THING OF THE WEEK
STOPPORT… Travellers pulling into Stockport train station on Monday were left feeling confused by a bizarre bit of PR. All of the signs at the station read Scottport. But why, many wondered. The reasoning behind the sign swap emerged later in the day. It appears the station decided to undertake a temporary rebrand to celebrate radio DJ Scott Mills being given the BBC Radio 2 breakfast gig on a permanent basis. Mills, it turns out, used to live “quite near” to Stockport, according to the man himself.
The stunt will no doubt have stuck firmly in the craw of an actual Stopfordian who has done much more to merit having a train station named for him than Mills, who was born in Hampshire. Mark Stott, owner of Stockport County and Vita Group, has overseen the club’s return to the football league from non-league obscurity. Stockport could just as easily be Stottport.
SCHOOL OF HARD ROX… January is over tomorrow. For some, self-enforced sobriety means the first 31 days of 2025 have dragged. For others, it has flown by in a whirlwind of work and workouts. Hyrox workouts to be specific. Last weekend saw several of the region’s property professionals – CERT’s Paul Shakeshaft and CBRE’s Chris Mann to name just a couple – test out their lungs and mental resolve by taking on the Manchester edition of the functional fitness race and battle for the title of region’s fittest property bod. Well done to all who took part in the event at Manchester Central last weekend, good luck finding your t-shirts, which seem to mysteriously disappear whenever the word Hyrox is mentioned.
EVENTING… Radio 1’s Big Weekend is heading to Liverpool for 2025. Sefton Park will host the two-day event that will be headlined by Geordie artist Sam Fender. However, should we be concerned about the city’s ability to host large scale music extravaganzas? If anyone knows of any recent precedents to draw on, please let us know. In other Liverpool event news, the city will also host the 2025 British Chess Championships. The tournament will take place at St George’s Hall and will run from 31 July to 10 August. Let’s hope the air conditioning has been checked, mate.
PLANNING PAIN… It is a very happy Friday indeed for Louisa McCarthy and her Ashton Hale team, who have managed to secure planning approval for 56 homes and a revamped clubhouse and driving range at North Manchester Golf Club. This may sound like a run of the mill planning approval, but it is anything but for McCarthy who took to LinkedIn to explain why. Plans for the scheme were first lodged with Rochdale Council back in 2021. In the four years since, the scheme has had six different case officers and gone through 49 layout revisions. “It is the perfect example of the failures of the planning system,” McCarthy said, presumably after a long and well-deserved lie down.
PINTS… As Everton’s Bramley Moore Dock stadium prepares to welcome fans from the start of next season, the surrounding area is gearing up too. Applicant James Williams aims to covert 66 Regent Road into a St Domingo’s bar, which will host fans both celebrating and commiserating the Toffee’s performances in the transformed three-storey 19th-century warehouse.
St Domingo’s joins other movers such as the Bramley Moore Pub and The Bluehouse, a huge Bierkeller-style bar, in setting up shop by the newly developed stadium. Landlords will be crossing their fingers that the return of the Moyesiah can secure the club’s Premier League survival do that they don’t have to deal with hosting hoards of thirsty Millwall fans on a wet Tuesday night.
SIGNS… With Manchester’s clean air zone officially consigned to the dustbin this week, attention now turns to the fate of the thousands of signs that were put up across the city region in preparation for it. Around £3m was spent on the signs, which have hung around on grass verges like particularly menacing hitchhikers destined to wait for eternity for a lift. To recoup some of that money, the GMCA should consider flogging them as souvenirs to the few looking for a memento of the whole unsavoury saga.
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