A popular Manchester city centre gaming bar has suffered a devastating burglary just six months after opening its doors in the city, leaving its owners financially and emotionally bereft.
Thieves broke into Pixel Bar in the Northern Quarter in the early hours of the weekend, getting away with nine high-spec gaming PCs worth an estimated £25,000.
The burglary occurred on Friday morning around 5am, just half an hour after Pixel Bar’s staff had left the premises.
Footage shared by the bar’s co-owner Craig Ryan with The Manc shows three masked men helping themselves to the high-tech gaming computer equipment, which is kept on the basement level of the bar.
The men’s faces are only partially covered and may be recognisable to some.
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Pixel Bar is now working with the police and is appealing for anyone who has any information to come forward.
Posting the heartbreaking news to social media, co-owner Craig Ryan wrote on LinkedIn: “This weekend our Manchester bar was burgled. The thieves got away with 9 of our PCs from our PC Gaming Arena.
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“We’re devastated, financially and emotionally this has really hit us and I don’t know what to say.
“We’re working with the police. If anybody has any information please contact us or the police.
“Needless to say, until we find a way to replace the hardware there will be no PC gaming or tournaments happening at the bar. We’ve no idea how long this will take. Personally this hurts so much. We’d just hosted a great university esports event and had a lot of events lined up.
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“The rest of the bar is open as normal thankfully.
“We’ll be dramatically increasing the level of security throughout our venues so that this doesn’t happen again.
“Please understand that we’ll not be answering any questions about the event at this time.”
The gaming bar, originally launched in Leeds, moved across the Pennines to Manchester in November last year and quickly became a popular haunt amongst gaming enthusiasts.
It also caught the eye of Manchester’s cocktail lovers with its quirky gaming-themed menu, which features choices like ‘Jigglypuff’, ‘Princess Perch’ and the ‘Yoshi’s Island Iced Tea’, plus a selection of ‘magic potion’ shots – promising do deliver ‘full health’ and ‘stamina’ to the drinker.
Co-owner Craig told The Manc that, following the burglary, the downstairs part of the bar is currently off-limits, but he added that the upstairs section with its bar, arcade games and consoles remains open and that anyone wanting to come down, buy a cocktail and support them is very welcome.
He said: “[Downstairs is] off-limits for now, we’re working with our sponsor to try and replace the PCs at cost, hopefully, but until we’ve got all the security in place and fire compliance with the new security measures we can’t open up, even if we had the hardware, so it could be a while yet.”
He added that they are still waiting to find out whether the custom-built gaming computers can now be bought back on insurance, as they were gifted as part of a sponsorship deal with bespoke computer company PC Specialist when Pixel Bar opened.
Pixel Bar is now appealing for anyone who has any information to come forward to them or to Greater Manchester Police.
Feature image – Supplied
News
Full list of road closures set to be in place for Manchester Day 2024
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Day is back for 2024 this weekend, and the full list of road closures set to be in place has been confirmed.
Now that schools are officially out across Greater Manchester, and the summer holidays are well and truly here, the hugely-popular Manchester Day is making a return once again this Saturday 27 July, and as always, it’s set to be “the day summer officially starts” in the city centre – with a massive celebration of “all things Mancunian” on the cards.
The theme of this year’s annual event is ‘Let The Games Begin’, and it’s inspired by the international summer of sport, just 2024 Olympics kicks off over in Paris.
The day will be packed full of free events and activities to get involved with.
Some city centre roads will be closed on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 July for Manchester Day.
These will include:
🛣️Deansgate 🛣️St Ann Street 🛣️St Mary’s Gate 🛣️Market Street 🛣️King Street
— Manchester City Council (@ManCityCouncil) July 21, 2024
But of course, in order for the all the fun to go ahead as safely as possible, and as tends to be the case for events like these, Manchester City Council says it will need to make some temporary road closures to facilitate it.
