One of Manchester’s best-loved streetwear retailers is reportedly “expected” to close the doors to its Northern Quarter store.
Oi Polloi has been an iconic fixture on Thomas Street since it first opened back in 2002.
Long considered a vanguard of Mancunian style, the cult menswear store has become a cultural institution, and was known for perfectly combining the relationship of exchange between Manchester’s music and fashion scenes – with the likes of Liam Gallagher, Ian Brown, and Bernard Sumner being counted among some of its regular customers over the years.
But as fashion fans will remember, the independent brand was bought out by JD Sports back in May 2021 under former chairman and CEO Peter Cowgill – who stepped down from the business a year later, before returning as a business consultant in September 2022.
Beloved Northern Quarter streetwear store Oi Polloi ‘expected’ to close its doors / Credit: Oi Polloi
It’s also understood, according to Drapers Online, that Oi Polloi founders Steve Sanderson and Nigel Lawson had previously “considered approaching JD Sports for a possible buy-out of the fashion retailer”, but that the sports retail giant had no intention of selling the business, and will be retaining the Northern Quarter site to operate from it.
JD Sports is said to be keen to keep the Manchester location and global customer base.
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The sad news of Oi Polloi’s closure comes after Wellgosh in Leicester – which is a similar indie menswear brand also owned by JD Sports – also closed its doors last week after 35 years in business – with the store unit set to change to one of JD’s outlier brands, Size?.
It also comes after JD is noted to have been changing its business model since the appointment of new chief executive Régis Schultz back in August 2022, with Shultz unveiling a strategy last month to operate under the key brands that represent 90% of JD’s total revenue.
Those brands are JD, Shoe Palace and DTLR, Sprinter and Sport Zone, Go Outdoors, Sizeer / 50 Styles, Footpatrol, and of course, Size?.
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It’s been an iconic fixture on Thomas Street since it first opened back in 2002 / Credit: Oi Polloi
With the Oi Polloi Northern Quarter site expected to be rebranded to another JD fascia, rumours have naturally been circulating online over the last 24-hours about what will replace it – but despite this, nothing has been confirmed.
JD is also reported to have declined to comment on the future of Oi Polloi any further at this time.
Featured Image – Oi Polloi
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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…
Emily Sergeant -
9th March 2023 
