Oasis add MORE dates to huge reunion tour due to 'unprecedented demand' (2024)

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Church Street Markets prepare for final few days of service ahead of closure this weekendDanny Jones

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After more than a year of uncertainty, or rather seemingly preparing for the inevitable, Manchester’s long-standing Church Street Markets are finally set to shut up shop for good this weekend.

A stalwart of the local community as a whole, the Church Street stalls were some of the last remaining vestiges from Manchester’s original market scene and have sat steadily on the edge of the Northern Quarter for over half a century.

Unfortunately, however, with the city centre skyline ever-changing and new developments popping up all the time, the much-loved market stalls are set to make way for a new apartment complex, with an official closure notice being handed down this week.

For the majority of the four remaining traders – Afro Caribbean Asian, McCall’s Greengrocers, McCall’s Organics and Manchester Bookbuyers – this weekend will sadly mark their final weekend in Manchester, at least on this particular corner, anyway.

Although not all of the vendors were willing to talk ahead of the undoubtedly emotional final few days on Church Street, with many simply settling to call it “a shame”, we did speak with one of the longest-standing stall operators, Edward Hopkinson, owner of the much-loved Manchester Bookbuyers stall.

While most of the cult-favourite albeit increasingly quiet traders will be vacating the promises this Saturday, Edward explained how he will be here until at least 14 September and hopefully “another two months” at least until he sells up all of his stock.

Having been here for over 54 years, he told The Manc: “At my age, I don’t have time to buy a long-playing record”, so the chances of finding a new home at least in his case look unlikely.

Explaining that he’d be given little information beyond the building behind the market stalls being pulled down to make way for new flats, he added that Manchester City Council had been unable to find them a new location once vacating Church Street.

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Edward went on to say, simply, “What can you do? These are apartments [pointing], those are apartments, and them – as if we need any more.”

Plans to buy the plot actually began way back in 2018, with planning permission being granted in 2020 and McAleer & Rushe’s investment eventually purchasing the site alongside development firm MRP in January 2022; it’s merely been a torrid waiting game for the vendors ever since.

Writing in a recent post on social media, Caz of McCall’s Organics (who supply many local businesses like Holy Grain, Magpie Bakery and more) said: “This too shall pass. Our site is to be developed and with no suitable premises to go to, we will be closing the shutters for the final time on 14th of September…

“I’m gonna be pretty fairly busy in the lead up so if I don’t get to your messages, just know that I love ya!”

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Read more:

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Church Street Markets was also formerly home to Dust Dogs & Dive food stall, which took the place of the original Northern Soul location in the fifth unit that has been closed for some time now.

The Manchester foodie icons ultimately opened a new venue on nearby Tib Street back in 2019, but that expansion could have never happened without their days as one of the popular street food vendors over on Church Street.

It goes without saying that were gutted to hear of any local business closing, especially when it involves small independents like these, but Church St Markets closing is a huge loss for so many reasons – not least because of what it meant to those who have been patrons for many years and decades, even.

There has been an outpouring of love and support for the stalls following this news online and we strongly urge Mancs to pay these hard-working community assets one final visit. Thank you for everything and we wish you all the best.

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Featured Images — The Manc Group

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Consumer group urges Oasis and Ticketmaster to refund fans hit by ‘in demand’ ticket pricingEmily Sergeant

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Ticketmaster is being warned that its ‘in demand’ pricing system for Oasis tickets could be in breach of consumer law.

Which? is now calling on the Manchester band and the ticket website to refund fans.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Oasis are reforming for a run of shows in the UK and Ireland next year, but the massively long-awaited reunion tour has faced controversy following Ticketmaster’s use of ‘in demand’ pricing – which came into effect when tickets to the gigs went on sale on Saturday 31 August.

Ticketmaster’s ‘in demand’ pricing is where prices surge if demand for tickets is high.

After waiting in a lengthy virtual queue, many Oasis fans had a nasty shock at the checkout when they found tickets were significantly more expensive than they’d expected them to be.

Now, consumer group Which? says it believes Ticketmaster’s lack of transparency around its ‘in demand’ pricing could have breached consumer law, and is calling on the company to “do the right thing” and refund the difference to fans who paid more than the expected face value for tickets.

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Which? says it saw evidence that fans were shown one ticket price when they were queuing for tickets, only to have has that price taken away at the last second and replaced with a far higher – and unexpected – ticket price when the page reloaded.

In one example, the cost of standing tickets – which was originally advertised for £151.25 – had surged to £337.50 each, due to this ‘in demand’ pricing.

This meant that four standing tickets, which is the maximum amount of tickets one person could secure in one order, would have cost an eye-watering £1,400 once the service and order processing fees were included.

TheConsumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations(CPRs) protect consumers from unfair or misleading trading practices, and it’s this that Which? believes Ticketmaster’s lack of transparency around its ‘in demand’ pricing for the Oasis concerts could have breached, as many fans were not informed about the price increase until after they had tried to add cheaper tickets to their baskets.

“Under the CPRs, when advertising a product, traders must not mislead consumers with how prices are presented or leave out key pricing information that might be needed to make an informed decision about a purchase,” Which? said in a statement.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is also investigating whether Ticketmaster’s sale of Oasis tickets may have breached consumer law, and if this is found to be the case, this when would enable fans to seek refunds and compensation from both Ticketmaster, and Oasis themselves.

Oasis previously stated they had “no involvement” in the decision to implement dynamic pricing.

Read more:

• Oasis break silence on dynamic ticket pricing controversy for reunion tour
• Government to review dynamic ticket pricing after ‘depressing’ Oasis drama
• Everything we know about the Oasis LIVE reunion tour in 2025

When Which? contacted Ticketmaster, the company said: “We are committed to cooperating with the CMA and look forward to sharing more facts about the ticket sale with them.”

Featured Image – Simon Emmett