Greater Manchester’s original Detroit pizza spot, Corner Slice, is opening a second site in the centre of Manchester.
The popular Failsworth pizzeria, which was the first to bring its Motor city-inspired rectangular pizzas to Manchester after a ‘light bulb’ moment during lockdown, has now confirmed plans to open a second site in the heart of the city this February.
Image: Corner Slice MCR
Serving deep pan pizza with traditional Italian toppings and a curly cheese crust, the new site will open first as a dark kitchen – giving city dwellers a chance to try East Manchester’s original Detroit-inspired pizza slices at home for the very first time.
And if it all goes well, owners Frank Brashaw and Danny Broadbent say they also plan to open a permanent shop in the city too.
The pair told The Manc, “We’re opening a dark kitchen to expand our delivery radius in February, and if it goes as well as we hope we will be looking for a permanent shop in the centre”.
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Image: Corner Slice MCRImage: Corner Slice MCR
Corner Slice is known for its saucy, fluffy deep-pan squares, which come topped with the likes of Italian sausage, smoked garlic chicken, pepperoni, nduja, ‘hot honey’, banana peppers and a signature house cheese blend.
Traditionally topped with tomato sauce and Wisconsin brick cheese that goes all the way to the edges, the base of the Detroit-inspired pies is fluffy and similar in texture to focaccia.
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The pizzeria also has some great veggie and vegan options, as well as making all of its pies available with vegan cheese, ‘crispy walls and all’.
Think square pies loaded with the likes of Korean Cauli, Portocini (a mix of portobello and porcini), a simple ‘Red Top’ with just cheese and red sauce, or regularly changing specials.
This months? A vegan special loaded with vegan sausage, piquillo peppers, pickled raisins and harrissa roasted broccolli.
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Even better, if you can’t decide you can opt for a ‘half and half’ pie – combining two choices in one.
Image: Corner Slice MCR
Elsewhere on the menu, you’ll find complementary sides like fried chicken and waffle fries alongside homemade sauces including chilli’d honey, garlic and herb and BBQ ranch.
Corner Slice also offers a small but carefully curated selection of beers, wines and soft drinks to enjoy with its food.
Despite being right out on the edge of town. the tiny Failsworth pizza shop has made quite a considerable name for itself.
Its owners shared the news about the move in a social media post asking for new talented pizza chefs to join their team of self-described Detroit pizza peddlers.
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Image: Corner Slice MCR
The job advert read:
“BIG CITY LIFE.
“We’ve heard your cries and are expanding our radius to town and beyond, by opening a second kitchen in the city centre.
“We’re looking for a few keen pizza peddlers to join us in slinging out Detroit pies to the good people of Manchester.”
The news has created considerable excitement amongst its fans, who were quick to share their enthusiasm for its arrival in Manchester city centre.
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One wrote, “OMG!! 2022 is my year!!!!!!!!”
Another added, “This is sick -bout time.”
A third said, “Best news ever !!! Best pizza” whilst another follower agreed, saying “Totally agree!! Absolutely great news!! We love your pizza in the city centre!!”
The official opening date for the new kitchen is yet to be confirmed. To keep up to date with developments, make sure to follow Corner Slice on Instagram here.
If you’re interested in working for Corner Slice, you can send your CV to the team at [email protected].
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 -
10th January 2022 
