The man who bought Sammy’s Bar has ‘no connection’ to its previous owner. Apart from being related

Dear readers — at lunchtime today, a new bar in the Northern Quarter posted about us on Instagram. 26 Bar on Swan Street told their more than 10,000 followers that a Mill story was about to be published about them and warned people: “Don’t believe everything you read online.” 

In some ways, the Instagram post was extremely reasonable. “We don’t want to question the integrity of either the reporters or their informers,” it said at the start. It then went on to address some of the questions we had asked about the bar’s alleged links to the previous bar that operated on the same site, Sammy’s Bar. You might remember the name: Sammy’s Bar closed under a cloud earlier this year after three women – two customers and one staff member – alleged that they were assaulted by the bar’s owner Sammy Shonn and multiple staff walked out. 

26 Bar has been batting away accusations about its links to Sammy’s Bar since it recently took over the old bar’s Instagram account, and last week it posted a statement that seemed to put the issue to bed, saying that the bar’s new owner Michael Morris “has no connection” to the previous establishment. 

What it didn’t mention in that Instagram post, or in the one posted today, is that there is a pretty glaring connection between the new management and the old one: Michael Morris and Sammy Shonn are related.

That’s our main story today, in an edition which also includes Andy Burnham’s new political “movement” releasing a stinging attack on Keir Starmer, dire news about Greater Manchester’s biggest mental health trust and an interesting bit of news about a new network of walking and cycling routes linking our local rivers.