Popular food stall Salt & Pepper will permanently close its stall at Arndale Market next month, the owners have confirmed.
Citing issues with Manchester City Council as the reason behind the closure, the busy lunch spot will depart the popular indoor market on April 2nd – news that has left Asian food lovers absolutely devastated.
Announcing the news on social media, the owners said: “It is with a broken heart that we’re announcing that our Arndale Market Stall will be permanently closing on April 2nd.
“Due to the limited facilities in the Arndale Market, we’re no longer able to keep trading in this space. If you’ve been to the market, you’d know, there isn’t much of an extraction system on our side (to expel smoke & smells) and the Council (who run the market) have said it’s our responsibility to fix this because of the popularity of our stall.
“The Council have said they’re unwilling to renew our lease unless we invest upwards of £100,000 to put in our own extraction system, which additional costs that they couldn’t tell us unless we accepted to pay the £100K. It doesn’t seem fair really, but it’s safe to say that it’s time for us to move on.
“We’ve been absolutely gutted, and we’ve spent the last few months trying to figure out how to keep our amazing staff employed and our business dreams alive. We never thought we’d have to end our time in the Market so abruptly but, we’re hopeful all is not lost, and we’re excited to move on to the next stage of our business.”
It’s currently unclear whether Salt & Pepper will find a new home for its grab-and-go food stall, however, fans of their food can rest in the knowledge that they’ll still be serving delicious food at Black Dog Ballroom, where the team took up a kitchen residency some months ago. From April 6th, they’ll be opening at 12 noon to serve their menu, with Deliveroo available all day long.
The team has also teased that some “exciting news” could be on its way in the near future, with owners suggesting that they could be set to open their very own restaurant. Stay tuned for more on that…