Popular craft bakery Gail’s has hinted at plans to open a string of new cafes in the North West next year.
The group, which already has a large number of bakery-cafes in the south of England, has announced it will open its first North West site in Wilmslow in early 2023.
Bosses have also said that ‘further locations in the North West’ will be announced in the new year, adding that all the new bakeries will serve GAIL’s artisan sourdough breads, pastries, sandwiches, and cakes alongside its specialty House Blend coffee.
The news also seems to potentially confirm speculation that the brand is planning a move into Manchester after The Manc shared news of potential plans for a Gail”s opening in the city centre in October.
Having already seen planning documents that suggest the chain is planning to take over the former White Stuff unit on King Street, it now appears that more news on that opening will be coming in 2023 – although it’s hard to say if it will be the first Manchester site to be announced.
The bakery group already has strong ties with Manchester, having run its sister wholesale bakery The Bread Factory in Openshaw since 2017.
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Formed in the early 1990s by namesake Gail Mejia, Gail’s began when its eponymous founder decided to bring together the best bakers in London to create bakes for the capitals top chefs and restaurants.
Today, is known more as a customer-facing cafe and bakery whilst The Bread Factory continues the original wholesale legacy – supplying high quality, artisan breads to some of the region’s top local restaurants.
Gail’s first cafe opened on Hampstead High Street in 2005, and now the brand has 79 in neighbourhoods in and around London, Oxford, Brighton and more.
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Turning back the clock on industrialised baking practices and moving to bake bread as it used to be baked: by hand, using quality ingredients and time-worn artisanal methods, Gail’s soon established a name for itself and has come a long way since those early days.
Still, the stuff that matters – the ethos, the suppliers, the skill and a handful of tried-and-tested sourdough starter cultures – hasn’t changed.
A champion for sustainability, the bakery also prides itself on minimising food waste by carefully setting aside any leftover food and donating it to a selection of local charities in each eatery’s neighbourhood
Get Baked owner offers lifeline to hospitality staff after sudden closure of Almost Famous
Danny Jones
The owner of viral sweet treat brand, Get Baked, has given a potential lifeline to local hospitality staff in Manchester following the sudden news of Almost Famous’ nationwide closure.
Confirmation that the Northern foodie favourites and dirty burger pioneers would be shutting down all of their sites across the country hit the likes of Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool like a freight train on a truly sad Monday mourning.
Although countless customers expressed their condolences online and bid farewell to the more than decade-old institution, the question of what is/will happen to their numerous staff was quickly put to the forefront.
With Almost Famous employees informing The Manc that they had been given no notice of the immediate closure and some still being owed wages, many have sadly found themselves in a crisis. Step up, Leeds-born baker and businessman, Rich Myers.
Yes, Yorkshire’s very own ‘Mr Sprinkles’ – who is slowly building a small but solid and superbly sweet dessert empire in the North – dropped a comment underneath our announcement post and kindly slid into our DMs to help get the word to those who need it most.
With Get Baked’s first-ever Manchester store set to open this year, Myers and his team are on the lookout for staff to make sure it hits the ground running.
That being said, upon learning of AF’s gutting closure, Myers messaged: “Hi everyone. We are opening a new site in NQ on February 28th, and want to do what we can to help any ex-AF staff get into new employment.
Although Get Baked is now planning to move to a different location in Manchester city centre, the opening date is still edging ever closer and we literally cannot wait.
The brand’s original home in Headingley has become internet-famous for its viral take on the legendary ‘Matilda cake’.
It’s unclear as to whether Get Baked have vacancies beyond Manchester but it’s still well worth expressing your interest if you don’t mind a job switch that revolves around sweet instead of savoury.
As for those who have unfortunately been let go by the long-standing burger joint, we sincerely hope that as many of them are snapped up by other local hospitality businesses as possible – and fast.
Almost Famous has been hit with a fair amount of criticism following the mass shutdown; reflecting on this and a raft of recent closures, one person wrote: “I feel sorry for the hospitality industry as a whole and Manchester. But not for AF if they treat their staff with such contempt!
A former employee added: “As a staff member who hasn’t received any direct communication from the business about the immediate redundancy of my contract and no payment of owed wages – the ‘top priority’ comment doesn’t exactly ring true.”
Featured Images — Get Baked (via Instagram)/The Manc Group
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Beloved Deansgate bar shares CCTV footage of customers stealing their… cushions?
Danny Jones
Beloved Manchester gin venue Atlas Bar has shared CCTV footage of two customers caught red-handed stealing their cushions this past weekend.
Firstly, don’t do that and secondly, what a random thing to steal.
Atlas on the corner of Deansgate has been an institution of the local hospitality scene for nearly three years, opening back in 1996 as one of the go-to pre-drinks destinations for those heading to the Hacienda.
Taken over and turned into the gin bar that’s popular day and night as we know it today back in 2012, it remains one of Manchester’s longest-standing independent boozers, so we were gutted and more than a bit puzzled to see them sharing images of patrons stealing property from their premises.
Sharing an understandably frustrated post, the bar wrote: “These two women decided that they needed to borrow (or maybe steal) two of our cushions last night [Sunday].
“We would be grateful if they brought them back soon! Hospitality is hard enough, without people taking what isn’t theirs to take! We would hate to have to involve the police.”
Now, we’re not going to play dumb and pretend people don’t nick the odd coaster or maybe even a pint pot from time to time – many of you reading might even be guilty of this minor sin (don’t worry, this isn’t an official investigation) – but we don’t think we’ve anyone try to sneak out with fabrics.
Petty theft it may be but it’s still theft nonetheless.
One commenter wrote: “Life is hard for hospitality at the moment and if they can afford to go out and drink they can afford to buy their own cushions”; another asked: “Are they expensive? – not the point I know but wondered why they would steal them.”
A third simply added, “What are people like? Fancy stealing a bloody cushion.”
As rightly pointed out by followers, there is plenty of stuff going against the food and drink sector as it is at the moment, so completely avoidable inconveniences like this are just as thoughtless as they are daft.
Atlas has been serving the local community for nearly thirty years, so we think it’s safe to say don’t deserve this kind of treatment, no matter how small it may seem to some.
Luckily for the mystery women pictured in the screengrab, the owners appear willing to welcome the pillow pillagers back to return the cushion without taking any further action and just be done with the whole thing.
Georgina Pellant -
6th December 2022 
