It’s an end of an era for the undisputed trailblazers of Manchester’s dirty burger scene.
Almost Famous has confirmed it is closing down its original Northern Quarter site a full decade after it first opened its doors on High Street in 2012.
Back then, the ‘secret’ burger bar offered something distinctly different to diners – an intentional lack of signage, no reservations, and ‘off menu’-only vegetarian items leading only the most committed of burger enthusiasts to venture up those dark stairwells in search of the best buns in town.
Mac and cheese balls, Molotov cocktails, ‘bacon bacon’ and ‘winning’ fries, not to mention those famous loaded burgers drenched in a variety of house-made sauces, all set the tone for a dirty food obsession that would prevail for years to come.
Image: Almost Famous
Trends have moved on, but Almost Famous is still a stalwart on the Manchester burger scene. In that time, it survived a fire, opened a second site in Manchester, and expanded its meaty, cheesy goodness into other cities like Leeds and Liverpool.
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Now, after ten years on the scene, the team has revealed it is gearing up to move out of its original Northern Quarter location to a brand new home – leaving behind the site where it all began for good.
Sharing the news on social media this week, the restaurant said: “ANNOUNCEMENT: I’m like a sherbet dibdab of emotion telling this… AlmostFamousNQ is closing forever at the end of next week.
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Image: Almost Famous
“The legendary hang out where it all began is moving home – thank you all for making it what it was – come say hey, party all week, last one Saturday.”
The restaurant is yet to reveal where it will be moving to, leaving fans to guess as to where the new location could be.
The news has caused an outpouring of love on social media, with one person commenting: “Thanks for the memories! Feels like a lifetime ago”
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Another said: “A part of my heart goes with it”
A third added: “I’m forever grateful for the legends I got to meet working here, especially my best friend and godmother to my daughter, @em_hull I love you babes, may we forever slag off the nutcases we called colleagues xxx”
Image: Almost Famous
Image: Almost Famous
Image: Almost Famous
The news marks a change for the brand, which has also just revealed it will be teaming up with Bowling Alley chain Lane7 to offer its famous burgers at their Bristol and Leicester sites.
However, The Manc has had confirmation that Almost Famous will not be moving into the Lane7 site at Great Northern Warehouse.
Jenn Quinn, Marketing at Almost Famous, said in a statement: “Manchester burger lovers, fear not, as Almost Famous will continue to serve your favourite, super juicy dripping, no nonsense burgers from our venue at Great Northern Warehouse.
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“Almost Famous is also proud to now operate from within Lane7 in Leicester and Bristol.
The announcement also follows news shared last week that Beautiful Drinks, the company behind Almost Famous, will also be permanently closing down its Home Sweet Home restaurant on Edge Street.
Almost Famous NQ will close its doors this Saturday 23 July after one final service.
Feature image – Google
News
Pep Guardiola agrees new contract to stay at Manchester City for at least one more year
Danny Jones
Blues will be delighted to hear that Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is staying after agreeing to sign a contract extension that will keep him at the club for at least one more year.
The Catalan coach and supremely talented tactician has won all there is to win with Man City and after completing not only a record-matching treble but making history by becoming the first English team to win four Premier League titles in a row, you could argue his Etihad project is well and truly completed.
Guardiola, who joined City back in 2016, has gradually been creeping towards the end of his most recent contract, leaving those slowly searching for his replacement and the fan base wondering what the future holds for their next chapter.
But it turns out they don’t have to worry about life after Pep for a little while longer, as the 53-year-old has now extended his stay for at least another season. The blue moon that has loomed over Manchester for the best part of a decade isn’t going anywhere just yet.
𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has agreed a new one-year contract extension with the option of an additional year.
The 53-year-old’s existing City deal was due to expire at the end of this season and, if the new terms are fulfilled, it would take… pic.twitter.com/S8r1gVEcPj
Breaking the news on Tuesday evening, 19 November, The Athletic‘s Sam Lee revealed that Pep Guardiola will remain head coach for another season after agreeing to a new one-year deal.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager, who is comfortably one of the most decorated and celebrated coaches in football history, was due to leave the club at the end of the current campaign.
