Manchester restaurant Dishoom has been praised online after one of its servers scribbled the calorie counts off its menu at a customer’s request.
Calorie labelling on menus became a legal requirement for restaurant groups employing over 250 staff in the UK earlier this month, but the move has already been widely criticised by eating disorder charities, restauranteurs, chefs and food critics.
Visiting Dishoom’s popular Manchester restaurant over the weekend, English teacher Sophie Bartlett asked the staff for a menu without the calories listed next to every dish but was told that they didn’t have one – so one of her servers took a pen and scribbled them all off for her instead.
Image: Sophie Bartlett via Twitter Image: Dishoom
Sharing an image of the menu alongside her experience in the restaurant to Twitter, Sophie praised Dishoom and her server Georgia, writing: “Massive kudos to @Dishoom Manchester – I asked for a menu without calories but they didn’t have one so one of the staff (Georgia) took a menu and scribbled out all the calories for me.”
The restaurant has since replied to Sophie to say that it will be adding a calorie free menu option, available on request, at all of its sites ‘very soon’.
ADVERTISEMENT
The tweet from Dishoom in reply said: “Hi Sophie, I’m glad to hear our Manchester team was able to help. We will be having an option of a calorie free menu, if requested, very soon in all our cafes.”
Image: Dishoom
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News yesterday, Sophie described the government’s new calorie labelling legislation as a ‘lazy’ response to promoting health and wellness in the UK.
ADVERTISEMENT
She said: “I know some restaurants have calorie-free menus available upon request already, I visited three restaurants over the weekend at the servers at each of them said they disagreed with the policy – one of the servers ever offered to handwrite out the entire menu for me.
“I think this is a lazy, cheap and easy solution to the ‘obesity problem’ that has allegedly cropped up since Covid. This has been done in the US and hasn’t worked. There is also SO much more to nutrition than calorie intake.
Image: Dishoom
“I fear it will create such a negative relationship with food with people – particularly women. I think there should at least be the option of a calorie free menu – and to have it offered, not just upon request.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Sophie’s original tweet has since been liked over 16,000 times with hundreds piling into the comments to give their thoughts on the new calorie-listed menus.
One person wrote in reply, “This is great, a calorie listed menu should be available to those who want it rather than forced on everyone.”
A third wrote, “Jumping in to answer this. 🙂 For people with a history of eating disorders, seeing calories on a menu can spark intense anxiety and inhibit their recovery (Or potentially stop them eating anything which is heartbreaking to witness)”
Another said, “I wish I could remember the exact numbers for you but children are like 200% more likely to develop an eating disorder than diabetes. Our societies obsession with diets and weight is causing a lot of problems for our kids. :(“
Read more:‘Until I’m forced to do it, I wouldn’t’ says Simon Wood as calorie counts added to UK menus
ADVERTISEMENT
However, some users appeared to be in support of the calorie labelling system and defended the new calorie labelling system.
The Department of Health and Social Care has said that obesity is one of the biggest health issues being faced in the UK today, and claims that food labelling plays an important role in helping people to make healthier choices.
A spokesperson added people were ‘used to seeing nutritional information on products sold in supermarkets’ and that the governments’ policy has been informed by extensive research conducted with mental health charities and experts.
Feature image – Dishoom
News
Middleton to receive a cinema and Metrolink as part of regeneration plans
Thomas Melia
Greater Manchester town Middleton is about to undergo a huge facelift thanks to a new regeneration project, including a new cinema and Metrolink tram station.
Middleton is one of many bustling communities that make up the borough of Rochdale, and with these new plans, the town might receive a fair few new visitors who want to know what it’s all about.
The Greater Manchester town is undergoing a huge transformation with regeneration plans confirming that Middleton will receive a brand new cinema complex along with an extended Metrolink line as part of the Bee Network expansion covering this area.
This is all thanks to Middleton teaming up with the Mayor to launch the Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC), which pushes forward regeneration plans for the town and future ideas.
Middleton Shopping Centre right in the heart of the town centre.Middleton Town Centre bustling as the markets take place.Credit: Steven Haslington (via Geograph)/@Rept0n1x (via Flickr)
The MDC considers lots of aspects of the town and even aims to create new homes and improve surrounding public spaces.
Middleton regeneration plans have been floated previously, but complications arose due to a lack of land and available funding, which ultimately brought these foundations to a halt.
Now it seems the green light has been lifted and Middleton is about to get a whole new facelift, which will not only improve the town economically but aesthetically too, along with the wider Rochdale region.
For many Middletonians, the idea of a cinema may have felt like a distant memory, with their last big screen location shutting down just over a decade ago.
This all-new high street regeneration will not only bring an array of shopping favourites back to the town centre but also the long-awaited return of a local cinema. Most importantly, the plans also include a slate of new housing, with an estimated 300 apartments set to be created in one building alone.
Early CGIs of the proposed Middleton regeneration plans.Grade II-listed Warwick Mill looks set to be turned into flats.Credit: Publicity Picture (supplied)
This all falls in line with the ‘Atom Valley scheme‘, which has been commissioned in order to generate over 20,000 job opportunities for people in Bury, Oldham and Rochdale.
The scheme also mentions how it aims to bring a combined economic boost of around £1 billion to these previously mentioned areas.
Rochdale Borough Council leader, Neil Emmott, said: “The development of 1.2 million square metres of employment space around the junction 19 area will help to generate 20,000 high-quality jobs and bring a £1 billion economic boost.”
Featured Image — Publicity Pictures (supplied via Rochdale Borough Council)
News
Scouting For Girls announce stacked UK tour with Manchester date
Thomas Melia
British boyband Scouting For Girls are heading out on an extensive UK tour with dates up and down the country, including right here in Manchester.
If the first thing that pops into your mind when you read this headline is “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know how we’ll make it through this”, then you’re on the right side of history.
Nearly 20 years since their single ‘She’s So Lovely’ reached catastrophic heights and had everyone putting on their best Roy Stride accent, Scouting For Girls are heading back on the road.
This UK tour announcement comes two years after their last project, The Place We Used To Meet, reached our ears and was coined by the band as “Our best work since our debut”.
It’s been 18 years since this Brit trio captivated our hearts with their eponymous debut album, which sold over one million copies and went number one on the UK official charts for two weeks.
Whether you know them for ‘Heartbeat’ or ‘Elvis Ain’t Dead’, it’s clear to say this band had their fair share of smash hit singles throughout the noughties.
This tour, however, celebrates the sophomore follow-up: Everybody Wants To Be On TV, which went on to continue their legacy and secure them their only number one, ‘This Ain’t A Love Song’, back in 2010.
Now, the boys are treating UK fans to an array of live performances, and if you can’t make one date, fear not because there are 20 different locations for you to choose from.
The group will also be playing the likes of Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle and a whole host of other Northern cities, so you have plenty of chances to catch them.
If you can’t wait all the way until March 2026 for your next Scouting For Girls fix, lead singer Stride has his own cameo account where you can get the star to read out a message or even sing you a song: “‘Michaela Strachan’ in full, please?…”
Scouting For Girls are coming to O2 Apollo in Manchester on 21 March 2026, with tickets going on sale next Friday, 2 May at 10am HERE.
Georgina Pellant -
19th April 2022 
