Some say that leaving your Christmas decorations up after January 5th is bad luck – but the landlord at this pub in Tameside doesn’t seem particularly worried.
Walk into The Stamford Arms in Stalybridge this evening and you’ll find punters donning party hats and tucking into gravy-soaked turkey dinners with all the trimmings.
Christmas classics like ‘Santa Baby’ blast from the speakers, whilst an obligatory fir tree stands tall at the bar, decked out in all its festive finery.
Image: The Stamford Arms
In these increasingly strange times, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stepped into some sort of time portal. In reality, you have… sort of.
Because this month the Stalybridge pub is going all-out: celebrating Christmas in May and giving its customers the chance to make up for all the festivities they missed out on last year.
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Since the reopening of indoor hospitality on Monday, 17th May, The Stamford Arms’ kitchen has been churning out Christmas dinners like nobody’s business – with punters piling in to celebrate the holiday five months later.
Its sister pub in Uppermill, The Cross Keys, is also taking part.
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The idea came from the customers, who were understandably heartbroken at missing out on their Christmas traditions.
“We were a little bit gutted when we found out we couldn’t open at Christmas,” landlord Rebecca Jones, who runs the pub with her husband James, told The MEN.
“I was getting a lot of messages from customers saying ‘the pub looks lovely, we can’t believe we can’t come, we feel like we’re missing out’.”
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So they decided to go for it, and hold Christmas in May. So far, the theme has been a hit, with customers coming out to celebrate with friends and family they might not have seen for months.
Some have even told her that they feel more Christmassy now than they did last December – perhaps unsurprisingly, given the way that last-minute guidance changes put paid to many people’s carefully made plans at the end of 2020.
For many in Manchester, going to the pub with family and friends at Christmas is a rite of passage.
So if you feel like you missed out last year, now’s. your chance.
Feature image – The Stamford Arms.
News
Simon Wood announces gutting closure of Manchester restaurant after seven years
Danny Jones
Celebrity chef and Manchester local Simon Wood has announced that his self-titled WOOD Restaurant has sadly closed its doors.
The Oldham-born chef-owner who won MasterChef back in 2015, revealed the unfortunate news on Wednesday, 2 October, confirming that the First Street site will be closing immediately. Truly gutting.
Wood has remained one of Greater Manchester’s most-renowned chefs for the past decade, not to mention a huge advocate for supporting the hospitality industry, especially post-Covid and during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Sharing an emotional post on Instagram, he wrote: “It is with much regret that I have to inform you that I must close the doors here at WOOD for good, with immediate effect.”
“We have had 7 years as part of the Manchester city dining scene and I’m very proud of what the team and I have achieved”, the 48-year-old continued.
“Sadly with COVID rent arrears now being demanded by our landlord and an increasingly difficult marketplace, energy increases, ingredient costs and soon-to-be spiralling business rates we just cannot make this work.”
“I’d like to thank everyone for your support and patronage over the years. Thank you, Simon.”
It was only at the start of the week that Wood shared a frustrated post about a group of no-show customers over the weekend that failed to even pre-warn that they would no longer be attending one of his most exclusive and costly experiences.
We’re starting to lose count of how many local businesses are unfortunately struggling in the face of the rising business rates and energy bills that all independents are facing at the minute.
It was only last month that we saw Almous Famous had to call it a day with their Withington location and beloved sandwich spot Micky’s sadly suffer the same fate. Even cult favourite Cafe Marhaba looks to have gone up for sale. So tough to swallow.
We’re genuinely gutted for everyone involved with the brand. All the best, Si – we know you’ll be back stronger than ever one of these days.
Featured Images — The Manc Group
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No trams to run through major Manchester city centre station this weekend
Emily Sergeant
Arguably Manchester city centre’s most important tram stop is set to be out of action this weekend, with no services running through it.
In what is another part of Transport for Greater Manchester‘s (TfGM) ongoing programme of works intended to “maintain and improve” the Metrolink system and ensure tram journeys in Greater Manchester remain “safe, reliable, and accessible”, it’s been confirmed that no trams will run through Cornbrook this weekend.
Due to this, there will be a change to operating patterns across the majority of the Metrolink network on both Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October.
As is often the case in instances like these, disruption to passengers is expected.
On Saturday and Sunday [5 and 6 October], no trams will operate through Cornbrook.
There will be a change to operating patterns and replacement bus services will be in operation.
On Saturday (5 October), the tram service pattern will change to Altrincham – Old Trafford, Bury – Ashton-under-Lyne, East Didsbury – Firswood, Etihad Campus – Bury (peak time only) / Victoria (after peak only), Manchester Airport – Firswood, Rochdale Town Centre – Deansgate-Castlefield (via Exchange Square), and The Trafford Centre – Wharfside.
Similarly, on Sunday (6 October), the only difference to the above service pattern is that the Etihad Campus tram will only run to Victoria, not Bury.
Services will operate every 12 minutes, except for on the Eccles line, where no trams will run at all.
TfGM is also warning that there may be changes to the first and last tram times during these works, but, in bid to help people still get to their destinations, three bus replacement services will operate from Firswood to Victoria, Old Trafford to Piccadilly, and Eccles to Piccadilly.
No trams will run through major Manchester city centre station Cornbrook this weekend / Credit: TfGM
The Old Trafford to Piccadilly bus service will run through Wharfside, while the Eccles to Piccadilly will travel via MediaCity.
“These works are a vitally important part of maintaining a safe and reliable network for all our customers,” explained
Ian Davies, who is TfGM’s Interim Network Director for Metrolink, said these works are “a vitally important part” of maintaining the Metrolink, and that work has been scheduled by TfGM to “minimise disruption to passengers and residents as much as possible”.
Georgina Pellant -
24th May 2021 
