There’s a truck with a natural wine bar inside parked up in Manchester city centre for the summer.
Run by a group of four friends determined to “take something that’s been on a pedestal for so long, and [kick] it the f*ck off”, this is no imposing wine store. Far from it.
This is a place where everyone is made to feel welcome, no matter how great (or small) their wine knowledge.
As the lads behind the concept tell us, “The bodega is here to defuse that wine stigma. If you want red wine with fish do it, if you want to eat a big mac with a glass of orange, get it.”
Inspired by their love of hip-hop icons like Action Bronson and the all-encompassing community culture of New York’s bodegas, Vin De Bodega has been running for just over a year.
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Image: The Manc Eats
After launching a popular online-only wine delivery service during lockdown, founders Rick Farthing, Jack ‘Gus’ Surplus, Eoghan Neburagho and Razz Ashraf began hosting pop-ups across the city at different venues.
Now, they’ve parked up a truck beneath Quay Street’s ABC Buildings for the summer – dishing out handpicked low-intervention goods every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 6pm.
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All four have other jobs, having first started the Bodega as a passion project in 2020.
Between them, they have a mixture of hospitality experience – Rick and Eoghan have done nearly a decade in the industry, whilst we hear that Raz and Jack “haven’t had the pleasure of putting an apron on and doing a 12-hour shift frot of house.”
Image: The Manc Eats
Still, they insist that having a team on both sides of the spectrum allows them to see things from different angles – and we’re inclined to agree. It’s no bad thing.
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They told The Manc: “We select the wine that speaks to us. Not just the taste, but where it comes from, how it’s made, and who it’s made by. Not every wine we choose will appeal to everyone, but we’re confident in our taste.
“Wine’s known for being expensive (like expensivem expensive), and that alone adds to this ‘elitist’ view.
“I guess, when it comes to the Bodega, we try our best to keep the products on our level, what we’d say about this juice that’d make it appeal to us, and our friend groups, and their friend group”
And on the subject of how New York has influenced their concept, they add:
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“We have all traveled out there and experienced the bodegas and how they operate, from the characters that pass through to the cheap meals that the block depends on. We just felt like Manchester and New York culture have a lot in common with each other.
“New York culture has always influenced us, from the music, the fashion and the food. But, the community culture of a bodega is like no other. It’s a neighbourhood institution where everybody is welcome, and that’s what we wanted the bodega to be.”
Adding that, for now, they’re not particularly fussed about launching a brick-and-mortar concept, they say that they’re on the lookout for more pop-up opportunities going forward – so watch this space.
You can find the Bodega truck at 21-23 Quay St, Manchester M3 4AE every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 6pm.
Feature image – The Manc Eats
News
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…
Georgina Pellant -
22nd July 2022 
