Renowned Indian restaurant group Mowgli has shuttered one of its Manchester sites.
The street food brand has called time on its second restaurant in the city after three years of trade that was disrupted by the pandemic.
Dubbed its ‘prettiest restaurant‘ by the rapidly-expanding business, the University Green site was dominated by a huge white driftwood tree covered in fairy lights.
It also had wooden swing seats and bird cages filled with glowing lights.
But the beautiful space has now been largely cleared out, the Mowgli signs removed from the windows, and the tempting smell of curry from its doorway has vanished.
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An almost-empty Mowgli. Credit: The Manc Group
Mowgli opened as part of Bruntwood’s University Green development just off Oxford Road in early 2019, joined by Takk, Five Guys and Brewdog.
The site served tiffin boxes loaded with hearty homemade curries, as well as street food-style snacks and charred meats, much like other Mowgli sites.
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The brand was founded by former barrister Nisha Katona in Liverpool in 2014, opening at the Corn Exchange in Manchester a year later.
Mowgli in Manchester’s University Green when it first opened. Credit: Mowgli
Since then, it’s expanded to cities across the UK including Birmingham, Sheffield, Cardiff and Leeds.
In the next year, Mowgli restaurants will also open in Glasgow, Preston, Bristol, Edinburgh and Brighton.
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More than £1m has been funnelled into local charities and causes through The Mowgli Trust too.
Greater Manchester public urged to help get people ‘off the streets and on their feet’ before Christmas
Emily Sergeant
Locals are being urged to help get hundreds of people “off the streets and back on their feet” this festive season.
As the temperatures told colder by the day, and Christmas creeps closer and closer, Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity is bringing back ‘1000 Beds for Christmas’, and the massively-important initiative is aiming to provide 1,000 nights of accommodation to people at risk of homelessness before the big day arrives.
Forming part of the ongoing ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme, this festive fundraising mission is designed to provide food, shelter, warmth, and dedicated vital wrap-around support for those who need it most.
The charity says it wants to build on the “incredible success of 2023”, which raised more than £55,000 and provided 1,800 nights of accommodation.
Stockport-based property finance specialists, Together – which has supported the campaign for the last two years – has, once again, generously pledged to match every public donation for the first £20,000 raised.
Unfamiliar with the ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme? Since 2017, when rough sleeping peaked, the initiative has helped ensure a significantly-higher rate of reduction in the numbers of people facing a night on streets in Greater Manchester than seen nationally.
The landmark scheme has given people the chance to rebuild their lives, while also giving them access to key services and opportunities that allows them to stay off the streets for good.
Despite the scheme’s recent success, organisations across Greater Manchester are under “a huge amount of pressure” to meet the demand for their services this winter, and given the current economic outlook, household budgets will continue to be squeezed – leaving people on the sharp end of inequality and poverty.
Daisy Jackson -
25th February 2022 
