Eats

Manchester Arndale Market remains shut after fire damaged street food hall

'Thank God no one was hurt.'

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 15th November 2023

Manchester’s Arndale Market, home to dozens of street food stalls and independent retails, remains closed after a fire last week.

Shoppers were evacuated from the huge shopping centre on Friday afternoon last week after reports of a fire at one of the market kitchens.

Fire crews were then seen attending the scene, where witnesses reported they were ‘sweeping out water’ from the Arndale Market.

The damage caused by the sprinkler system has left the area closed every since.

Food traders currently based here include Dunkin Burgers, Hong Thai, Pancho’s Burritos, and Zorba’s.

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Over the years, the Arndale Market has launched plenty of local restaurant ventures, from Salt n Pepper to Viet Shack to Wholesome Junkies.

But on Friday, a fire which reportedly started in the kitchen of one street food trader led to the entire site being evacuated.

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One trader said that the sprinklers did ‘a lot of damage’ to the area.

Manchester City Council has since said that work is underway to ‘reopen the market as soon as we can’.

Shoppers evacuated from the Arndale Market in Manchester after a fire set off the sprinkler system
Shoppers evacuated from the Arndale Market in Manchester after a fire set off the sprinkler system
Shoppers evacuated from the Arndale Market in Manchester after a fire set off the sprinkler system

Rack, which sells incredible sandwiches from the Arndale Market as well as its site in Stockport, said: “As some of you will be aware the Arndale Market has been closed since Friday due to a fire.

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“The fire wasn’t in our unit and luckily no one was hurt but unfortunately the sprinklers did a lot of damage.

“We don’t know when we’ll be able to reopen but we’ll keep you all posted. For now we’re closed until further notice. Both our other sites remain open so get your rack fix from either Stockport or Sale. Sorry for any inconvenience and watch this space for updates.”

Takoyaki Master, which sells Japanese street food, wrote: “We will keep closing until further notice from council. Our neighbor at our back got a fire yesterday, and it started the sprinkler system and caught out the fire rapidly. Luckily there was no one hurt, but we suffered from [water damage].

“We are allowed to enter and check everything on coming Monday. We will try to talk to the office to see the next steps. Hope we can get back to normal soon.”

Takoyaki Master is one of the Arndale Market traders affected by the fire
Takoyaki Master is one of the Arndale Market traders affected by the fire. Credit: The Manc Group
Rack is one of the Arndale Market traders affected by the fire
Rack is one of the Arndale Market traders affected by the fire
Little Piece of Bahia is serving the best Brazilian food at the Manchester Christmas Markets
Little Piece of Bahia is serving the best Brazilian food at the Manchester Christmas Markets

Meanwhile Little House of Bahia, which just opened a stall at the Manchester Christmas Markets in addition to its home in the Arndale Market, said: “We are all appalled by the fire at @arndalemarket, with everyone’s losses, but thank God no one was hurt.

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“Due to this incident, the store is closed, and delivery is suspended until the location is released again.
We appreciate everyone’s understanding and ask for your prayers so that we can return as soon as possible! Rebuild and continue serving everyone with our food.”

Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council councillor Luthfur Rahman said: “We are working hard to reopen the Arndale Market as quickly as possible.

“We are working closely with the stall holders and would like to thank them for the way in which they have responded and their patience as the clean-up operation took place over the weekend.

“The Market is currently closed and cannot open until a full assessment and essential works have taken place and we will be keeping traders fully informed on the progress of the work to reopen the market as soon as we can.”

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

Acclaimed restaurant staffed by prison inmates announces sad closure

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson The Clink restaurant in Styal is closing

The Clink, an acclaimed restaurant where the food is prepared and served by prison inmates, has announced its devastating closure.

The charity behind the restaurant, which is attached to HMP Styal, has confirmed that it will close for good on 31 July 2025.

The Clink is famed for the training and experience it provides inmates, helping them to get a head start into the hospitality industry when their sentence ends.

It’s also achieved plenty of acclaim as a restaurant in its own right, consistently being rated as the best restaurant in Wilmslow and voted Cheshire Restaurant of the Year in 2024.

Over the years, hundreds of students have earned qualifications including City & Guilds NVQs in Food and Beverage Service, Professional Cookery and Food Hygiene.

