A brand new Chinese market hall is set to open doors underneath one of Manchester’s most exciting city centre neighbourhoods this summer.
Hello Oriental will be the latest edition to the Circle Square development on Oxford Road.
The new venue – which started life as an online supermarket specialising in Chinese and Vietnamese food, and is based on a concept created by popular local Chinese restaurant Ocean Treasure – will span across three floors, mostly underground, and as well as being home to a food hall serving Chinese roast meats, dim sum and East Asian street food, it will also feature a modern Chinese bakery and supermarket.
The development will all take shape beneath the new 5.7 acre Symphony Park.
And it’s also set to be joining Canvas Manchester – a new gig venue and events space – where DJs and live music will provide entertainment for the market hall’s visitors at the weekends.
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Speaking ahead of the arrival of Hello Oriental – which has been inspired by global dining destinations like Bang Bang Oriental in London, and 1800 Lucky in Miami – Ricky Yip, owner of Hello Oriental, said: “When we launched Hello Oriental as an online supermarket 12 months ago, that was only the start of our journey.
“We also wanted to deliver the very best Asian and oriental produce to our customers in Manchester, but we needed a flagship venue that would bring our vision to life”.
He continued: “It was clear to us that Circle Square is the perfect place for us [as it’s] a new city neighbourhood that is bringing people together and creating a really thriving community.
“We can’t wait to launch Hello Oriental this year and we’re confident that our new market hall experience will be a place for food-lovers of all backgrounds to come together, socialise and enjoy the very best Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine.”
“We’ve always had one goal,” Azim Kourah, Director of Hello Oriental, added.
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“To bring the finest oriental food to the people of Manchester to enjoy [and] moving to the city’s newest, fast growing neighbourhood enables us to reach new audiences through an original concept and be delivered with the same exceptional levels of quality and service we’re famous for.”
Tom Renn – Managing Director at Bruntwood SciTech Manchester – added: “The very best cities around the world are known for being hotbeds of culture, entertainment and social activity, and that vibrancy and community is exactly what will be on offer at Circle Square.
“Hello Oriental is a fantastic concept that will appeal to the students and residents that call Circle Square home, as well as to the office workers and visitors alike.”
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Hello Oriental is expected to open in July 2021.
The venue will be open seven days a week – from 10am to 11pm – with the market hall as its focal point.
Business
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 -
16th February 2021 
