Popular Manchester sandwich spot Mira,best known for its saucy Neapolitan cuzzetiello sandwiches, has opened a new location in the Northern Quarter today.
But the ragu-topped cuzzetiello on which it built its name is out – and so, conveniently, is the name.
In its place, the newly revamped sandwich spot Must Be Micky’s is serving a new menu focusing on freshly baked foccacia sandwiches – a substantial, if sometimes overlooked, feature of the old Mira offering.
These come stuffed with house-made fillings like roasted cauliflower with red pepper sauce, Italian salami and black pepper mayo, and mustard pickled pears with Swiss cheese, all encased within pillow-soft foccacia loaves sourced from the newly opened Half Dozen Other bakery in Manchester’s Green Quarter.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Now available from its new kitchen in Ply as well as at The Picturedrome in Macclesfield, further sandwich choices include the vegan-friendly Cauli Cartel (roast cauliflower, smashed avocado, red pepper sauce, toasted cashews, pickled red onion, lettuce and lime zest menu), and the Trumo, a chunky crisp buttie with black pepper mayo, olive tapenade, Italian salami, truffle oil and Fior di Latte mozzarella.
Elsewhere on the menu you’ll find crispy smashed roastie-style potatoes topped with the likes of vegan cashew pesto and butter flavoured with chilli and lime.
ADVERTISEMENT
Washed down with refreshing house-made sodas in flavours like cream, cherry vanilla, lemon, and lime and pineapple, the new menu sees the team behind original sandwich hit Mira refine their offering after three years slinging butties to the good people of Manchester.
Serving in Ply from 11.30am-4pm, the team will provide a lunchtime service Tuesday to Sunday from their new home just off Stevenson Square. You can also find them serving the new menu up in Macclesfield at The Picturedrome.
Owners Mike Swain and Rhea Nickson first landed on the sandwich scene in 2021 with a pop-up at Ancoats pub The Crown and Kettle, and Mira’s Genovese stew and meatball-stuffed hollowed-out subs became a near-overnight hit.
Since then, they’ve gone on to host a string of successful pop-ups at the likes of Ancoats General Store and, more recently, the Cloudwater pub The Sadler’s Cat, as well as running a popular kitchen at The Picturedrome in Macclesfield.
ADVERTISEMENT
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Whilst their sarnies are top-notch, things haven’t always been easy going. Earlier this year, owners saw their NOMA pop-up sprayed with hot sauce ‘like a Formula 1 driver celebrating a Grand Prix win’ after vandals broke in and trashed it in February.
But now, it looks like things are once again on the up as Mira becomes Must Be Micky’s and debuts what is, frankly, a stunning new sandwich menu set to give other established dealers of things in bread a good run for their money.
To keep up to date with all things Must Be Micky’s make sure to follow them on Instagram here.
News
Ofcom says tech and social media platforms ‘must enforce’ their minimum age rules
Emily Sergeant
Ofcom has issued an urgent warning, calling on major sites and apps to enforce their minimum age rules with highly-effective age checks.
As it examines continued failings by these services, the online safety regulator says it has this week written to the major sites and apps that young people use the most – including Facebook, Instagram, Roblox, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube – requiring them to prove to parents a ‘genuine commitment’ to protecting children online.
Since the UK’s online safety laws came into force last year, Ofcom says it has been investigating nearly a hundred different services.
The regulator has taken enforcement action, secured changes to disrupt the sharing of child sexual abuse material, and seen high-risk services either get in line or block access to the UK altogether, as well as ensuring that millions of daily visits to porn sites now require highly effective age checks.
Major platforms like X (formerly Twitter), Telegram, Discord, and Reddit have also introduced age controls to prevent children accessing adult or harmful content.
Four ‘clear’ demands for further action have been set out by the regulator this week – effective minimum-age policies and reinforcement of these, strict child grooming protections, safer feeds and algorithms for children, and an end to product testing – particularly AI tools – on children.
Ofcom says tech and social media platforms ‘must enforce’ their minimum age rules / Credit: Robin Worrall (via Unsplash)
Ofcom says it has given the aforementioned platforms a deadline of 30 April to report back to it on the action they will take, and then the following month, the regulator will report on how the companies have responded and announce any next steps for regulatory action.
Speaking on the warning issued this week, Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom’s Chief Executive, said: “These online services are household names, but they’re failing to put children’s safety at the heart of their products.
“There is a gap between what tech companies promise in private, and what they’re doing publicly to keep children safe on their platforms.
“Without the right protections, like effective age checks, children have been routinely exposed to risks they didn’t choose, on services they can’t realistically avoid. That must now change quickly, or Ofcom will act.”
Featured Image – Julian Christ (via Unsplash)
News
Derelict Manchester office block to become ‘vital’ accommodation for homeless families
Emily Sergeant
A derelict former office block in Manchester is set to become vital accommodation for homeless families in the region.
Manchester City Council has announced that, subject to planning approval, new temporary accommodation for dozens of homeless families will be created on the site of a derelict former office block in south Manchester, off Nell Lane in Chorlton.
The Council acquired the 1.1 acre site last month with the support of the Government’s Local Authority Housing Fund.
The initiative – which is part of wider plans to boost the city’s stock of quality temporary accommodation – will see self-contained two-bedroom accommodation created for around 55 homeless families built where former NHS offices, Mauldeth House, currently stand.
Mauldeth House has been empty for several years now at this point, and had become somewhat of a ‘blight’ on the neighbourhood, attracting anti-social behaviour along the way and being targeted by squatters – but with the plans for the new accommodation, this could change for the better.
The site, and therefore the new accommodation, is said to be ‘ideally located’ for families, as it’s close to shops, schools, public transport, leisure facilities, and Chorlton Park.
The new accommodation will see families supported by a specialist team based on site to help them move on as quickly as possible into permanent settled tenancies, which is, of course, the long-term goal for many.
The Mauldeth House initiative is cited as being one example of the Council’s drive to increase its temporary accommodation stock across the city to reduce the number of out-of-area placements.
Other successful examples of this initiative include Mariana House in Whalley Range, and The Poplars in Rusholme.
It also comes after it was announced last month that homeless children in Greater Manchester, particularly those who are placed in temporary accommodation out of area for their school, will now get free bus travel to and from school.
“Mauldeth House is a great example of how we can put derelict properties to good use to benefit those experiencing homelessness, as well as making our neighbourhood look better,” explained Deputy Council Leader, Cllr Joanna Midgley.
“We are tackling homelessness on many fronts, the most important one being prevention, but we also need an increased supply of good quality temporary accommodation within the city so that if people do become homeless they are not uprooted from their social support networks.
“One of the ways we are doing this is through the innovative use of existing sites whether they are council owned or we are able to acquire them, as in the case of Mauldeth House.”
Georgina Pellant -
25th July 2023 