The Clink restaurant in Styal is closing
The Clink restaurant in Styal is closing
The Clink restaurant in Styal is closing

But The Clink has now announced that it will be closing this summer due to ‘a number of factors’, including costs and participant numbers.

Donna-Marie Edmonds, Chief Executive of The Clink Charity, said: “The decision not to renew our contract at HMP Styal has been made with an incredibly heavy heart.

“The Clink Charity’s mission is to reduce re-offending and we have been doing this at Styal, producing outstanding results for over a decade.

“Although the restaurant will officially close this summer, our partnership at Styal will be remembered not only for its landmark training outcomes, but as a beacon of hope, where women have sought refuge and rehabilitation.”

As one of those students put it: “If it wasn’t for my journey at The Clink, I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Eats

Deansgate’s new mini brunch triangle attracting big queues – and rightly so

Danny Jones Danny Jones New Manchester brunch spot triangle Deansgate

Manchester is absolutely bursting at the seams with brilliant brunch spots, and don’t even get just started on trying to pick from all 10 boroughs as a whole, it’s impossible.

However, over the past year or so, we suddenly realised that somewhat of a city centre trio of brunch spots serving unreal breakfasts, midday delights and early afternoon scran has emerged.

A new Manc brunch triangle, if you will.

While some have been there longer than others, all three of these places within aren’t just within spitting distance of each other but are enjoying a real wave of success at the moment – and it’s no surprise why: they’re all utterly incredible.

Three brilliant city centre brunch spots for you to try

1. Bruncho

First up on the list is the aptly named Bruncho, which opened just last summer, and despite announcing itself to the Manchester hospitality scene rather quietly at the time, it’s starting to pick up some serious pace now.

Specialising in unreal breakfasts and Mediterranean exports like menemen, Turkish eggs, their own spins of spicy favourite shakshuka, as well as plenty of dessert-forward plates with colour palettes as full as the plates themselves.

It goes without saying that you can obviously get a proper good ‘Bruncho Full English‘, but we’d encourage you to branch out and, who knows, maybe have a brekkie that features ice cream? In fact, it’s sentences like that which make it our Thomas’ favourite way to start the day – albeit ideally a lie-in.

2. Alex’s Bakery

Now, another very strong candidate which has been around on the Manc brunch scene much longer than the other two on this list is local success story, Alex’s Bakery, though we’ll admit we’d mainly visited this place for the unreal brownies, cupcakes and other assorted sweet treats until recently.

However, in addition to the popularity of their lunch deal (a panini, cupcake and drink), they’ve really stepped up their wider brunch offerings of late, going from what was once just a Manchester Artisan Market back in 2014 to branching out into everything good you can put on toast and tonnes more.

It may not garner the often ridiculously long queues of other places, but that’s because this place has a steady flow of regulars all week long who’ve steadily fallen in love with it over many years. They’re tres leches cakes alone are well worth the visit.

3. Acai And The Tribe

Last but not least, the acai craze is undoubtedly one of the biggest foodie trends around right now, as proven by the lines that gather outside this Great Northern venue at least once virtually every weekend – but Acai And The Tribe has actually been on the hype for ages.

That being said, after moving from Arndale Market to Deansgate Mews back in 2022 and now along the main strip in recent months, their popularity has skyrocketed. If you’re looking for a health brunch open packed with vibrance, vitamins and plenty of other very nice toppings, this is the one for you.

We’ll warn you, finding the right window to visit is essentially if you don’t want to wait around for ages these days, but both Clem and Daphne still greatly approve, so it’s it gets the seal of approval from us.

So, while we could recommend you a whole load of fantastic places in around Manchester city centre, we’ve been particularly charmed by this mini Manc brunch triangle around Deansgate.

Best of all, it’s just always great to see local businesses thriving, isn’t it? Especially when it comes to people lining the streets and sending it viral just for a chance to taste their offerings.

Modern breakfast and brunch are things that can be either perfect in their simplicity or surprising in their creativity; either way, we’re glad there are plenty of examples of that here in Manchester.

Trust us, we take this stuff very seriously…

The top 25 places for the best breakfast and brunch in Manchester

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Featured Images — The Manc Group

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