High street fast fashion beast Primark has surprised its fans and haters this week by revealing plans to launch a new vintage clothing section.
The retailer, which is regularly chastised by slow fashion campaigners for its unethical methods of production, has made a move to be a bit more green by linking up with a local indie vintage clothing business.
Working alongside the Vintage Wholesale Company, which also runs the established vintage and second-hand clothing boutique Poorboy in Hull, Primark will launch two new vintage clothing sections at its Manchester and Birmingham stores under the brand name WornWell.
It means that, for the first time, Primark customers can shop a mix of branded and unbranded, pre-loved items in store and leave feeling that little bit better about their carbon footprint.
Image: Primark
Promising to stock a range of 70s, 80s and 90s trends, vintage fans can expect to see one-off denim jumpsuits and shirts, spaghetti tops, printed sweaters, puffa jackets and vibrant, patterned shirts within the new Wornwell sections.
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Brands-wise, those prepared to dig will uncover vintage pieces from Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, Converse, Levi’s and Dr. Martens.
Riccardo Seaton, Director of WornWell by the Vintage Wholesale Company, said; “We are delighted to be opening WornWell by the Vintage Wholesale Company at Primark.
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“We take great pride in sourcing high-quality vintage clothing from around the world, and we’re excited to expand our business and offer once-off pieces of timeless fashion to customers in Birmingham and Manchester.
“Each item is unique. We want to inspire our customers to express their individuality and discover a love of vintage through wearing our clothes.”
Image: PRimark
Speaking on the new partnership, Jermaine Lapwood, Head of Innovation and Future Trends at Primark, added: “We’re very excited to open our first vintage concessions in Birmingham and Manchester. Vintage clothing has increased in popularity over the last few years, and we know that our customers love creating unique looks by mixing old fashion with new.
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“This concession will be the nostalgic bridge between generations, bringing curated retro fashion at great value.
“We want to see clothes loved for longer and kept in circulation – we’ve got big plans within our own business to give clothes a longer life, and we’re thrilled to be supporting an independent business who is working to do this.”
Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Georgina Pellant -
23rd August 2022 
