The Manc’s ‘takeaway with a takeaway’ event with Deliveroo and Bruntwood is back this week
**Trigger Warning** The theme for this event is around Mental Health and our speaker will be going into detail about her own experience surrounding Mental Health.
The Manc’s ‘takeaway with a takeaway’ event, launched with Deliveroo and Bruntwood, will be back this week with another inspiring guest speaker.
This month’s session will take place at Bruntwood’s beautiful Bloc building – and all attendees will get a free lunch from Deliveroo that celebrates the region’s amazing food and drink scene.
Speaking at the event on Wednesday 20 October will be Ngozi Weller from Aurora Wellness, which was created to enable good mental health and employee wellbeing in workplaces.
As well as the free lunch and the inspiring speech from the chosen experts, each session includes a networking opportunity at one of Bruntwood’s buildings around Manchester.
The first lunch club took place in August at Blackfriars House, where Christopher Owen spoke to attendees about what it means to be a good person.
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Bruntwood’s Bloc building. Credit: Bruntwood
Aurora Wellness says: “Forward thinking, conscious companies are changing the way they think about workplace and employee wellbeing. They’re beginning to shift away from reactive management of sickness absence and reduced productivity to proactive approaches to prevention through promoting wellbeing at work. And it all starts with communication.
“This is where Aurora Wellness consultants excel. We communicate clearly and concisely exactly how individuals can take responsibility for their own mental health and wellbeing, within the context of modern life. We have adapted the excellent evidence based research conducted by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) government-backed ‘Foresight Project on Mental Capital and Wellbeing’ to develop a pragmatic approach to wellbeing.”
December 14 – Blackfriars House St Marys, Parsonage, Manchester M3 2JA
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A spokesperson for Deliveroo said: “We are thrilled for the opportunity to showcase some of Deliveroo’s amazing Manchester restaurants while providing the business community with a delicious midweek treat by partnering with The Manc & Bruntwood for the new Lunchtime Takeaway event.”
Rosie Davis, business development manager for Bruntwood, said: “I am so excited to host this event in the Bruntwood Buildings with The Manc and Deliveroo and to bring the Manchester business community together with two of the best things in life; food and inspirational people!”
Kristen MacGregor-Houlston, head of brand partnerships at The Manc, said: “We’re genuinely buzzing to be collaborating with industry leaders like Bruntwood and Deliveroo for the lunchtime takeaway series.
“We’re going to be inspiring the business community of Manchester with this event series and it’s a fantastic opportunity to highlight some of our region’s delicious food and drink offering.”
All three businesses will come together at Blackfriars House on St. Mary’s Parsonage, in The Auditorium.
Manchester rent is now ‘41% more expensive than five years ago, according to a recent study
Danny Jones
Yes, that’s right, as per some of the latest data on leased housing in central Manchester, it’s now approximately 41% more expensive to rent here than it was half a decade ago.
If you’ve lived in and around the city centre for long enough, chances are that you’ve already been feeling that difference, especially of late.
The ongoing cost-of-living crisis roughly began in 2021, following the economy and the world essentially opening back up after multiple lockdowns, so it’s little surprise that new research has shown affordability when it comes to renting has been on a slump ever since, too.
As well as the price of seemingly most things in everyday life going up post-pandemic, the average rental rate for even just a one-bedroom flat/apartment has jumped up significantly between 2020 and 2025.
Even some ‘available’ housing in town is being hampered by claddin (Credit: Valienne via WikiCommons)
That’s according to the numbers crunched by credit card experts, Zable, anyway.
Not only did their recent report cite the rent prices going up even before the cost of living crisis – essentially following the outset of the Covid-19 outbreak – but if their figures, the rate of inflation and the unwaveringly high demand for housing are anything to go by, this trajectory is likely to continue in 2026.
As of February this year, around one in three UK households is now a single-person occupancy, which already comes with its challenges (the Manchester City Council tax discount being a thin lifeline for countless), not to mention energy bills and the cost of groceries continuing on an upwards trend.
Put in the simplest and most reductive terms, it’s now almost £300 dearer for most people to live on their own than it was back in 2020, and besides Liverpool clocking in as second on the list of increasingly expensive cities to live (a 42.12% increase), Manchester came in third.
You can see the full table down below:
Rank
City
% increase – 2020-2025
Difference from 2020 to 2025 in £
Average rental cost for a 1 bed 2025
1
Newport
47.39%
£2,611
£8,121
2
Liverpool
42.12%
£2,290
£7,727
3
Manchester
41.00%
£3,364
£11,569
4
Edinburgh
40.28%
£4,620
£16,090
5
Leicester
39.93%
£2,391
£8,379
6
Wolverhampton
39.22%
£2,049
£7,273
7
Nottingham
39.07%
£2,400
£8,543
8
Glasgow
38.02%
£2,679
£9,725
9
Colchester
37.63%
£2,617
£9,572
10
Cardiff
37.06%
£2,828
Average rental cost for a 1-bed 2025
Another fear is that with lots of people finding it hard to manage living in other major cities like London, even those moving to Manchester are also having an impact on how available affordable housing is here.
That’s why schemes such as the new ‘social rent’ development over in Wythenshawe are so important to the current generations of renters, with the possibility of owning your own property in the future becoming increasingly difficult for so many.
It’s also worth noting that Manchester ranked fourth among the British locations where the cost of living is said to have increased the most over the past five years, with the average difference in annual spend growing by an estimated 22.84%.
Millions of UK workers to get pay rises from today as National Living and Minimum Wage increases
Emily Sergeant
Millions of workers across the UK are set to begin receiving substantial pay rises from today.
After the Government announced back in November that it would take the recommendations made by the Low Pay Commission, and increase both the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage, those changes have now come into force in a bid to ensure people on lower incomes are ‘properly rewarded’ for their work.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Low Pay Commission, it’s an independent body made up of employers, trade unions, and experts whose role is to advise the Government on the minimum wage.
As mentioned, the rate recommendations introduced today were agreed unanimously by the Commission.
This means that the living wage, for eligible workers who are aged 21 and over, has now risen by 4.1% from today to £12.71 an hour.
For a full-time worker, that means a pay increase of £900 a year.
Millions of workers in the UK are getting pay rises from today / Credit: John Kakuk (via Unsplash) | Pexels
The National Minimum Wage rate for workers aged 18 to 20-year-olds has also increased today by 8.5% to £10.85 an hour, and then for 16 to 17-year-olds, and those on apprenticeships, the rate has increased by 6% to £8 an hour.
“The recommendations we made last autumn sought to balance the need to protect the economy and labour market, whilst providing a real-terms increase for the lowest-paid members of society,” commented Baroness Philippa Stroud, who is Chair of the Low Pay Commission.
“A lot has changed since we gave our advice to the Government last autumn, and we are now beginning to gather evidence for recommendations later this year.
“The current economic uncertainty makes it essential that the Commission hears from those affected by the minimum wage and builds consensus for evidence-based recommendations.
Workers aged 21 and over are now legally entitled to the National Living Wage after the age threshold for the highest rate was lowered from 23 in 2024.
National Minimum Wage rates are available to workers aged 16 upwards.
Daisy Jackson -
19th October 2022 
