Manchester’s newest cinema is set to open on the roof of Depot Mayfield next month, as Backyard Cinema brings its immersive movie going experience to the north for the ver first time.
Coming to Manchester for a limited 10-week run, it will feature way more than a cosy purpose=built cinema room, coming complete with an Enchanted Forest, two bars, street food trucks and a live music stage to boot.
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Due to open on Friday 21 October, the 330-capacity indoor cinema has just released its upcoming films for the Autumn / Winter season and there are some absolute crackers in there.
Movie fans should expect a mixture of brand new releases including the acclaimed Elvis biopic starring Tom Hanks (2022), the new Top Gun: Maverick (2022) and The Batman (2022), plus cult classics and Christmas hits later in the year.
The team has just teased out a list of cult classics too, including E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Die Hard (1988), Hocus Pocus (1993), Addams Family Values (1993), Beetlejuice (1988), plus other favourites such as The Greatest Showman (2017), Frozen 2 (2019), Beauty and the Beast (2017).
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Elsewhere, there’ll be a run of family favourites showing including The Greatest Showman (2017), Frozen 2 (2019), Beauty and the Beast (2017), and the brand new Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022).
Then come Christmas time, organisers are planning to go all-out with screenings of festiva favourites like Elf (2003), Home Alone (1990), Love Actually (2003), The Holiday (2006), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)and Miracle on 34th Street (1947).
Audiences can expect to be transported on a magical journey to a cinema like no other, with waiter service inside the cosy screening room ensuring they don’t need to miss a second of the action.
Filled with custom-made giant bean bag seating for guests to get cosied up in with ushers serving seasonal cocktails and sweet treats to create the most magical place to watch a movie, this is one winter experience you won’t want to miss.
Backyard Cinema will open from Wednesday to Sunday, starting from 21 October until 4 December, and from Monday to Sunday, from 5 December until 2 January. Show times are 12pm, 4pm, and 8pm, although these will vary depending on the day.
Visit the Backyard Cinema website here to check screening times and buy your tickets.
Feature image – The Art of Banksy / Supplied
City Centre
One of Manchester’s newest arts venues to host brand-new comedy festival this summer
Emily Sergeant
A brand-new comedy festival is set to take over one of the city centre’s newest arts venues this summer.
That’s right… some of the UK’s best comedy names are coming to Manchester.
That’s because renowned production company, A Lovely Time, has put together an absolutely jam-packed lineup of television names, internet sensations, and hotly-tipped newcomers, for a weekend full of comedy shows in the heart of the city centre at the exciting new arts venue Fairfield Social Club – which is tucked away down at the Green Quarter.
The exciting new festival, which is called A Lovely Weekend, will kick off on Friday 7 June with a gala show hosted by the company’s very-own Amy Gledhill, who comedy fans may recognise from appearances on BBC‘s Would I Lie To You, and more.
Then, across the rest of the three-day long weekend lineup, you can expect to catch comedy sets and work-in-progress performances from the likes of Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees Phil Ellis (Icklewick FM on BBC Radio 4), and Olga Koch (Live at The Apollo on BBC One), Paddy Young, who recently won the BBC New Comedy Award, Chris Cantrill (Avoidance on BBC One), and Blackpool’s-finest Tom Lawrinson.
Internet sensations such as Stevie Martin and Abi Clarke are also on the lineup, as well as hotly-tipped Edinburgh debutante, Hannah Platt, and Geordie sketch supergroup, Metroland.
You can even catch something a little bit different from Poppy Hillstead too, who’s set to transfer her popular podcast to the stage.
Split across two venues over three days, A Lovely Weekend is all looking set to be the largest undertaking from comedy production super-duo, A Lovely Time, which was created by promoter John Stansfield and comedian Chris Cantrill, and, as mentioned, it will take over the newly-opened Fairfield Social Club – a venue which has already hosted brilliant shows from the likes of Josie Long, Three Bean Salad, Ashley Gavin, and Nick Helm since opening back in March.
“We’re so excited to be bringing A Lovely Weekend to Manchester,” commented founder, John Stansfield.
“The city is long overdue a proper comedy festival, and across the three days at Fairfield Social Club, we’ve programmed some of our absolute favourites to ensure a lovely time for all.”
Tickets to A Lovely Weekend have just gone on sale yesterday (Wednesday 1 November), and are already selling fast – with both day and full weekend passes available from £20, and individual show tickets up for grabs from £6 each too.
Manchester’s new Instagrammable coffee shop is giving away FREE drinks tomorrow
Emily Sergeant
One of Manchester’s newest Instagrammable coffee shops is giving away free drinks tomorrow ahead of the bank holiday weekend.
With another long weekend right around the corner, and much of Greater Manchester and the UK fortunately looking set to bask in the springtime heat, popular coffee chain, Blank Street – which is one of Manchester city centre’s newest residents, with two sites in Piccadilly Gardens, and on the corner of King Street and Cross Street – has decided it wants to help the country “beat the 3pm slump”.
Ahead of the upcoming bank holiday weekend, the chain is inviting Mancs to “meet for matcha” tomorrow afternoon (Friday 3 May).
The exciting freebie offer is all said to be “inspired by data” that shows that almost half of office workers aren’t taking a break from their desks during the day, even despite research showing that this can boost productivity.
Hundreds of iced matcha lattes will be served up at Blank Street‘s Manchester branch on the corner of King Street and Cross Street between 3pm and 4pm tomorrow.
Manchester’s new Instagrammable coffee shop is giving away free drinks tomorrow / Credit: Blank Street
For anyone “ice cold pick-me-up ahead of the long weekend”, but keen not to tip their employers off, the coffee shop chain has created an online tool to allow workers to discreetly add a matcha moment to their diary.
The brand-new online tool will apparently help to “distract calendar snoopers” by creating a cleverly-named meeting and adding it automatically to Outlook, Google, or Apple calendars – with potential meeting titles that include plenty of corporate jargon to “provide the perfect alibi”.
So, all matcha fans need to do tomorrow afternoon is show the Blank Street team at their chosen branch a meeting in their calendar, and in return, they’ll receive a free small iced matcha latte of their choice from the chain’s delicious spring menu.
Blank Street’s popular matcha offering includes the Classic Matcha, the viral Blueberry Matcha, the silky-smooth White Chocolate Matcha, and the brand-new sumptuous Golden Matcha, so there’s something to “inspire every matcha lover to take a little time out”.
As matcha allows a slow release of caffeine, Blank Street says it’s the “perfect drink” to keep energy levels up throughout the afternoon when you’re stuck at your desk on a Friday.