Graham, Tom and Ian

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A new Caribbean restaurant for Gatley?

by Lib Dem team on 1 October, 2014

Would you like to see a Caribbean restaurant in Gatley?

There was a Caribbean food vendor at Gatley festival – we got chatting and he suggested he might be interested in opening a restaurant in the village. He’d like to know whether residents would support such a venture so I said I’d ask and feed back the comments.

Leon says:
“I will be selling traditional Jamaican food such as ackee and saltfish, curried goat, jerk chicken and jerk pork. All of which will be accompanied with rice and peas, plain rice or ground food (which will need to be ordered).

I also would like to obtain an alcohol license, as I would like to have ‘Cocktail Weekends’ where I will be using authentic Jamaican rums, giving my customers a real taste of the Caribbean.”
He’s not got as far as looking at property yet, so don’t ask where exactly it would be – just looking at the idea right now.”

I posted this on the Gatley Facebook page during the week and had a great response with over 90 comments (overwhelmingly positive). If you’d like to add your comments here, please do and we’ll pass them on.

   23 Comments

23 Responses

  1. John Hartley says:

    If it opened, I’d certainly give it a try.

    Whether I became a regular would depend on the “usual factors” – was the quality worth it, did the menu have sufficient variety to keep me interested, etc. It’s like that with the existing restaurants – I’ve eaten at all four “Indians” but am not a regular at any, as there’s far better quality food in nearby areas.

  2. Robert Taggart says:

    GO ‘BRO’ !
    Have sampled said fayre elsewhere – a pleasant change from the ‘usual’ take-aways.

  3. Phil says:

    Sorry but please not another restaurant. Guess if the Tatton every got developed that would be full of them. Perhaps Gatley should go more down the lines of Didsbury or Chorlton – a vibrant mix of a variety of shops with some pavement cafes.
    Gatley is basically a ‘ghost town’ during the day and full of cars waiting for their take aways at night.

  4. John Hartley says:

    Phil makes a good point about Didsbury & Chorlton. We shopped at the latter only yesterday. There’s the Unicorn Grocery Co-operative, Frost’s Butchers, the Barbakan bakery and Out of The Blue fishmongers. And lots of options for restaurants and bars – yesterday’s lunch was at the Chapati Cafe – dead cheap south asian food along the lines of the city centre’s “curry cafes”. A really pleasant couple of hours mooching about.

  5. Carolyn Minkes says:

    I think it would be something different but I don’t know how often I would go as I am not a big meat eater. I do use the local food shops and coffee shops quite a bit.

  6. Ian says:

    Would not disagree with any of the remarks above but welcome independant traders and cafes etc into the area that has to include Butchers,grocers etc but Please no more takeaways.

  7. Alan Gent says:

    Well it would make a pleasant change from yet another Indian, more choice is always good.

  8. John Ellis says:

    If the food is good, why not?

  9. ARTHUR lampkin says:

    Sorry but not another eatery we are just turning into another Northerden where every shop is a place to eat in or take away and not many places to shop for things we need.

  10. Bruce thwaite says:

    In a word no – we have too many restaurants takeaways and cafes

  11. Les Leckie says:

    Recently opened Mo Bay Cafe on Turves Rd will afford you a taste of what you might expect. Excellent.

  12. Phil Johnson says:

    Bring it on!
    Shops don’t open in Gatley because residents don’t use them. Polly’s Bazaar being the latest casualty.
    Get real, village days are over.

    • Iain Roberts says:

      I disagree Phil – shops come and go but Gatley has very few empty units and shops have been opening: greengrocers, pet shop, the shops of Buxton Street, Black Rose Vintage and Gatley Convenience Store, for example.

  13. Carol says:

    Yes proper choice of restaurants with different cuisines is great – nights out in our own village no taxis. Only so many times we can go to piccollos. If could capture a food/bar feel would be great.

  14. Lesley says:

    Enough is enough no more food shops!! let’s have some proper shops. Years ago when all these restaurants / takeaways starts I asked one of the councillors ” was someone getting their palms greased to allow all this” now I ask the same?? As for Pollys Bazaar perhaps no one went because there was no stock on the shelves! just look at A&I, perfect.

    • Mark McIntyre says:

      The closure of Pollys Bazaar has mefears been long coming – as you note – the shelves have become somewhat bare over recent years.
      Wishing PC well in his efforts to sell.
      As for A&I – indeed – they do have a well stocked shop, but, you sure do ‘pay’ for it !

  15. David Johnson says:

    My vote to add to ‘no more takeaways please. One other thought is that the reduction in walking attendance in the Village is partly due to the overwhelming preference given to wheels.

  16. Robert Cohen says:

    ‘proper shops’? when we cant move for co-ops, Tesco, Sainsbury et al, motorists treated like pariahs and the high cost of opening up a business and running one, high local and personal taxation how on earth are we going attract entrepreneurs who will take a chance? where’s the incentive? unfortunately, take-aways’ make a good living hence there numbers. and without them, who would there be to litter our streets………

  17. Robert Cohen says:

    I apologise for any spelling errors in my previous comment!

  18. Les Leckie says:

    A definition of ‘proper shops’ is required here. As far as I can make out from the comments we need shops that don’t require a demand for their services. Experience shows that those shops don’t succeed as those who claim to want them don’t put their money where their mouths are.

  19. Stuart Thompson says:

    I like the idea of a Caribbean restaurant in Gatley. My first experience of this type of food was a restaurant on Wilmslow Road Rusholme, near the corner of Moss Lane East. The food was good, and I was fortunate to be accompanied by fellow diners from the Caribbean and Ghana so I was well tutored. My most recent experience of this cuisine was at the recent Gatley festival. I would certainly make the effort to walk from Cheadle if Leon were to open up in Gatley. Good luck to him.

  20. gb says:

    No, not another restaurant/take-away please!

  21. keith bradbury says:

    No more restaurants or fast food shops

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