Neighbourhood restaurant Chapati Cafe has been left with £600 worth of damage at its Chorlton restaurant after it was broken into overnight.
The Indian restaurant’s owner says that the burglar took off with nothing at all, but left chaos in his wake.
The criminal smashed a full-length window at around 2am this morning (4 February) and ransacked the site.
They took a box of till roll as far as the exit before realising it was worthless and leaving it behind.
Chapati Cafe posted on Twitter this morning: “Great start to February, the month of recovery! Our annual visitor is back …. Sat waiting for the window boarder.
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“Come down for a thali over the weekend … we need you, these windows cost a fortune!!”
Credit: Chapati Cafe
Dan Hall, who co-founded the business with his wife Priti Chauhan-Hall, said that they had a similar incident last year, but that burglar raided the onions in their kitchen instead.
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Dan says he was woken in the early hours of this morning by an automated call from the Chapati Cafe security system, and saw a figure lurking on the security cameras.
Speaking to The Manc, he said: “It’s probably all in all about £600-worth of damage. That’s £600 you have to make, you’re talking a week or two weeks of turnover.
“It feels like we get broken in to once a year. It’s odd.
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Great start to February, the month of recovery ! Our annual visitor is back …. Sat waiting for the window boarder .
“Everything calms down and you stop worrying as much, and all of a sudden you get a call off the alarm system and someone’s in there.
“The burglar took a box of till roll and then he’s left it on the way out when he’s obviously realised it’s not of value.
“It’s 95% card these days so there’s no cash on site! There’s only pennies, there’s nothing to steal, it was pointless.
“It’s the damage that’s the problem, and the upheaval and the mess.
“When we got burled last year the onions had all spilled out, it’s like he’d gone through the big bag of onions.
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Chapati Cafe co-founders Dan Hall and Priti Chauhan-Hall at their MediaCityUK site. Credit: Jack Kirwin -JK Photography
“I just thought ‘what’s he doing?! Trying to nick some veg?’
“It’s the timing of it – the Omicron thing in December, trade went right down, and then January’s always quiet. February comes and you’re all sort of geared up like let’s going again.
“And then four days into February you get your windows smashed, it just knocks the wind out of you.”
Chapati Cafe opened in Chorlton in 2014 and has since expanded with a new site in MediaCityUK.
It’s famed for its hugely popular rice and three format, serving a selection of homemade curries in thalis.
Dan says he’s already had an outpouring of support from the community, including his MediaCityUK neighbours Grindsmith, who appeared with a hot coffee early this morning.
He said: “The two police officers went into a lot of detail, they were great. It’s making us feel a bit more valued.
“It did feel like they were giving more attention but I doubt they’ll catch him – he had cap on, head down, gloves on, he knew what he was doing.
“Little things do cheer you up, and we’ve had really nice messages.
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“Our customers are ace, I know they’ll support us, and we really do appreciate it.”
You can visit Chapati Cafe at Wilbraham Road in Chorlton.
Featured image: Chapati Cafe
News
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.”
Daisy Jackson -
4th February 2022 
