A former primary school teacher has opened a new family-run bakery in Altrincham, taking over the old Warrens Bakery space.
Building on the success of his lockdown bread delivery business initially launched from a home-based micro bakery, ex-teacher Matt Townley and his partner Suze, herself a former solicitor, have just made the full-time move into hospitality.
Called MOST, the new bakery is very much a family affair – with their eight-year-old daughter even heading up the gingerbread section (when she’s not in school, that is).
It opened this weekend in the heart of the Trafford market town, celebrating by giving away 100 free brownies, free gingerbreads for the kids and £1 cupcakes to locals.
At MOST, customers can get their hands on eight different types of slow-fermented bread, classic and savoury croissants, pain au chocolat, cruffins, a selection of cakes, tarts, cookies, choux pastries and brownies.
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MOST Bakery in Altrincham / Credit: The Manc Group
And that’s not all.
Alongside the sweet treats will be brews from Kickback Coffee, wines from Reserve Wines, as well as deli items like cheese, butter, smoked salmon and kimchi, all sourced from local suppliers.
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Playing into the family angle, they’ll also be hosting breadmaking classes for children and adults to take together over the coming months.
Classes will launch with ‘Bread & Beer’, teaching guests to make bread using spent grains from a nearby brewery.
MOST Bakery in Altrincham / Credit: The Manc Group
MOST Bakery in Altrincham / Credit: The Manc Group
Speaking on the new opening, Matt Townley said: “There’s often a local bakery at the heart of every town and we want to create a warm and friendly community hub for the people of Altrincham, while serving amazing freshly baked bread, pastries and other treats.”
MOST is open Tues – Fri 8am – 4pm, Sat 9am – 5pm, and can be found at 3-5 Cross Street, Altrincham.
Featured Image – The Manc Group
News
Greater Manchester officially launches five-year climate change action plan
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester has officially begun its five-year climate change action plan, with the overarching goal of becoming a net-zero city region by 2038.
The comprehensive pledge put together over a number of years itself will see Manchester City Council and the nearby local authorities put into action a number of key measures that will help to reduce not only central carbon figures but, eventually, across the 10 boroughs in turn.
Over the last 15 years, emissions have been reduced by approximately 64%, saving an estimated 44,344 tonnes of carbon through cleaner building energy, street lighting and other electronics, as well as the increasingly green and over-growing Bee Network.
They have also insisted that it isn’t just about cutting down on greenhouse gases; the aim is to make the city region and the surrounding areas more sustainable, affordable and create a better standard of life.
Our five-year plan to tackle climate change launches today. 🌏
It details how we’ll continue to deliver dramatic reductions in the amount of carbon we emit (the biggest contributor to climate change). 🏙️
As per the summary on the Council website, in addition to creating more efficient homes, they’re hoping to provide more access to nature and good-quality green space, “public transport you can rely on”, and “better health and wellbeing for those who live, work, study and visit here.”
With a steadily recovering local and national economy (touch wood), they’re also hoping for an influx of new jobs, too.
Summarising the key bullet points leading up to the end of the decade, these are the next steps currently outlined by the Council:
Lower carbon emissions
Grow the use of renewable energy
Improve low-carbon travel in the city
Improve air quality
Grow the city’s natural environment and boost biodiversity
Improve resilience to flooding and extreme heat
Engage and involve our workforce and our city’s communities
Reduce waste and grow reuse, repair, sharing and recycling
Support a move to a more circular economy
Minimise the negative impact of events held in the city
Develop our knowledge of our indirect emissions and lower them
Create a green financing strategy and explore new funding models for the city
Influence the environmental practices of other organisations
As for emissions, the target is now to drop the present output by another 34%, which will prevent almost 43,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from being pumped into the atmosphere.
Having touched upon the continued expansion of the Bee Network infrastructure, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is also set to install multiple new travel links over the coming years, including both new tram stops and train stations – further
You can read the climate action plan in full HERE.
Manchester’s firework displays are ‘back with a bang’ as they return from 2026
Emily Sergeant
Council-organised firework displays in Manchester’s parks are set to return from next year, it has been confirmed.
You may remember that these once-popular events have not been held since 2019, as the COVID-19 pandemic initially prevented them from taking place from 2020 onwards, and then following that, they remained paused on a trial basis while the Manchester City Council sought to ‘reprioritise funding’ to support a wider range of free community events across the city.
But now, as it seems, the door was never shut on their potential return.
An ‘improved financial position’ now means that the Council is in a position to bring firework events back, while also still continuing to support other community events.
Papers setting out the Council’s financial position show that fairer funding being introduced by the Government next year will leave the Council better off than previously anticipated, he the reason firework displays have been brought back into the mix.
The Council has admitted that ‘pressures remain’ after so many years of financial cuts, but this new funding creates the opportunity to invest in the things residents have said matter the most to them.
“Manchester prides itself on free community events and we know many people have missed Bonfire night firework spectaculars,” commented Cllr Bev Craig, who is the Leader of Manchester City Council.
“That’s why we are pleased to confirm they’ll be back by popular demand in 2026.
“We know that generations of Mancunians have enjoyed Council-organised displays and that free family events are a great way to bring people together… [and] now that this Government is actually investing in Councils like ours rather than the cuts we had since 2010, we can bring back Bonfire events.”
Georgina Pellant -
24th June 2022 
