Influencers getting free stuff. It’s a given in today’s social media fuelled society. But for the hospitality industry, it’s the bane of their lives.
In 2020, if you have more than 10,000 followers on Instagram and consider yourself a bit of a looker, then it’s quite an easy task to become someone who never has to buy clothes ever again. In fashion social media it’s called gifting, and it’s a mutually beneficial process that has become one of the key fundamentals of marketing. It just it works, and good for them.
What isn’t a mutually beneficial process, however, is attempting to get free food and drinks at an establishment full of hard working hospitality staff who are doing everything they can to keep their venues afloat at the tail end of a pandemic.
But alas, ‘restaurant Insta’ is being constantly bombarded with DMs from influencers who no longer believe in paying for anything, and Crazy Pedro’s has had enough of it.
Posting on their social media accounts tonight, after receiving one DM too many, Pedro’s outed their latest potential ‘collaborator’.
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“READ THE ROOM,” the post begins with.
It continues: “We’ve been open 4/5 months tops out of the last 14 and just last week closed one of our venues in the interest of staff and customers safety – whilst you’re out here after a bit of free food?
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“We’re all for a bit of promotion so why not pay us a visit and shout about our ‘yummy food 😋’ along with every other venue you’ve probably copy and pasted the message to? It’s a no from us unfortunately but we’ll save you a table should you wish to join us as a paying customer.”
It seems their frustration is universal, with both comment sections on Instagram and Facebook popping off with support.
One person wrote: “I like the way they said ‘collaborate’ instead of free food. Just utter disrespect. I will be dropping by hopefully soon as craving that Chippy Tea Pizza that I will happily buy.”
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Hospitality in the UK has had it terrible during the pandemic. The majority of pubs, bars and restaurants have only recently been able to reopen, with plenty only managing it by the skin of their teeth.
Right now, and for the rest of the year (and beyond), we should be supporting these venues by putting money in their tills and tips in their pockets.
Don’t be THAT person. Pay for your meal and enjoy the benefits of good hospitality – and put them on your f****** Instagram story because of that.
Posters around Manchester city centre spark serious rumours Charli XCX is set to headline Parklife 2025
Danny Jones
Some pretty big, green posters are popping up around town and, not to get ahead of ourselves, but it looks like they’re hinting at Charli XCX headlining Parklife 2025…
Feel free to lose your bratting minds.
A number of tall, let’s call it ‘apple’ green posters have been sighted in various places across Manchester city centre this Friday, 22 November and the last time we saw this slightly low-resolution, plain black Arial font and colour combo we got a reworked version of Charli XCX’s brat album.
Listen, all we can tell you is that this is almost exactly the same marketing and the letters on the poster simply read, “PL25”. Come on… you do the math(s).
Spotting at least two of the posters for ourselves around both Newton and Thomas Street in and around the Northern Quarter, plenty of people have been double-taking at the simple but bold and undeniably eye-catching portrait posters.
Trust us, we weren’t the only ones stopping to take a picture and frantically send them to half of our phonebook either.
Charli herself hasn’t given us any other clues on social media thus far – to be fair, this one feels fairly obvious to us – but it’s well worth keeping your eyes peeled on her stories as she did plenty of teasing before dropping Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat.
Still can’t get over that actually being the title, by the way.
It’s also worth noting that Parklife themselves recently confirmed that festival fans can expect to find out their headliners and the full 2025 lineup very soon. Check out that colour…
Oh, who are we kidding? That’s not apple green it’s straight-up BRAT green, b*tch. We’re fully getting carried away and you’ll just have to deal with it.
Even if it somehow turns out she’s not headlining it’s certainly looking like she’s going to be there and it wouldn’t be the first time.
Better yet, fans of the pop sensation won’t have to wait too long to see her right here in Greater Manchester because Charli is bringing her already smash-hit tour to Co-op Live next Wednesday, 27 November and in case you couldn’t tell by all the shouting in capitals, we’re very excited.
Roll on ‘PL25’. Other than Charli XCX, who else would you like to see as your Parklife headliners next summer?
Peek inside the space-themed festive tipi bar that’s appeared in Manchester city centre
Daisy Jackson
A gigantic new festive tipi has appeared in Manchester city centre, and this one’s out of this world.
Nova Star is an intergalactic, space-age tipi, filled with twinkling stars and shimmering galaxies.
The space-themed pop-up bar has appeared in Sadler’s Yard, right outside New Century.
Inside, you’ll be able to get your mitts on festive food specials from beloved Christmas Markets favourites Parmogeddon.
Their menu includes raclette-covered roast potatoes, with additional toppings like hot honey, brie, stuffing crumbs and gravy.
There’ll also be pigs in blanket hot dogs topped with cranberry and chilli ketchup and stuffing crumb, with an indulgent pot of gravy for dunking, plus profitteroles with a homemade brandy cream filling.
Nova Star’s bar will have a menu of shimmering cocktails and ice-cold beers too, with a full menu of Cosmos, including a Nebula Cosmo (which tastes a lot like a pina colada but is blue), a Cosmic Amore (close to a classic Cosmopolitan), and the Milkyway (a sweet and creamy concoction with hazelnut and vanilla).
Nova Star will be serving up their very own signature ‘Nova Staro’ pints, created in collaboration with Czech Pilsner specialists Staropramen in their first ever rebrand.
It’s a far cry from your typical Bavarian Christmas experience, swapping out holly and ivy for stars and shimmers.
Visitors will also be able to enjoy a line-up of festive entertainment.
Abby Moore, managing director at New Century, said: “Nova Star is all about celebrating Christmas at its most magical – and for us that means with all the dazzle of the space age.
“It’s a chance to escape the traditional and enjoy a spectacular atmosphere, stellar cocktails and incredible food.
“We can’t wait to welcome the people of Manchester to our space-age Christmas destination.”
Nova Star opens at Sadler’s Yard on Friday 22 November.