A popular restaurant in Ancoats has shared a gut-wrenching statement after being hit by a fourth break-in.
Blue Eyed Panda on Jersey Street said that the burglars once again only made off with ‘a few bottles’, with no cash or valuables left in the restaurant overnight.
They say the break-in happened at around 6.15am on Tuesday 2 April, just one day after they celebrated their fifth anniversary.
The restaurant has been the victim of multiple break-ins over the years, each time leaving them with costly repairs.
And Blue Eyed Panda has once again pleaded with those who are breaking in to ‘just leave us alone’.
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They slammed the people who broke in for causing so much damage and heartache even though they ‘get nothing’, saying: “We do not keep any valuables or money in the restaurant!!! We have also eaten all the cake from last night!!!”
The Blue Eyed Panda in Ancoats has shared a heartbreaking statement after yet another break-in. Credit: Instagram, @blueeyedpanda
Blue Eyed Panda also stressed ‘how difficult is it for local family business is at the moment to be alive in this industry’.
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Their heartfelt statement said: “Do you know how many staff are depending on our restaurant jobs to feed their families? Of course you don’t!”
The Chinese favourite has been able to remain open for business as usual but told followers it feels ‘very angry and frustrated’ to have been targeted again.
Their full post titled ‘Break In No. 4’, reads: “To the guys who like to visit us out of hours:
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“YESTERDAY(1 April): We were very very happy and thankful to be able to survive and celebrate the 5th Anniversary of our Blue Eyed Panda!! Hooray!!
“Then, TODAY (2 April) 6:15am: ‘’YOU’’ Yes!! ‘’YOU’’ decided to break into our restaurant again!!!!!! Come on, it is not the FIRST, SECOND or THIRD TIME!!! You came for the FORTH times now, and EVERYTIME you guys come in, you get NOTHING!! We say it again: ‘We do not keep any valuables or money in the restaurant!!! We have also eaten all the cake from last night!!!’’
“The only thing I could think of is that you enjoy making damages to our shop and get few bottles on the way out!! Thanks to you we have to do repairs again!!!
“Please STOP!! We have enough pressure already everyday and night…….Do you know how difficult is it for local family business is at the moment to be alive in this industry? Do you know how many staff are depending on our restaurant jobs to feed their families? Of course you don’t! Please just leave us alone and let us breath!!!”
The restaurant’s customers have suggested they start up a crowd funder to help pay for repairs and for shutters to protect it from future break-ins.
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One person wrote: “So sorry to hear this has happened again. How brain dead do they need to be to not realise most people pay by card and that restaurants don’t keep cash on the premises nowadays.”
Another said: “Really sorry to hear this. You’re a great local business, and it’s horrible that you’re being put under this pressure. Hope that’s the last time.”
Someone else posted: “This is awful, nobody deserves this and its shocking that people think its okay to destroy somebody else’s hard work. I’m so sorry to hear this!”
Lively Irish pub Nancy Spains set to open in Manchester for the first time
Daisy Jackson
An Irish bar famed for its live music is heading up to Manchester for the first time, and is promising £2.50 pints to lure us in.
Nancy Spains will be venturing out of London for the first time promising to bring the ‘ultimate traditional Irish pub experience’ to the Northern Quarter.
If you were to ask what the hottest trend in hospitality is right now the answer would, apparently, be Guinness. We’re drowning in the stuff.
This latest opening is more about Murphy’s, another Irish stout, than Guinness (they actually won’t serve Guinness at all) but the craic will be much the same.
Nancy Spains is actually set to open almost directly opposite the aforementioned Salmon of Knowledge, taking over the former Corner Boy unit on Stevenson Square in the heart of Manchester.
To celebrate its opening, the pub will be serving its first 5000 pints of Murphy’s for just £2.50, so that it can show off the atmosphere that’s established it as ‘one of London’s favourite pubs’.
They’re promising an array of Irish whiskeys behind the bar, live music performances, and a lively late-night setting.
Nancy Spains was set up by three brothers who travelled all over their home county of rural Kerry researching Irish pubs, before launching two venues down in London.
They want it to balance a traditional pub with the vibrancy of the city.
Peter O’Halloran, co-founder of Nancy Spains commented, “We’re so excited to be launching in Manchester, bringing Nancy Spains to the heart of the Northern Quarter.
“After the success of our two venues in London, it was only right to bring Nancy Spains’ infectious spirit and Irish pride to Manchester. Slainte!”
Nancy Spains will open its first Manchester pub on Saturday 15 March at 21 Hilton Street.
Lucky Mama’s – The Italian restaurant serving pasta in a dough bowl and ‘pregnant’ pizzas
Daisy Jackson
Lucky Mama’s is a local sensation, thanks to its slightly whacky but delicious Italian creations like pasta served in a bowl made of pizza dough and its latest offering, a ‘pregnant’ pizza.
What on Earth is a pregnant pizza, you ask? Firstly we should stress this is a nickname we’ve bestowed upon the dish, rather than Lucky Mama’s chosen branding.
But essentially it’s a helping of fresh pasta that’s folded into the bubble crust of the pizza, like a half-calzone.
Lucky Mama’s started life when founders Mamadou Dhiam and Gaby Santos set up a trailer in their backyard in Eccles in the depths of lockdown.
But thanks to a formidably loyal following that’s spread the word of Lucky Mama’s far and wide, it now has two pretty pink restaurants in Greater Manchester.
Back in 2022, they threw open the doors to their Chorlton restaurant, before returning back to home turf for spot number two in Monton in 2024.
The recipes are fresh and pretty authentically Italian up until the last step, when they throw a curveball by loading their pasta into unconventional vessels.
‘Pregnant’ pizzas at Lucky Mama’sTraditional Roman pizzasLucky Mama’s pink restaurant in Chorlton
Their pasta pizza bowls are what they’re best known for and they fly out of the kitchen – this is where pizza dough is placed around a metal bowl before being baked in an oven.
Then it’s piled high with freshly made pasta, with popular flavours like cacio e pepe, mushroom alfredo, and rasta pasta.
Pasta is available in a regular ceramic bowl too.
You’ll find Lucky Mama’s at 565 Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton; and 217 Monton Road in Eccles.
Daisy Jackson -
4th April 2024 
