Author: Michael Dawson

Manchester has never been short of restaurants promising an “experience”. Most fade quickly. Fenix Manchester, which opened at St John’s in late 2023, has not. A year on, it remains one of the city’s most talked-about dining rooms praised, criticised, photographed relentlessly, and rarely ignored. On a Friday evening, the picture is familiar. A queue along Goods Yard Street. Groups dressed for the occasion. Phones out before coats come off. This is dining as destination, a restaurant people plan around rather than stumble into. Whether that’s a strength or a weakness depends on what you expect from a night out.…

The Manchester weather today remains firmly in winter mode as Arctic air continues to dominate conditions across Greater Manchester, bringing a bitterly cold start, icy surfaces and the risk of sleet or snow showers during the morning commute. After Sunday night’s snowfall, temperatures dropped below freezing again overnight, leaving many roads and pavements icy at first light. Cloud has thickened compared with recent clearer nights, increasing the chance of wintry precipitation pushing through parts of the region during the morning. Current conditions across Greater Manchester Early readings across Greater Manchester showed temperatures sitting between –1°C and –3°C, with a raw…

By Michael, Senior ReporterMonday, January 5, 2026 🔴 LIVE WEATHER UPDATES Last updated: 08:12 GMT Commuters across Greater Manchester are facing a difficult start to the week as snow, widespread ice and freezing temperatures create hazardous conditions on roads and public transport. The impact of the weather today was felt early, with Greater Manchester Police (GMP) issuing travel warnings before 6am. Residents in boroughs including Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside woke to snow settling on higher ground, while the city centre remained slushy but increasingly icy. Police are urging motorists to travel only if absolutely necessary, warning that conditions on untreated…

In Britain, sausage rolls are rarely just food. They are shorthand for comfort, routine, and trust something bought without much thought, precisely because they are so familiar. That may explain why the sudden rise in searches for peter duffy sausage rolls has caused confusion, curiosity, and no small amount of disbelief. At first glance, the phrase sounds like the name of a promising independent bakery or a regional speciality quietly building a reputation. In reality, the story behind peter duffy sausage rolls is more complicated and has little to do with craft baking at all. What Do People Mean by…

Mancunians woke to a sharp reminder that winter has tightened its grip, with frost clinging to windscreens and temperatures well below freezing across Greater Manchester. The weather forecast for Sunday and the days ahead points to a mix of crisp winter sunshine and the growing risk of snow showers later today, as Arctic air continues to dominate conditions across the region. In the city centre, thermometers dipped to -2°C overnight, while exposed areas felt closer to -5°C in the early hours thanks to a biting wind chill. Those heading out for the school run or early shifts encountered icy pavements…

On a wet Tuesday morning in April 2023, a queue appeared outside a narrow unit on Cross Street that had stood empty for almost two years. The former Chop’d salad bar one of many casualties of remote working and shrinking lunch breaks had quietly reopened as something Manchester hadn’t quite seen before a café selling only hot chocolate. There were no pastries stacked behind glass, no espresso machines hissing for attention. Instead, customers waited patiently to order drinks made from real chocolate flakes, chosen by cocoa percentage and melted to order. Prices started at £5 and rose above £6. For…

In a Tameside town where independent businesses have long battled to survive on the high street, a new restaurant has arrived with something increasingly rare: queues at the door and bookings made weeks in advance. Cafe Continental Stalybridge, which opened on Melbourne Street in 2024, has transformed a former retail unit into a neighbourhood restaurant that now ranks among the most highly rated dining spots in the borough. The timing felt unlikely. Across Greater Manchester, town centres continue to grapple with vacant units and shifting footfall. Yet this unassuming venue, tucked along a pedestrianised stretch near Stalybridge’s historic canal crossing,…

A bright, low-hanging Moon will dominate Manchester’s skyline this weekend as the first full moon of 2026 reaches peak brightness, appearing larger and whiter than many people are used to seeing. The full moon today will be easy to spot from almost anywhere in Greater Manchester, with the best views in the early evening as it rises over rooftops and tower blocks to the east. The Moon reaches its fullest point on Saturday morning, 3 January, but to the naked eye it will look full both tonight and tomorrow night. In Manchester, it climbs above the horizon during late-afternoon twilight,…

If you found yourself scraping ice from the windscreen before sunrise, you were already one step ahead of the forecast. The sharp, biting air across the region has made it clear that Manchester weather has entered a more dangerous phase, and forecasters have now confirmed it with an official yellow warning for snow and ice. The warning, which came into force shortly after midnight, remains active until 12:00pm on Friday, placing the morning commute firmly at risk across Greater Manchester and parts of Cheshire. For many residents, this marks the first real winter challenge of 2026 — and it arrives…

Manchester’s dining scene has changed beyond recognition over the past decade. From Ancoats’ industrial small-plates boom to neighbourhood bistros in Chorlton and Prestwich, the city has embraced informality and experimentation. Yet on King Street West, one restaurant has remained largely unchanged — and continues to draw crowds because of it. San Carlo Manchester still packs out lunch services, business dinners, and weekend tables, even as newer Italian heavyweights enter the city. The question today isn’t whether San Carlo Manchester is popular a glance through its windows answers that but whether it still justifies its reputation in a city that has…