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Greater Manchester’s annual Repair Week is back to make you fall back in love with your stuff

Don’t bin it, bring it back to life

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 24th February 2025

If you’re not a handy person, when something breaks, the temptation is often to abandon or bin it straight away. 

But that’s just not how we’re gonna do it here in Greater Manchester any more, with the return of the annual Repair Week to help you learn valuable repair skills and save money at the same time. 

Whether it’s tinkering with your bicycle, fixing up your small tech items, or having your furniture re-varnished and upcycled, there are so many places and people who are on a mission to help you fall back in love with your belongings.

There are even workshops to help you put flat-pack furniture together. 

Taking place between 3 and 9 March, Repair Week will be the chance to learn skills, fix your stuff, gain repair confidence and find local fixers. 

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Events throughout the week (and beyond) will be hosted by community groups, businesses and plenty more. 

You can sharpen knives, fix zips, and un-wobble chairs with a little hand from local repair heroes. 

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JillyGDesign Jewellery in Heaton Moor will fix up your sentimental and special jewellery items, while Rag Revival will help you turn unusable textiles into new creations with basic sewing skills.

There are repair cafes popping up all over Greater Manchester where you can take your belongings. 

Greater Manchester’s annual Repair Week is back to make you fall back in love with your stuff
Greater Manchester’s annual Repair Week is back to make you fall back in love with your stuff
Greater Manchester’s annual Repair Week is back to make you fall back in love with your stuff. Credit: Supplied

Repair Week will highlight schemes like the Manchester Library of Things, where you can borrow the tools and equipment you need for those repair jobs at home. 

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During the week you’ll also be able to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the incredible Renew Hub, the UK’s biggest reuse hub, where donated items are brought back to life. 

Similarly, you’ll be able to get inside the textile recycling centre run by homelessness charity Emmaus Bolton, where you can choose your own fabric from the scrap store and turn it into a very handy draught excluder to keep costs down and your heat in.

Recycle for Greater Manchester’s Repair Week will take place between 3 and 9 March, with workshops, events and resources to help you revive your belongings. 

Find out more HERE. 

Read more: Loads of legendary retro steam trains will be travelling through Greater Manchester next month

Featured image: Supplied

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The Manchester restaurant serving up the ‘world’s hottest curry’ for just a few days

Danny Jones Danny Jones Zouk chilli challenge world's hottest curry

City centre favourite Zouk is serving up ‘the world’s hottest curry’ again to celebrate National Chilli Day next week.

The popular tea bar and grill located on Chester Street just off Oxford Road is slap bang in the middle of student central and has hordes of patrons lining up day in, day out, to taste their incredible Indian and Pakistani cuisine.

Now, to celebrate every spicy-food lover’s favourite day, Zouk is putting on special, limited-time-only menu to cater to all you heat freaks and speaking collectively on The Manc‘s behalf (several of us having tried it), it’s no joke.

The World’s Hottest Curry will be available for five days from Monday 24 to Friday 28 February, with a challenge on Thursday 27 February with prizes to anyone who can finish the fiery karahi.

The dishes

When it came to coming up with the world’s hottest curry, Zouk didn’t have to look far for inspiration, they simply picked the world’s hottest chilli: the Carolina Reaper Chilli.

Combining the 1,569,000 Scoville scorcher of a chilli with their much-loved and already spicy chicken karahi and vegetable karahi recipes, they knew they were on a winner. You might have to sign a waiver to eat it but that’s all part of the fun, right?

Typically prepared in a wok and cooked over hot flames with tomatoes, ginger, garlic, peppercorns and cumin to create the sauce base, the karahi originates from the Northwest region of Pakistan and has a great flavour. Depending on how brave you’re feeling, you can have it as a kebab or a full curry.

Credit: Supplied

That being said, this version does contain dried Carolina Reapers so you might not taste much beyond the heat of the sun after a few seconds. While the chilli is deemed suitable for human consumption, even Zouk’s chefs have admitted to struggling with the dish. Gulp. So, what can you win?

The challenge and prizes

Us Brits love a good curry and we already know that plenty of you won’t be able to resist the urge to take on the Reaper Challenge simply out of pride, so we might as well just tell you what you’ll have to eat in order to win the prizes.

Here’s what’s up for grabs:

Finish the full Carolina Reaper Curry (either chicken or veg) in one sitting (max eating time 30 minutes and no helping from companions), Zouk will give you the meal for free.

PLUS, a £50 Zouk Gift Card so you can come back at a later date to try their full menu (including some less omg-spicy options).

You’ll also get a Zouk Ice Cream Sunday to help cool off afterwards. Trust us, you’ll need it.

Issuing a statement for National Chilli Day and the Reaper Challenge, owner Tayub Amjad said: “Our food is usually more about flavour than heat but it’s National Chilli Day, and we know our customers love this challenge.

“For those who complete the challenge, you still have chance to come back and dine on us at a future date, so you will still get to experience the real Zouk too.”

What you thinking, Manchester? Are you up for taking on the world’s hottest curry?

Find out more and make a booking HERE.

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For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Image — ZOUK/The Manc Group

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Grammy-winning disco legend Purple Disco Machine is heading to Manchester for a huge gig

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Grammy-winning disco legend Purple Disco Machine is heading to Manchester for a huge gig

Legendary German nu-disco and house producer Purple Disco Machine has a huge Manchester gig on the horizon, hot off the back of the release of his Paradise album. 

The Grammy Award-winning artist’s latest release is packed with collaborations from some of the biggest names in music, including Nile Rodgers, Metronomy, Jake Shears, Duke Dumont, Sophie and the Giants, Nothing But Thieves and more.

And now he’s bringing his unforgettable disco vibes to a dance floor on our home turf, with a massive gig lined up at O2 Victoria Warehouse. 

Set to take place on Friday 7 March, Purple Disco Machine will promise an incredible night of sizzling dance and house music, with support from Dan Shake, Oden & Fatzo Live!, and Urbi. 

His irresistible sound includes hits like Hypnotised, Dished (Male Stripper) and, never one to miss a trend, an addictive remix of I’m Just Ken from the Barbie soundtrack. 

His other remixes have included tracks for Dua Lipa, Sir Elton John, Mark Ronson, Calvin Harris, Fatboy Slim and Britney Spears. 

And of course there’s that Grammy win for his remix of Lizzo’s About Damn Time.

On Paradise, he’s released tonnes more addictive disco beats, notably Substitution with Julian Perretta, and Honey Boy with Nile Rodgers. 

And live, Purple Disco Machine has cut his teeth on the British festival circuit, including recently joining Fisher at his headline Gunnersbury Park show in London. 

Now a multi-platinum-selling artist, with more than two billion streams worldwide, the Paradise tour is set to take Manchester by storm. 

Purple Disco Machine will be at the O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester on Friday 7 March – you can get tickets HERE. 

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Featured image: Supplied

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