Popular Manchester street food trader Salt and Pepper has announced it will be closing its stall in the Arndale market in the next three weeks.
The modern Chinese street food stall, which specialises in everything salt and pepper and regularly draws huge queues at lunchtime, blamed ‘limited facilities’ and a lack of extraction (needed to remove cooking fumes) at the market for its abrupt departure.
In a post shared to its social media channels over the weekend, the food traders turned their ire on Manchester City Council – who run the market – claiming bosses had refused to renew their lease unless they invest ‘upwards of £100,000’ to install their own extraction system.
Image: Salt and Pepper
According to the post, which has already been liked over 3,000 times, the council has claimed improving the extraction is the trader’s responsibility, not theirs, citing the popularity of the stall.
The post read: “It is with a broken heart that we’re announcing that our Arndale Market Stall will be permanently closing on April 2nd.
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“Due to the limited facilities in the Arndale Market, we’re no longer able to keep trading in this space. If you’ve been to the market, you’d know, there’s isn’t much of an extraction system on our side (to expel smoke & smells) and the Council (who run the market) have said it’s our responsibility to fix this because of the popularity of our stall.
Image: Salt and Pepper
“The Council have said they’re unwilling to renew our lease unless we invest upwards of £100,000 to put in our own extraction system, with additional costs that they couldn’t tell us unless we accepted to pay the £100k.
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“It doesn’t seem fair really, but it’s safe to say that it’s time for us to move on.
“We’ve been absolutely gutted, and we’ve spent the past few months trying to figure out how to keep our amazing staff employed and our business dreams alive.
“We never thought we’d have to end our time in the Market so abruptly but, we’re hopeful al is not lost, and we’re excited to move on to the next stage of our business.”
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Hinting at plans to open a place of their own in the ‘near future’, owners reassured fans that in the meantime they will be able to get their lunchtime fix at Black Dog Ballroom in the Northern Quarter from April 6.
Image: Salt and Pepper
“They’ve kindly let us to open from 12pm every day (legends) and we will make sure the food and service matches our standards in the Arndale. Deliveroo will also still be available all day,” the post continued.
Salt and Pepper’s stall is based on the newer south side of the street food market, which was expanded into in 2019.
Prior to the expansion, this part of the Arndale Extension was once exclusively home to retail stalls – but May 2019 heralded the arrival of five new food traders: Blue Caribou Poutine, Hong Thai, Holy Crab, Kuku and Intoku in Japanese.
Salt and Pepper moved in a week or so later, taking over the vacant La Bandera stall, and have been in residence pretty much ever since – give or take a short period of closure warranted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Now it appears their time is officially coming to an end, but this will certainly not be the last we hear of them.
A Manchester City Council spokesperson said: “Salt and Pepper have become so successful that our current extraction system is not capable of handling the level of smoke that originates from their stall, which posed a health and safety risk for other traders in the market.
“We have been working with the company since late 2020 to try and supply an improved extraction system. Manchester City Council deny the claims that Salt and Pepper have been asked to pay £100k for this.
“We considered several options, including offering alternative trading locations. Nevertheless, it was decided that we could not offer Salt and Pepper a new lease on Health and Safety grounds.
“We have supported Salt and Pepper by allowing them to trade for a period of time on a licence whilst they found alternative arrangements and wish them luck in their future endeavours.”
To keep up with Salt and Pepper’s moves over the coming months as they transition into their new home, give Salt and Pepper a follow on Instagram here.
Feature image – Salt and Pepper
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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 -
14th March 2022 
