Food Halls; Boilers; Driving Theory Tests
The food hall have been growing in popularity over the past decade, seemingly bucking the downward trend the rest of hospitality. But is that coming to an end?
Over the past decade we have seen many food halls open in our towns and cities, and they’ve proved to be incredibly popular with their offering of multiple traders all under one roof. However are the cracks starting to appear after several popular Greater Manchester based halls closed down.
We’ll be joined by the Su Lee, owner of Dim Sum Su, who was trading from one of the food halls that closed down, and also Richard Johnson who is the founder of the British Street Food Awards.
As we are coming out of winter you might be thinking that your old boiler might need replacing. Well there are government grants on offer of up to £7,500 if you want to put a heat pump in, 30,000 people have applied for those grants so far. But even with the grants, heat pumps can be expensive, they're not suitable for every home and it may be that the price of a gas boiler is about to come down a bit. We’ll hear from one listener that is considering changing, and also the trade group Energy and Utilities Alliance will explain what peoples options are.
And finally, 1.3 million people took their driving theory test in 2023, only 45% passed it first time. We’ll hear from two learner drivers about the challenge of passing, and motoring journalist Maria McCarthy will be on hand to explain how these tests have got a lot harder since being introduced in 1996.
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Dave James