A play about the infamous muscle squeezer Akinwale Arobieke,aka Purple Aki, is coming to Salford next month.
Notorious across the North West for his bizarre requests, the story of Purple Aki is something of an urban legend.
For North West teens growing up in the 80s and 90s, stories of a man asking to feel their muscles were common and Aki wasn’t considered much more than the butt of a joke – but over the years things took a darker turn.
Often seen carrying his signature plastic bag in hand, in 2006 he was officially banned from asking strangers to perform squats for him or from touching, feeling, and measuring muscles after harassing a number of young people.
Facebook groups were even set up in Manchester dedicated to him, with one called Purple Aki Watch 0161 promising to ‘keep Manchester squat free’, and in 2016 the BBC even made a documentary about him entitled The Man Who Squeezes Muscles – Searching For Purple Aki.
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Although Purple Aki was never convicted of a sex offence, he was banned from loitering near schools, gyms, or sports clubs and from entering the towns of St Helens, Warrington, or Widnes without police permission.
In the years that followed, Purple Aki would unsuccessfully attempt to overturn his muscle-squeezing ban, apologise in court to victims for forcing them to perform ‘inverted piggybacks’, and refer to himself as “infamous, notorious, everything from a bogeyman to whatever.”
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Now, his story will be brought to life with a show taking place at The White Hotel in Salford this September.
A description for the play reads: “She’s got the time, the curiosity, the resources—and a thirst for true crime. Meet Aki Browne—online sleuth like no other…
“A one-act play, featuring the hunt for a real-life bogeyman / racist caricature, this is an absurd journey into the obsessive world of a digital detective.”
The Treatment author Michael Nash has called the play a “supercharged drama of love, pursuit and that idea which our culture has done its best to empty of meaning, namely, ‘identity’”, adding: “Collings restores meaning, fiercely, wisely, and above all, with heart.”
Comparing the work to an “ultra-concentrated Moby Dick”, he continues: “The rendering of voices is magnificent and right: this is how the real world sounds! Unlike most writers in this land, Austin Collings is not in breach of the Weeds Act (1959).”
Due to take place on Thursday 21 September at The White Hotel in Salford, tickets are priced from just £10.
Featured image – BBC
Boroughs
The best things to do in Greater Manchester this week | 20 – 26 October 2025
Emily Sergeant
Autumn is here in all its glory.
With all its golden hues and cosy days, autumn in Greater Manchester really is a thing of beauty, and now that spooky season is right around the corner, that means there’s loads to do in our region – especially as schools break up for October half term at the end of this week.
Finding it a bit tricky to pick what to do though? No worries. We’ve chosen a few of the highlights for another edition of our ‘what’s on‘ guide.
Both free things and those that’ll set you back a few pennies are featured.
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Pumpkin Festival 2025
Kenyon Hall Farm
Monday 20 – Friday 31 October
Pumpkin Festival 2025 / Credit: The Manc Group
What could be more cute and autumnal than rummaging around in a field in the October sunshine, hunting for your perfect pumpkin? Nothing, if you ask us.
If you’re liking the sound of that, then good news, as Kenyon Hall Farm’s annual Pumpkin Festival has officially kicked off and they’ve got THOUSANDS to choose from.
As well as the fields full of pumpkins, there’s loads of seasonal items in the award-winning farm shop too (alongside masses of fresh produce), like tattoo transfers for your pumpkins, gonks, keyrings, and more.
And don’t forget to stop off at the cafe for their seasonal pumpkin specials.
Pumpkin Lanterns / Credit: CityCo / Manchester BID
Have you noticed that Manchester’s adorable little pumpkin lanterns have already started popping up around the city?
If you’re looking to get in the mood for Halloween, but want to keep things a little on the cheaper side this week, then you need look no further than up above in the city centre as the annual decorative pumpkin lanterns are back once again.
Going on a little tour to see the lanterns in the trees in St Ann’s Square, Market Street, and beyond is the perfect activity for all the family, easy to plan, and great for pictures – and it’s free too.
Feeling brave? Scare City has returned to the North West with yet another ‘immersive’ horror experience in the lead up to Halloween.
Taking over the grounds of the abandoned Camelot Theme Park for ‘another year of terror’, just as it has done for the past four years, this year’s event features a selection of terrifying zones to weave your way through – some familiar, some brand new.
Tickets are now available to book at £29.50 for standard entry, or £44.50 for the ‘Gold Entry’ (both plus a booking free).
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Find out more and grab tickets to this year’s event here.
