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A tribute to Manchester’s iconic Jilly’s Rockworld club is happening at the Ritz
The Manc -
14th February 2020
The Manc -
14th February 2020 What's On
Full list of road closures set to be in place as Manchester Day 2025 takes over the city
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Day is back for 2025 this weekend, and the full list of road closures set to be in place has been confirmed.
Now that schools are officially out across Greater Manchester, and the summer holidays are well and truly here, the hugely-popular Manchester Day is making a return once again this Saturday 26 July, and as always, it’s set to be ‘the day summer officially starts’ in the city centre – with a massive celebration of ‘all things Mancunian’ on the cards.
The theme of this year’s annual event is music, and it’s inspired by Manchester’s spectacular summer of sound, spearheaded by Oasis Live ’25 that recently concluded at Heaton Park.
The day will be packed full of free events and activities to get involved with.
As always, activities will be taking place right across the city centre – from St Ann’s Square to Cathedral Gardens, and everywhere in between.
Organisers say there will be plenty of chances throughout the day for visitors, both young and old, to get stuck in, try their hand at making music and maybe even uncover a hidden musical talent they didn’t know they had.
But of course, in order for the all the fun to go ahead as safely as possible, and as tends to be the case for events like these, Manchester City Council says it will need to make some temporary road closures to facilitate it.
The full list of road closures has now been confirmed by the Council, and there’s some major city centre thoroughfares set to be out of action.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Manchester Day 2025 – Road Closures
Saturday 26 July
From 6am to 10pm, Manchester City Council has confirmed that the following roads will be closed:
- Deansgate (Victoria Street to John Dalton Street)
- St Ann Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
- Cross Street (Corporation Street to New Market Street)
- St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
- Market Street (Cross Street to Exchange Street)
- Exchange Street (St Mary’s Gate to St Ann’s Square)
- Cateaton Street (Deansgate to Exchange Square)
- Victoria Street (Deansgate to Cathedral Approach)
- Fennel Street (Corporation Street to Cathedral Street)
- Cathedral Street (Fennel Street to Exchange Square)
From 10am to 2pm:
- Deansgate (John Dalton Street to St John Street)
- Peter Street (St James Street to Deansgate)
- Mount Street (Windmill Street to Albert Square)
- Central Street (Southmill Street to Mount Street)
All accessible bays, bus lanes, and taxi ranks within the closed areas will also be suspended during from 9pm on Friday 25 July to 9pm on Saturday 26 July.
The parking suspensions set to be in place are:
- Deansgate (Victoria Street to St John Street)
- Peter Street (St James Street to Deansgate)
- Mount Street (Windmill Street to Albert Square)
- Central Street (Southmill Street to Mount Street)
- Southmill Street (Windmill Street to Jackson’s Row)
- Museum Street (Windmill Street to Peter Street)
- George Street (Princess Street to Dickinson Street)
- Victoria Street (Deansgate to Cathedral Approach)
- St Ann Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
- Cross Street (Corporation Street to New Market Street)
- Cateaton Street (Deansgate to Exchange Square)
- Market Street (Cross Street to St Mary’s Gate)
- St Mary’s Gate (Market Street to Deansgate)
- John Dalton Street (Cross Street to Deansgate)
- King Street (Cross Street to Spring Gardens)
- St James’s Square (King Street to South King Street)
- St Mary’s Street (Southgate to Deansgate)
- Cathedral Street (Fennel Street to Exchange Square)
- Fennel Street (Corporation Street to Cathedral Street)
- Southgate (King Street West to St Mary’s Street)
On the day, full traffic diversion signage will be in place across all areas affected by road closures, and the Council says it will do its best to ‘minimise’ their duration.
Manchester Day 2025 is taking over the city centre on Saturday 26 July, and will be kicking off at midday right through to 5pm.
Read more:
- New art trail celebrating city’s music scene takes over Manchester for summer
- Popular daytime rave where you can be in bed by 9pm is coming back to Manchester
- Council organises thousands of FREE activities for Greater Manchester kids this summer
Check out everything you need to know ahead of the event here.
Featured Image – Manchester City Council
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There’s a World Gravy Wrestling Championship near Greater Manchester
Thomas Melia
Just on the outskirts of Greater Manchester, there’s a country pub set in a rural village that hosts a world gravy wrestling championship.
Leave it to us northerners to organise a world gravy wrestling championship because let’s face it, there’s nothing more northern than plummeting yourself into bucket loads of gravy.
It’s a well-known fact that we Brits, especially northerners, love a good splash of gravy with our meals – so much so, in fact, that according to one study, we drench meals in gravy three times a week.
At The Rose ‘N’ Bowl in the village of Stacksteads, it’s not just their meals they’re drenching in the brown nectar; they drench any willing guest in this beige saucy goodness too as part of the World Gravy Wrestling Championships.
Participants are expected to wrestle in the gravy for two minutes, with the winner being judged not only on their play-fighting skills but also on their choice of fancy dress, comedy effect and entertainment.
Past wrestlers have rocked up as zebras, racehorse jockeys and famous TV characters like Ali G and Mickey Mouse.
Each wrestler is encouraged to raise money on behalf of a charity of their choice, but if you don’t have one, donations will be sent to East Lancashire Hospice, which has helped people countywide suffering from life-limiting illness for the past 30 years.
The World Gravy Wrestling Championships have been held outside this very pub for over a decade, with the first ever event taking place at a car park in Wigan before it found a permanent home outside The Rose ‘N’ Bowl.
And if swimming in a pool of gravy isn’t for you, don’t fret because there’s a handful of sauce-free activities you can get involved with spread throughout the pub’s car park.
Fret not, past events have included bouncy castles, cheerleading performances, craft beer stalls, cake and tombola stands and even a BB gun shooting range that are all completely gravy-free.
There will even be help from a local fire brigade who will be on hand to wash down wrestlers in between their gravy-filled tournament, so they can wander round all the stalls too.
Read more:
- The first-ever Horrible Histories live concert is coming to Manchester
- 14 iconic Oasis locations you need to visit in Manchester
- A candlelit concert and drone show is visiting Manchester later this year
The 2025 World Gravy Wrestling Championships are coming to The Rose ‘N’ Bowl in Stacksteads on 25 August, with tickets available in person only, but plenty of information about the event HERE.
If you’re after signing up to be one of the wrestlers at this event, applications are still open and you can get stuck in with all the details you need HERE.
And if that wasn’t enough Northern food competitive action, we’ll catch you at the World Black Pudding Hurling Championships, innabit.
For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.
Featured Images – Caravanum (via Flickr)
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