Boroughs

This Oldham pub has just been named the best in Greater Manchester

Landlords have called it a 'great honour' to be awarded the title.

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant - 10th August 2023

A pub in Oldham has just been named the best in Greater Manchester by the UK beer authority CAMRA (The Campaign For Real Ale), leaving its landlords absolutely overjoyed.

Describing the achievement as “amazing”, owners shared the news with followers on Facebook as they wrote: “Just been announced by CAMRA. The Fox and Pine has been voted Greater Manchester Pub of the Year. Now into the National Competition against 16 other pubs around the UK.”

If the pub makes it into the next stage, it could be crowned the best in the whole of the UK in what is undoubtedly a coup for Oldham’s local pub scene.

John Duffin, Rochdale, Oldham and Bury CAMRA’s Branch Secretary, told the Oldham Chronicle: “I’m delighted for Chris, Michelle and the team on their victory in what is usually an extremely close vote.  

“Winning the ROB Pub of the Year is difficult enough.

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fox and pine oldham
Image: The Fox and Pine Oldham
fox and pine oldham
Image: The Fox and Pine Oldham

“Personally I have participated in local and regional judging for several years and know the competition they are up against.  

“It is testament to Chris and Michelle’s hard work and experience to be judged the best pub in Greater Manchester.”

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Proud landlord Chris Riley told the paper it was a ‘great honour’ to be granted the award.

“Michelle and I are delighted to be recognised for our hard work,” he told the Chronicle.

“But it’s not just us. We’ve great staff and a lovely customer base.

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Read more: The best places for breakfast and brunch in Manchester

“To be recognised in such high esteem and win against some long standing ale pub stalwarts is awesome.

“We’re passionate about Oldham and hopefully this will bring some much-needed footfall into the town centre.”

Read more: Sacha Lord calls for general election after yet another Greater Manchester restaurant closes for good

Reopened in 2021, the pub marks a new addition to the town centre’s previously sparse real ale scene with ten hand pumps serving various styles of beer.

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There is always one style of dark beer to be found here, alongside various pales, IPAs, ciders and more.

Featured image – The Fox and Pine

Boroughs

This Manchester suburb has just been named one of the UK’s ‘happiest’ places to live in 2024

Thomas Melia Thomas Melia Didsbury named one of the best places to live in the UK

An annual poll has named the Manchester suburb of Didsbury spot among 70 locations said to be the ‘happiest’ places to live in the UK.

Greater Manchester has got lots to say for itself, especially with its diverse and unique cultural landscapes, as well as various vibrant communities, so it comes as no surprise that one of our beautiful suburbs has been voted in a list of the UK’s happiest places to live for this year.

The survey included submissions from 5,000 people and there’s a lot of love being shown to the neighbouring areas of Yorkshire like Doncaster, Bingley, and Harrogate – the lattermost placed in second in the entire country.

But, ranking 62nd out of a possible 70 places, the distinct and vibrant area of Didsbury has been noticed by Furniturebox as one of the ‘happiest’ places to live in the UK.

Credit: The Manc Group

The results took into consideration good state schools, affordable housing, as well as accessibility to pubs, bars, restaurants, independent shops, retailers and more.

With multiple parks, walking destinations, and top-notch travel links with Bee Network trams and buses easily taking you back into the city centre and out to other boroughs, East, West and Didsbury Village all remain some of the most sought-after areas in the region.

There’s a whole host of indie retailers to enjoy, especially on the likes of the main high street and Burton Road, which effectively serves as its own cultural district, home to vintage clothing shops like Steranko, tailored styling opticians Fox Brothers and much more.

Burton Rd also boasts countless fantastic food and drink spots like The Great Kathmandu, SANTÉ, Volta and Proove Pizza, just to name a few; we’ve spent plenty of time just on this stretch of Didsbury alone.

If you’ve spent even a little time in Dids, you’ll know there’s plenty going on and it’s certainly one our happiest places in all of Greater Manchester and therefore the UK.

You can also enjoy the famous ‘Didsbury Dozen’ right on your doorstep.

Read more:

Elsewhere, and somewhat unsurprisingly, Shakespeare’s ever-romanticised hometown of Stratford-Upon-Avon once again reigned supreme at the top of this list.

That being said, it’s refreshing to see that these locations weren’t entirely related to wealth and similar factors, the survey took affordability into careful consideration.

Cheshire was destined for success with its cracking views and grand properties, as the North West county made waves for the region managing to place in fifth position, holding up against Falmouth in Cornwall which placed in sixth.

Although not nabbing that all-important top spot, Didsbury is carrying the flag for 0161 and showing what all know to be true: Northerners do it best.

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images – The Manc Group

Boroughs

‘Shocking’ images taken with AI camera of drivers using mobiles and not wearing seatbelts released

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Thousands of people in Greater Manchester have been caught using mobile phones while driving or not wearing their seat belts.

Images captured by the state-of-the-art ‘Heads Up’ camera system – which uses a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and human reviewers – as part of a trial in Greater Manchester, show drivers holding mobile phones in front of their face, to their ear while behind the wheel, and sometimes with passengers next to them.  

According to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), in several cases, the cameras also found drivers and passengers, both passengers and children, not being securely fastened in their seats or not wearing seat belts at all.

The trial aims to detect drivers who are potentially breaking the law and putting themselves, their passengers, and other road users, at risk.  

‘Shocking’ images taken with an AI camera of drivers using mobiles and not wearing seatbelts have been released / Credit: TfGM

AI is used as the first filter in a bid to ensure privacy for “the vast majority of law-abiding motorists” while also checking hundreds of thousands of vehicles over an intermittent period, TfGM explained – something which would likely take a human reviewer several months to complete.

Images containing “evidence of an offence” then go through a two-stage human check to confirm that an offence has taken place.

Any offences detected as part of the trial were then passed on to Greater Manchester Police (GMP) to consider for further action, however if no offence was committed, the image was immediately deleted by the software.

The trial – which was carried out by AECOM and Acusensus, on behalf of Safer Roads Greater Manchester – was held across the region throughout September and October to “gather data” and “understand the scale of the issue” to inform future education campaigns and enforcement.

It comes after it was revealed that nearly 10,000 people who live in, work in, or visit Greater Manchester have been killed or seriously injured on our roads over the last decade.

Read more:

During the deployment, the ‘Heads Up’ system recorded 812 drivers distracted by using mobile phones behind the wheel, and 2,393 incidents of seat belt non-compliance by drivers or passengers. 

As it stands, no offenders have yet been prosecuted from this trial, TfGM confirmed.

Featured Image – TfGM

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