Olive Tree Brasserie, Fantastic Greek Cuisine on the Fylde Coast




The Olive Tree Brasserie, Lytham St.Annes

Looking for somewhere good to eat on a Saturday evening during a recent family weekend break to the Fylde coast we decided to try the modern and stylish looking Olive Tree Brasserie in St. Annes. 

As we'd arrived around 6 o'clock (planning to drive through the illuminations later on) we took advantage of the Early Diner menu, a choice of four starters, four main courses and two desserts.  For starters two of us had the Gigandes Plaki, giant butter beans in a tomato and herb sauce, while the third member of our party opted for the Keftedes, home-made meatballs in tomato and basil sauce.  We all selected the same main course Kota Souvlaki, marinated, skewered chicken breast with peppers, rice and tzatziki dip.  Dessert was a more simple choice between ice cream or Greek yogurt with honey.

My previous experience of Greek restaurants has been rather hit and miss, but I can happily say that the Olive Tree was a big hit with our party.  The food was delicious, the service excellent and the atmosphere vibrant.  As can be expected with many early-bird menus the portions were slightly smaller than those on the main menu, however the price of £9.95 for two courses or £11.95 for three course was very good value for money. 

If the idea of the Early Diner menu is to tempt customers back then it certainly worked as we went back for the fantasic Sunday buffet the next day.  The Olive Tree Brasserie certainly tops my list of Greek restaurants in the North West and is well worth a visit, however I'd recommend booking as the restaurant was full an hour after we arrived.

Party Conferences 2010 in the North West

With a change of government, a surprising coalition and uncertain economical times, this year’s conference season is poised to be the most interesting in recent times. The North West will be right at the heart of matters with three of the big four conferences being hosted in the region.

The 142nd Trades Union Congress will take place from the 13th – 16th September at the Manchester Central Convention Complex and following the governments drastic recently announced saving measures meaning the likelihood of public sector job losses, the TUC have some very serious matters to debate.

The Liberal Democrat party conference at the BT Convention Centre in Liverpool between the 18th and 22nd September should have a positive mood with the party enjoying its highest political profile in decades and a share of power in the coalition government. But party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg still has his work cut out to convince many members of the direction his party is taking.

Having been ousted from power, the Labour party conference, running from 26th to 30th September also at Manchester Central, will be the first as an opposition party in thirteen years. To add extra excitement the results of the party's leadership election are to be announced the day before the conference starts. Regardless of the debates and addresses to take place, the North West can be rightly proud of the world class facilities that have enabled it to become the conference capital of the UK.

Bear Hugs for Haiti

Lancashire based business woman Debra Brown is co-ordinating the British arm of an unusual charity to help children who have suffered from the devastating earthquake in Haiti earlier this year. British based organisation Children of the World has teamed up with American charity Children of the Earth to support Bear Hugs for Haiti. Bear Hugs for Haiti aims to send hundreds of teddy bears to help to emotionally support children who have been orphaned by the disaster. Children of the Earth was praised by the United Nations in 2005 after it sent 1200 bears to orphans in Uganda, Rwanda and South East Asia.

Debra who runs a life coaching consultancy in Burnley was approached through her involvement in other charity work to assist the appeal by the patron of Children of the World, HRH Prince Frederick von Saxe-Lauenberg. Prince Frederick, whose organisation is based in Hale, Greater Manchester, commented “Much financial assistance has been given to support the unfortunate people of Haiti in rebuilding their lives. Bear Hugs aims to help orphaned children to emotionally rebuild their lives after the earth quake”.

Debra, herself a mother of two says “It’s a great opportunity for young people in the UK to connect with those less fortunate and let them know we care. Hugging a teddy bear can bring some comfort to children with no parents to hug”. A family fun day in Towneley Park Burnley is being organised by Debra to promote awareness of the appeal.

To find out more about Bear Hugs for Haiti visit http://www.globalhugs.com/bear-hugs-for-haiti

Secret Garden at Islington Wharf

Islington Wharf Apartments

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of listening to Sir Howard Bernstein, Chief Executive of Manchester City Council, explain his vision for the future of Manchester. In particular Sir Howard talked about plans to expand and regenerate the city centre. One area he targeted was Ancoats, historically a tough mill area on the eastern edge of the city centre, but under Sir Howard’s leadership this is changing. The Islington Wharf development by Isis is the new landmark on Great Ancoats Street and less than ten minutes walk from city centre.

