Affordable luxury eyewear brand IOLLA has launched a new eco collection, and you can see it in all its glory in the new Manchester store.
Shoppers may remember that the innovative Scottish brand – which offers affordable quality glasses and sunglasses for a single price point – last summer chose Manchester as the first place to open a showroom outside of its native country.
IOLLA Manchester opened its doors on St Ann’s Square in August 2022, and has already brought a fresh take on eyewear retail to the shopping and fashion scene in our city centre.
While the brand prides itself on offering “a spectacular shopping experience like no other”, IOLLA says it’s also committed to making sure its products are as sustainable as they are stylish – and that’s why it’s launched a brand-new ‘Eco-Collection’.
While 69% of people in the UK wear glasses, recent research has revealed that 3,000 tonnes of lenses go to landfill each year.
With a pledge to make 25% of its range eco by the end of 2023, IOLLA’s new collection features fully biodegradable eco-acetates, which means that frames can be broken down naturally without causing pollution.
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‘Butter Tortoise’ and ‘Crystal Fade’ from the Douglas Collection are the first two pairs to have been added to the new Eco-Collection, while all of IOLLA’s black frames are also made from 70% recycled acetate – which is produced from off-cuts that would usually be discarded during the frame manufacturing process.
Alongside developing more sustainable materials for the new Eco-Collection, IOLLA is also offering a new ‘Refresh Service’ aimed at “breathing new life” into your old IOLLA frames, so whether it’s a change in prescription or a scratched lens to your beloved pair, there’s range of services to repair, reuse or, recycle your glasses.
And with summer round the corner, you can also switch your lenses to transform old specs into a stylish set of new shades as part of the service.
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Affordable eyewear brand IOLLA has launched a new ‘Eco-Collection’ / Credit: IOLLA
On top of all of this, IOLLA is also encouraging customers to take advantage of its new recycling programme, so your old glasses can be reused responsibly and prevent any from reaching the landfill.
“We are delighted to launch our Eco-Collection and are committed to ensuring at least 25% of our range is eco-friendly by the end of the year,” said Stefan Hunter – founder and CEO at IOLLA.
“At IOLLA, we’re passionate about delivering an experience unlike any other, and that’s reflected in our unique flat-fee pricing structure, next-level customer service, and handcrafted designs – but our focus within product development now is to lead the way in developing stylish, sustainable eyewear and minimising our impact on the environment as much as possible.”
IOLLA opened its Manchester showroom on St Ann’s Square last summer / Credit: IOLLA
What makes IOLLA different to lots of other high street glasses labels is that it prides itself on keeping its pricing “simple and honest” by refusing to include any hidden costs or added extras.
All Eco-Collection prescription lenses and coatings are included within the standard £85 flat fee.
Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Emily Sergeant -
8th March 2023 
