The friends of a missing Salford pub landlord have issued a public appeal for information on his whereabouts.
56-year-old Georg Czysch was last seen walking out of The Showboat pub on Hall Street in Swinton, Salford at 7.50am in the morning on Thursday 29 July.
He hasn’t been seen since.
Worried friends explained that Georg – who was born in Germany – lives alone in a flat above the popular community pub and has been the landlord there for around two years, but on the morning of 29 July, he left behind his mobile phone, wallet, credit cards, watch and passport – as well as his two beloved dogs.
Georg was last seen wearing blue jeans and a dark green hoodie.
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He is not thought to have any family in the country and also takes medication for a heart condition – which his friends also found in the flat.
His disappearance has been reported to Greater Manchester Police.
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56-year-old Georg Czysch is the landlord of The Showboat pub in Swinton / Credit: Google Maps
Speaking to the MEN about the 56-year-old’s disappearance, close friend Thomas Mitchell said: “This is so out of character for Georg.
“I have known him for at least 10 years, others have for longer, and he has never just walked out of anywhere before. He has always been a straight talking guy, funny and genuine [and] he would do everything he could to help a person in need.
“I know Georg has struggled during the pandemic, not being able to open his pub or see friends, but this is so out of character [as] he loves his dogs and to leave them behind is not him.
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“He’s loved and respected by all who know him and we just need to know he’s safe and well.”
Another close friend of Georg’s, Luke Martin – 26, from Rochdale – said Georg used to run the Middleton Archer pub in Middleton and the New Road Inn in Blackpool, adding: “He has been running pubs over here for around 15 years [so] there is quite a lot of concern and a lot of worried people.
“I saw him two days before he went missing and everything was fine.”
Georg was last seen heading in the direction of Swinton Railway Station at 7:50am on Thursday 29 July / Credit: Facebook (Georg Czysch)
Luke continued: “On the Thursday, his ex-partner and a cleaner went to the pub and it was unlocked [but] they carried on working [until they] realised that he was not there. All the CCTV shows is a figure which looks like Georg with his hood up walking out of the pub at 7.50am.”
Luke said Georg headed in the direction of Swinton Railway Station on Station Road, adding: “There has been no contact with anyone since [so] his close friends have all said it’s completely out of the ordinary.
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“People are worried about him and just want to know he’s safe.”
Georg is believed to have connections with Aberdeenshire in Scotland, Blackpool and Scarborough.
Anyone with information can call police on 101, quoting log reference number 622 03/08/2021.
Featured Image – Facebook (Georg Czysch)
News
Plans unveiled to deliver 50,000 council and ‘genuinely affordable’ homes in Greater Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Plans to deliver 50,000 council and ‘genuinely affordable’ homes in Greater Manchester have been unveiled.
By removing ‘blockers’ to development and transforming disused public land into new housing schemes, Greater Manchester Mayor Bev Craig has set out her plan to tackle the housing crisis and deliver ‘a new generation’ of homes – with 50,000 new ‘genuinely affordable’ homes to be available across the city region by 2039.
It’s expected that 10,000 of these homes will either be built, on site, or in the pipeline with planning permission ready to go by May 2028.
To meet the scale of this ambition and deliver the homes the region needs, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) says it will need to ‘pull every lever at [its] disposal’, from remediating brownfield land, to bringing forward dormant sites in public ownership.
That’s why the Mayor will be asking Greater Manchester‘s public bodies to carry out a public land review and identify sites that could be brought forward to deliver homes.
GMCA has already used its Brownfield Housing Fund to support several schemes that are delivering thousands of affordable homes – including social rent homes – as part of the £2 billion Good Growth Fund.
If you’re unfamiliar, the Good Growth Fund is investing in a pipeline of projects to deliver new homes, regenerate town centres, create jobs, and build infrastructure to connect people and places.
“When I was Manchester City Council Leader, I built more council and social homes than Manchester had built in 25 years,” Bev Craig declared. “But we need to go further and faster in every bit of Greater Manchester.
“We will be leading by example when it comes to freeing up disused and dormant public land for development and I’m calling on other Government bodies to join us.
“I know first-hand the security that a Council house brings, and that’s why I am absolutely committed to delivering the Council and social homes that people here in Greater Manchester need, so everyone can have the foundation of a good life in our city region.”
Currently, land supply for 78,585 new homes of all tenures up to 2030 has been identified.
Greater Manchester is in line to receive an initial £1.8 billion from the Government’s Social and Affordable Homes Programme, and the Mayor will meet with Government in the coming weeks to set out joint plans to achieve these ambitions.
Featured Image – Benjamin Elliott (via Unsplash)
News
Government sets out multi-million-pound plan to move UK away from animal testing in science
Emily Sergeant
A £22m push to ramp up the UK’s move away from animal testing in science is set to bring together cutting-edge tech and research.
The latest figures show there were 2.54 million animal testing procedures in Great Britain in 2025, which is down 3.8% on 2024, but with a further update due to be released later this year, the Government is now moving to ‘capitalise’ on that momentum with funding to shift the nation onto alternative testing options.
A dedicated national research hub and nine new high-tech projects are planned to develop ‘better ways’ to test medicines on human biology rather than animals.
According to the Government, this means treatments for conditions like cancer and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) could be developed ‘faster’ and ‘more precisely’ to not only help patients but crucially also move science away from traditional animal testing.
At the heart of the plans is a new Pre-clinical Translational Models Hub – based in Cambridge and backed by £20 million in Government funding, which will work to build and share models of human tissue, grown from NHS patients, to test new treatments.
The new hub will accelerate the development of testing on ‘organoids’ – tiny, simplified versions of a human gut, tumour or brain, using cells donated by patients.
From beating heart cells in a dish to AI that can predict how drugs move through the body, exciting alternatives to animal testing are transforming medical research.
We're investing £22m to help scientists develop the next generation of life-saving treatments. pic.twitter.com/1EWRQvwySa
— Dept. for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (@biztradegovuk) August 12, 2026
Because these ‘organoids’ retain crucial features of a patient’s own biology, they will help researchers learn how a real person may respond to a drug and provide additional insights that can complement information that is currently obtained from animals.
Scientists will then be able to use these cutting-edge techniques in their own labs to work out which medicines are worth pursuing.
Overall, it’s hoped that the move will slash the time it takes to get ‘potentially life-changing’ treatments to market.
Alongside the funding for the new Hub, nine cutting-edge projects aimed at identifying new methods of animal-free scientific testing – from beating heart cells in a dish, to lab-grown human ear models, and AI that predicts how medicines move through the body – are being funded.
Sadly, many of these still rely on testing on dogs and monkeys, as it stands.
“This marks another significant step forward in the UK’s move away from animal testing in science and research,” commented Science Minister Chris McDonald.
“This is all about backing our world-leading researchers and innovators to improve lives, giving them the tools they need to deliver more effective treatments for horrendous diseases like cancer, while also preventing the need for animal testing wherever possible.
“It’s also a boost for our life sciences sector, fuelling opportunities for new investment and new jobs, and ensuring Britain is better off.”
The Manc -
6th August 2021 
