A new survey has ranked the quality of a night out in towns and cities across the UK – and it’s not great news for Manchester.
Our city, which is famed worldwide for its vibrant nightlife, ranked way down in 31st position out of 50 destinations.
It scored a woeful 4.75 out of 10 in the judging criteria of the Overall Night Out Score.
We were beaten by the likes of Peterborough, Ipswich and Middlesbrough, as well as our neighbours in Leeds and Liverpool.
York was placed in the top spot, followed by Telford, Warrington, Edinburgh and Norwich.
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Deansgate Locks is one of Manchester’s busiest spots for a night out. Credit: Google Maps
The survey itself was actually conducted by Get Licensed, which provides training courses for SIA licences – and as such, safety on a night out was a big factor.
Cities were ranked on several elements of a night on the tiles, including bars and pubs per 100,000 people and the price of a pint.
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Other factors considered were ‘worries of being mugged or robbed’ and safety walking alone at night.
According to the UK’s best night out index, Manchester scores 43.89/100 on the safety index.
The only places to score worse in that section were Blackpool, Bolton, Wolverhampton, Huddersfield, Birmingham, Southend, Bradford, Slough and Coventry.
The survey then re-ranked cities with safety taken out of consideration, which saw Bolton shoot up to second place thanks to its number of pubs and cheap pints.
Manchester jumps up to sixth place when you don’t factor in the chance of muggings or hate crimes, apparently.
So we might not be the safest for a night out, if you believe this survey, but we definitely think Manchester’s nightlife is elite.
And at least we ranked higher than London.
Featured image: Unsplash
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Met Office launches nationwide search for new storm names and wants YOU to pick
Emily Sergeant
Is your grandma a force of nature? Does your best friend cause an impact wherever they go? Now you can give them the recognition they deserve…
By naming a storm after them, of course.
We know all the talk is about heatwaves at the moment, especially after weather forecasters have recently predicted that the UK is in for a ‘hotter than average’ summer this year, but let’s turn our eye to the upcoming storm season for a second, shall we?
That’s right – the Met Office is inviting the public to submit their suggestions for storm names for the upcoming 2025/26 season.
Now in its eleventh year, the Met Office works with Met Éireann in Ireland and KNMI in the Netherlands to compile the list every time the season rolls around, and this headline-grabbing naming initiative helps the media and the public communicate about the impacts of severe weather events more easily and effectively.
As part of the naming process, each of the three meteorological organisations will get to name storms using selected letters, with the aim being to reflect the diversity of the three countries, and in-keeping with usual storm naming conventions, names will be picked for every letter of the alphabet except for Q, U, X, Y and Z.
According to the Met Office, a number of factors are considered for a name to be on the list – including how difficult it might be to pronounce, if the name has different meanings in different countries, and if it could be considered controversial in some way.
Once the list of names is decided upon, it will be formally announced by the Met Office in September when storm season begins.
The Met Office has launched a nationwide search for new storm names and wants you to pick / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
“The storm naming system has helped us communicate weather to help people stay safe,” commented Will Lang, who is the Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office, “and wow we need the UK public to help us compile a new list.
“Whether you want to honour a weather-lover in your family, remember a family pet, or get a friend’s name in the headlines, we welcome submissions from the public to help us pull together next year’s list of storm names.”
People can only submit their names online via the submissions page here, where there’s also the option of adding a reason for the suggestion, and must not be submitted via social media as they will not be counted.
You have until 3 July 2025 to make your submissions, and the new list will be revealed in early September.
Featured Image – Johannes Plenio (via Unsplash)
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First Look: Fitzpatrick’s – Stockport’s new Irish Bar gets off to a stunning start
Danny Jones
Stockport has a brand new Irish bar as the growing Greater Manchester trend continues, with Fitzpatrick’s officially debuting to the public on Thursday, 19 June.
Taking over the former Bask site just outside the train station, Fitzpatrick’s is the borough’s answer to American sports bar meets an Irish pub and grill, with live music, a wide array of food and more.
We had the privilege of walking in on opening day, and the place was absolutely packed to the rafters from the off, and we didn’t even stay until the end. More fool us…
We had a grand auld time seeing @fitzstockport open their doors yesterday evening. ☘️
As you can see, it hasn’t taken them any time at all to get an atmosphere going; good weather on their inaugural day, but the free-flowing beer, classic pub food flying out of the kitchen, and musicians reeling off classic Irish folk music did most of the heavy lifting.
Plus, that beer garden and covered outdoor terrace area are pretty perfect in any weather, to be fair.
The scran on their maiden evening mainly consisted of pizza, chips and other easy-to-serve-up plates as they gradually ease into the first week or so of service, but with a full menu of burgers, pies, breakfasts and even Sunday roasts to come, we’re very excited to try the full gamut.
Regardless, the staff were pulling pints like pros, John himself had plenty of involvement greeting people and getting behind the bar, and the atmosphere was buzzing from minute one.
ln fact, that was arguably the best part about it all: there was that genuine feeling of a new community cornerstone being born, with the well-known Stopfordian reeling off names and recognising what seemed like almost every face that walked through the door.
You don’t get that everywhere.
A lay of the land at Fitzpatrick’s Stockport. (Credit: The Manc Eats)
Although this was their first proper day of trading, they had already gauged the kind of crowds they could expect by soft launching with friends and family last week.
That being said, as mentioned, there was a real tight-knit, community feel to the place, full of County kits, young families and older couples alike, all of whom seemed to be dovetailing together as if the pub had always been around.
SK is often dubbed one of those places where everyone kind of knows everyone, even despite how big the town is as a whole, and this definitely felt like proof of that perception.
Of course, there is some familiarity with the space having previously been Bask, but the location of the stage, a newly decked out bar and the large jumbo-tron style TV set-up for live sport in the centre of the room (providing prime viewing from virtually all angles) have made a big difference.
Based solely on the hordes of people that piled into the place the second the doors opened, we can’t wait to see what the gaff is like once it’s in so-called ‘full swing’. John and his team might just be on to something big here.
Speaking to The Manc, he said: “As a local lad, I wanted to put something into the space that reflects a lot of my history and culture. Music, food, sport and a great atmosphere are all things I love, so I wanted to reflect that in this gorgeous space.”
Open 4-11 from Tuesday to Thursday, 2pm until late on Fridays, and the same only from 1pm at weekends, we can imagine Stockport punters are about to be spending a lot of time in Fitzpatrick’s.
Daisy Jackson -
8th April 2022 
