Gusto Restaurants has confirmed that its Didsbury location has sadly closed after 17 years.
The chain of Italian restaurants has multiple venues all over the UK, including half a dozen in the North West alone and, up until recently boasted a total of four across Greater Manchester and its neighbouring areas.
Now though, the restaurant group has quietly shared the news that their long-standing Didsbury site has unfortunately closed its doors after more than a decade and a half as a mainstay on Wilmslow Road.
News of the closure was verified following an official update on the Gusto website and the south Manchester spot has now been marked as ‘permanently closed’ on Google.
Credit: Gusto Restaurants website (screenshot)
Posting a short notice on their Restaurants page, a statement reads: “We are sad to announce that our Didsbury restaurant will be closing its doors permanently as of today.
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“We want to take this moment to thank those who have joined us for your loyalty and support. You made our restaurant a place filled with celebrations and laughter.
“As always, our team members are our top priority. We are doing everything we can to support them in finding new roles within the business or guiding them as they take the next steps in their journey.
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“Thank you for allowing us to serve you, and for being part of our journey. We will cherish the memories made here. Team Gusto Italian x”
Having been regular patrons of the Italian eatery for many years, we’re sad to see it go; fellow fans of their food will be relieved to hear, however, that their Manchester city centre and Cheadle Hulme sites will remain open, as will their nearby Alderley Edge and Knutsford equivalents.
Gusto Didsbury now visibly shut down on what would usually be a steady weeknight service. (Credit: The Manc Group)
One of multiple sites opened by the group in 2007, Gusto Didsbury was one of the most popular Italian restaurants in the town for a long time and had previously won Italian Restaurant of the Year at the Pizza, Pasta and Italian Food Association’s PAPA Industry Awards.
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Founded in Cheshire back in 2005 by Jeremy Roberts and the late Tim Bacon of the Living Ventures Group following the rebrand of Est Est Est, Gusto eventually received financial backing from Palatine Private Equity back in 2014, with the Didsbury restaurant remaining one of their key locations.
However, with the local area’s culinary scene positively booming, competition has continued to increase over the years and after receiving interest in the unit from “well-known” retailers, the company has decided to vacate the premises promptly following a review of the site.
They have also ensured to help their current Didsbury team transition into other existing venues as well “ensuring they are provided with opportunities within our wider business where available and have all necessary resources.” Sadly, it’s not the only local food and drink spot that’s bid goodbye this week.
Featured Images — Gusto Restaurants (via Instagram)/The Manc Group
Eats
Ancoats neighbourhood bar shames customers who ran off on unpaid rosé bill
Daisy Jackson
A waterside cocktail bar in Ancoats has slammed a group of customers who left the venue without paying their bill this weekend.
Finders Keepers on New Islington Marina has publicly shamed the trio, sharing CCTV images of them making off from the venue.
The local business has labelled the customers ‘Manchester’s newest girl group, Rosé & The Runners’.
They added that the group had enjoyed a few bottles of rosé wine but left before paying their £160 bill.
Finders Keepers also said that the incident occurred on a ‘record-breaking’ day last Saturday, when the city bathed in beautiful spring sunshine.
Since releasing the CCTV images this afternoon, the bar has been flooded with messages of support – including one very notable one from Sacha Lord.
Sacha has offered to pay off the girls’ tab so that the bar isn’t left out of pocket, AND has suggested providing a £500 reward to anyone who can name and shame them.
He commented: “Everyone knows how tough it is in Hospitality right now…how can anyone want to do this to a small independent business. I’ll settle that bill mate…plus give a £500 reward to name and shame them.”
Finders Keepers bar on New Islington MarinaFinders Keepers shared this CCTV of the customers who left the bar without paying
Another person commented: “foul behaviour! Sorry this happened to you guys.”
Someone else wrote: “Love a good photo shame when folk rip off a business… Hope they pay!!”
Posting earlier today, Finders Keepers said: “We’d like to thank Manchesters newest girl group, Rosé & The Runners. Who enjoyed a few bottles of Rosé wine with us on this record breaking Saturday, without paying.
“If you’d like to come back & pay your £160 bill then we’re back open on Wednesday, alternatively get in touch and we can send you a payment link.
“Next time you fancy a free bar tab perhaps join us for our quiz this Sunday from 7pm. £100 tab to be won!
Brilliant Salford Greek restaurant receives glowing national review
Daisy Jackson
A fabulous Greek restaurant in Salford has received a glowing review from a top food critic, who described its food as providing ‘its own gorgeous kind of sunshine’.
Acclaimed restaurant critic Jay Rayner has heaped praise on Kallos in his Financial Times review.
The modest restaurant has been open for just over a year, but has already earned itself a place in the prestigious Michelin guide – and now a rave national review too.
Operated by couple Ioanna and Ivan, Kallos brings a taste of Santorini to their stripped-back, concrete-filled, light-flooded new space in Salford.
And while Jay Rayner admits in his review that Kallos’s interior hasn’t done much to lift this corner of Salford’s ‘badly organised grid of fast-rising apartment blocks’, the food itself ‘provides its own gorgeous kind of sunshine’.
Rayner heaped praise on Kallos’s phenomenal flatbreads, noting how it’s impossible to exercise restraint ‘in the face of bread this good’.
He also raved about their topped flatbreads (like one with ‘knots of sweet roasted lamb shoulder cooked until it has collapsed’), red prawns the length of a hand, and soft dolmades stuffed with rice and minced meat.
Topped flatbread with lambTinned fishPrawn SaganakiThree of the dishes Jay Rayner loved at Kallos. Credit: The Manc Group
Kallos is part-owned by sommelier Ivan, who is striving to have the largest collection of Greek wines in the UK at the restaurant.
Jay Rayner noted both the selection and the affordability of this carefully-curated wine list, saying that it’s nice to find that ‘outside London, drinking well need not require the sale of a spare kidney or child’.
And then he came to the section of the menu that’s dedicated to premium tinned fish.
“It feels like the UK has woken up only relatively recently to the possibilities of impressively fine foods from a can,” he wrote.
Kallos in Cortland at Colliers Yard, SalfordKallos in Salford has been added to the Michelin Guide
“It is genuinely exciting to see Kallos devote a whole section of the menu to these treasures, even if it is basically the same victory of shopping that results in a good cheese board.
“But it takes both serious knowledge and a brave evangelical enthusiasm to offer a list like this.”
Rayner’s review went on to praise the tinned mackerel, served with a ‘balloon of hot bread’, pickled chillies, and an ‘aioli made with so much garlic, consenting adults should make sure to eat it together’.
Signing off his review, Jay Rayner wrote: “As the plate lands on the table, the sun finally comes out over both Salford and Kallos. Finally, the grey is banished. At last, all the beauty is here.”
Danny Jones -
11th November 2024 