The apartments feature quirky angular shaped rooms that won’t be to everyone’s taste and will require some creative thinking when furnishing, however they are light and airy with great views on the higher floors. Kitchens come complete with fridge, freezer and dishwasher; washer/dryers are also included but located in various utility/store cupboards. The 3, 4 and 5 bed apartments I viewed came with an impressive array of balconies, terraces or private gardens, that’s right gardens, with grass! On top of the second floor is a large communal area nicknamed 'Secret Garden' complete with garden furniture, barbeque area and a spectacular view of the City of Manchester stadium. Several duplex apartments have their own private fenced off garden.

Secret Garden

Externally the brown cladding creates mixed opinion but the copper alloy it’s made from reduces heat loss from the building. Isis is part owned by British Waterways who also own the land Islington Wharf is built on; as such the Ashton Canal running alongside the development has been renovated and landscaped to provide a more pleasant setting. Isis is apparently in talks with a leisure provider to open a fitness suite in one of the commercial outlets on the ground floor of the development. Parking is also available on the ground floor at an extra cost and like the rest of the development includes a high level of security.

If Sir Howard’s plans for the city continue to be realised, Ancoats could well be the next fashionable part of the city to live, and at under £290,000 for a 4 bedroom apartment, Islington Wharf presents a very tempting opportunity.

RHS Tatton Show

Tomorrow sees the start of the five day long RHS Show at Tatton Park near Knutsford. Tatton is renowned as the biggest and best horticultural show in the North, with the country’s brightest gardener designers showing of their talents. Amongst the planned show gardens this year are Tony Heyward’s abstract jewelled landscape inspired by the British coastline and Tony Smith’s intriguingly titled Aliens & Lettuce. Gardens designed by Huggo Bugg, Will Quarmby and Olivia Stewart will determine the first RHS Young Designer of the Year award.


Aside from the show gardens Tatton will host the prestigious Eurofleurs competition, where twelve of Europe’s best young florists will compete for the award, good luck to Britain’s competitor Joe Massie. Long with more than 200 exhibitors to keep shoppers happy, Fortnum and Mason will be on hand at the show to provide high class refreshments. If you can’t make it to the show BBC 2 will be covering the highlights from Tatton on Thursday at 7.30pm and Friday at 8pm.

Morris face big challenge at Edgewater Park

House-builder Morris faces a big challenge if their Edgewater Park development is to live up to expectations. Morris are certainly ambitious claiming to be building ‘A community that is designed to capture the same friendly, intimate 'village' atmosphere of its more well-established, and equally desirable neighbours: Stockton Heath, Grappenhall and Thelwall’. The problem however is that Edgewater Park is on the opposite bank of the Manchester Ship Canal in the far less desirable village of Latchford.

Including shops, cafe bar, parkland and a bowling green in the plans among the mix of apartments, family and executive homes is a positive start. Of the three show homes the flagship Winchester is an impressive 4 bed detached executive house with some thoughtful touches to its layout, the Sutton is only slightly smaller and has a good family feel to it. Sadly the 3 bed Ely feels cramped, the lounge being more of a corridor from the front door to the kitchen. Disappointingly a washer dryer and dishwasher only come as optional extras in the properties.

Once completed the development will be big enough to change the nature of Latchford and have the potential to raise the profile of the area. To achieve this Morris need to attract quality buyers which they will only do by meeting expectations and while the properties are priced around 20% cheaper than across the water, failure to include the expected white goods isn’t the luxury executives expect. A little more thought by the marketing department at Morris is needed if Edgewater Park is to meet the challenge.

Beech Road Festival

The annual Beech Road Festival in Chorlton has grown over the last thirteen years into one of Manchester's most vibrant events and this years celebrations drew the crowds again to the fashionable suburb. 

