Manchester’s massive street food venue Hatch has been given a dose of 80s nostalgia in time for Christmas, with traders launching a whole raft of festive specials.
The huge Oxford Road hub of street food and independent retail has been kitted out with fluorescent lights and disco baubles for the festive season.
Hatch has said it wants to ‘transport customers back to a different era when iPhones and ‘furlough’ were yet to enter our mainstream vocabulary’, which sounds good to us.
As well as retro events, there’ll be festive food and drink from its many traders to dig into too.
Pigs in blanket parmos from Parmogeddon at Hatch. Credit: Jody Hartley
Seasonal specials will include a pigs in blanket parmo from Parmogeddon, topping a classic chicken parmo with pigs in blankets and deep-fried stuffing.
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The duo will also put their spin on the Christmas sandwich, with bacon, melted brie and cranberry sauce loaded onto a parmo and served in a toasted brioche bun.
Vegan street food legends Herbivorous have created plant-based festive alternatives like a sage and onion seitan roast served in brioche bun with braised cabbage and red onion gravy, and a ‘turkey’ and stuffing burger.
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Grandad’s Sausages will be on hand with their take on traditional German bratwursts, while Biscuit and Brew have created festive cookie dough pies with spiced ice creams.
Festive desserts from Biscuit & Brew. Credit: Jody Hartley
Then Sicilian street food experts T’arricrii have created a menu of specialty arancinos with fillings like bolognese sauce and ham and cheese.
There are – naturally – plenty of winter tipples to work your way through at Hatch too, like Kir Royales (made with O’Donnell’s berry moonshine and prosecco), Christmas Manhattans, and Clementine Cosmopolitans.
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Hatch bar Miami Ice have created festive espresso martinis – expect flavours like Black Forest, gingerbread, Terry’s Chocolate Orange and Biscoff.
A Biscoff espresso martini. Credit: Jody Hartley
Hatch has also opened its own hot drinks bar, which will serve mulled wines, hot cider and hot buttered rums, which can be grabbed from the Oxford Road entrance for takeaway too.
Craft beer bar ÖL, one of Hatch’s very first traders, will be supplying a number of Christmas themed beers.
The festive specials are all available now right through until the end of the year.
Events over the festive season will include Christmas Carols, 80s discos, and live music.
Hidden Manchester bar Mala to offer unique ‘movie night’ experiences inside private cabins
Thomas Melia
You can have your own private film experience inside little wooden cabins at a popular Northern Quarter bar this summer.
Manchester city centre secret garden spot Mala is hosting an event where you and your friends can enjoy a private movie night with food, themed drinks, and bucket loads of free popcorn.
Listed as the ‘Cabin Movie Night’, get ready to sit back, relax and watch a cult classic, all from the comfort of your own personal wooden hut.
The film you’ll be watching is very on-brand too, as it’s none other than none than ‘Labyrinth’.
This secret garden spot is hiding right in plain sight over on Dale Street in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, and as well as hosting events such as these, they’re also home to some top tier eateries too.
Currently El Jefe, Doodles, Wok Bros, Christakis, D&X Caribbean, and Gulf are all serving up some cross-continental delights for you to enjoy in this marvellous space.
Some mouth-watering scran from El Jefe.Wok Bros have some delicious noodle boxes. Credit: The Manc Group
The Cabin Movie Night’ is the perfect way to round up your friends and watch a classic with a cocktail in hand.
There’s a handful of group packages available too at an additional charge, ranging from £30 to £50, which includes themed cocktails for each guest in the booking, and the cost of the ticket.
You can get FREE sandwiches in Manchester this weekend – but only if you have certain names
Emily Sergeant
Hungry Mancs can help themselves to free sandwiches this bank holiday weekend… but there’s a bit of a catch.
You can only get yourself a sandwich if you have one of these particular names.
We’ve been enjoying some absolutely stunning sunshine across Greater Manchester and much of the UK over the past couple of months, and nothing says sunny days more than taking a packed lunch or grabbing a meal deal and taking it to your local park or greenspace for a picnic.
This is why Pret A Manger has decided to make picnics easier for those who are lucky enough to have a certain type of name.
This late May bank holiday weekend, the popular high street coffee shop chain will be dishing out hundreds of free sandwiches across the UK – including here in Manchester – to anyone whose name happens to start with ‘Nic’.
That means people called Nick, Nicholas, Nicola, Nicole, Nico, Nicolette, and plenty of others could be in with a chance of some free feasting over these next couple of days.
You can get FREE sandwiches in Manchester this weekend / Credit: Wikimedia Commons | Supplied
Here in Manchester, it’s the chain’s Portland Street site, just off Piccadilly Gardens, that’s participating in the free giveaway this weekend, and there’ll be 50 sandwiches a day given out, so you’ll need to be quick if your name starts with ‘Nic’ and you’re feeling peckish.
The offer is only limited to Pret’s freshly-made sandwiches, and unfortunately excludes baguettes, wraps, or rye rolls… but free food is better than no food, after all.
All you’ll need to do to grab a freebie is show your ID at the tills of participating stores this Saturday (24 May) to prove your name, and you’ll get to walk out with your lunch in hand, all without having to spend a penny.
Manchester’s Portland Street Pret A Manger will be giving out 50 free sandwiches to ‘Nics’ this Saturday, and they’re on a first-come-first-served basis.
Daisy Jackson -
23rd November 2021 
