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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.
ADVERTISEMENT
“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
Simon Wood announces gutting closure of Manchester restaurant after seven years
Danny Jones
Celebrity chef and Manchester local Simon Wood has announced that his self-titled WOOD Restaurant has sadly closed its doors.
The Oldham-born chef-owner who won MasterChef back in 2015, revealed the unfortunate news on Wednesday, 2 October, confirming that the First Street site will be closing immediately. Truly gutting.
Wood has remained one of Greater Manchester’s most-renowned chefs for the past decade, not to mention a huge advocate for supporting the hospitality industry, especially post-Covid and during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Sharing an emotional post on Instagram, he wrote: “It is with much regret that I have to inform you that I must close the doors here at WOOD for good, with immediate effect.”
“We have had 7 years as part of the Manchester city dining scene and I’m very proud of what the team and I have achieved”, the 48-year-old continued.
“Sadly with COVID rent arrears now being demanded by our landlord and an increasingly difficult marketplace, energy increases, ingredient costs and soon-to-be spiralling business rates we just cannot make this work.”
“I’d like to thank everyone for your support and patronage over the years. Thank you, Simon.”
It was only at the start of the week that Wood shared a frustrated post about a group of no-show customers over the weekend that failed to even pre-warn that they would no longer be attending one of his most exclusive and costly experiences.
We’re starting to lose count of how many local businesses are unfortunately struggling in the face of the rising business rates and energy bills that all independents are facing at the minute.
It was only last month that we saw Almous Famous had to call it a day with their Withington location and beloved sandwich spot Micky’s sadly suffer the same fate. Even cult favourite Cafe Marhaba looks to have gone up for sale. So tough to swallow.
We’re genuinely gutted for everyone involved with the brand. All the best, Si – we know you’ll be back stronger than ever one of these days.
Featured Images — The Manc Group
News
No trams to run through major Manchester city centre station this weekend
Emily Sergeant
Arguably Manchester city centre’s most important tram stop is set to be out of action this weekend, with no services running through it.
In what is another part of Transport for Greater Manchester‘s (TfGM) ongoing programme of works intended to “maintain and improve” the Metrolink system and ensure tram journeys in Greater Manchester remain “safe, reliable, and accessible”, it’s been confirmed that no trams will run through Cornbrook this weekend.
Due to this, there will be a change to operating patterns across the majority of the Metrolink network on both Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October.
As is often the case in instances like these, disruption to passengers is expected.
On Saturday and Sunday [5 and 6 October], no trams will operate through Cornbrook.
There will be a change to operating patterns and replacement bus services will be in operation.
On Saturday (5 October), the tram service pattern will change to Altrincham – Old Trafford, Bury – Ashton-under-Lyne, East Didsbury – Firswood, Etihad Campus – Bury (peak time only) / Victoria (after peak only), Manchester Airport – Firswood, Rochdale Town Centre – Deansgate-Castlefield (via Exchange Square), and The Trafford Centre – Wharfside.
Similarly, on Sunday (6 October), the only difference to the above service pattern is that the Etihad Campus tram will only run to Victoria, not Bury.
Services will operate every 12 minutes, except for on the Eccles line, where no trams will run at all.
TfGM is also warning that there may be changes to the first and last tram times during these works, but, in bid to help people still get to their destinations, three bus replacement services will operate from Firswood to Victoria, Old Trafford to Piccadilly, and Eccles to Piccadilly.
No trams will run through major Manchester city centre station Cornbrook this weekend / Credit: TfGM
The Old Trafford to Piccadilly bus service will run through Wharfside, while the Eccles to Piccadilly will travel via MediaCity.
“These works are a vitally important part of maintaining a safe and reliable network for all our customers,” explained
Ian Davies, who is TfGM’s Interim Network Director for Metrolink, said these works are “a vitally important part” of maintaining the Metrolink, and that work has been scheduled by TfGM to “minimise disruption to passengers and residents as much as possible”.
Daisy Jackson -
12th November 2021 
