A new ‘comfort food’ canteen has opened its doors in Manchester, and everything on the menu costs less than a tenner.
Selling classic British favourites like fish and chips, pies and curries, it has tentatively been opened today for its soft launch at the former Granada Studios and Coronation Street studios site by workplace and hospitality company All Work & Social.
Called The Stables, the low-cost canteen has been specially designed to cater to reams of workers set to move into Manchester’s brand new Enterprise City development between Spinningfields and Deansgate.
However, it isn’t just for staff. The Stables will also open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays, meaning that locals can also pop in to enjoy some classic cooking at an affordable price.
All the food on offer here is cooked and served fresh from the kitchen, with lunch dishes priced at £5 and dinners costing no more than £8.
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The Stables has opened inside the former Granada TV Studios in Spinningfields. / Image: Geograph
Lunches will be served from 12.30-2pm daily, with no bookings required and a free soft drink included with your meal, on the house, on Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 August.
Diners will be treatd to classic chippy tea for £5, consisting of sausages, chips, gravy, cheese, curry sauce, barms and vegetarian options.
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As for dinner, they can choose from two different curries or pies, depending on the day of their visit. Served from 4.30 to 6pm daily, these will be priced at £8 each – drinks not included.
The Stables’ soft launch phase runs from Wednesday 3 to Monday 8 August. Following that, it will open every Tuesday to Thursday to the public for lunch and dinner.
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The casual canteen-style dining experience sees dishes served straight from the kitchen onto trays, whilst drinks on offer come from a well-stocked bar.
Speaking on the new opening, Phil Dove, All Work & Social food and beverage director, said: “We set out to create a casual, canteen-style dining experience and we have truly delivered that with The Stables.
“With all food served on your tray fresh from the kitchen, accompanied by a well-stocked bar, it is the ideal spot for team mates to meet throughout the day to relax and unwind.
“We pride ourselves on our bespoke catering team who are passionate about hospitality and creating an elevated experience.
“We take care to source all our produce locally and we are always sure to recognise the city of Manchester through our menu.”
Feature image – Supplied
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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 -
3rd August 2022 
