Dragons Den investor Steven Barlett has thousands of pounds to help feed struggling UK families after a woman’s charity allotment used to help people through the cost of living crisis was vandalised, rendering all of its food inedible.
UK gardener Carly Burd, who has multiple sclerosis (MS) and lupus, had transformed her garden into a vegetable allotment and was using it to feed more than 1,600 hard-up families struggling to make ends meet.
Then this week, she discovered that vandals had poured roughly 5kg of salt across the plot – destroying enough potatoes and onions to feed more than 300 people, as well as ‘hours and hours’ of her hard work.
Taking to social media platform TikTok to share her devastation at the discovery, a tearful Carly said she was “absolutely heartbroken” and explained that someone must have jumped over the fence in the night.
Image: Carly Burd via TikTok
Image: Carly Burd via TikTok
She continued: “That means everything I’ve planted won’t grow and I can’t replant on it because it won’t grow.
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“All the hours and hours and hours of work that we’ve put in is now dead, and they’ve done it everywhere.”
Carly’s emotional video quickly went viral as people began sharing their dismay that someone could do such a thing, and a GoFundMe account set up by Carly soon began racking up donations from outraged viewers.
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At the time of writing, the fundraiser has received over 10,000 donations totalling more than £171,000 – with one of the largest being from podcaster and Social Chain founder Steven Bartlett, who contributed £2,000 to the cause.
Appearing in a list of one of the top supporters, he is not the only celebrity to have given money to the cause with Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker also donating £500.
Carly first began her A Meal on Me With Love initiative for people on benefits, low incomes and pensioners in 2022, growing fruit and vegetables to give to people on low incomes in her local neighbourhood.
On her GoFundMe page, she expressed sympathy with those living on low incomes writing: “I know how hard its going to be this winter with cost of living .So I transformed my garden into an allotment to provide those on benefits, pensioners on state pension & those on a low income FREE organic fruit an vegetables plus essentials.
She explained: “They receive a large box that contains essentials plus enough food, fruit, vegetables, pasta, rice, breakfast etc for the amount of people in the household. I made all the planters from old wood & I grow everything from seed.
She also shared her own struggles with the cost of living, writing: “I’m on disability so I have to keep the cost down. I can’t sit back & watch people struggle; not being able to feed their kids or go without food so they can have the heating on.
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“Last year I went without heating, having MS with no heating is horrific. Why are we left to live like this?”
If you would like to support Carly’s GoFundMe page you can do so here.
Joe & The Juice to open even MORE locations in Manchester city centre
Daisy Jackson
Joe & The Juice is set to launch yet more juice bars and coffee shops in Manchester city centre.
The viral brand used to have a spot in town within the former Debenhams building, but vanished from Greater Manchester when the department store folded.
But its comeback has been remarkable since reopening in town last year, with the number of Joe & The Juice locations now at an all-time high.
And there are even more on the way…
Bright pink hoardings have appeared on a corner unit on Princess Street, right off St Peter’s Square, teasing a new Joe & The Juice cafe in the city centre.
The unit has been empty for at least 10 years, despite being in such a prime part of the city centre.
Plans were also revealed last year for the Danish-based brand to open within the reopened Sunlight House on Quay Street.
Joe & The Juice is coming to St Peter’s Square in ManchesterJoe & The Juice on Cross Street
The new additions will bring the number of Joe & The Juices in Greater Manchester to five, adding to their existing portfolio of Cross Street, Manchester Airport T2, and the Trafford Centre.
The brand is known for its signature menu of juices, smoothies, health shots, coffees and matchas, plus its viral Scandi-inspired sandwiches like the Tunacado.
With more than 300 juice bars and coffee shops around the world, Joe & The Juice’s pink branding has become a familiar site globally since its launch in 2002.
An exact opening date for the new St Peter’s Square Joe & The Juice hasn’t been revealed yet, but the signs promise it’s ‘coming soon’.
Inside the new Manchester food hall opening in a Grade II-listed building
Daisy Jackson
The operators behind a brand-new food hall in Manchester city centre have shared a glimpse inside.
Work is underway to transform the Grade II-listed Ducie Street Warehouse into an enormous food hall concept, with 11 kitchens plus an outdoor terrace, mini cinema, tequila bar, and game rooms.
When it opens this summer, Manchester Street Food will also have a self-service beer tap wall and two stages, as well as a 75-cover private hire space.
Ducie Street Warehouse closed late last year to make room for the building’s new chapter, as the team behind Edinburgh Street Food (ESF) take the reins.
In new images shared today, original features like the arched brick ceilings and terracotta tiled floors will be retained, but the space will have plenty of colour added in the form of murals, painted pillars, and neons.
ESF is looking to expand right across the UK over the next five years, kicking off here in Manchester on the edges of the Northern Quarter.
The 15,000 sq ft internal space, just a stone’s throw from Manchester Piccadilly, will have space for 450 people inside plus another 180 on the south-facing terrace outside.
The games room at Manchester Street FoodThe 32-seat cinemaInside Manchester Street Food
A winter garden will host breakfast service, while guest traders will take over the terrace to keep the offering fresh.
The existing 32-seat mini cinema in the building will be retained in the new plans for Manchester Street Food.
Manchester Street Food is expected to generate 180 employee opportunities.
Ben MacMillan, ESF Managing Director, said: “Manchester has always been a city with incredible energy, creativity and a love of food, so bringing our concept here in this stunning venue is a natural and exciting next step.
“We want to create a space brought to life by local artists which celebrates the city’s culture and provides line up independent traders and brewers a city centre platform to shine.
“We’ve seen how much people embraced the spirit of ESF in Edinburgh and we know Manchester, with its energy and hunger for innovation will take it to another level. We’re incredibly excited about making the city our second home.”
Georgina Pellant -
13th April 2023 
