A new Joy Division-inspired bar has opened in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, taking over the old Walrus site on High Street.
Featuring a mural of Ian Curtis by local street artist Akse P-19 and a menu of Asian fusion food with a decidedly Mancunian twist, the space has been completely transformed since its heyday as Walrus.
With restaurant-style seating in front and a speakeasy-meets-nightclub vibe downstairs, new opening Disorder (a nod to the opening track of Joy Division’s seminal album Unknown Pleasures) is the brainchild of longtime Stockport friends James Stewart and Sam Koropisz.
It reminds us of the glory days of Northern Quarter bars, how they used to be maybe ten years ago – in the very best way with drinks and food upstairs and a party waiting to happen down below.
The new green-tiled bar has been shortened to make room for a new snug in the back corner, with sunken Chesterfields in the front windows looking out onto the High Street and a green neon sign nodding to Joy Division’s 1979 album Unknown Pleasures.
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The Ian Curtis mural inside Disorder. / Image: The Manc Eats
Owners and longtime Stockport friends James Stewart and Sam Koropisz. / Image: The Manc Eats
As for the drinks, Disorder boasts 10 beer lines with a range of different options on draught and in bottles, as well as a large collection of whiskeys, sake, gin and more.
On the beer list you’ll find lagers and sour beers from local Manchester breweries and established global ones – including DEYA, Schöfferhofer, Guinness, Delirium and Cloudwater, whilst cocktails continue the pan Asian theme with drinks like the Japanese Slipper.
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The food menu, meanwhile, features items like Japanese sandos made with black pudding, chicken katsu, pickled watermelon, and fried chicken with PB&J, with sides like kimchi crispy noodle salad, smoked togarashi corn ribs and chicken and oyster mushroom karaage.
Elsewhere, you’ll find skewers loaded with the likes of smoked lamb merguez sausage, mushroom bulgogi, chicken yakitori and pineapple and gochujang tofu, and tostadas with ahi watermelon, smoked cauliflower, chicken karaage, tomago and kimchi.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Underground, a huge DJ booth and club space will welcome in local artists. with an opening weekend set to play host to Manchester legends Bez and Rowetta as well as a live brass band.
Opening in Manchester this weekend, the new bar will be open until late going until 4am on the weekends. To find out more, visit its social media pages here.
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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 -
15th February 2023 
