Out with a Bang

So it’s B for Bad News now, not bang (I’m sorry - as puns go, that was pretty lame). Manchester landmark, symbol of the city, multi million pound sculpture B of the Bang, built to mark the 2002 Commonwealth Games, that leans at an angle greater than that of the leaning tower of Pisa, consists of 180 hollow tapered steel columns, weighs 165 tonnes...you all know where Wikipedia is so I’ll shut up with all the facts...the point is The B of the Bang is going to be leaving us. Part of the problem – OK, the whole problem – is that it started falling apart and when you’ve got large, heavy steel spears falling from the sky on unsuspecting City fans’ heads, it’s time to have a bit of a rethink.

In its current state, it already has something of a reduced impact compared to its former, fully spiked self, as a number of the steel poles have been removed, or shortened, to prevent accidents. Much discussion has taken place as to its relative value for the city and, ultimately, the council have said ‘someone can rebuild it safely if they want to, but we ain’t paying for it’, which is fair enough, especially considering the people who made it should have, you would think, built it so it didn’t endanger the lives of the public.

I quite like it for what it is; I quite like the idea behind it and the visual impact of it but I do find myself thinking, how hard can it be? I mean, we’ve managed to put people on the moon, build huge aircraft that can carry hundreds of people around the world in a matter of hours; we can build buildings that reach kilometres into the sky, seemingly defying gravity and common sense...but Manchester can’t manage to properly fix a spiky bit of metal to the ground without it falling apart. I think maybe we should stop publicly drawing attention to this fact.

Manchester's Restaurant Crisis

Manchester’s restaurants have been in the news quite a lot of late. The big stories of the last couple of weeks are: ‘Manchester loses Michelin star’ and ‘Swanky restaurants close’.

The news that Altrincham’s Juniper, carrier of the city's solitary star from culinary scrutinisers Michelin, has now lost its highly sought after award caused much scratching of heads and expressions of bewilderment from the city’s foodies. It was the only shining beacon of hope in an otherwise star-less city; somewhere we could look to in moments of culinary frustration, and now it’s gone. The fact that Birmingham now has three Michelin-approved establishments only caused further dismay and many are asking the question, why doesn’t Manchester have any top class restaurants?

The answer, according to chef, restauranter, and ex-owner of the now defunct Brasserie Blanc, Raymond Blanc, is due to high rents. And the choosing of crap locations. "It is my fault that we chose the wrong location in the city,” he said, “but the council in Manchester really needs to look at the level of the rents that are being charged in the city centre and do something about it.” Here’s a little picture of Raymond for you:

Now, this wouldn’t be a news story if we didn’t mention ‘The Credit Crunch’, now formally known as ‘The Recession’, which does, of course, also have something to do with this. It has apparently claimed another scalp in the shape of the aforementioned Juniper which, whilst still reeling from the loss of its Michelin star, has also now apparently closed down.

Another blow to the higher end eating options in and around Manchester, which brings us back to the point, so eloquently put by Monsieur Blanc himself thus: “I cannot believe that Manchester, the second biggest city in England, can't sustain a quality restaurant. All the great European cities are judged on their cuisine and restaurants as much as any other part of their culture and if you look at Manchester's record of culinary achievements, it is appalling.”

Well, when you’re having a moan why not really go for it, right? This little outburst unsurprisingly caused some ripples in the gastronomic pool of the city. Marcello Di Stefano, owner of local Italian restaurant San Carlo, was one of the first to step up. “It’s a load of rubbish,” he said. “People seem to have this silly idea that getting something like a Michelin star rating is the be all and end all. The real food that people want is simple good cooking, but that will never get the Michelin star. And the people who have tried that level of fine dining in Manchester have never been good enough.”

Perhaps the question we should be asking is not whether Manchester will ever have a Michelin-starred restaurant again but whether we actually want, or indeed need, one.