Karen’s Diner, a restaurant concept where people pay good money for deliberately rude service, has suddenly closed the doors to its Manchester location.
The interactive diner opened in Prestwich in 2022, staffed by waiters who would make jokes at customers’ expense.
A night at Karen’s Diner could include ketchup squirted directly onto a table, insults written onto paper hats and jammed on your head, or being made to parade around the restaurant being taunted.
Sounds… lovely, right?
The Karen’s Diner concept first launched in Australia and had been going down a storm in Manchester, where the space was kitted out like a retro American diner.
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But it appears it has closed down with immediate effect while the group concentrates on pop-up experiences instead of permanent restaurants.
The news comes a few months after the Karen’s Diner site on Bury New Road appeared on Rightmove, but at that time, the restaurant said it had no intention of closing.
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In a statement, a spokesperson thanked all the customers who have visited the restaurant and assured those with bookings that they will be contacted shortly.
It also hosted an event with Katie Hopkins, which is a step too far to the controversial if you ask me.
A spokesperson for Karen’s Diner said: “As it stands the initial licence agreement has come to an end and our head office wants the UK operation to concentrate on ‘pop up’ events rather than restaurants. In the current climate reluctantly we can understand their decision.
“When the business opened in Prestwich critics said that is was “far too far out the way” and we want to thank the 100,000 + customers that have proved them wrong.
“The group is undergoing a reconstruction which will see the brand appearing in its pop up form all over Britain.
“Our admin team will ensure that customers with bookings will be informed of next steps.”
New Manchester restaurant receives rave review as another is slammed as ‘torture’
Daisy Jackson
Pip, a new restaurant in Manchester, has received a rave national review this week – a review which slammed another restaurant in the same feature.
Food critic William Sitwell wrote in his review in The Telegraph that Pip is charming, refined, and fabulous.
“Bravo, Pip. Pip pip!” he wrote in the glowing write-up on the new restaurant, which stands at the foot of the new Treehouse Hotel and has the acclaimed Mary-Ellen McTague at its helm.
Sitwell’s Telegraph review particularly raved about dishes including Lancashire hot pot (‘fabulously good’), a wild garlic soup (‘a gorgeous thing’), and an apple trifle (‘a gift from heaven’).
But while it was all good for Pip, there were significantly less positive adjectives heaped on another restaurant in Manchester.
In fact, he said that Pip is ‘a great-value tonic’ for the ‘brash (and pricey) torture’ across town.
That restaurant was KAJI, formerly known as MUSU, which he said was ‘all tummies, bald heads, tattoos and heat’.
Sitwell said that while the service and sashimi are good at KAJI, the ‘place is afflicted by some overbearing cooking that cheapens the noble name of Japanese cuisine’.
He wrote: “Lamb chops fail the tender test and are properly wrecked sitting on a vulgar pond of sticky “tomato ponzu”. No beast should die to have that stuff squirted anywhere near it.
“And Kaji is a Japanese gaff without sake. Which is like opening a British pub in Tokyo and forgetting to put an ale on tap.”
Sharing the review, Pip wrote: “Thankyou @telegraph and @williamsitwell for the fantastic feature. We’re so proud of our team here.”
Milk Maids, Bolton – The family-run ice cream parlour on an award-winning farm
Daisy Jackson
Ice cream doesn’t come much fresher than those served at Milk Maids – in fact, you’ll be standing right on the family farm where the cows that produce the milk live, as you tuck into your scoop.
This unassuming dairy farm in Bolton has been in operation for decades, and in the same family for generations.
But it’s when sisters Fiona and Rebecca saw the full potential of all that award-winning milk being produced on their farm that Milk Maids was born.
This ice cream parlour on Dearden’s Farm in Over Hulton is now one of the hottest spots in Greater Manchester, especially when the weather is similarly hot.
Every month they release a whole batch of flavours, all made fresh daily (you can literally see Fiona legging it across the yard with buckets of milk to make fresh batches), with May specials including white chocolate and sea salt caramel, raspberry cookie, and passionfruit pavlova.
Milk Maids, Bolton – The family-run ice cream parlour on an award-winning farm
Cones can be filled with molten chocolate or pistachio creme before your ice cream is scooped and pressed into the cone.
Or you can have your chosen flavour whizzed up into a milkshake, served in a milk bun, or presented in an insulated take-home box for later.
We could wax lyrical about how good this ice cream is, but the queues really do speak for themselves, and you should go and get in it right now.
Daisy Jackson -
12th June 2024 
