City News in 250 words: Tuesday 9 August

TV CHEF SIMON RIMMER was held at knife point on Monday morning at 10am at his restaurant in West Didsbury. The thieves walked through the front door of Greens Restaurant on Lapwing Lane and demanded Rimmer to open the safe. Rimmer was forced to lie on the ground while the thieves held a knife to head chef, Barry Heath’s head. The thieves then fled the restaurant after being told the keys to the safe were not in the building.

MANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL is set to host the first ever vertical farm set to take place in 2013. Organisers of the festival are hoping to convert a disused building in Wythenshawe into an ‘agricultural revolution’. The vertical greenhouse will produce vegetables such as tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, peppers, as well as fish and chicken, using modern farming techniques. Organisers are hoping to grow enough food to cater for the international festival in 2013.

WYTHENSHAWE PARK CENTRE is set to re-open after vandals attacked birds and smashed windows in May.  Six teenagers aged between 13 and 18 caused £10,000 worth of damage at the centre. The horticultural centre has been repaired and will open again to the public on Saturday.

A DOCTOR AT ROYAL BOLTON HOSPITAL has been cleared of hitting his wife with a shoe. The consultant denied ever hitting his wife and told the jury she fell down the stairs while drunk.  Dr Simon Stacey was found not guilty by the jury at the town’s crown court after a five-day trial.