The full list of road closures has now been confirmed by the Council, and there’s some major city centre thoroughfares set to be out of action.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Manchester Day 2024 – Road Closures
Saturday 27 July
From 6am to 11:59pm, Manchester City Council has confirmed that the following roads will be closed:
Deansgate (Manchester Cathedral to John Dalton Street) – access will be maintained to Marks and Spencer’s car park and Number One Deansgate.
St Ann Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
St Mary’s Street (Southbridge Street to Deansgate)
Market Street (Exchange Street to Cross Street)
Fennel Street (Corporation Street to Cathedral Street) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cathedral Street (Fennel Street to Exchange Square) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cateaton Street (Exchange Square to Deansgate)
Barton Square (St Ann’s Square to St Ann Street)
King Street (Cross Street to Deansgate) – no access for deliveries.
All accessible bays, bus lanes, and taxi ranks within the closed areas will also be suspended during from 6pm on Friday 26 July to 11:59pm on Saturday 27 July.
The parking suspensions set to be in place are:
Deansgate (Manchester Cathedral to John Dalton Street)
St Ann Street – including the bays outside St Ann’s Church (Deansgate to Cross Street)
St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
St Mary’s Street (Southbridge Street to Deansgate)
Southgate (St Mary’s Street to King Street West)
Market Street (Exchange Street to Cross Street)
Fennel Street (Corporation Street to Cathedral Street) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cathedral Street (Fennel Street to Exchange Square) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cateaton Street (Exchange Square to Deansgate)
Victoria Street (Cathedral Approach to Deansgate)
Todd Street (Corporation Street to Station Approach)
King Street (Spring Gardens to Southgate)
South King Street (Ridgefield to Deansgate)
Barton Square (St Ann’s Square to St Ann Street)
King Street West (Deansgate to St Mary’s Parsonage)
St James’s Square (John Dalton Street to South King Street)
Cross Street (King Street to Corporation Street)
Museum Street (Peter Street to Windmill Street)
Marsden Street (Cheapside to Brown Street)
Manchester Day 2024: Let The Games Begin! will take over the city centre on Saturday 27 July from 12pm-6pm.
Check out everything you need to know ahead of the event here.
‘Complex’ Metrolink repairs to the Rochdale via Oldham line could take weeks to complete
Emily Sergeant
Work currently underway on the Rochdale via Oldham line is expected to take several weeks to complete.
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has confirmed that land movement affecting the Metrolink network near Derker has now “slowed”, and this means that detailed ground investigations and temporary repair works have been able to get underway.
In order for trams to run again on the crucial line from the city centre to the two major Greater Manchester towns, TfGM says that a small section of track has to be moved back – also known as ‘slewed’ – into its original position.
The overhead line poles also need to be repaired too, the transport operator revealed.
Rochdale line update
Land movement affecting the Metrolink network near Derker has slowed, enabling detailed ground investigations and temporary repair works to get underway.
To get trams running again, a small section of track has to be moved back into its original position… pic.twitter.com/byERjitdi1
Unfortunately though, due to the “complex” nature of these works, and despite the fact that TfGM says it’s actively looking to “accelerate” the repairs, the project is expected to take up to five weeks to complete in full.
On top of this, the detailed ground investigations will also establish whether any further work to strengthen foundations beneath the track will be needed at a later date.
TfGM has apologised for the inconvenience caused to passengers.
‘Complex’ Metrolink repairs to the Rochdale via Oldham line could take weeks to complete / Credit: TfGM
Speaking on the scale of works currently underway, and how long he expects them to continue for, Pete Sommers, who is TfGM’s Network Director for Metrolink, said: “I’m sorry for the impact this is having, and will continue to have, on people’s journeys.
“We are working to get trams running through the area again, but this remains a complex and challenging issue and it could still be a few weeks before this happens.
“We will of course keep passengers updated, and I’d encourage people to check our social media channels and website for the latest information and advice.”