Head down to The Royal Exchange arches on Cross Street today, and you’ll find yourself in the humble, heartwarming labyrinthine of hygge homeware.
The cosy Danish retail outlet Sostrene Grene sits peacefully at the entrance point – inviting passers-by to pop in and peruse shelves upon shelves of simple, elegant Scandi-style products.
By offering people a tranquil escape from the racket of the city around them, Sostrene Grene is in a rather fitting spot. After all, this section of The Royal Exchange has historically been associated with people ‘getting away’.
Back in the 1950s, this where you came to arrange trips to faraway lands.
It was, for a time, the Manchester Air Terminal.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Manchester Air Terminal was moved from the corner of Oxford Street and Lower Mosley Street in the early fifties to The Royal Exchange – with the blue and silver buses parking up in St Ann’s Square.
Passengers were able to check in for their flights at the desks here and then board shuttle buses which would whisk patrons 10 miles south to Manchester Airport.
ADVERTISEMENT
Services were direct and didn’t stop anywhere else along the way – connecting with specific flights due to take off on that date.
These airport buses would also bear the names of the flight destination – meaning at the time you would see vehicles trundling around the city with ‘Madrid’, ‘Zurich’ or ‘New York’ splashed across the front displays.
According to Manchester Archives, the Air Terminal catered for passengers flying with multiple airlines – including BEA, BOAC, Air France, Swissair and Sabena.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Royal Exchange in 2021, of course, is a very different place – with the Air Terminal long since shut down and the iconic building now populated by retailers.
After being forced into hibernation for much of the year due to the pandemic, The Royal Exchange arcade has now fully reopened – filled with 40 outlets ranging from fashion stores to cafes.
For more information about the history and upcoming events at The Royal Exchange, visit the official website.
In celebration of the 100th birthday, The Royal Exchange is encouraging anyone who has any stories or pictures they’d like to share on social media to tag @royalexchangemanchester (Facebook and Instagram) or @TheRoyalExMcr (Twitter) and use the hashtag #ExchangeMemories.
Alternatively, people can email f[email protected] with #ExchangeMemories in the subject line.
Featured image: Manchester Airport
Feature
The Clink – The top-rated northern restaurant where your meals are prepared by prison inmates
Daisy Jackson
The Clink is a very extraordinary restaurant in its own right, serving impeccable dishes in a beautiful setting.
But what makes it even more extraordinary is that it stands in the grounds of HMP Styal – an active women’s prison in Cheshire – and is staffed by inmates.
Everything you eat is cooked and served by these students in training, helping them to get a foot in the door of the hospitality industry when their sentence ends.
By the time they finish their shifts at The Clink, they’ll have worked towards their City & Guilds NVQs in Food and Beverage Service, Professional Cookery and Food Hygiene.
It is, as the charity says, ‘their first steps towards a new life’.
So this spot definitely does good for the women here at HMP Styal – but it is also an absolute treat for members of the public too, regardless of its wholesome roots.
The Clink is based inside a converted chapel in a beautiful and leafy corner of Cheshire, with the National Trust’s Quarry Bank just on the doorstep.
Inside, beneath a towering wooden ceiling and colourful stained glass windows, the restaurant itself boasts a simple, historic grandeur.
There are parquet floors underfoot and you can even still see the remains of the chapel’s organ, now standing proudly above the doorway into the kitchen.
The leather upholstery and boardroom tables inside have all been made by prisoners at HMP Frankland.
During the day the menu breaks down into all-day brunch dishes, small plates and hearty larger ones.
For brunches that includes a delightfully spicy shakshuka served with a flatbread, and one of the hand-on-heart best French toasts I’ve found, laced with a smattering of cinnamon and a warming winter berry compote.
Small plates come in the form of pork belly on a bed of red chilli jam and Asian slaw; and a highly-technical plate of beetroot served roasted, in gel form, and pickled, alongside little towers of goats cheese mousse and candied walnuts.
Beetroot and goats cheese, and pork belly small plates. Credit: The Manc GroupA spicy shakshuka on The Clink brunch menu. Credit: The Manc GroupFrench toast. Credit: The Manc Group
There are special evening sittings at The Clink too, where you can feast on four exceptional courses for just £40.
That menu currently includes a slow-cooked beef that falls apart as soon as it so-much as looks at a knife and fork, and a fillet of roast cod perched atop spinach puree and roasted leeks, topped with a bacon crumb.
And then come desserts that wouldn’t look out of place in a Michelin-level restaurant – all the flavours of the beloved Manchester tart, this time reassembled and elevated with raspberry gel, chocolate crumb, a coconut tuile, and coconut ice cream.
A deconstructed Manchester tart. Credit: The Manc GroupSlow-cooked beef. Credit: The Manc Group
There’s another British classic in Eton Mess, which has barely an inkling of ‘mess’ to it, a prettily-presented plate of meringue, fresh fruit and macerated berries.
The Clink consistently sits towards the top of the best restaurants in Cheshire. On TripAdvisor, it currently ranks first in Wilmslow and fourth in all of Cheshire overall.
After one brief lunchtime visit, it’s easy to see why.
And that pudding really does taste better knowing how much good work is going on behind the scenes.
