Spooky season is almost upon us, and with that comes all manner of ghouls and ghosts. Our favourite variety, most definitely, has to be the edible kind – and one Manchester baker has really delivered the goods this year.
Over on Tib Street, Manchester coffee and donut shop Siop Shop is pulling out all the stops this October by combining two of the harvest season’s best attributes: Halloween, and pumpkin spice.
Shaped just like a little gourd, its pumpkin spice pumpkin donuts are covered in orange icing and topped with a green sugary ‘stem’, whilst inside they’re stuffed with delicately spiced pumpkin creme patisserie.
Priced at £4.50 each, they’re available at the Northern Quarter coffee and donut shop all month alongside a selection of other Halloween-themed donuts (or ghoul’nuts, as the shop’s owner is calling them).
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Alongside the pumpkin spice donuts, described by staff when we visit as ‘undoubtedly the star of the show’, Siop Shop is also selling coffee and white chocolate Egyptian mummies (£4.50), vegan ghosts (£4.20), and bone-shaped donuts covered in a classic glaze (£3.65).
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Elsewhere, you’ll find an array of coffees, classic donuts and salted caramel brownies, alongside giant sausage rolls and a selection of savoury danishes, filled with the likes of tomato, mascarpone and parma ham, or braised leek and feta.
It’s not the first time that Siop Shop has impressed with its themed donuts. Earlier this year, the bakers behind the cafe also released a series of amazing ‘kiss off’ Love Hearts specials for Valentine’s Day.
The baking team took the nostalgic favourite and brought it firmly into 2022 with “crude, off-color sentiments” like ‘kiss off’, ‘u stink’ and, our personal favourite, ‘prize pig’.
If you consider yourself a fan of good coffee and donuts, then you really need to pay Siop Shop a visit. Trust us, you will have no regrets.
Feature image – The Manc Eats
Manchester
Manchester’s new £2.5m indoor activity park is offering 50% off tickets over half term
Emily Sergeant
Greater Manchester’s newly-opened indoor activity park is offering families the chance to visit for half price this spring holidays.
In case you missed it, Salford was chosen by Oxygen Activeplay as the location for its next venture, an officially opened the doors to its newest state-of-the-art equipment facility above bustling food hall Kargo MKT, inside the former site of I’m a Celebrity Jungle Challenge down at Quayside MediaCity in mid February.
Since opening to the public, Oxygen MediaCity has already been helping lots of local families stay active and have fun at the same time.
Following a £2.5 million investment, the new park features more than 30 trampolines, a mega-air bag, a high ropes course, a ‘Rollglider’ aerial ride which flies over the facility, and Oxygen’s signature illuminated sensory experience ‘Excite Tunnel’, along with even more “epic” activities.
A series of optional games and dance parties are also on offer during each play session, and the new Manchester park also hosts ‘Peaceful Play’ sessions designed for neurodivergent guests, who prefer a calmer and quieter playing environment, as well as there being a ‘Toddler Venture Zone’.
A cafe serving drinks, snacks, and meals also overlooks the park, so once you’re all bounced out, you can recharge with a full feast from the new menu before heading home.
Manchester’s new £2.5m indoor activity park is offering 50% off tickets over half term / Credit: Jamie McPhilimey
And thankfully, once schools are out for the spring holidays in a couple of weeks time, families can get themselves one of Oxygen at MediaCity’s Easter Holiday Pass, which gives pass holders the chance to visit the park on any five days of the two-week break – including on weekends and bank holidays – for 60 minutes of ‘Open Play’.
For a limited time only, you can save some pennies and take advantage of a half price offer and get your hands on an Easter Holidays Pass for only £30.
Little Simz announces biggest-ever Manchester gig ahead of new album
Danny Jones
The queen of British rap, the one and only Little Simz, is coming back to Manchester for what will be her biggest headline show in this city to date.
A whole three years on from her last album No Thank You, the rapper from Islington is heading back out on the road after wrapping up the recording of her sixth studio LP, Lotus.
The first single ‘FREE’ has already dropped, and despite the release date itself being pushed back, news of a new Little Simz tour later this year more than makes up for it, if you ask us.
Little Simz already has two NME Awards to her name for Best British Solo Act and Best British Album, not to mention a BRIT itself for Best New Artist in 2022; oh yeah, and she won the Mercury Prize as well as a BET Hip Hop Award over in the States for ‘Best International Flow’ – all before she turned 30.
With that in mind, you can understand why so many are frothing at the mouth to hear her new record when it does finally drop.
There doesn’t appear to be any problems with the album itself: Simbiatu Abisola Abiola Ajikawo, to use her full name, is simply busier than ever and has just booked a role in a film because, yes, she acts too.
Lotus will now drop on Friday, 6 June, just in time for fans to get learning the lyrics ahead of festival season, which we have no doubt she’ll play a big part in.
You can hear the first taste of the next chapter down below:
Little Simz returns to Manchester for a Co-op Live debut on 16 October with tour supports still yet to be announced.
Pre-sale goes live on Wednesday, 9 April from 10am for official Co-op members and general admission will be available from the same time on the following Friday (11 April).
Georgina Pellant -
20th October 2022 
