If you love yourself a good chippy tea (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t), you won’t want to miss out on this – because next week there’ll be a van handing out a load of free chippy teas in the centre of Manchester.
On Tuesday 21 September, Green Flag is teaming up with The Frying Squad to give away free portions of fish and chips to 300 lucky people from a food truck on Piccadilly Gardens.
The breakdown cover provider first began life above a fish and chip shop fifty years ago. Now, in homage to their humble salt and vinegar-filled office beginnings, the company is celebrating half a century in the game with the ultimate fish and chip collaboration.
Having begun life above a fish and chip shop in 1973, the company is taking things back to its roots to celebrate its 50th anniversary / Image: The Frying Squad
Taking it back to their roots, in honour of the company’s 50th anniversary Green Flag will be offering people a voucher for a free fish and chip lunch from the Frying Squad, who’ll be parked up nearby from 11 am – 3 pm.
You won’t want to hang about, though, as it’s first come first served and they’re only giving away 300 portions.
The giveaway comes after new research has revealed that fish and chips are the most popular British dish of all time. Of those surveyed, 69 percent voted for the chippy tea, winning out over the full English (60%) and a Sunday roast (57%) significantly.
Green Flag has teamed up with The Frying Squad to hand out free portions of fish and chips in Piccadilly Gardens next week / Image: The Frying Squad
Perhaps unsurprisingly, here in Manchester over two-thirds of people (67%) voted for fish and chips as the most British dish of all time.
The study also found that well over a third (36%) of people living in Manchester thought that eating with fingers is the best way to enjoy a fish and chips meal, compared with the 19% who preferred using a knife and fork.
The fish and chip van will be parked on Piccadilly Gardens from 11 am – 3 pm on Tuesday 21 September / Image: The Frying Squad
Mark Newberry, Commercial Director at Green Flag, commented:“It’s very exciting to be celebrating our 50th birthday.
“Since founding the business above a fish ‘n’ chip shop back in 1971, we’ve always had big ambitions here at Green Flag, using our network of local independent recovery experts to deliver excellent service and great value breakdown cover some five decades on.
“We want everyone to come together and celebrate this milestone and enjoy a fish and chip lunch from The Frying Squad, on us!”
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.
Georgina Pellant -
15th September 2021 
