A retro Breville toastie stall is opening inside the Arndale Market
Think super noodle toasties, Full English breakfast toasties, chilli con carne toasties, a toastie stuffed with four-cheese macaroni, chocolate and LOADS more.
A new toasted sandwich stall selling supernoodle, spaghetti hoop and bean and cheese melts is set to be opening at Manchester’s Arndale Market this summer.
From the same team behind Portland Street retro toastie favourite Frankie’s Toasties, the new food stall will offer all the same goodies — in a slightly smaller package.
Sharing the news with followers on Instagram, Frankie’s Toasties wrote: “It’s Official! We’re coming to the Arndale Markets!
“We’re proud to announce we will be opening a “Little” Frankie’s branch in the Manchester Arndale food market!
The Salford super noodle toastie at Frankie’s Toasties. / Image: Frankie’s Toasties
“We also have some amazing new things coming to our main Frankies site on Portland Street, such as a whole new re-brand, refurb and also some UK’s first concepts! Watch this space.”
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Joining the likes of Pancho’s Burritos, Just Natas, Wholesome Junkies, and more, the new grab-and-go ‘Little Frankie’s’ stall is tipped to open inside the Arndale Market this July.
Lovers of an old-school Breville toastie will not be disappointed, with childhood favourites like spaghetti hoops, super noodles, and bean and cheese melts all featuring on the menu.
Image: Frankie’s Toasties
Elsewhere, you’ll find Full English breakfast toasties, hamburger toasties, chilli con carne toasties, a toastie stuffed with four-cheese macaroni, pulled pork and more.
There are spicy ramen noodle toasties, tuna melts, apple and custard toasties and chicken katsu toasties.
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And that’s not all. There are sweet toasties too – wodged full of chocolate and sweets, smores, peanut butter, banana and Lotus Biscoff.
There’s really a toastie for every mood – and you can mix and match ingredients however you like to tailor it even more.
Image: Frankie’s Toasties
Frankie’s Toasties first opened its doors in Manchester in 2018, spurred on by one man’s self-proclaimed mission to open the UK’s first “dedicated lip scalding, mouth stripping, retro toastie shop.”
As its website says, “everyone loves a red hot toastie, that’s so hot it nearly melts your face off.”
Named after Barry Chui’s ‘proper top’ family pet, Frankie the bull terrier, this no-fuss toastie shop is the place to go get your Breville fix – no messing about now.
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Find its existing site on Portland Street for now, and keep an eye out for the Arndale Market stall’s opening this July.
Feature image – Frankie’s Toasties
News
A Manchester-based runner has broken an ultramarathon record by running across the desert
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester has a growing obsession with running and endurance events, in particular, did you hear about a locally based runner who’s set the record for legging it across a literal desert?
That’s some ‘Hardest Geezer’ stuff right there.
Yes, whether it’s the likes of the Great MCR Run and October Half, the fully fledged Manchester Marathon, or dare we say it, an extra hard ultra, the region seems to be absolutely chock-full of runners and events these days.
That being said, despite being inspired by countless individuals over the past few years, the feat that has impressed us most this year is the incredible achievement by one man: Alex Welch from Wilmslow.
We’re pretty sure this is the bloke The Pretenders must have been talking about.
Based right here in 0161, by day Alex Welch is employed as a senior cyber security sales specialist at a major European IT services company, SCC, over in Stretford.
However, by both day and night for a full working week late last month, the 29-year-old swapped his computers for a very sturdy pair of running trainers; trail shoes, to be specific, as he trekked across the Namib Desert in Africa.
Stretching more than 2,000 kilometres in total, spanning the reaches of Angola, Namibia and parts of South Africa, the talented distance runner ran approximately 12.5% of that entire landmass over the course of five days.
Broken up into five stages – 50km, 50k, 42k and 22k, as well as a truly brutal 92k day to finish – not only did the indefinable Cheshire-born bloke reach the finish line, but he did so in record time.
Let’s be honest, anyone challenging themselves with the course is clearly an absolute machine, but as seen above and now fully verified, Alex here did so in 24 hours and 27 minutes.
Taking just over a day to complete the entire thing, Alex led every beating everyone else in every single stage and ended up surpassing legendary American ultra runner and now race director Adam Kimble’s time from 2018 by almost 40 whole minutes. Utterly staggering stuff.
Signing up as an official OOSH-sponsored athlete for the event, having only just podiumed at the Ice Ultra round the Arctic Circle back in February, AND the Mountain Ultra across Kyrgyzstan this past June, he’s quite literally ‘endured blistering cold and scorching desert’ (one for Shrek 2 fans, there).
Commenting on the unbelievable achievement, the local lad said: “Namibia was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. The heat was on another level, and every stage demanded absolute focus. To come away with the win – and a course record – is overwhelming.
“After the Arctic and Kyrgyzstan, this was the challenge I had been building towards all season. I’m grateful for everyone who has supported me, particularly my colleagues at SCC who have backed me every step of the way.”
Well done, Alex – we’re off to have a lie down because we’re tired just thinking about what you’ve just done, so hope you’ve at least got a few weeks of relaxation and victory pints lined up. That’s how we toasted our taste of an ultra, anyway…
8 million Brits are predicted to write their Christmas cards using AI this year, new research finds
Emily Sergeant
Millions of Brits are predicted to use AI to help them write their Christmas cards this year.
According to some new Royal Mail research, AI is most likely to be used for researching gifts (19%), festive party ideas (13%), and decoration inspiration (13%) throughout this festive season, but in what is a revelation many will find surprising – and even alarming – it’ll even be used for the timeless tradition of sending Christmas cards.
2,000 UK adults who celebrate Christmas were surveyed by the postal service early last month on how they plan to make use of technology this festive season.
The new research found that 11% of respondents will be using AI to help write the messages for their Christmas cards, which works out to be around eight million people.
It’s the under-55s who are driving the trend, as you can probably imagine – with 57% of this age group planning to lean on AI for guidance, compared to just 14% of those over 55.
Oh, and you’ll want to keep an extra eye on the Christmas cards that come from the men in your life too, as men are 67% more likely than women to use AI to help them.
Eight million Brits are predicted to write their Christmas cards using AI this year / Credit: KoolShooters
Although it may be largely frowned upon, it’s fairly easy to see why people are turning to tech to find the right words, as the Royal Mail’s research found that nearly one in five (19%) Brits say they don’t know what to write in cards, and this figure rises even further to 31% when it comes to 18-24-year-olds.
Despite the use of AI as a helping hand, three quarters of Brits (74%) do still think it’s important to keep the tradition of sending handwritten Christmas cards alive.
“AI is becoming part of everyday life for many people,” says technology journalist and broadcaster, Georgie Barrat. “So it’s natural we’ll see it used during the festive season. When it comes to writing cards, it can help you go beyond a simple ‘Merry Christmas’ and choose words that feel more unique.
“Often, people know what they want to say – they just need a little help expressing it.”
Richard Travers, who is the Managing Director of Letters at Royal Mail, concluded: “No matter what you include in your card, or how you choose to write your message, cards are truly a way of spreading festive cheer.”
Georgina Pellant -
17th May 2022 
