Thousands of us could be getting our parcels dropped off by a drone rather than a human by the end of next year.
It may only a few weeks after it was revealed that the little shopping delivery robots dropping off Co-op groceries to Greater Manchester residents would be rolling out to more areas of our region, but it now looks like we’re taking yet another step closer to what living life in the future would look like.
And that’s because Amazon has announced it’s launching a drone delivery service in the UK next year.
Already a futuristic reality over in the US states of California and Texas, the American technology giant announced yesterday, as it unveiled its new generation of drones at its HQ in Seattle, that it intends to introduce autonomous aircraft delivery in Britain and Italy sometime “in late 2024”.
The company said it will begin using the currently-unmanned airborne vehicles for distributing goods from some of its same-day delivery sites, one of which will be in the UK, but no location for this site has been revealed yet.
Amazon said it hopes to be delivering 500 million packages via drone worldwide each year by the end of the decade.
This ambitious announcement comes up to a decade after the company first publicly-announced that it was setting its sights on the skies back in 2013, and nearly seven years after it previously trialled an early version of the ‘Prime Air’ delivery system down in Cambridgeshire in 2016 – but since then, it’s fair to say progress has been slow.
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Following from what it learned during the 2016 trial, Amazon has said it doesn’t intend to relaunch the drone delivery service from standalone centres, and will be integrating the drones into its existing network instead.
Amazon is launching a drone delivery service in the UK / Credit: Amazon
Announcing the expansion of its autonomous delivery service this week, Amazon said in a statement: “As part of our continued efforts to innovate for customers, we are excited to announce the expansion of Prime Air delivery internationally, for the first time outside the US.
“We have been delivering packages by drone for almost a year in California and in Texas and we have built a safe, reliable delivery service and have partnered very closely with regulators and communities, so we will continue with that collaboration into the future to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers and the communities we serve.”
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Amazon will be working with the UK Government and aviation authorities to reintroduce the drones into the UK airspace.
The futuristic service could be in flight by the end of 2024 / Credit: Amazon
Aviation minister Baroness Vere called Amazon’s announcement this week “fantastic”.
“Amazon’s announcement today is a fantastic example of government and industry coming together to achieve our shared vision for commercial drones to be commonplace in the UK by 2030,” Baroness Vere said in a statement.
“Not only will this help boost the economy, offering consumers even more choice while helping keep the environment clean with zero emission technology, but it will also build our understanding of how to best use the new technology safely and securely.”
Featured Image – Amazon
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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
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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”.
Emily Sergeant -
20th October 2023 