ADVERTISEMENT
To find out more, make a donation, or book your table at The Clink, head here.
They’re also hosting a charity night with Sacha Lord soon, who’ll be talking all about his life working in Manchester’s nightlife industry while guests tuck into a three-course dinner.
‘I fear you’ll forget us’ – Prestwich business owner shares powerful statement as Rudy’s and Gail’s descend on independent village
Daisy Jackson
The man behind one of Prestwich’s most successful independent businesses has shared a moving statement this morning as the thriving neighbourhood readies for the arrival of Rudy’s.
Dan Edwards, owner of Chips @ No. 8, has spoken out on chains ‘piggybacking on the the successes’ and dreams of all the many, many local favourites that have made Prestwich into one of the UK’s best places to live (not just our word, either – The Times said it too).
His statement comes on the week that work has begun on the former Barclays bank on the high street, ready for the arrival of Rudy’s – that ever-expanding pizza giant that started life in Manchester and is now infiltrating every corner of Britain with its Neapolitan pizzas.
And it’s rumoured that a Gail’s bakery (a big London name) might also be moving in just across the road in the former Natwest bank.
Now Dan has shared a powerful statement addressing his fears that these chains will change the face of this proudly independent corner of Greater Manchester.
“I fear you’ll forget us,” he wrote.
He vocalised concerns from the suburb that the tiny, family-run, independently-owned, much-loved cafes, bars, restaurants and shops based in Prestwich won’t be able to compete with the ‘unlimited marketing budgets, fancy gimmicks, big shiny interiors’ of Rudy’s and Gail’s.
He said that he’s worried this will drive rents even higher and attract even more chains (at the minute, Costa and KFC are really the only high street names along Bury New Road).
Rudy’s will be moving into this unit in Prestwich. Credit: The Manc GroupPizzas from an existing Rudy’s in Altrincham. Credit: The Manc Group
Dan said that it feels as though the chains are ‘piggy backing the dreams, the visions, the hopes and mostly successes of the independent businesses that helped establish Prestwich as a community that we can be proud of’.
He listed many of the local spots who ‘drove the scene’, from the beautiful cafe-bars like Cuckoo, All The Shapes, and Grape to Grain, to restaurants like The Pearl and Dokes (we would, obviously, like to add Chips @ No 8 to that list).
And while Rudy’s and Gail’s will be ‘great additions’ to Prestwich, Dan stressed that these places ‘aren’t unique’.
He wrote: “Their owners don’t live in Prestwich, their kids don’t go to school here. It’s likely they won’t be shopping here.”
And he pleaded: “Support local, support independent. Please. More than ever we all need you.”
Dan Edwards’ statement on Prestwich’s future, and Rudy’s arrival, is below in full
“With the recent news that Rudy’s are finally starting work at the old Barclays and the rumours that Gail’s Bakery secured the lease at the old NatWest being confirmed, we can, and rightly so, get excited.
“Prestwich’s tag of an “up and coming” town really is a thing! The chains have identified it as such and are moving in! The impending redevelopment of the precinct has hastened the charge. Will chains, arrive there too? I hope not.
“The chains are piggy backing the dreams, the visions, the hopes and mostly successes of the independent businesses that helped establish Prestwich as a community that we can be proud of.
“Cuckoo, ATS, G to G, The Pearl, Dokes, KCB, Macca’s, Tito’s, Butterfingers, Hideaway, Us, Everyone Else, all the great little places in Prestwich Village that offer something different, something great, somewhere you can get excited about to share your secret culinary pleasure when family or friends come to visit. We all laid foundations. We all drove the scene.
The Pearl. Credit: The Manc GroupInside Cuckoo, an original Prestwich independent. Credit: The Manc GroupFood at Chips & No 8. Credit: The Manc GroupGrape to Grain in Prestwich. Credit: The Manc GroupA few of the businesses Dan named in his statement about the arrival of Rudy’s in Prestwich
“Don’t get me wrong, they’ll be great additions. They’ll give us more choice and they’ll be great places to eat. They’ll give us another reason to get excited about when family or friends come to visit.
“Only, they won’t be a secret, there’s loads of them. Chances are, your visitors have already been, albeit somewhere else, in a different town. They aren’t unique, and they aren’t independently owned. Their owners don’t live in Prestwich, their kids don’t go to school here. It’s likely they won’t be shopping here.
“They won’t panic when they have a bad trading day, they won’t worry that the VAT bill is only days away and there’s not enough money in the pot. They have shareholders, investors, fancy lawyers and fancy accountants, deep pockets and big buying power.
“They won’t be concerned that “Dave’s” place round the corner has seemed quiet for a little too long now, “I hope they survive”.
“I hope they do well, I hope they bring people in, I hope they give us exposure to a wider audience, I hope we can have our turn being carried by the piggy.
“I fear they’ll bring more chains, I fear they’ll drive rents higher, I fear that “Dave’s” place round the corner doesn’t stand a chance, I fear they’ll dazzle us with unlimited marketing budgets, fancy gimmicks, big shiny interiors.
“I fear you’ll forget us. Support local, support independent. Please. More than ever we all need you.”