In honour of his 60th birthday, Beautiful South musician Paul Heaton has revealed he’ll be putting cash behind the bar at 60 pubs today.
The multi-talented artist had previously planned to celebrate his birthday with a bicycle tour, taking him to 60 different UK and Irish pubs – but thanks to Covid and recording delays, he’s been forced to rethink.
So now, instead, he’s decided to put cash behind the bar of 60 handpicked local boozers today instead so that fans can at least enjoy a drink on him, if not actually with him, reports The Hoot.
The money will be behind tills today, Monday 9 May, at a number of different pubs in Greater Manchester – including The Britons Protection in Manchester city centre, The Railway Inn in West Didsbury and Bowling Green in Chorlton.
Image: The Manc Group
According to a list of pubs shared on Paul Heaton’s Facebook page, fans can also find cash at The Flying Horse in Rochdale, The Orion in Withington, Albert Wilsons in Withington the Dog & Partridge in Warrington and Bird i’th Hand in St Helens.
Paul Heaton made the announcement in a Facebook post, shared over the weekend.
ADVERTISEMENT
He wrote: “Both regulars and yourselves can enjoy a birthday drink on me (until the money runs out, or the bar runs dry!).
“The hope is to bring people together on the day, whilst recognising that many folk who bought my records or showed me support over the years, could do with a wee party, as we come out of Covid and hit potential financial struggles.
“I’ll announce the full list of pubs and locations tomorrow, so if there’s one near you please head over on Monday, show your support and raise a toast to me on my birthday!”
ADVERTISEMENT
The full list of pubs where Paul Heaton has put cash behind the bar for his 60th:
Robinsons Bar – Great Victoria St, Belfast
Eddie Murphys – Thomastown, Kilkenny
Peadar O’Donnells – Waterloo St, Derry
The Punters Rest – Tipperary
ADVERTISEMENT
The Sky on the Ground – Whitewell, Wexford
Courtney’s Bar – Killarney, Co. Kerry
Keohoes – Dublin
Tig Coili – The Latin Quarter, Galway
Bonners Corner Bar – Ballybofey, Co. Donegal
ADVERTISEMENT
The Old Toll Bar – Paisley Rd W, Glasgow
Nice n Sleazy – Sauchiehall St, Glasgow
The Sheep Heid Inn – The Causeway, Edinburgh
Kay’s Bar – Jamaica St, Edinburgh
Tanners Arms – Byker Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne
ADVERTISEMENT
The Freetrade Inn – Lawrence Road, Newcastle upon Tyne
The Half Moon – Northgate, Darlington
The Black Bull – Main St, Darvel
The Sportsmans Inn – Heads Ln, Carlisle
The Original Oak – Headingley, Leeds
ADVERTISEMENT
The Flying Horse – Packer St, Rochdale
Britons Protection – Bridgewater St, Manchester
Bowling Green – Chorlton-cum-Hardy
The Orion – Burton Road, Withington
The Railway Inn – Lapwing Ln, West Didsbury
ADVERTISEMENT
Albert Wilsons – Wilmslow Rd, Withington
The Dog & Partridge – Manchester Rd, Warrington
Bird I’th Hand – Prescot Rd, St Helens
The Saddle Inn – Dale St, Liverpool
The Casa Bar – Hope St, Liverpool
ADVERTISEMENT
The Globe – Cases St, Liverpool
The Coachmakers Arms – Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent
The Bay Horse – Market Pl, Market Weighton
Lord Nelson – Arundel Street, Sheffield
Riverside Kelham – Mowbray St, Sheffield
ADVERTISEMENT
The Morning Star – Greetwell Gate, Lincoln
Ye Olde Blue Bell – Market Place, Hull
The Whalebone – Wincolmlee, Hull
The Grafton – Grafton St, Hull
The White Horse – Hutton Cranswick
ADVERTISEMENT
Hatfield Main Pit Club – Stainforth, Doncaster
The Old Horse – London Road, Leicester
The Black Horse – Aylestone, Leicester
The Bulls Head – Cambridge St, Saint Neots
Hardies – Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
ADVERTISEMENT
Golden Fleece Inn – Market Square, Porthmadog
Rummer Tavern – Duke St, Cardiff
Hare & Hounds – King’s Heath, Birmingham
Patrick Kavanagh – Trafalgar Road, Birmingham
The Red Hart – Bodham, Norfolk
ADVERTISEMENT
The Eagle – Norfolk St, King’s Lynn
The Duke of York – Woodbridge Rd, Ipswich
The Stags Head – New Cavendish St, London
The Coffee House Pub – Beak St, London
The Glue Pot – Emlyn Square, Swindon
ADVERTISEMENT
The Thunderbolt – Bath Rd, Bristol
The Cricketers Inn – South St, Dorking
Grasshopper on the Green – Westerham, Kent
Minerva Inn – Looe St, Plymouth
Duke of Wellington – Brighton Road, Shoreham-by-Sea
Polgooth Inn – St Austell, Cornwall
Feature image – Facebook
News
Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Georgina Pellant -
9th May 2022 
