Pre-millennium Manchester is unrecognisable to the city that exists today.
Back then, there was no Beetham Tower, no Spinningfields, no flats bumping their heads on the clouds hanging above New Islington.
Everything has changed in the past twenty years – and various architects, developers and politicians have rightly enjoyed credit for turning our region into one of the world’s most exciting places to live.
But LOFT is something of an unsung hero in the assembly of the Manchester skyline.
As Manchester began to blossom with brand new flats, apartment, blocks, offices and student accommodation in the early noughties, a man named Benjamin Hall created LOFT – which became the place to go to furnish interiors.
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Two decades on, Benjamin and his hundred-strong team are continuing to add style to Mancunia with their brand new store in Northern Quarter.
Beginning as Buy-To-Let Furnishings with a single van in 2003, LOFT has kept pace with Manchester and grown almost in parallel – expanding into a nationwide provider for high quality furnishings and interiors.
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The company now employs 135 people full-time – with dedicated departments that cater for landlords, agents, student accommodation providers and BTR developers.
The LOFT Shop on High Street, which opened in February, is an exciting addition to Manchester city centre – with different deals available almost every day of the week.
These include ‘Sofa Sunday’ where customers can receive 10% off all sofas, ‘Accessories Tuesday’ (buy two cushions get one half price). We love this one; ‘Dine With Us Wednesday’ – offering 15% discounts on dining sets. ‘My Favourite Chair Thursday’ includes 10% discount on all armchairs, and at the end of the week there’s ‘That Friday Feeling’ – with discounts on bed frames and mattresses.
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Shoppers can benefit from free delivery, assembly and installation with purchases (along with next day delivery available).
High-end furnishings come at affordable prices – with expert team members on hand in-store to offer insightful design advice.
LOFT has thrived by staying in tune with market trends – which have changed rapidly and dramatically during Manchester’s revival, whilst also remaining rigidly committed to its original core values.
Their promise is simple: All new furnishings come delivered, assembled and installed; and any old items are removed, replaced and recycled.
The LOFT Shop on High Street has been designed with the community in mind; offering trendy, characterful furnishings for the everyday home.
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LOFT is continuing to play a huge part in the rejuvenation of Manchester, which it has done for over 17 years.
Now, the team is all set for another chapter.
You can check out LOFT’s new shop at 26-28 High Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester, M4 1QB.
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…
The Manc -
1st January 2020 
