The family of an 18-year-old man who was tragically stabbed to death in Bury on Friday has paid an emotional tribute to him – and shared an urgent message.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed that at around 3.50pm on Friday 11 March 2022, reports were received of a stabbing on Market Street in Bury town centre, with emergency services attending the scene shortly after, and a man – who has since been formally identified as 18-year-old Abdikarim Abdalla Ahmed – was taken to hospital.
He was sadly pronounced dead a short while later, and GMP says his family are continuing to receive support from specialist officers.
Abdikarim – who is known as Abdi to friends and family – has been described in a tribute by his mother as “a loving, caring person who helped and looked after his family from a young age”.
In a heartfelt statement, she added: ” My beautiful boy Abdi passed away far too young and with his whole life ahead of him, he was taken from us too soon, and in the worst possible way”.
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“My boy was a victim of knife crime.”
“I beg all parents to speak to their children and know what’s going on in their lives, before their child is taken away,” she concluded.
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Greater Manchester Police has confirmed that a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with murder, and he has been remanded into custody ahead of an appearance at Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court on Monday 14 March 2022
Two teenagers, aged 15 & 16, have also since been released on bail.
Enquiries are ongoing, and anyone with information or video footage is now being urged to contact Greater Manchester Police quoting incident reference 1940 of 11/03/22 via 0161 856 6330 or gmp.police.uk, or alternatively, get in touch with the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
Renting is now cheaper than buying across much of the UK – but not in one Greater Manchester area
Emily Sergeant
New statistics have revealed that renting a property is now cheaper than buying one across much of the UK.
But in one popular Greater Manchester area, it still remains the other way around.
According to leading property platform Rightmove, which has analysed the latest price data, the average monthly rent in Great Britain is now lower than a typical new mortgage payment – with the average advertised monthly rent nationwide being £1,547 and a new mortgage on a typical home currently costing around £1,670 a month.
This means that renters, for the first time since June 2025, are coming out £123 a month better off than buyers.
Rightmove says that, to arrive at that figure, it used the current average asking price of £373,971, paired with the average two-year fixed rate of 5.35% recorded so far in April, and with calculations assuming a 20% deposit and a 30-year term.
So, what has changed then? Well, the simple answer is that mortgage rates have gone up.
Renting a home is now cheaper than buying one across much of the UK / Credit: Benjamin Elliott (via Unsplash)
The average two-year fixed rate sat at 4.24% in February, but by April, it had climbed to 5.35%, and unfortunately, that increase is enough to push a new buyer’s monthly payment above what many people are currently paying in rent.
The national picture does not tell the whole story though, however, as there are real differences from one part of the country to another, largely driven by local property prices.
As mentioned earlier, there is one popular Greater Manchester residential area where buying is still cheaper than renting overall, according to the latest data – and that is Salford.
In Salford, the average asking price of a property is £245,478 with an average monthly mortgage repayment being £1,096, whereas the average monthly rent sits at £1,323, so this means that a +£277 difference.
Rightmove property experts say Salford is helped by ‘more affordable’ property prices keeping borrowing costs ‘in check’.
“Mortgage payments have risen quite sharply in a short space of time for new buyers,” commented Rightmove property expert, Colleen Babcock.
“It will be interesting to see whether more would-be buyers turn to renting temporarily while rates remain high, particularly when monthly costs can exceed average rents and the timing of rate cuts is still unclear.”
Featured Image – Shvets Production (via Pexels)
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‘We were so lucky to have it’ – Has Manchester’s hospo scene reached a dangerous tipping point?
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester’s hospitality sector is calling for change and better support, both for the local community and the UK government, following the latest raft of closures.
Various well-known independent businesses have closed in the first quarter of 2026 across the city centre, let alone the numerous others across the ten boroughs over the past year or so.
In truth, this worrying trend has been going on for much longer than the last 12 months, and it seems that it’s not just new openings that are most at risk of closing before they can even get going, but now well-established regional institutions are struggling to stay afloat.
Case in point, our oldest Turkish restaurant – which had been serving central Manchester for nearly half a century – Topkapi Palace, has now closed seemingly for good.
A recent addition to the city centre itself, French-Vietnamese cafe and restaurant Doux Chaton wrote on social media: “This is genuinely so sad to see. Topkapi Palace is part of Manchester’s fabric. Running an independent spot is no joke — it takes everything.
“If we keep letting places like this go, we lose more than food; we lose culture, history, identity. Please support your local independents where you can. It matters more than ever – our representatives need to support our community not only regionally but nationally.”
They went on to tag the likes of Mayor Andy Burnham, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and others to call for crucial intervention sooner rather than later.
For some, it’s unfortunately already too late.
Currently, their Stockport in Hazel Grove looks to be remaining open, but we’ve seen this story before; Almost Famous, Seven Brothers, Greens, and SO many others have sadly had to shut up most, if not all, of their locations.
As of this May, we’ve already had to say goodbye to the likes of Topkapi, KAJI, Climat and House of Fu; Project Halcyon, Örme, the long-standing TNQ, the first-ever Northern Simmons site, a branch of Banyan, just to name an unlucky few.
This is just heartbreaking. We can’t carry on with either this PM or Chancellor. Both need stepping to one side and allowing others mop up their disaster of a tenure.
And that’s just the ones that shut down in the first few months of this calendar year; 2025 was a gut-wrenching year for the food and drink industry, with indies all over the region and beyond having to fight tooth and nail to stay open for even just a few days of weekly trade.
Almost just as concerning has been some of the behaviour by some patrons, even here in our own city.
From more than one or two reports of people walking out on their bills, people even nicking the most petty stuff, such as decorations and bar’s cushions, to a troubling number of no-shows that don’t just mean one less reservation – it can mean the next person missing out on a seat and people losing money.
Another nearby native commented: “I honestly think Manchester is on a tipping point for many people – what was ‘old’ Manchester, which many of us loved, is being slowly erased by the new. People here are saying basically ‘use it or lose it’.
“Fair enough, but there’s very little spare money about, and I hear lots of people saying they don’t go into town for the day to spend that money shopping and for a meal or treat-day because they don’t ‘recognise the place’.”
They go on to add: “Most importantly, they often say they don’t like Manchester now. The towers that are shoved in places where you could see daylight and there was space to walk and breathe are overwhelming.
“I’m not being reactionary – I love New Islington and Cutting Room Square, etc., but NQ has lost its grit, and I find Deansgate really soulless and depressing when once I used to go out every night after work for drinks, and go in every month with the family on a Saturday for culture, shop and a meal.
“No more. Love Manchester, but I’m not in love with it anymore. Topkapi was great once, and it’s sad it’s gone.” A passionate appeal, indeed.
It goes without saying that rising energy bills, untenable business rates, rent, and a general cost of living crisis mean that people simply don’t have enough money to go out for tea, treat themselves to a drink in a nice bar, or even just go to the pub as often as they once did.
We’re by no means experts, but it’s easy for all to see that something needs to be done and fast, as we’d like to avoid seeing any more of our hard-working Manc favourites falling by the wayside and joining the list of those that we’re still mourning to this day.
The Manc -
14th March 2022 
