A popular independent brewery bar in Bolton has announced it is to stop accepting bookings due to an unprecedented number of no-shows.
Like numerous other hospitality venues across Greater Manchester that have reopened for outdoor service now that ‘Step Two’ in the government’s “irreversible” roadmap for lifting England’s current national lockdown has commenced, Blackedge Brewery Bar in the Horwich area of Bolton has been let down by several customers who have booked a table at its beer garden and then failed to turn up.
The issue of no-shows has sadly blighted the region’s hospitality businesses throughout the last year of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
So much so that the hospitality sector was forced to launch the #NoMoreNoShows campaign last summer following the revelation that so many customers abandoning pre-booked tables was costing the sector £16 billion a year.
Taking to Twitter to confirm that no further bookings will be taken, The Brewery Bar – part of Blackedge Brewing Co – said: “With immediate effect we are no longer accepting bookings [but] all existing bookings will be honoured.
“We will now operate on a normal walk in first come first served basis.
“This is due to the sheer number of calls and emails that we don’t have capacity to deal with, and booking no shows”.
Blackedge Brewing Co then added: “Shame on you people that book tables at any venue and then fail to show up for your booking without giving any notice.
“Small independent businesses have had a rough year and are reliant on bums on seats.
“If you book a venue and cant make it, let them know”.
Managing Director Wayne Roper, 45 – who founded Blackedge Brewery 12 years ago – has since said that he does not wish to expand upon his initial Twitter statement and decision to suspend bookings at the venue due to receiving “backlash” from locals.
The #NoMoreNoShows campaign encourages all customers to contact venues if they cannot make their reservation and rebook for a different time, and one of the early backers of the campaign – Abi Dunn at Manchester-based hospitality recruitment company, Sixty Eight People – has continued to emphasise to customers that “it’s ok to cancel”.
“In no other area of business is it acceptable to renege on a contract in this way,” she stated.
“We have to change the way people behave and the notion that no shows are acceptable.
“Greater Manchester is a metropolis of bars, dining, coffee hang outs, gastronomic delights and nights to remember.
“Please help them all stay open”.
Featured Image – Blackedge Brewing Company Ltd
Food & Drink
Lively Irish pub Nancy Spains set to open in Manchester for the first time
Daisy Jackson
An Irish bar famed for its live music is heading up to Manchester for the first time, and is promising £2.50 pints to lure us in.
Nancy Spains will be venturing out of London for the first time promising to bring the ‘ultimate traditional Irish pub experience’ to the Northern Quarter.
If you were to ask what the hottest trend in hospitality is right now the answer would, apparently, be Guinness. We’re drowning in the stuff.
This latest opening is more about Murphy’s, another Irish stout, than Guinness (they actually won’t serve Guinness at all) but the craic will be much the same.
Nancy Spains is actually set to open almost directly opposite the aforementioned Salmon of Knowledge, taking over the former Corner Boy unit on Stevenson Square in the heart of Manchester.
To celebrate its opening, the pub will be serving its first 5000 pints of Murphy’s for just £2.50, so that it can show off the atmosphere that’s established it as ‘one of London’s favourite pubs’.
They’re promising an array of Irish whiskeys behind the bar, live music performances, and a lively late-night setting.
Nancy Spains was set up by three brothers who travelled all over their home county of rural Kerry researching Irish pubs, before launching two venues down in London.
They want it to balance a traditional pub with the vibrancy of the city.
Peter O’Halloran, co-founder of Nancy Spains commented, “We’re so excited to be launching in Manchester, bringing Nancy Spains to the heart of the Northern Quarter.
“After the success of our two venues in London, it was only right to bring Nancy Spains’ infectious spirit and Irish pride to Manchester. Slainte!”
Nancy Spains will open its first Manchester pub on Saturday 15 March at 21 Hilton Street.
Lucky Mama’s – The Italian restaurant serving pasta in a dough bowl and ‘pregnant’ pizzas
Daisy Jackson
Lucky Mama’s is a local sensation, thanks to its slightly whacky but delicious Italian creations like pasta served in a bowl made of pizza dough and its latest offering, a ‘pregnant’ pizza.
What on Earth is a pregnant pizza, you ask? Firstly we should stress this is a nickname we’ve bestowed upon the dish, rather than Lucky Mama’s chosen branding.
But essentially it’s a helping of fresh pasta that’s folded into the bubble crust of the pizza, like a half-calzone.
Lucky Mama’s started life when founders Mamadou Dhiam and Gaby Santos set up a trailer in their backyard in Eccles in the depths of lockdown.
But thanks to a formidably loyal following that’s spread the word of Lucky Mama’s far and wide, it now has two pretty pink restaurants in Greater Manchester.
Back in 2022, they threw open the doors to their Chorlton restaurant, before returning back to home turf for spot number two in Monton in 2024.
The recipes are fresh and pretty authentically Italian up until the last step, when they throw a curveball by loading their pasta into unconventional vessels.
‘Pregnant’ pizzas at Lucky Mama’sTraditional Roman pizzasLucky Mama’s pink restaurant in Chorlton
Their pasta pizza bowls are what they’re best known for and they fly out of the kitchen – this is where pizza dough is placed around a metal bowl before being baked in an oven.
Then it’s piled high with freshly made pasta, with popular flavours like cacio e pepe, mushroom alfredo, and rasta pasta.
Pasta is available in a regular ceramic bowl too.
You’ll find Lucky Mama’s at 565 Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton; and 217 Monton Road in Eccles.
Emily Sergeant -
28th April 2021 
