Beer sampling, cheese tasting, food demos and foraging are all part of this year’s bumper Bolton Food & Drink Festival – with a long lineup of events, live music and expert chefs officially unveiled this week.
The 16th edition of the bank holiday festival will run from Friday to Monday – featuring more than 80 free performances.
Bolton-born The Jade Assembly, The Lancashire Hotpots, Lottery Winner, and Jeramiah Ferrari have all been confirmed as live music headliners, with Jean Christophe, Simon Wood and Anjali Pathak all pencilled in for chef demos.
Music will span folk, rock, pop, jazz, indie and reggae genres, with acts performing on stages at Le Mans Crescent and Victoria Square.
There will also be the Bolton Mela – a fringe event managed by Bolton Community Railway and the Hindu Forum to offer food and music on the platform at Bolton Train Station.
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📢 EXCITING NEWS: We've got some great events at this year's festival – with Foraging in Queens Park, Beer & Cheese tasting and a Microgreen Masterclass there's something for everyone! Oh, look out for our fantastic 'Audience with' event too! All info 👉 https://t.co/zDkPDJ0IcKpic.twitter.com/6Bxri2Tj9p
MUSIC NEWS: 📢So here's our fab four headliners… Fri 27th – @TheJadeAssembly Sat 28th – @thehotpots Sun 29th – @LotteryWinners Mon 30th – @JeramiahFerrari With over 80 FREE performances over the weekend there's plenty to enjoy. Full line up and stage times online soon! pic.twitter.com/VhHHKjBXhW
NEWS: 👨🍳Our chef line up has been announced, with some of the North West’s best chefs sharing their skills. All demos are FREE too, so don't miss your chance to watch @JCNovelli, @SimonJWoodUK and the fab Anjali Pathak to name a few! Full line up here 👉https://t.co/xDetNVXfY5pic.twitter.com/x5zpfYu4kN
Brewers, cooks, confectionery makers, tea and coffee vendors and wholesalers will all be in attendance across the festival.
Street performers, magic shows, and a seaside family zone have also been arranged for the occasion – along with tasting sessions where guests can pair craft beer with cheese.
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Cookery demonstrations will take place in the Chef Zone in Market Place Shopping Centre across all four days.
Organisers stated: “This year’s Festival promises to be a celebration of the Bolton family and will bring together a magical weekend of food, drink, fun, entertainment and live music complete with plenty of space to enjoy a wander around the market or to take a break from the hustle and bustle in one of our dedicated seating areas.”
More information is available on the official website.
Featured image: Bolton Food & Drink Festival
Bolton
The Boots recycling scheme where you can get £5 off every shop
Thomas Melia
UK high street retailer and healthcare shop Boots has launched an innovative recycling scheme that entitles customers to £5 off their future shopping trips.
If you’re still struggling to come up with a New Year’s resolution, why not try a spot of recycling and earn some money off your next cosmetics shop while you’re at it?
Started in 2020, the Boots Recycling Scheme allows Advantage Card holders the opportunity to get money while also being more conscious about how we recycle our used health and beauty products.
Their third-party app, Recycle at Boots, uses a ‘Scan2Recycle‘ system where users can upload items from various beauty brands by taking a picture of the empty packaging before identifying its form.
This scheme takes items that can’t usually be recycled at home, such as lotion pumps, toothpaste tubes, lipstick, mascaras, travel minis, make-up palettes and more.
Once you have five items approved, head over to your nearest participating Boots store, drop off your empties and scan the QR code on the deposit box.
After you’ve followed all these steps, a voucher will appear entitling you to 500 Advantage Points when you spend £10 in-store at your nearest location, and not only do you have £5 worth of points with your name on it, you’re also an eco-warrior.
There’s even a dedicated section of the app to recycling empty medicine and vitamin blister packs, which gives customers 100 Advantage Points when they spend £5 in-store.
Brilliant.
Credit: Publicity pictures (supplied)
Items dropped into these deposit boxes are taken to MyGroup, a recycling and waste management service which works around the clock to help divert waste from landfill.
These empties will be washed and traditionally recycled into a material called MyBoard, a construction board material most similar to plywood, with lots of different uses.
Nearest Boots locations in Manchester running the Recycle at Boots scheme:
Manchester Market Street – 32 Market Street, M1 1PL
Salford Regent Park – Regents Park, M5 3TP
Manchester Didsbury – 736-740 Wilmslow Road, M20 2DW
The Trafford Centre – 10 Peel Avenue, M17 8BD
Trafford Retail Park – Neary Way, M41 7FN
If you’re up for getting money off your next Boots splurge while also helping recycle cosmetics containers and more, you can download the Recycle at Boots app and find your nearest HERE.
Police appeal after serious crash between car and taxi in Bolton leaves four dead and five others injured
Emily Sergeant
Police are appealing to the public after a fatal crash in Bolton yesterday.
At around 12:45am yesterday morning (Sunday 11 January), Greater Manchester Police (GMP) were called out to reports of a collision on Wigan Road in Bolton, where a Seat Leon was travelling down the road and collided with a Citroen C4 Picasso – which was a taxi.
The driver of the Seat, and two passengers – who were all aged between 18 and 19 – have tragically died following the collision.
The driver of the Citroen was also sadly pronounced dead at the scene.
According to local funeral notices, as reported on by BBC News, the three teenagers have been named as Muhammad Danyaal Asghar Ali, Farhan Patel, and Mohammed Jibrael Mukhtar, all from Bolton, while the taxi driver was named as Masrob Ali from Blackburn.
#APPEAL | Our Serious Collision Investigation Unit are appealing for information after a fatal collision between a Seat and Citroen on Wigan Road, #Bolton on 11/01/26
On top of these tragic deaths, police have also confirmed that five other passengers were involved and injured during the incident, and were rushed to hospital where they are currently being treated.
At this time, a scene remains in place as officers continue their investigation, but GMP’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit (SCIU) are now appealing for information and witnesses, and are urging anyone that may be able to help to come forward.
This includes anyone who saw the vehicle driving before the collision, witnessed the incident itself, or has dashcam / CCTV footage.