Sitting on the border of Prestwich and Whitefield, Let’s Fress Deli is the place to go to get your bagel fix in north Manchester.
Sat in the heart of one of Manchester’s biggest Jewish communities, every Sunday you’ll see queues stretching all the way down Bury New Road as local families pile in to get their hands on this family-run kosher deli’s famous six for £5.50 bagel deal.
When we visit, the maestros behind the counter tell us that they churn out, on average, 45 trays a day. With eight dozen in each, by our maths that’s over 4,000 bagels every single day – and they do even more on special occasions, like Mother’s Day. Mad!
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Filling choices here are traditional and include everything from hot salt beef brisket and smoked salmon to chopped liver, smoked turkey, egg and onion.
This being a deli, there are loads more treats on offer too – from plain and fruity kichels (slightly sweet Jewish cookies) and cakes to Moroccan cigars, sausage rolls and vegetable tzimmus (Yiddish for “a big fuss”).
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We opt for a salt beef bagel with mustard and pickles, with coleslaw on the side and a cheeky little sausage roll for the road.
It’s easy to see what all the fuss is about here. Dense and not too bready, these bagels really let the filling shine through – just as it should be.
First established in 2001, the deli has been a fixture of the comunity for over twenty years. It might look unsuspecting from the road, sandwiched between a barber shop and an Indian and Bangladeshi takeaway,
Sat on a busy main road with cars whizzing past, it could be easy to miss – btu we implore you to visit if you’re in the neighbourhood, which has been home to Jewish settlers ever since the first German-Jewish immigrant shopkeepers arrived at the end of the 18th century.
Thanks to these families, there are some brilliant kosher bakeries and deli to discover – chief amongst them Let’s Fress. Find them at 70 Bury Old Rd, Whitefield, Prestwich, Manchester M45 6TL.
Feature image – The Manc Eats
News
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 -
22nd July 2022 
