There has been a spate of sudden temporary restaurant closures in Manchester this week as Covid-19 once again wreaks havoc on hospitality.
Some of the city’s most well-known venues have decided to shut their doors earlier than planned.
Many businesses are struggling to operate after staff members have tested positive for coronavirus, while others are battling with the drop in trade caused by the spread of the Omicron variant.
It’s left many our city’s bars and restaurants operating at a loss at what should be their busiest time of year.
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Credit: Facebook, The Sparrows
And now many have decided to call it a day until the new year.
Posting that the ‘Big C has cancelled Xmas’, renowned Green Quarter restaurant The Sparrows wrote: “Sadly due to members of staff testing positive for Covid -19 we are making a decision to close The Sparrows until 1st of January 2022.
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“We are very sorry to cause any inconvenience to anyone’s festive plans, but customers’ safety and our team’s wellbeing are the priority.
“For the Love for Spätzle we will be looking forward to seeing you all in a New Year! Please stay safe! Take care of yourselves and the ones around you this Christmas.”
Credit: Instagram @iscawines
Independent wine bar Isca, in Levenshulme, has also had to switch up its offering in a bid to keep its team Covid-free for Christmas.
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They wrote: “As the madness returns and grows around us we have decided to close Isca for sitting in until next year.
“We are doing all we can to keep everyone safe, and want our team to be able to enjoy Christmas without catching Covid.”
They later added: “It really saddens us to not be able serve you some delicious wines + food at Isca in the run up to Christmas but we think it’s for the best in our small space.”
The Stockport Road bar remains open as a takeaway and as a shop, selling wine, gifts and cheeses.
Credit: Dust Dogs MCR
Back in the city centre, Northern Soul’s new hot dog venture Dust Dogs has had to shut temporarily just weeks after it launched.
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They said it was down to ‘current Covid news, staffing issues and a short Christmas week’, promising to be back 2022 ‘bigger, better and proper’.
A separate post highlighed the struggles facing hospitality right now.
They wrote: “F*** I WE WISH WE COULD BE OPEN !!
“We should be absolutely flying in the new place but the reality is, hospitality has been hit for 60% of lost trade.
“It turns out we made the right decision, too many factors at play to push the last week.”
Kala, part of Gary Usher’s Elite Bistros empire, won’t be reopening until after Christmas either, saying that it has ‘too many staff isolating’.
Student favourite The Font is facing a similar situation after a positive Covid case in its team, saying that the decision to close early ‘wasn’t taken lightly but is the best one as the physical & mental wellbeing of our team & customers is priority’.
Enormous Swan Street venue Ramona has closed its kitchens and reverted to a drinks-only venue as it winds down for the Christmas break.
They said: “Due to everything that’s going on at the moment and to keep all our team and guests as safe as we can, we will be offering bar / drinks service only until midnight on 23rd December.
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“Pizza From Detroit will return as soon as we can and we’ll let you know on here first of all. Sorry to everyone who was coming to eat with us.
Featured image: Instagram, @kala_bistro_manchester
News
The Boots recycling scheme where you can get £5 off every shop
Thomas Melia
UK high street retailer and healthcare shop Boots has launched an innovative recycling scheme that entitles customers to £5 off their future shopping trips.
If you’re still struggling to come up with a New Year’s resolution, why not try a spot of recycling and earn some money off your next cosmetics shop while you’re at it?
Started in 2020, the Boots Recycling Scheme allows Advantage Card holders the opportunity to get money while also being more conscious about how we recycle our used health and beauty products.
Their third-party app, Recycle at Boots, uses a ‘Scan2Recycle‘ system where users can upload items from various beauty brands by taking a picture of the empty packaging before identifying its form.
This scheme takes items that can’t usually be recycled at home, such as lotion pumps, toothpaste tubes, lipstick, mascaras, travel minis, make-up palettes and more.
Once you have five items approved, head over to your nearest participating Boots store, drop off your empties and scan the QR code on the deposit box.
After you’ve followed all these steps, a voucher will appear entitling you to 500 Advantage Points when you spend £10 in-store at your nearest location, and not only do you have £5 worth of points with your name on it, you’re also an eco-warrior.
There’s even a dedicated section of the app to recycling empty medicine and vitamin blister packs, which gives customers 100 Advantage Points when they spend £5 in-store.
Brilliant.
Credit: Publicity pictures (supplied)
Items dropped into these deposit boxes are taken to MyGroup, a recycling and waste management service which works around the clock to help divert waste from landfill.
These empties will be washed and traditionally recycled into a material called MyBoard, a construction board material most similar to plywood, with lots of different uses.
Nearest Boots locations in Manchester running the Recycle at Boots scheme:
Manchester Market Street – 32 Market Street, M1 1PL
Salford Regent Park – Regents Park, M5 3TP
Manchester Didsbury – 736-740 Wilmslow Road, M20 2DW
The Trafford Centre – 10 Peel Avenue, M17 8BD
Trafford Retail Park – Neary Way, M41 7FN
If you’re up for getting money off your next Boots splurge while also helping recycle cosmetics containers and more, you can download the Recycle at Boots app and find your nearest HERE.
Manchester United issue statement after Bruno Fernandes’ social media is hacked
Danny Jones
Manchester United were forced to issue an official statement following Bruno Fernandes’ social media being hacked.
The Man United star’s digital profile was hijacked in the wake of the defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion this weekend, which saw the Red Devils knocked out of the FA Cup and, it’s fair to say, quite the flurry of activity online.
As if to add insult to injury, with United‘s exit from the competition, a user then commandeered the club captain’s presence to share several fake posts.
With the official Bruno Fernandes X account being targeted following the game, the club had no choice but to respond after several controversial and/or inappropriate posts, not to mention multiple instances of general anti-ownership sentiment.
In case you didn’t see any of the since-deleted posts, besides one understandably troublesome comment which read, “let’s get rid of INEOS“, others were even more provocative/inflammatory.
The comments ranged from everything between messages @ing darts player and United fan Luke Littler to influencers like KSI and Jake Paul.
Offensive language was also present in many of them.
As for the Portuguese midfielder, he also quickly clarified that he obviously had no involvement in the activity; meanwhile, despite plenty of players coming out to apologise for the defeat on Sunday night, the skipper is yet to address the disappointment directly.
The loss to Brighton confirmed that Manchester United will be playing just 40 games for the rest of the campaign – the fewest since the 1914/15 season (i.e. at the outset of the First World War) – which serves as yet another unwanted record for the club of late.
You can see the highlights for the game down below.
It is also likely to have been caretaker manager Darren Fletcher’s final game in charge of the Reds, with an interim replacement set to be appointed imminently following Ruben Amorim’s shock sacking earlier this month.
His predecessor, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, also looked like the frontrunner at one point – and could still be involved in a backroom setup – but The Athletic now has it that Carrick could be is odds-on favourite to be announced before the Manchester derby.
Nevertheless, plenty of supporters still feel the problems remain deeply rooted throughout the club and that a change of personnel among the coaching staff still may not be enough…
Daisy Jackson -
22nd December 2021 
