Manchester

Taxi drivers in Greater Manchester given new dress code and behaviour rules

Price-setting will also be made uniform across the city region.

The Manc The Manc - 30th September 2021

Taxi drivers in Greater Manchester are to be given a dress code and a new set of rules for their cabs which includes an eating ban and no vaping.

According to the BBC, council chiefs in all 10 boroughs have signed up to minimum standards for private hire and hackney carriage drivers in the licensing process.

There will be a minimum English proficiency test for all drivers including enhanced criminal record and medical checks.

Price-setting will also be made uniform across the city region.

Mantax | Manchester's Largest Fleet Of Black Cabs
Mantax

The standards agreement also means drivers are bound to take the shortest routes possible and must keep their vehicles clean and comfortable for passengers, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

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Details of the scheme presented to Trafford Council before being approved stated that the “collaborative approach” would help achieve “a strong, professional and healthy” taxi and private hire sector to provide “safe and high quality services” across Greater Manchester.

The standards, which also ask drivers to be punctual and park considerately, are based on feedback from a consultation involving drivers, customers and unions in June.

There are an estimated 2,000 hackney vehicles, 11,500 private hire vehicles and 18,600 drivers in the region.

Manchester

Club de Padel to close current Manchester location to make way for more Deansgate Square skyscrapers

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Club de Padel is moving out of Deansgate Square in Manchester

Club de Padel, the first padel club to open in Manchester, will be relocating from its Deansgate Square home.

The wildly popular sports club will close next week, as landowners Renaker begin the next phase of development of the skyscraper district.

Club de Padel is keeping its new location under wraps for now – but will be going out from its current Manchester home with a bang.

The club, which welcomed more than 100,000 people in the first year alone, will be offering free padel for all before it closes at Deansgate Square.

Club de Padel launched back in 2023, with four competition-grade courts, and has since added a Finnish sauna experience with Good Sauna, launched a best-selling clothing range with UN:IK, plus become the home for Manchester’s most popular run club with MADE Running.

As well as that, the club has been donating free courts and coaching during the school holidays to local children’s charity Wood Street Mission, and hosting events with the likes of adidas, REFY and Blank Street Coffee.

And it’s expanded fast, launching an indoor padel club across in Sheffield.

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It’s been one of the city’s top sporting success stories, attracting attention from the likes of The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Hypebae and the BBC.

But now Club de Padel will be leaving its current home ahead of Renaker’s expansion of its luxury skyscraper district.

There are four state-of-the-art courts at Club de Padel
Club de Padel Manchester
Club de Padel is at the foot of the Deansgate Square towers
Club de Padel is at the foot of the Deansgate Square towers

As for that new top-secret location opening later this year – they’re promising an ‘indoor and outdoor space in an incredible location, featuring an expanded padel experience, high-end wellness and social spaces, and a year-round programme of events’.

Club de Padel founders said in a statement today: “We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve built here in Manchester — bringing padel to the city centre for the first time and introducing tens of thousands of people to the sport during our time on Deansgate.

“But this site was never meant to be permanent, and we’ve been limited in what we can build here, so the time is right to move on, grow and improve.

“We’ve learned a huge amount from our time in Manchester and from opening our second club in Sheffield last year, and we’re excited to reveal the locations of our new sites — including the new Manchester club — and begin the next phase.

“In the meantime, we want to thank everyone who has made this club so special, and invite them to enjoy a free game of padel on us.”

Club de Padel will close to begin its Manchester relocation on 14 January.

You can book a free hour of padel between 9 and 14 January, through the usual Playtomic system – you’ll be refunded for your booking in full on arrival.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Manchester

‘Big John’ is bringing his ‘BOSH’ bingo to Manchester

Danny Jones Danny Jones Big John Bosh Bingo nights tickets Manchester

Attention, all you ‘Big John’ lovers, the man himself is coming to Manchester this year for his very own ‘BOSH Bingo’ show.

Excessively large takeaway order not included*

That’s right, ‘Big John’ Fisher has gone from being a viral sensation famous for eating shedloads of Chinese and saying that one catchphrase to hosting his very own live bingo tour.

Even by his standards, his announcement video was an eye-catching one, to say the least – and we expect the event itself to be equally hilarious.

For anyone somehow unfamiliar with ‘The Boshfather’, there isn’t a single sentence that isn’t completely accurate, and that doesn’t sum up pretty much everything you need to know about the man, the myth, the legend.

Besides his son, Johnny Fisher Jr., being an aspiring boxer and fellow influencer on the side, as well as having appeared on Newsnight to talk about the UK’s multiculturalism being what makes this ‘Great Britain’ (legend), his legacy will very much be written online and on the back of a take-out menu.

Or will it?…

Riding the back of his growing popularity and being quite literally the physical representation of a British bulldog, he’s now preparing to do live shows all over the country.

Set up at the start of the New Year, the 51-year-old will be heading to Manchester city centre and more throughout 2026 for his debut BOSH Bingo tour.

Visiting 12 locations in total, he is promising “rave intervals, on stage competitions, ‘bosh’ prizes and, of course, a sprinkle of chicken balls for good measure.”

Put simply, not only the chaos of everyone’s favourite Bongo’s, “This is not your average bingo night, it’s BOSH BINGO!”

Sounds ridiculous… We’re SO there.

Coming to The Grosvenor on Oxford Road on 21 February, before heading to the likes of Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield, just to name a few, you can grab your tickets right HERE.

Let’s just say there’s some very silly but nevertheless fun and fantastic stuff happening in town this year.

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Featured Images — Publicity picture (via Bosh Bingo Events)/The Manc Group

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