The canals around Manchester have definitely looked better – our city’s iconic waterways have currently been drained down, leaving a muddy, mulchy mess in their place.
The draining of the canals has also shown up the state of the littering that goes on, with people chucking all sorts of rubbish into the water.
There are the ubiquitous orange traffic cones sticking out of the mud like a roadwork graveyard.
But volunteers working on the clean-up have also found items like a hot water bottle, furniture, an unlabelled VHS tape, a fair few shoes, and – of course – a Mobike.
The reason for the draining of the canals is for the Canal & River Trust to carry out important repairs to the Rochdale Canal, including £150,000 worth of works to the Grade II-listed Lock 85 near Canal Street.
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A specialist operation has been taking place to rescue the fish left high and dry by the repair works, with a team of volunteers helping out with the clean-up.
Members of the local community have been able to head down to remove the debris that’s ended up here, and learn more about what goes into looking after the Rochdale Canal.
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And the Canal & River Trust has got more ideas up its sleeves yet – there’ll be a series of creative lighting installations, which will transform the Undercroft near Piccadilly.
The art events will ‘challenge and change perceptions of this overlooked and underused space’, and will take place on Tuesday 7, Wednesday 8, and Thursday 9 March between 5.30pm and 7pm.
James Long, engagement manager for the Canal & River Trust, said: “It’s important the Trust carries out these vital repairs to ensure the canal in our wonderful city of Manchester is kept in great working order for the benefit of wildlife and everyone who loves and uses it.
“We’re excited to host these transformative one-off light events in the Undercroft, which will allow people to experience a different view of this unique place. We would love people to come along and share their thoughts and perceptions of what they would like to see happen with the Undercroft.
“The canal offers an amazing, tranquil space, where everything slows down right in the city centre. With research telling us that time spent by the water can help us all to feel happier and more relaxed, it’s vital that we keep these special places open and safe for us all to enjoy both now and for future generations.”
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).
Loaded raclette roasties at Nova Star, Manchester. Credit: The Manc GroupA pigs in blanket hot dog. Credit: The Manc GroupProfiteroles from Parmogeddon. Credit: The Manc Group
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.
Daisy Jackson -
3rd March 2023 
