Oseyo, the largest Asian retailer in the UK, has confirmed it will be opening a huge new store in Manchester city centre.
The massive Korean supermarket chain, which already has a popular site on Manchester’s Oxford Road, has just signed a new 15-year lease for a 12,580 sq ft unit in the Manchester Arndale shopping centre.
It is known for selling a vast range of Korean and Asian foods such as Korea Fried Chicken, Kimchi Flavoured Dumplings, and corn dogs, as well as toys, stationery, houseware, and electronics.
Products span ready-to-cook meals, sauces and spices, instant pots of ramen, various styles of kimchi, a vast selection of noodles, rice, and grains, plus powders, Asian snacks, seaweed, frozen food, teas and coffees.
Endless varieties of ramyun. / Image: Oseyo
Cute cans of bubble milk tea at Oseyo. / Image: Oseyo
Elsewhere, customers can browse a large selection of soft drinks and alcoholic beverages like soju, as well as shop for K-pop gifts and Korean beauty products.
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First launched in 2015 with a small shop on London’s Tottenham Court Road, today Oseyo has multiple stores across the UK with eight London sites, a Cambridge store and, soon, two in Manchester.
Its name, translated from Korean, loosely means ‘Welcome’ – a message that is at the heart of the brand.
Isaac Kweon, Operations Coordinator at Oseyo, said: “Our new store in Manchester Arndale is our largest and most ambitious project so far in our journey, and we are excited to bring to the people of Manchester a truly global and refined shopping experience.
“With an ever growing range of exclusive products which we directly produce or import with partner brands in Korea, we aim to provide for our customers a unique experience found nowhere else.”
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Image: Oseyo
Image: Oseyo
Image: Oseyo
Steve Gray, Head of European Retail Asset Management at Global Mutual, added: “We’re very excited to welcome Oseyo to Manchester Arndale as we continue to enhance our varied offer. We place great importance on creating a mix that caters to the city’s diverse taste and we are certain Oseyo will fit the bill.
“With such exciting leasing activity taking place it’s clear there is continued demand for well-placed retail units, and we are delighted to see confidence in Manchester Arndale’s long-term performance; we hope to share more exciting news soon.”
Featured image – Oseyo
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A queer comedy night is coming to Manchester next month
Thomas Melia
A comedy night packed with raunch and hilarious storytelling is heading to Manchester and its fronted by one of comedy’s leading queer comedians.
Titled ‘Queer as F*ck’ (we love a good pun), this night is devoted especially to queer comedy and sees Welsh comedian Morgan Rees taking the wheel with a wonderful roster of acts set to play too.
Taking inspiration from the cult-favourite queer comedy, this leading comedian is no stranger to seeing his work in the limelight as he has written for some of the funniest flagship shows like Mock The Week and The Great American Joke-Off.
Rees also doubles as the co-writer for smash internet hit The Uncle Roger Show, starring fellow comic Nigel Ng, and will definitely be bringing some of his razor-sharp one-liners on the night.
Ben Hodge, the MC for the queer comedy night in Manchester.Morgan Rees, the comedian headlining ‘Queer as F*ck’.Jenny Hart, one of the acts lined up for the queer comedy night in Manchester.Credit: Press Images (supplied)
The event, which has the full title of ‘brew. haha: Queer as F*ck comedy night’ will be MC’d by trans-male stand-up Ben Hodge and lesbian comedian Louise Young.
The latter may be a familiar name as she is currently supporting Alan Carr and Tom Allen on their latest tour while also stopping off in Manchester for this very special occasion.
Along with Rees and co., finishing the line-up are two impressive performers ready to raise the roof at this comedy night in Manchester: gay author Martin Dixon and trans comedian Jenny Hart.
Obviously, Rees doesn’t want to give everything away, but he has revealed an insight into what guests can expect to be chuckling away at in their seats.
Morgan Rees is excited to talk about “bad one night stands, growing up queer in a Welsh working class town, coming out late, and starting my first relationship in my 30s – it’s all in there.”
Taking place at Contact Theatre, this much-loved arts space is tucked away just behind the University of Manchester and another impressive city centre venue, Manchester Academy.
And if all this comedy talk wasn’t enough to get you down there, brew will be serving up Detroit-style pizzas with a range of draft beers and ciders – what a night you’re in for.
‘brew. haha: Queer as F*ck’ is coming to the Contact in Manchester on Wednesday, 9 April and ttickets are already on sale.
Featured Images — Rachel Sherlock/Press Shots (supplied)
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Two Greater Manchester-based Paralympians pick up MBEs following Paris 2024 heroics
Danny Jones
A pair of Paralympians born just down the road and honed two discipline-leading national performance centres here in Manchester have officially been awarded MBEs.
The Northerners doing the country proud – sounds about right.
First off, if the name Poppy Maskill doesn’t ring a bell, the promising Paralympic was Team GB’s best-performing para-athlete at Paris 2024 this past summer, contributing a total of five medals towards the nation’s joint-third-highest tally.
After her heroics at the Games, the teenager who turns 20 this weekend (Saturday, 29 March) was the recipient of an early and very prestigious birthday present, becoming one of the youngest individuals to be made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in history.
She was named on the New Year’s Honours list back in December but finally collected her latest medal in person this week following a ceremony at Windsor Castle, being honoured by King Charles III personally.
Hailing from Middlewich just less than an hour away from our city centre, Maskill might be a Cheshire girl by birth, but this young sporting gem is being polished right here at the state-of-the-art Manchester Aquatics Centre (MAC).
The youngster became the first Paralympian to pick up gold back in August after not only winning the 100m butterfly but smashing the world record in the process, too.
Competing in the S14 class – a category for athletes with intellectual impairments – she finished the heat with in just 1:03, surpassing the previous best by more than half a minute. But her impressive performance didn’t stop there.
MAC regular Maskill went on to win two more golds in the S14 100m backstroke and 4 x100m S14 freestyle relay, as well as a pair of silver medals in the 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley S14. Just incredible.
Poppy Maskill wasn’t the only Greater Manchester-based para-athlete who was recognised this month, though, as Stockport‘s very own two-time Paralympic champion Sophie Unwin was also presented with the accolade for her services to sport.
Named a member of the Order along with her co-pilot Jenny Holl, Unwin’s Paris 2024 medal haul included a double of golds in the women’s B 3000m individual pursuit and the road race tandem B, not to mention a silver in the road time trial and a bronze in the 1000m time trial at Paris 2024.
Following in the footsteps of fellow MBE and Stopfordian cycling legend, Dame Sarah Storey, who won her 19th gold medal to become Britain’s greatest Paralympian of all time – having made the most of MAC and the National Cycling Centre over in East Manchester during her career – the borough did us proud.
30-year-old Unwin has kicked on just as strong in the new year as well, notching a narrow victory to set an unofficial (unfortunately) world record of 4:36.737 in the women’s tandem at the 2025 Lloyds National Track Championships here in Manchester.
Georgina Pellant -
26th July 2023 
