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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Dispute over Manichester now ‘resolved’, say Mounfield family
Danny Jones
The family of the late, great Manchester musician, Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield, have said that the drama surrounding the highly-anticipated tribute festival in his name, Manichester, has now thankfully been settled.
Now the focus can once again return to remembering him as best as possible.
Following plenty of talk about the project following his passing late last year, a live music festival honouring Mani was finally confirmed in March, and the reaction following the event’s announcement has been unsurprisingly phenomenal.
Well, at least for the most part, as there was also some confusion over whether or not Manichester was still a charitable effort as advertised, with son Gene Mounfield disputing claims online. Fortunately, it all seems to have been put to bed now.
On behalf of the boys, and as their legal guardian, I want to thank everyone for the kind messages and concern for their wellbeing. There was a misunderstanding regarding the upcoming Manichester tribute concert, but we’re pleased to share that everything has now been resolved. pic.twitter.com/j8jEMrFzsD
Being organised by Madchester.com and locally-founded fashion label, GIOGOI, the debut edition was said to have the total blessing of Mani’s family, including his brother, Greg Mounfield.
It was also said that the funds raised by the show would be going to the legendary Stone Roses and Primal Scream bassists’ twins, George and Gene, but the latter recently argued that “nothing” was going to either him or his brother and that the news was “dropped” the plans just a fortnight prior.
Gene also said that “if it was a charity gig it would be at Co-op [Live] or Heaton Park, and it would be done by SJM [Concerts]”: a Manchester-based promoters and events company.
All of this was also wrapped up in ever more paper talk and sensationalism, as some were reporting that Noel and Liam Gallagher, as well as other members of Oasis, would be surprising fans as the still yet to be revealed ‘major headliner’.
These rumours have since been quashed, as has whatever miscommunication caused the misunderstanding between the parties concerned, and we are now back to simply looking forward to seeing an already stacked lineup here in the city centre this May.
Damon Minchella of Ocean Colour Scene (a fellow bassist who also tours with Richard Ashcroft) is helping organise and will also be performing on the night itself. As for the surviving Mounfields, they went on to add in an accompanying Instagram post: “We would also like to express our gratitude to PH.
“It means a great deal to all of us that so many people loved Mani enough to give their time and energy to honour his memory in this way. We are genuinely touched by the support.
“It has been an incredibly difficult few years for the boys and for our whole family. We hope this event will bring some much‑needed joy and create new, positive memories for everyone who cared about him.
“With love and thanks – The Family”
It goes without saying that we can’t wait for this city and Greater Manchester as a whole to honour a Manc icon and are looking forward to another year celebrating the thing that never fails to bring us all together: music.
Featured Images — livepict.com (via Wikimedia Commons)/Publicity pictures (supplied)
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Rochdale is bidding to become the UK’s first-ever Town of Culture in 2028
Emily Sergeant
Rochdale has announced its intention to bid to become UK Town of Culture 2028.
Entering into the national competition launched by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), following on from the success of the already-existing City of Culture award, the Greater Manchester town is hoping to be the first-ever town to claim the title.
The Town of Culture competition invites towns across the UK to showcase their cultural story and develop ambitious programmes that celebrate local heritage, creativity, and communities.
The winning town receives a £3 million grant from the Government to deliver a major year-long cultural programme in 2028 designed to boost civic pride, attract visitors, and provide everyone with the opportunity to participate in cultural activities.
Rochdale’s bid is being led by Rochdale Borough Council and Rochdale Development Agency, alongside cultural groups, education providers, and community organisations.
The bid will build on the town’s history as the birthplace of the Co-operative movement, and a centre of political reform, collective action and working-class cultural innovation.
A town of national and international significance, whose people and ideas have shaped the social, democratic and cultural life of the UK and beyond, Rochdale Council says the town’s story is ‘distinctive’ and as highly relevant today as it ever has been, and this is a driving force behind its Town of Culture 2028 bid.
Not just historically, but over recent years too, the town has made a significant contribution to the UK’s popular culture, producing internationally recognised musicians, artists, writers, and performers.
Local leaders say the bid to become the UK’s first ever Town of Culture underlines Rochdale’s ambition after just completing a ‘hugely successful’ year as Greater Manchester Town of Culture for 2025.
Rochdale is bidding to become the UK’s first-ever Town of Culture / Credit: The Manc Group | Rochdale Council
“We have a strong foundation for a bold and future focused UK Town of Culture programme and an incredible story to tell,” commented Cllr Neil Emmott, who is the Leader of Rochdale Borough Council.
“We’ll be developing a fabulous programme of new events and activities as well as amplifying our existing offer and recently transformed town hall square and centre.
“As we have already seen during our year as Greater Manchester Town of Culture, we have an established infrastructure of creative partners ready to go, who have already expressed their support for our bid, providing significant capacity and scale to deliver a UK town of culture programme in 2028 that would leave a permanent cultural legacy.
“We have exciting and varied attractions and iconic venues that have seen significant investment, an array of creative talent and we’re very well connected.
“This bid will allow us to share this in new ways and invite others to experience it.”
Georgina Pellant -
14th March 2022 
