Staff at Affleck’s Animaid cafe have hit out in its defense after a Greater Manchester councillor branded the business ‘disgusting’.
Urmston councillor Joanne Harding has caused something of an uproar after tweeting that the Japanese-themed Animad cafe made her ‘fresh crawl [sic]’
Asking “What fresh hell is this in Manchester?”, her tweet continued: “A ‘maid cafe’ – No touching or asking to touch the maids. We have a gender based violence strategy and ask ‘is this ok?’ – this makes my fresh [sic] crawl.”
After one person replied by describing the cafe as ‘Hooters for incels’, she responded by calling the business ‘disgusting’ before adding: ‘If you’ve got to have a sign up saying don’t touch the maids, there might be an issue. Women dressing in skimpy clothes, acting subserviently – what’s not to love.’
The councillor has now set her Twitter profile to private, but her bio describes her as having ‘ovaries of steel’.
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She has represented Urmston on Trafford Council for more than twelve years and has previously spoken out against the harrassment of women in public life, most recently after receiving a sexually explicit card at her town hall office.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that Mrs Harding took the time to understand the bubble tea and cartoon-themed cafe’s concept before going online to denounce the young women who work there.
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Image: The Manc Group
Image: The Manc Group
Vick Littley, a manager at the Animaid cafe, told the Manchester Evening News: “It was out of the blue and just felt derogatory. Most of the staff are young women – the post has been done with no grasp of what we actually are.
“We are a themed café where people can play board games, watch anime, sit and talk, study. We are not like how they are trying to portray us, we’re a bubble tea anime-themed café.”
On a visit to the popular Japanese-inspired cafe, The Manc spoke with a couple of the maids on the misconceptions that customers sometimes bring in with them.
They were keen to stress that, whilst the cafe does draw its inspiration from Japan’s maid cafe culture, in no way are the staff wanting to be fetishised themselves.
Whilst in Japanese maid cafes customers commonly call the maid’s “Princess” and vice versa are called “master”, they explain that in their cafe at Affleck’s the focus is all on having fun – not on sexualising the intimacy between customer and maid.
“In their cafes, […] master and princess is like kind of like fetishist names […] we don’t want any aspect of fetishising anything, we don’t want any Asian fishing or anything like that because it’s just disgusting.”
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“We just want to have fun and dress like maids and sell Japanese merch without hurting anyone.”
Image: The Manc Group
Image: The Manc Group
First opened in 2019, the cafe is the only one of its kind in the UK and has had various different iterations over the years – first starting life off as a shop downstairs before moving onto the second floor.
Inside you’ll find rare anime dolls, imported Japanese snacks, milkshakes named after famous characters and stacks of comics which you can read for free.
Based inside its current unit for three years now, over time owners have expanded the space to add on a proper Japanese-style sakura cafe behind the shop – complete with upside-down umbrellas hanging from the ceiling and its very own sakura tree.
Designed for like-minded people with a shared interest in anime, the cafe has been set up to be suitable for all ages where fans can socialise and initiate new friendships.
All of its maids are anime fanatics and experts too, and with their help owner Rio has created a safe space for anime fans where guests can watch anime, play video games, and transport themselves to cosplaying heaven.
Feature image – The Manc Group
News
‘Prolific’ South Manchester burglar jailed for thefts which included peanuts…
Daisy Jackson
A ‘prolific’ burglar has been jailed for just over two years, for numerous thefts including sunglasses, airpods, and peanuts…
The man was caught red-handed inside someone’s property, where he claimed he was just wanting a glass of water – but was found by police officers to have the resident’s car keys in his pocket.
Fazal Alnesi, 26, from Moss Side, was then linked to a number of other burglaries, attempted burglaries, and thefts across South Manchester.
Fazal was sentenced to 27 months at Manchester Crown Court last week after pleading guilty to offences including six counts of burglary in June of this year.
He was arrested on 12 June, when a man returned to his home in Fallowfield in the early hours of the morning and discovered Fazal inside his address.
He claimed he was there because he wanted a glass of water but subsequently refused to leave, which led to police being called.
Officers placed Alnensi in handcuffs and found the resident’s car keys in his pocket, as well as indications that he’d been rummaging through the man’s drawers.
He was later linked to other thefts include a wrench set from a car, a pedal cycle worth £350, airpods, sunglasses – and even peanuts from one address.
He additionally took an electric bike charger from one address worth hundreds of pounds.
PC Jon Holden, from GMP’s City of Manchester district, said: “Alnensi took various items from several homes and cars across a two-week period earlier this year, making off with hundreds of pounds worth of goods.
“Ultimately, Alnensi left people feeling unsafe in his own home, and I am glad he is now behind bars.
“Our team will investigate all burglaries, and I would encourage people to get in touch with us – all intelligence helps us lock up criminals and bring them to justice.”
The top 10 ‘happiest’ places to live in the North West in 2026 have been named
Emily Sergeant
The top 10 happiest places to live in the North West have been named for 2026.
It comes as Rightmove has published its annual ‘Happy at Home’ index this week, just as it has done for the last 14 years now, exploring exactly what it is that makes people feel content about where they live, and highlighting the happiest places nationwide ahead of the new year – with thousands of residents across more than 200 locations providing feedback.
The residents told the leading property listing platform what they love (or don’t love) about their community, from the friendliness of their neighbours, to job opportunities, access to green spaces, and so much more.
The survey also outlined the differences in happiness in rural, urban, and suburban environments, as well as the way our sense of ‘home happiness’ changes as we age.
So, when it comes to the North West as a whole then, where do we have in the top 10?
Well, to kick things off, you may have already seen that one Lancashire market town has earned its place in the top 10 nationwide, not just for the North West region – and that’s Chorley.
Closest to the Bolton and Wigan boroughs, Chorley – which is is about a 40-minute drive outside of Manchester, and sits on a direct train route into the city centre.
But aside from the national top 10, when it comes to the regional top 10, the next two towns following Chorley in second and third are both in Greater Manchester.
The North West’s top 10 happiest places to live 2026
Chorley
Stockport
Altrincham
Chester
Macclesfield
Southport
Kendal
Wirral
Northwich
Carlisle
Altrincham has been named one of the North West’s happiest places to live / Credit: The Manc Group
The ever-thriving Stockport comes in at number two, followed by Trafford favourite Altrincham directly behind it at number three.
Other of the region’s inclusions like Bury, Bolton, Wigan, and the Manchester borough itself all ranked towards the bottom.
Speaking on this year’s list, Colleen Babcock – a property expert at Rightmove – explained: “The balance between greenery and everyday convenience runs through the wider findings. Even among people who would ideally choose a rural setting, access to amenities, parks and public transport remains important.
“This year’s results suggest that the places people rate most highly aren’t simply urban or rural, but often bring together some of the best elements of both.”
Featured Image – Roger Kidd (via Wikimedia Commons)
Georgina Pellant -
1st February 2023 
