New ‘Anglo-Saxon’ pizzeria Dokes Pizza is opening in Prestwich from the team behind esteemed Ancoats restaurant Elnecot.
Called Dokes, the pizzeria has already made a name for itself in the city centre – serving its hearty, heritage grain pizzas out of one of the hatch kitchens at the new Manchester food and drink hall Society.
Now, it seems the concept will soon have a new home all of its own over in the trendy north Manchester suburb of Prestwich, as planning documents reveal Dokes pizza will be moving into the former Basil + Lily unit on Bury New Road.
Image: Dokes Pizzeria
Here, bosses have hinted that the menu will expand beyond pizzas to include lunch and brunch offerings too – leading to some speculation that popular dishes at Elnecot may make their way over to Prestwich.
Dokes pizzas use as many British ingredients as possible, right down to the flour, mozzarella and tomatoes (when they are in season), and there are plenty of strong options for veggies as well as meat eaters.
This isn’t just pizza. This is, arguably, post-Brexit pizza, made with as much English produce as its chefs can get their hands on. A clever way to get around those pesky supply issues.
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Image: Dokes Pizzeria
Image: Dokes Pizzeria
Image: Dokes Pizzeria
First opening inside Society last July, the concept is the brainchild of Micheal Clay and Wesley Downham. Building upon the relationships that they have built with suppliers over the years at Elnecot, the pair are using Dokes to showcase some top-notch British produce.
Maintaining a similar style and standard of ingredient sourcing to the Ancoats’ restaurant, you’ll find pizzas loaded with dreamy toppings like truffles from Wiltshire, air-dried duck breast from Trealy Farm in Wales, Cumbrian Curthwaite Goat’s Curd and British burrata.
Favourites include the alluringly-named ‘Sexy greens’ with charred broccoli, savoy, crispy chilli, confit garlic cream, caper vierge; Medieval literature-inspired ‘Beowulf’ with deli farm chorizo, nduja, British burrata, gremolata; and the ‘Cheese behemoth’ with Owd yonner, Chepyn blue, Grace’s goat, Scottish Connage, mozzarella fior di latte, British burrata and apple chutney.
The kitchen is also making its own globally-inspired dips, a crucial pizza addition that’s not to be sniffed at. Think tangy chepyn blue ranch, spicy Korean gochujang bbq, Wiltshire truffle and confit garlic and herb. Perfect for dunking your crust in.
Sure to be a great new addition to Prestwich, Dokes pizza is pegged for a spring opening in April this year. To keep up with further updates on the new site make sure to follow them on Instagram.
Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Georgina Pellant -
18th February 2022 
