Eat Well MCR – a community project launched to feed the hungry – has broken the £100,000 barrier with the help of a donation from Liam Gallagher.
The Oasis frontman’s 1996 MTV Award – won for Best Song for ‘Wonderwall’ – was purchased at a live auction for an incredible £45,000; helping Eat Well MCR break the six-figure fundraising barrier in just three months.
£73,000 was generated by United We Feed – a Manchester merch sale held at Cloudwater Brewery in collaboration with United We Stream GM.
Dozens of volunteers and collaborators got involved for the occasion – which included live performances, prizes and musicians making cookalong pizzas.
Further donations also flooded in from the likes of Albert’s Schloss and The Lead Station – crowdfunding a whopping £100,000 in total.
Eat Well MCR was launched by Manchester chef Mary-Ellen McTague of The Creameries in Chorlton with the aim of salvaging food waste left behind by closed restaurants during lockdown.
The organisation has blossomed since, and is now working to ensure a sustainable future so they can continue their mission to “show care and support for people when they need it most, through food.”
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Mary-Ellen said: “The Eat Well MCR collective is made up of people who believe in showing care and spreading joy through food. Even when faced with an uncertain future for their own livelihoods and businesses, they got to work to support our wonderful city, and people facing unimaginably harsh realities.
“At the start of our journey our meals would cost less than £1 to make as the majority of our ingredients were donated by the amazing restaurants in our collective, and everyone volunteered their time. “
She continued: “We cannot expect to keep the cost of our meals so low, as people return to work and restaurants open, but we are committed to continue feeding those who need it.
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“The money raised is therefore even more essential for Eat Well MCR to carry on in its mission to support people. Lockdown may be easing but the challenges faced by people we support won’t go away, and we don’t intend to either.
“As a collective, we have started something amazing and we are determined to see this through.
“We are now developing plans for income generation so that we can become a self sustaining organisation that works to support both those in need, and our local food economy, with our mission to support people facing food inequality absolutely at our core.”
— Hattie Pearson ?☕️?☀️ (@hattiepearson) June 6, 2020
Some of the restaurants involved in the collective include A Taste of Honey, Baratxuri, Beehive Food, Cloudwater Brew Co., Common Bar, Nells Pizzas, The Creameries, Diamond Dogs, Eagle and Child, Elite Bistros, Elnecot, Erst, Gorilla, Hawksmoor, Higher Ground, Hispi, Honest Crust, The Hungry Gecko, Isca, Koffee Pot, Konoba, Little Window, The Manchester Tart Company, Stretford Canteen, Tampopo, The Victoria Walshaw and Where The Light Gets In.
Learn more about how you can support this amazing cause on the Eat Well MCR website.
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Simon Wood announces gutting closure of Manchester restaurant after seven years
Danny Jones
Celebrity chef and Manchester local Simon Wood has announced that his self-titled WOOD Restaurant has sadly closed its doors.
The Oldham-born chef-owner who won MasterChef back in 2015, revealed the unfortunate news on Wednesday, 2 October, confirming that the First Street site will be closing immediately. Truly gutting.
Wood has remained one of Greater Manchester’s most-renowned chefs for the past decade, not to mention a huge advocate for supporting the hospitality industry, especially post-Covid and during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Sharing an emotional post on Instagram, he wrote: “It is with much regret that I have to inform you that I must close the doors here at WOOD for good, with immediate effect.”
“We have had 7 years as part of the Manchester city dining scene and I’m very proud of what the team and I have achieved”, the 48-year-old continued.
“Sadly with COVID rent arrears now being demanded by our landlord and an increasingly difficult marketplace, energy increases, ingredient costs and soon-to-be spiralling business rates we just cannot make this work.”
“I’d like to thank everyone for your support and patronage over the years. Thank you, Simon.”
It was only at the start of the week that Wood shared a frustrated post about a group of no-show customers over the weekend that failed to even pre-warn that they would no longer be attending one of his most exclusive and costly experiences.
We’re starting to lose count of how many local businesses are unfortunately struggling in the face of the rising business rates and energy bills that all independents are facing at the minute.
It was only last month that we saw Almous Famous had to call it a day with their Withington location and beloved sandwich spot Micky’s sadly suffer the same fate. Even cult favourite Cafe Marhaba looks to have gone up for sale. So tough to swallow.
We’re genuinely gutted for everyone involved with the brand. All the best, Si – we know you’ll be back stronger than ever one of these days.
Featured Images — The Manc Group
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No trams to run through major Manchester city centre station this weekend
Emily Sergeant
Arguably Manchester city centre’s most important tram stop is set to be out of action this weekend, with no services running through it.
In what is another part of Transport for Greater Manchester‘s (TfGM) ongoing programme of works intended to “maintain and improve” the Metrolink system and ensure tram journeys in Greater Manchester remain “safe, reliable, and accessible”, it’s been confirmed that no trams will run through Cornbrook this weekend.
Due to this, there will be a change to operating patterns across the majority of the Metrolink network on both Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October.
As is often the case in instances like these, disruption to passengers is expected.
On Saturday and Sunday [5 and 6 October], no trams will operate through Cornbrook.
There will be a change to operating patterns and replacement bus services will be in operation.
On Saturday (5 October), the tram service pattern will change to Altrincham – Old Trafford, Bury – Ashton-under-Lyne, East Didsbury – Firswood, Etihad Campus – Bury (peak time only) / Victoria (after peak only), Manchester Airport – Firswood, Rochdale Town Centre – Deansgate-Castlefield (via Exchange Square), and The Trafford Centre – Wharfside.
Similarly, on Sunday (6 October), the only difference to the above service pattern is that the Etihad Campus tram will only run to Victoria, not Bury.
Services will operate every 12 minutes, except for on the Eccles line, where no trams will run at all.
TfGM is also warning that there may be changes to the first and last tram times during these works, but, in bid to help people still get to their destinations, three bus replacement services will operate from Firswood to Victoria, Old Trafford to Piccadilly, and Eccles to Piccadilly.
No trams will run through major Manchester city centre station Cornbrook this weekend / Credit: TfGM
The Old Trafford to Piccadilly bus service will run through Wharfside, while the Eccles to Piccadilly will travel via MediaCity.
“These works are a vitally important part of maintaining a safe and reliable network for all our customers,” explained
Ian Davies, who is TfGM’s Interim Network Director for Metrolink, said these works are “a vitally important part” of maintaining the Metrolink, and that work has been scheduled by TfGM to “minimise disruption to passengers and residents as much as possible”.
The Manc -
1st July 2020 
