Italian TV chef Gino D’Acampo has spoken out against the Michelin star awards, calling the system ‘absolute nonsense’ in a recent interview.
Speaking at his new Cheshire restaurant Luciano, TV personality Gino D’Acampo was pretty damning when asked about the highly-prized rating system – saying that he ‘didn’t believe in it’ and thought it was ‘absolutely c***’.
Insisting that he didn’t want his cooking to be judged by people that ‘know less’, the TV personality pointed to his thirty-year cooking career as proof that he knows what he is doing.
Image: Instagram
According to reports in Cheshire Live, when asked about the area’s recent loss of its only star D’Acampo said that he didn’t believe in the star system and that he couldn’t accept the organisation.
He went on to call the majority of stars awarded ‘nonsense’ before adding ‘it is the best marketing ever’.
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He also jested that he would create his own ‘Gino Star’, insisting that he would go to a Chinese restaurant and ‘judge them’ – a reference to the fact that Michelin guides are published by a French tyre company.
Speaking to Cheshire Live, the chef said: “Most of the Michelin stars are absolute nonsense. It is the best marketing ever, but the worst idea ever. Because if you think about it, you get judged by people who know less than you.
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Image: Instagram
“I’ve been in Italian cuisine for 30 years, are you telling me that you’re going to get some French guy, he is going to come here and he is going to sit in my restaurant and judge the way I cook? I don’t think so.
“I’m not interested in the idea, and I’m not interested in restaurants that have got a Michelin star.
“It always upsets me when I have a friend of mine that maybe lost the star and they get so upset.”
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“You should not think about stuff like that. Cheshire should not think about a Michelin because they are a nobody. They are no-one. Who are they?
“Tomorrow I can come up with s**t like that. I can say, ‘I’m going to call it the Gino Star’. I’m going to go to a Chinese restaurant and I’m going to judge them.
Following the recent closure of a number of his Gino D’Acampo’s My Restaurants, including a longstanding site in Manchester’s Corn Exchange, the chef has launched a new eatery in Alderley Edge and hinted at plans to open a new restaurant in Manchester city centre.
Called Luciano, it will follow on from a successful Cheshire opening earlier this year and promises to bring premium Italian ingredients to metropolitan diners as part of a new, fine dining menu.
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Gino’s description of his new Luciano site seems to match that of the now-vacant Restaurant Bar & Grill on John Dalton Street, which was owned by Individual Restaurants – the company also behind Gino’s My Restaurant brand.
His new Manchester restaurant is expected to open in the city this summer.
Feature image – Instagram
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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 -
21st March 2022 
