Whether you’re ‘into’ Valentine’s or not, I think we can all agree these Love Hearts donuts from Siop Shop are pretty damn excellent.
Not one to play by the rules, the TIb street donut shop has bucked the mushy romantic trend in favour of a bit of playful wit and produced these Love Hearts sweet-inspired treats instead – perfect for couples (and singles) with a sense of humour.
For many, the fruit-flavoured, tablet-shaped sweets were a childhood fixture – and their inscriptions, which featured cheesy messages like ‘Love Bug’, ‘Kiss Me’ and ‘Only You’, are forever fixed in our minds.
Perhaps you even tried to give a crush a sweet once, you know, as a ‘subtle’ hint.
Well, this year the bakers at Siop Shop have decided to flip the script – taking the nostalgic favourite and bringing it firmly into 2022 with “crude, off-color sentiments” like ‘kiss off’, ‘u stink’ and, our personal favourite, ‘prize pig’.
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There’s also some solid nods to another childhood favourite, The Simpsons (although let’s be real, we still love this show as adults) with one sassy inscription echoing Bart’s famously belligerent catchphrase, ‘eat my shorts’.
Filled with Diplomat chocolate crème, the prices haven’t been revealed yet but you won’t have to wait long to find out as the tongue-in-cheek goodies are set to go live for pre-order next week.
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Available in sets of four, you can treat yourself, a mate, or your Valentine (if you’ve got one) to a box of some of the best donuts in town. And, just for fun, you’ll get a limited edition Ralph sticker to go with it.
Forget flowers, forget chocolates, this is where it’s at this year. Nothing says Valentine’s like a box of ‘U stink’ donuts.
They’ll go live for pre-order from 10am on the Siop web shop as of Tuesday 1 February for pick up on the day itself.
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We recommend getting in quick, as there’s already been a huge amount of interest since the post went live on Instagram yesterday.
Sharing them online in a post that’s already amassed over 1,500 likes, the donut shop quipped, “Valentine’s day is no joke!”
They added, “We’ll have other suitably themed doughnuts the weekend leading up and on the day but not these ones. Preorder 10AM Tuesday the 1st over at siopshop.co”.
For vegans who are wondering, we asked – and yes, there will be some suitable for you (but not these ones). All is still to be revealed as to further specials, so keep your eyes on Siop’s Instagram for further updates.
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.