Emergency services have attended an incident of major flooding on a busy Manchester road this morning after a water main burst.
Dramatic photos and video footage shared across social media earlier today showed water gushing down Hyde Road in Gorton and the neighbouring Far Lane, and residents in the area had also reported that their water supply had been turned off following the incident.
Hyde Road has since been closed between Reddish Bridge and Thornwood Avenue to deal with the incident, and engineers and firefighters were spotted wading through the deep water.
Delays have been reported on roads in the area.
Transport for Greater Manchester tweeted about the incident and confirmed that it is “due to a burst water main which is icing over”.
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They said gritters were being used to get rid of the ice.
Councillor Julie Reid – Labour and Cooperative Councillor for Gorton and Abbey Hey – also took to social media this morning to alert United Utilites that “a main arterial water pipe has burst and emptied Debdale reservoir”, but that thankfully “no one is injured”.
United Utilities said engineers were on site to fix the issue.
Offering the latest update on the current situation, a spokesperson for United Utilities said:
A spokesperson for United Utilities said: “We are very sorry to say that a large water main burst in Hyde Road earlier today causing flooding and leaving some customers temporarily without water.
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“Our engineers have been on site since the burst happened and have now successfully isolated the main.
“This should mean that water is subsiding and we can shortly start repair work [but] in the meantime, our fleet of water tankers are pumping directly into the mains at strategic points to support local supplies and get them back to normal as quickly as possible.
“Our insurance team is also on site to check whether the water has caused any localised flooding or damage to property.
“They will liaise with anyone who has been affected to make sure they get the help and support they need.”
Please take care on the roads today and only travel if you need to. There have already been a number of collisions this morning due to adverse weather conditions across Greater Manchester. Thankfully no-one was seriously injured. Follow @OfficialTfGM for any travel updates. pic.twitter.com/odgwZlFHEZ
The incident also came as a number of crashes were reported on roads across the region, with icy conditions causing collisions on the M61, the M66 and Mancunian Way, and Greater Manchester Police urging drivers to “take care on the roads and only travel if you need to”.
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The force tweeted: “Please take care on the roads today and only travel if you need to.
“There have already been a number of collisions this morning due to adverse weather conditions across Greater Manchester.
“Thankfully no-one was seriously injured – follow @OfficialTfGM for any travel updates.”
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Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
The Manc -
15th January 2021 