However, although his contract would have seen him depart by June of next year, this new deal will now see him stay in post until the summer of 2026, which will talk his tenure to a full 10 years.
Although City themselves are yet to confirm the signing amid the international break, it’s only a matter of time before they deliver the news all Blues have been waiting for – news that will no doubt come as a huge relief given the immense success he has brought to East Manchester.
Despite waiting until now to seemingly decide his future, the man himself has actually been pretty clear on the matter, insisting that he “fell in love” with the club from the moment he got here and saying as far back as 2020 that “unless they [CFG] sack me, I will stay here.”
Man City fans will honour Pep with a banner which reads in Catalan, 'we want you to stay'…
"They'll have to bring me the bill. I will pay the bank. I don't want them to spend money for that reason. I feel in love since the first day I came here." 🥺
Better still, while the details of the agreement are yet to be fully detailed, the report says that his new contract also includes the option to extend for a further year beyond that, meaning we could be looking at Pep in the dugout until 2027.
Should City go on to close the gap on current league leaders Liverpool, it would mean Guardiola would have overseen five title wins with the same team in a row: a feat only matched by very few in European football, most notably Juventus and Bayern Munich, the latter having managed 13 consecutive years.
Who knows if/when Guardiola will actually leave the Etihad Stadium for a new challenge, all we know is he changed modern football forever and has given Manchester – a city already spoilt in this respect – some of the most impressive football it’s ever seen.
All we do know is that the beautiful game’s passionate, bald, tiki-taka extraordinaire known simply as Pep is staying in 0161 for the time being and there are countless fans who are absolutely buzzing about it.
‘Shocking’ images taken with AI camera of drivers using mobiles and not wearing seatbelts released
Emily Sergeant
Thousands of people in Greater Manchester have been caught using mobile phones while driving or not wearing their seat belts.
Images captured by the state-of-the-art ‘Heads Up’ camera system – which uses a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and human reviewers – as part of a trial in Greater Manchester, show drivers holding mobile phones in front of their face, to their ear while behind the wheel, and sometimes with passengers next to them.
According to Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), in several cases, the cameras also found drivers and passengers, both passengers and children, not being securely fastened in their seats or not wearing seat belts at all.
The trial aims to detect drivers who are potentially breaking the law and putting themselves, their passengers, and other road users, at risk.
‘Shocking’ images taken with an AI camera of drivers using mobiles and not wearing seatbelts have been released / Credit: TfGM
AI is used as the first filter in a bid to ensure privacy for “the vast majority of law-abiding motorists” while also checking hundreds of thousands of vehicles over an intermittent period, TfGM explained – something which would likely take a human reviewer several months to complete.
Images containing “evidence of an offence” then go through a two-stage human check to confirm that an offence has taken place.
Any offences detected as part of the trial were then passed on to Greater Manchester Police (GMP) to consider for further action, however if no offence was committed, the image was immediately deleted by the software.
More than 3,200 people have been caught using mobile phones while driving or not wearing seat belts as part of a trial of state-of-the-art cameras in Greater Manchester.
— Safer Roads Greater Manchester Partnership (@SaferRoadsGM) November 19, 2024
The trial – which was carried out by AECOM and Acusensus, on behalf of Safer Roads Greater Manchester – was held across the region throughout September and October to “gather data” and “understand the scale of the issue” to inform future education campaigns and enforcement.
It comes after it was revealed that nearly 10,000 people who live in, work in, or visit Greater Manchester have been killed or seriously injured on our roads over the last decade.
During the deployment, the ‘Heads Up’ system recorded 812 drivers distracted by using mobile phones behind the wheel, and 2,393 incidents of seat belt non-compliance by drivers or passengers.
As it stands, no offenders have yet been prosecuted from this trial, TfGM confirmed.
Georgina Pellant -
18th July 2022 
