Usain Bolt and Tyson Fury love Old Trafford's Kool Runnings… here's why you should too
26.03.2022 - 10:51
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
On the first warm day of the year, smoke billows out of the trailer on Upper Chorlton Road, the layby spot next to the Sharon Pentecostal Church where Kool Runnings is always, comfortingly, parked up. If it disappears for any amount of time, as it did after Christmas until it turned up again just a few weeks ago, people start to panic.
The first van was much smaller than this, half the size. But even this one is snug, considering the volume of food that comes out of it, its owner Aval Saunders cooking with his son Dominic - virtually on top of each other.
The queue - there’s a queue most of the time - comprises two young lads, who retreat to their lowered hatchback parked on the pavement to eat jerk chicken, rice and peas (no steamed veg, extra gravy), both doors flung open, the bass from the sound system gently vibrating the metal rivets on the truck.
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There’s an extremely polite bodybuilder, as short as he is wide, bursting out of his vest and getting a full half of a smokey, grilled chicken for his post workout sustenance. He takes the offer of salad. “Big meal for a big man,” jokes Dominic. He looks like he could lift the van off the ground with one hand and still eat his plantain with the other.
There’s a smart gentleman in office attire with his laptop bag, two girls who have just finished work, and a toddler with her mum and dad. She wants a carrot juice.
Aval has fed judges from the city courtrooms, as well as various celebrities. Usain Bolt, Tyson Fury, Sergio Agüero, Andy Cole, Rio Ferdinand. Ainsley Harriot once too. “People come back because they appreciate what they get, maybe,” he shrugs, not really sure what the fuss is about.
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