A teppanyaki restaurant in Manchester city centre has had to temporarily close its doors because of a ‘severe’ kitchen fire.
Sapporo Teppanyaki on Liverpool Road is famed for its theatrical cooking style, where chefs prepare food on a hot plate in front of diners.
Each table is manned by a trained chef, who frequently create huge flaming displays right in front of customers’ eyes.
Sapporo Teppanyaki on Liverpool Road in Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
But now a fire in the restaurant’s kitchen has forced the doors to close for the time being.
A statement posted by Sapporo Teppanyaki says that no one was injured in the incident, but that there has been some “major fire damage” in the main kitchen.
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They added that the team have been left ‘shaken’.
The post read: “As some of you may have heard, our Manchester branch is currently out of action due to some major fire damage in our main kitchen.
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“While we’re a little shaken, thankfully nobody was injured and we’re working hard to get back on our feet as soon as possible. We understand this set-back will have inconvenienced many of you, so thank you for bearing with us in the meantime!”
A deep-cleaning company is currently working to ready the restaurant for a hopeful reopening in December.
The restaurant has said that bookings have been refunded.
A spokesperson for GMFRS said: “At approximately 7am on Saturday 16 October, three fire engines from Salford and Moss Side stations, alongside an aerial ladder platform from Manchester Central station, were called to a fire on Liverpool Road, in Manchester city centre.
“The fire was located on the ground floor of a restaurant. Firefighters used breathing apparatus, two hose reels, a thermal imaging camera and a gas monitor to extinguish the fire. Fire crews were in attendance for around four hours.”
Sapporo’s sister site in Liverpool is open for business as normal.
The Manc has contacted Sapporo Teppanyaki for further comment.
Featured image – Facebook (Sapporo Teppanyaki)
News
Manchester Airport issues update for anyone flying today after hundreds of cancellations yesterday
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Airport has issued an update for anyone catching a flight today after hundreds of cancellations yesterday.
In case you hadn’t heard, hundreds of flights at several major UK airports – including Manchester Airport – were disrupted by a technical fault at air traffic control provider National Air Traffic Services (NATS) yesterday (8 September 2026), with the incident grounding planes and resulting in numerous cancellations.
According to Flightradar24, more than 1,000 flights were cancelled nationwide, and many passengers were told to expect disruption for the rest of the day.
One of the worst-affected airlines was said to be Ryanair, with around 65,000 passengers affected by the cancellations and delays.
Manchester Airport issued its first statement addressing the matter at 3:15pm yesterday, stating: “We are aware of an issue affecting NATS’ air traffic control service at UK airports, which may result in delays to some departing flights from Manchester Airport today.
“Passengers due to travel are advised to check the latest status of their flight with their airline. We will continue to monitor the situation and share further updates as more information becomes available.”
Now, although the issue has been resolved, Manchester Airport has issued further statements informing anyone travelling today what they can expect.
The airport started off by saying that it is ‘operating as normal’ today, but that passengers are advised to ‘check with their airline for the latest information’.
“A full flight schedule is expected to operate [today] but the airport may be busier due to rescheduled flights,” it added.
Passengers were then thanked for their ‘patience and understanding’ over the past 24 hours.
Featured Image – Ivan Shimko (via Unsplash)
News
Hundreds of staff at four Greater Manchester hospitals to strike AGAIN next week
Emily Sergeant
Another round of strikes has been called at a handful of major Greater Manchester hospitals.
Amid ongoing disputes following the first set of strikes at the end of last month, it has now been announced that more than 350 Northern Care Alliance Foundation Trust (NCA) employees – including nurses, clinical support workers and housekeepers – who are members of the union UNISON will once again walk out for three days next week.
According to the union, the dispute centres on the NCA’s use of an outside agency called NHS Professionals (NHSP) to manage overtime.
When covering staff shortages, workers are entitled to time-and-a-half pay – however in some cases, staff earn less than they would on a normal shift, and some have even been missing out on more than £80 per shift, the union added.
Operating theatre staff were previously on picket lines in June, and although an option to resolve the row was initially tabled by NCA bosses, this has now fallen through.
Hundreds of staff at four of Greater Manchester’s hospitals are set to strike next week / Credit: Stephen Andrews (via Unsplash)
This means that staff at Salford Royal Hospital, Royal Oldham Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary, and Fairfield Hospital in Bury are walking out next week on Monday 14, Tuesday 15, and Thursday 17 September.
The union’s North West regional organiser, Kevin Dolan, said the trust had given ‘no indication’ that it’s willing to re-enter negotiations, adding that operating theatre services were ‘chronically under-staffed’ and staff were choosing to work extra shifts to cover shortages.
Ahead of the August strikes, the trust declared a critical incident to help it secure extra support and keep urgent surgery running, while also announcing that some procedures would have to be postponed.
Understandably, some disruption is expected at each of the hospitals on strike days.
But Gertie Nic Philib, who is the chief people and strategy officer at the Northern Care Alliance, said that the trust will do ‘everything we can to minimise the impact on patients’ and ‘maintain high standards of care and quality at all times.’
“We also have contingency plans in place for emergency situations,” they concluded.
Daisy Jackson -
12th November 2021 
