THING OF THE WEEK

CHEWNS… The latest restaurant coming to the Trafford Centre is sure to be a Marmite affair. Broadway Diner will be some people’s idea of heaven, whereas others would find a dip in a volcano more enjoyable. The concept is thus: you go to the restaurant, order your food and wait in gleeful anticipation/nameless dread for the waiters to serenade you with classics from musicals such as Lion King, Rent, and Cats. It may not surprise you to learn that Broadway Diner comes from the team responsible for Karen’s Diner, a restaurant where the staff are paid to verbally abuse you. 

Is Manchester’s steak market overcooked? Credit: Madie Hamilton via Unsplash

WELL DONE… Is there such a thing as too much steak? Already home to the likes of Hawksmoor and Gaucho, there is something of a rush from the capital to capitalise on Mancunians’ love of beef. Earlier this year, Flat Iron announced it was opening a site on Deansgate and now Blacklock, another London-based meat emporium, is making its way to Manchester. Whether you’re a fan of steak or not, we should be saying well done to the establishments making the leap from London to the regions and, in the process, making steak less rare in Manchester.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport topped the Which? league table. Credit: via LJLA

AIRPORT RANKINGS… A Which? survey has named Liverpool John Lennon Airport as the best in the UK for 2023. The consumer group spoke to nearly 4,000 passengers who ranked the nations’ airports on a variety of factors from the severity of the queues to the availability of seats. LJL came out on top with a whopping overall satisfaction rating of 82%. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Manchester Airport received a damning assessment from users. None of its three terminals scored more than 50% on the satisfaction scale, with Terminal 3 scoring just 38%. Ouch. In response, the airport said the survey paints “a deeply flawed and misleading picture of the service [the airport provides].”

The stage takes in each of Greater Manchester’s 10 boroughs. Credit: via Oldham Council

ON YOUR MARKS… On Sunday, the annual Tour of Britain cycling race will begin in Altrincham and make its way through each of Greater Manchester’s 10 boroughs. Competitors will head east from Alty towards Stockport – taking in Wilmslow and High Lane – before turning north up through Marple and into Tameside. When the peloton reaches the village of Uppermill in Oldham, it will turn west towards the first of the stage’s two climbs, the category two Grains Bar, and Rochdale town centre. An ascent of the category one Ramsbottom Rake comes next and from there, the cyclists will make their way towards Manchester city centre – taking in the sites of Bolton and Wigan along the way – where the race will reach its conclusion on Deansgate, assuming the riders can avoid the clutter of bollards that litter the road. 

Credit: via planning documents

SKATE PARK… Pepper Street Car Park in Chester is on the b-rink of transformation, with an application for its rooftop to be turned into a hospitality and leisure venue set to be approved by Cheshire East and Chester Council next week. Grosvenor Eaton Estate’s plans form the next chapter for the multi-storey car park, which could welcome an ice rink and silent cinema to its top deck. Proposals for gym classes and craft fairs also feature and would stay for five years.

City centre parking may take a hit with a planned loss of 73 bays and, with that, a number of people think that the car park’s redevelopment is wrong on so many levels. A petition set up campaigning for the scheme to be blocked received 209 signatures, with concerns raised about the impact of noise and disturbance on local residents. A silent cinema can’t be that harmful, right?