17th January Daily Bulletin

A round up of the top stories from across Lancashire

Transcript

00:00Hello, my name is Luke Patrick. I'm a reporter for the Lancashire Post and the Blackpool Gazette.

00:04Here is the Daily Bulletin.

00:07It was traumatic for staff and families, Blackpool Vic ward manager tells inquest.

00:12A ward manager at Blackpool Victoria Hospital told an inquest of the trauma facing

00:16and inquest of the trauma facing staff and families at the height of the deadly Covid

00:20pandemic four years ago. The hearing is looking into the deaths of an elderly husband and wife

00:26who died just days apart after contracting Covid. Marine engineer Ernest Christie of Toronto Avenue

00:34died on December 30th 2020 at the age of 91, while wife Maureen, a former secretary,

00:41died aged 88 on January 4th 2021. The couple's son Mark Christie has raised a number of concerns

00:47about the circumstances leading up to their deaths. One concern is that his mother was

00:52not being tested for Covid, was not tested for Covid before being discharged from Blackpool

00:57Victoria Hospital to the home she shared with Ernest, who was deemed vulnerable because of his age.

01:03Owner of Umami Kitchen at Church Street in Blackpool is already eyeing up future sites.

01:08The all-you-can-eat buffet, which has something for every type of foodie, opened yesterday

01:13on Church Street and owners already have their eyes on more sites in Lancashire.

01:18General manager Shahan Suleman said Umami is part of the Cosmo Buffet Group and Umami is the new

01:25brand we are trying to focus on. Cosmo has 22 restaurants and this is the third Umami that we

01:31are doing. Umamis are being designed for the smaller towns and make a more intimate setting.

01:37It is a world buffet. What we're trying to do is keep the food as fresh as possible. We have been

01:42using new types of cooking techniques and machinery. We cook smaller portions and

01:47a quicker time and that has been the main focus. Former home of legendary Bamber Ridge Indian

01:53Restaurant is set to be sold at auction. Unit 1 Club Street, formerly Naz Indian Cuisine and then

02:00Dilla Naz Restaurant is part of the auction group's online auction taking place on January 21st,

02:06with bids being taken between 9am and 3pm. The vacant building, which is still kitted out with

02:12the kitchen and open floor space, has been called an excellent business opportunity

02:16by the auction group. They say Club Street is a charming location and that the delightful

02:22property with its commercial building potential is a rare find. This property comes with a private

02:28car park and the starting price is £175,000 with the winning bidder paying an additional £5,000

02:35in buyers premium. Traffic jam causing twin roundabouts between South Ribble and Preston to go.

02:41A notorious double roundabout at South Ribble has come a step closer to being ripped up and

02:45replaced with a high-tech traffic light designed to improve journeys on one of the busiest roads

02:52in the borough. The current layout of the A582 at the point where Flensburg Way, Farrington Road,

02:58Cruston Road and Centurion Way all meet is one of the junctions in line for a major overhaul

03:03as part of a re-bam of the regularly congested route between Lowestock Hall and Pembertham.

03:07Lancashire County Cabinet has given the green light to spending £6 million in the next phase

03:14of the £68 million South Ribble West Distributor Project even though there is no guarantee that

03:20the Government will stump up the lion's share of the funding needed to make it a reality. That

03:25decision will not be made until the completion of the ongoing Whitehall Spending Review in this

03:29spring.