The festival to its benefit isn't as grand in size as the city centre's Manchester Day or Pride events, instead it has a more welcoming, relaxed and bohemian feel.  The chic and colourful boutiques, trendy bars and restaurants opened their doors and spilled out onto the street to celebrate their own community and welcome their visitors.  Outside Bar Lorenzo a funky Latino band entertained the the crowds while the tasty delights of stalls selling ice cream, English, Indian, Chinese and Thai cuisine ensured nobody went hungry

Chorlton Green filled with stalls selling local products, promoting local artists, charities and community groups while the larger Beech Road Park was packed with local musicians, an eclectic mix of stalls, funfair and the main stage.  As the street festival wound down the bands on the main stage rocked the festival into the night.

End of the NWDA

From the outset the Con-Lib coalition made it clear that abolishing quangos and the £500 million of public money they used up would be a key part of reducing government debt.  No doubt there are some strange and pointless quangos; The Potato Council, GTC and Milk Development Council, but not all are a waste of money.  In particular George Osbourne's decision to scrap the Regional Development Agencies seems very short sighted.

Today in the Downtown Manchester blog http://tiny.cc/cto7k Frank McKenna expressed his beliefs that the abolition of the RDAs is the coalitions first big mistake.  True there were considerable differences in the success levels of the various authorities yet as their purpose was to promote investment, surely more consideration should have been given to their future.  It seems the baby has been thrown out with the bath water.

The North West Development Agency was particularly successful in developing a region that is becoming a genuine alternative to London and helping to forge a path where local and county councils individually had failed.  This is not a criticism of the councils, they have their own interests to consider, however it is easy to see how the new Local Enterprise Partnerships will be as insular.

Could a North West wide networking group for LEPs be a way to form a working partnership?  In business the concept and success of 'givers-gain' is well known and personal interaction makes such co-operation far more likely.  Hopefully the LEPs will seek advice from wise heads such as Frank, Sir Howard Bernstein and Steve Broomhead and continue to create a bright future for our region.

Giants in Chester

The sun shone, crowds packed the city centre and giants came out to play at the annual Midsummer Watch parade.  Saturday and Sunday saw Chestival hit full swing with a spectacular street carnival celebrating Chester's history as the giant making capital of England.  During medieval times every town had a giant that would be paraded at the midsummer solstice, many towns would have their centre piece made in Chester which was renowned for making the best giants.

At the weekend more than fifty of these creations were paraded from the Cathedral doors around the city and back to the city hall accompanied by drummers, marching musicians and town criers.  Giants included the green man, a king and his knight and an enormous Robert Baden-Powell.

The day started with crowds being entertained by Buckley Brass Band in the town hall square while enjoying delicious food from Hickory's Smokehouse outdoor stall.  Following the parade, hundreds of festival goers gathered at the Roman Amphitheatre for the final performance of this years musical Mystery Play 'Noahs Flood'.  Chestival continues throughout June and July with music, art, theatre and sporting events across the city, for further details visit the event website http://www.chesterfestivals.co.uk/

Candy Cabs in Lymm

Crowds gathered in the sunshine as the cameras started rolling on new BBC comedy series Candy Cabs. Bridgewater Street in the village was closed and transformed into a film set with numerous business premises being re-decorated for the programme, most notably the old post office painted bright pink to match the taxis in the title and the youth club becoming Hotwheels Garage. Locals got a sneak preview of the programme as they were allowed to watch several scenes being filmed on the street itself.

Among the cast spotted in the village were former Eastenders stars Paul Nicholas and Jo Joyner with Claire Sweeney of musical Chicago and T.Vs 60 Minute Makeover. On spotting actor Dennis Lawson, one excited local businessman exclaimed “I’ve just seen Wedge from Star Wars!” The series written by Jane Lush and Johanne McAndrew and produced by Splash Media is a comedy drama about two unlikely northern women who embark on a business venture and start up a taxi firm. Billed as “Britain’s most glamorous taxi fleet”, several of the onlookers in Lymm pointed out the similarity between the fictitious company from the series and Pink Ladies taxis, although no one at the set to comment on whether the programme is based on the Warrington firm.

Buying a Piece of History

How many house hunters have you seen on property programmes saying they want a house with 'period features'?  Then they complain that there is only one bathroom / no en-suite / no garage etc.  Don't they understand that a property with period features is by its very nature, old?  Toilets were outside (if there was one at all) and the car hadn't been invented!  I always share the frustration of the programme's presenter.

