all doom and gloom: reassuring fans that there had been no job losses as they had been able to create roles for the full team at their other venues.
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He added that he will be reopening the newly-refurbished Notion next weekend and has plans to bring Ate Days A Week’s Award Winning Pies to delivery platforms throughout Stockport and surrounding areas ‘soon’.
The ‘McPie’ at Ate Days A Week. / Image: Ate Days A Week
The ‘McPie’ at Ate Days A Week. / Image: Ate Days A Week
Commenting that ‘there’s no time to sit around moping’, he also confirmed that Ate Days A Week Pies will be available at venues including Stockport Country football ground, Blinker Bar, Bask, Lawing Deli and more.
Since sharing the post on Saturday evening, it has been liked over 200 times on Facebook alone with people quick to comment with their commiserations.
Badly’s PIes wrote: “Keep your head held high mate.. As you know we are in the same position & having to down size. To me I don’t see failure.. I see a failed government that hasn’t tried to prevent this. Every day I look online places are shutting. It’s a real shame but if we get through this… Which we will, things will be amazing going forward. Here if you need a chat anytime buddy Alex”
Vicky Sweeney-West wrote: “Sorry to hear this … But very happy to see you still have links at County. Treated ourselves to your lamb pie last time out. Mum said best pie she’s ever had … She’s 75 and has eaten many pies!! Keep going mate… Everything works out in the end.”
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Gail Hilton added: “So sorry Andrew, in the time you were there, you made a lot of people very happy with your food, which was exceptional, the economic climate is harsh right now, you poured your heart and soul into your business and understandably the decision you made was crippling, but it’s the right one. Good luck with your new venture, take care.”
As well as holding a number of awards for its pies, Ate Days A Week had recently been named one of the top ten roast dinners in the UK by Rate Good Roasts. Its pies will continue to be available at other outlets across Greater Manchester, despite the closure of the city centre shop.
Feature image – The Manc Group
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Ancoats neighbourhood bar shames customers who ran off on unpaid rosé bill
Daisy Jackson
A waterside cocktail bar in Ancoats has slammed a group of customers who left the venue without paying their bill this weekend.
Finders Keepers on New Islington Marina has publicly shamed the trio, sharing CCTV images of them making off from the venue.
The local business has labelled the customers ‘Manchester’s newest girl group, Rosé & The Runners’.
They added that the group had enjoyed a few bottles of rosé wine but left before paying their £160 bill.
Finders Keepers also said that the incident occurred on a ‘record-breaking’ day last Saturday, when the city bathed in beautiful spring sunshine.
Since releasing the CCTV images this afternoon, the bar has been flooded with messages of support – including one very notable one from Sacha Lord.
Sacha has offered to pay off the girls’ tab so that the bar isn’t left out of pocket, AND has suggested providing a £500 reward to anyone who can name and shame them.
He commented: “Everyone knows how tough it is in Hospitality right now…how can anyone want to do this to a small independent business. I’ll settle that bill mate…plus give a £500 reward to name and shame them.”
Finders Keepers bar on New Islington MarinaFinders Keepers shared this CCTV of the customers who left the bar without paying
Another person commented: “foul behaviour! Sorry this happened to you guys.”
Someone else wrote: “Love a good photo shame when folk rip off a business… Hope they pay!!”
Posting earlier today, Finders Keepers said: “We’d like to thank Manchesters newest girl group, Rosé & The Runners. Who enjoyed a few bottles of Rosé wine with us on this record breaking Saturday, without paying.
“If you’d like to come back & pay your £160 bill then we’re back open on Wednesday, alternatively get in touch and we can send you a payment link.
“Next time you fancy a free bar tab perhaps join us for our quiz this Sunday from 7pm. £100 tab to be won!
Brilliant Salford Greek restaurant receives glowing national review
Daisy Jackson
A fabulous Greek restaurant in Salford has received a glowing review from a top food critic, who described its food as providing ‘its own gorgeous kind of sunshine’.
Acclaimed restaurant critic Jay Rayner has heaped praise on Kallos in his Financial Times review.
The modest restaurant has been open for just over a year, but has already earned itself a place in the prestigious Michelin guide – and now a rave national review too.
Operated by couple Ioanna and Ivan, Kallos brings a taste of Santorini to their stripped-back, concrete-filled, light-flooded new space in Salford.
And while Jay Rayner admits in his review that Kallos’s interior hasn’t done much to lift this corner of Salford’s ‘badly organised grid of fast-rising apartment blocks’, the food itself ‘provides its own gorgeous kind of sunshine’.
Rayner heaped praise on Kallos’s phenomenal flatbreads, noting how it’s impossible to exercise restraint ‘in the face of bread this good’.
He also raved about their topped flatbreads (like one with ‘knots of sweet roasted lamb shoulder cooked until it has collapsed’), red prawns the length of a hand, and soft dolmades stuffed with rice and minced meat.
Topped flatbread with lambTinned fishPrawn SaganakiThree of the dishes Jay Rayner loved at Kallos. Credit: The Manc Group
Kallos is part-owned by sommelier Ivan, who is striving to have the largest collection of Greek wines in the UK at the restaurant.
Jay Rayner noted both the selection and the affordability of this carefully-curated wine list, saying that it’s nice to find that ‘outside London, drinking well need not require the sale of a spare kidney or child’.
And then he came to the section of the menu that’s dedicated to premium tinned fish.
“It feels like the UK has woken up only relatively recently to the possibilities of impressively fine foods from a can,” he wrote.
Kallos in Cortland at Colliers Yard, SalfordKallos in Salford has been added to the Michelin Guide
“It is genuinely exciting to see Kallos devote a whole section of the menu to these treasures, even if it is basically the same victory of shopping that results in a good cheese board.
“But it takes both serious knowledge and a brave evangelical enthusiasm to offer a list like this.”
Rayner’s review went on to praise the tinned mackerel, served with a ‘balloon of hot bread’, pickled chillies, and an ‘aioli made with so much garlic, consenting adults should make sure to eat it together’.
Signing off his review, Jay Rayner wrote: “As the plate lands on the table, the sun finally comes out over both Salford and Kallos. Finally, the grey is banished. At last, all the beauty is here.”
Georgina Pellant -
23rd January 2023 
