Manchester has ranked third in a list of the 37 best cities in the world, according to global magazine TimeOut.
The annual list, which is well respected and much anticipated, is compiled after tens of thousands of city-dwelling readers of TimeOut have their say, and they are usually pretty spot on – except for when they don’t put Manchester in first place.
However, we’ve not done too bad this year, coming in at third place and most importantly, above London by a fair old whack.
Only San Francisco and Amsterdam rank higher than Manchester in the list, which describes us as “a resilient place” with communities who band together when times are tough.
Rob Martin of TimeOut states: “General great vibes. Manchester has a rep for knowing how to have a good time, and it came as no surprise to us that it was voted top for ‘nightlife’, ‘creativity’, ‘community spirit’, ‘friendliness’ and ‘getting to know your neighbours’.”
ADVERTISEMENT
TimeOut’s description of Manchester and what makes it great, reads: “Manchester sure is a resilient place. All things considered, it’s thrived over the past year – with communities really banding together through the toughest of times.
“Mancunians are a very proud people, and so it’s no wonder 71 percent described the city as ‘creative’ in this year’s Index. This is the home of Factory Records, the Fall and the Smiths, after all, and in 2021 the likes of Manchester International Festival (MIF) and Grayson’s Art Club have continued to show this city really punches when it comes to big, splashy cultural events.
ADVERTISEMENT
“On a more local level, small firms like Result CIC offered free mental health support to frontline workers, while the Eagle and Child pub gave away 4,500 meals to vulnerable locals.”
Here’s the top 10 list
San Francisco
Amsterdam
Manchester
Copenhagen
New York
Montreal
Prague
Tel Aviv
Porto
Tokyo
You can check out the full list of 37 cities on the TimeOut website here, along with what makes those cities so great.
Spoiler alert, London has a very unlucky number.
Manchester
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.