This doesn't mean that old properties can't have many of the mod-cons taken for granted today or that modifications cannot be made to incorporate them.   However when buying older properties there are issues to take into consideration.  Old properties are often listed buildings meaning alterations must not change the character of the building and planning permission on listed buildings frequently takes longer to approve, expect to have to resubmit applications several times.  Building materials used for alterations to listed properties will have to match as closely as possible those used for the original building.  This can be expensive if the materials have to be specially made or specialist builders employed.  Even if the property isn't listed care should be taken that alterations are sympathetic to the property to prevent harming the value and re-sale potential of the property.

I recently viewed Marsh Farm, a tardis-like six bedroom 17th century farmhouse that the present owner proudly told me is the second oldest house in Sale.  Among its many period features are the most incredible and unique vaulted ceilings I have ever seen.  Even older is the picture-postcard cottage on Ferry Lane in Thelwall or slightly younger the ideal first time buyers cottage in Cale Green Stockport, all of these have retained their beautiful period charm while blending the requirements for modern living.  If only the T.V presenters could show them to their house hunters.

Manchester Celebrates Jaguar

Manchester Celebrates Jaguar has been a month long opportunity for members of the public to drive a stunning range of cars and find out more about the legendary company.  As a big fan of Jaguar cars, the chance to drive a brand new £60,000 luxury Jag wasn't one I was going to miss!

On the morning of the 20th May at the event's base in Spinningfields I was handed the keys to the head turning XK8 convertible and after being shown how to use the automatic and paddle shift gears was asked "can you have it back in an hour?".  Taking the wheel for the first half an hour before swapping with my Dad (whose favourite car is the original XK8), so enjoyable was the drive the answer to the question was very nearly "no, we're keeping it for the day!".  That evening at Royles Jaguar in Wilmslow we attended one of a series of presentations in the region by the head designer of Jaguar's new flagship XJ, where the ideas behind the creation of the stylish new car were explained.

The celebration reached its peak on Sunday with a lively family fun day at Tatton Park where large crowds enjoyed cooking demonstrations by celebrity chef Aiden Byrne, massages, huge kids play zone, falconry displays and duck herding!  Film star-cars in the form of Austin Powers Union Jack liveried XK8 and the machine gun and missile wielding James Bond bad guys car from Die Another Day were in attendance.  The stars of the show though were the complete current range of Jaguar cars, all available to test drive.  Again not wanting to miss the chance we took out the XFS and XJ, both of which were simply beautiful to drive. 

Manchester Celebrates Jaguar has been a unique and enjoyable way of getting to know an iconic British brand, creating new admirers in the process.  Special mention must go to Laura Wolfe and her team at Journey9 and Alexandra Rowne at Jaguar cars for putting on such a fantastic event.

Sunshine at Bodnant Gardens

The choice of where to spend a sunny weekend is rarely an easy one to make with such a big selection of visitor attractions to choose from in the region, but on Sunday I decided to head for Bodnant Gardens, near Llandudno in North Wales. Judging by the number of cars heading along the A55, North Wales was clearly a popular choice for many as the sun gave us what was hopefully a sneak preview of the summer to come. But would Bodnant be a worthy choice of destination to spend a precious sunny day? Especially as I would by no means consider myself a member of the gardening fraternity (I live in a fourth floor apartment) and struggle to name any flowers less obvious than roses, daffodils or tulips. Although I admit that since my only previous trip to Bodnant, six years ago, I have developed a greater appreciation of gardens.

A good visitor attraction should be able to keep the casual customer engaged enough to enjoy their stay and preferably make them want to return and Bodnant Gardens does this with ease. The gardens, run by the National Trust, are famous for their laburnum arch which sadly was still a week or two away from full bloom. Yet despite missing the star attraction the huge array of wonderfully colourful plants, flowers, trees and ornate lawns and pools across the eighty acre site still have more than enough to captivate anyone with even the faintest interest. I would recommend allowing at least half a day to wander around the gardens as visitors will find themselves spending far longer than expected standing and taking in the stunning views. Not least of these views are the numerous intriguing buildings, especially Bodnant Hall itself which is sadly not open to the public but is still one of the most beautiful houses in Wales.

As to the question of whether Bodnant Gardens was a good choice of destination to spend a sunny Sunday, the answer is a resounding yes and I doubt I’ll wait six years for my next visit. For any local or visitor to the region, a trip to Bodnant Gardens is highly recommended.