Dare you enter the haunted Big Top? Gandeys Circus is back at the Trafford Centre this spooky season, and is bringing along with it a brand-new spine-chilling and action-packed Halloween Spooktacular.
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This legendary show will be filled with frights, delights, and dazzling sights for the whole family.
Prepare for jaw-dropping thrill acts that will leave you gasping, grand production numbers bursting with eerie enchantment, and of course, plenty of laughter and screams along the way, as this is Halloween entertainment like you’ve never seen before.
Want to know what other Halloween-themed events are happening at the Trafford Centre throughout this month?
Spooky season is nearly upon us, and the Trafford Centre has now announced its lineup of Halloween activities to get stuck into, and from creepy crafts, to hair-raising rides and eerie evening entertainment, there’s something for every brave soul.
The Oast House’s popular teepee draped in twinkling lights is back for the festive season.
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Complete with two roaring fires, twinkling fairy lights, faux fur throws, The Teepee is made up of four tents joined together to create a huge open hub, complete with a stage area for guests to dance the night away in festive spirit.
It’s all sounding set to be a popular spot for locals and those who’ve finished a hard day at work during the autumn and winter months.
The Flat Baker has a brand-new cafe, just around the corner from their busy hatch in Ancoats, and it’s a dream come true for owners Debs and Matt, who started the business out of their flat in lockdown, and now want this sunny cafe to be a welcoming space for all.
Having officially opened last week over on Radium Street in Ancoats, this is a local business we can all get behind.
Inside the new cafe, there’s a counter packed with their phenomenal Brazilian and French bakes, including traditional brigadeiros, their famed pistachio range, and delicate savoury pastries.
Make sure to pay them a visit and support independent local businesses.
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NEW OPENING – Power Hall
Science and Industry Museum
NEW OPENING – Power Hall / Credit: Science Museum Group
It’s been a long time coming, but the Science and Industry Museum has started welcoming visitors back inside one of the UK’s most significant industrial heritage buildings – the Power Hall.
Power Hall: The Andrew Law Gallery is a free working gallery where visitors can immerse themselves in the sights, smells, and sounds of the engine-driven ideas and industry that started in Manchester and went on to change the world.
Officially having reopened last Friday (17 October), it’s the latest building to open as part of a multi-million-pound regeneration project currently taking place.
A Halloween trail is set to return to Quarry Bank Mill this week for one of the region’s most hauntingly beautiful seasonal events.
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Returning for a second year, after proving to be an unforgettable experience for all ages in 2024, this year’s Halloween at Quarry Bank will again feature spooky light installations, a mesmerising laser garden, and a thrilling fire show, as well as live performances, and seasonal food and drink.
Fog will swirl through the paths around the grounds, as glowing demon eyes watch over passers-by and giant skeletons loom over twisted trees, and if you’re brave enough, the trail then heads inside the mill itself.
The MCR Monsters are back once again, and you’ve got to get yourselves out there to find them all.
Part of the annual wider ‘Halloween in the City’ events lineup, just as they have been doing for the past few years now, giant inflatable monsters will be looming and creeping over buildings across the city centre this week to transform some of our most well-known landmarks with tentacles and googly eyes and pointy teeth for a free trail.
There’s dozens of monsters to spot around town this year, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled and your wits about you.
Find out where all the monsters will be this year here.
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Silence of the Baths III
Victoria Baths
Saturday 25 October
Silence of the Baths III / Credit: Supplied | Chris Payne (via Supplied)
Ready for a fright night of thrills?
Victoria Baths will be transforming into a haunted haven of glamour and ghosts, as Girls on Film return for the best Halloween night in Manchester.
After a sell-out debut in 2023, and then for a smash-hit revival of three of Manchester’s most iconic fallen nightclubs in 2024, Silence of the Baths will be returning for its third year, transforming the stunning Grade II-listed building into one of the spookiest settings this Halloween.
The stunning pool complex will become a spooky playground filled with ghosts, spiders, coffins, and good times.
Find out more and grab some last-minute tickets here.
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Halloween in the City
Manchester City Centre
Saturday 25 – Friday 31 October
Halloween in the City 2025 / Credit: Manchester BID | CityCo
Halloween is set to return this weekend, and Manchester City Council and organisers Manchester BID will be turning city centre into a ‘monstrous playground’ as the free two-day festival of frightful fun makes its comeback.
Some of the spine-chilling activities you can expect over the weekend-long festival include family games, storytelling, and the bone-rattling Monster Party Procession, complete with giant puppet monsters, stilt walkers, and a live band.
Then as night falls, the city will glow ‘eerie green’ as iconic buildings across Manchester light up in spooky style.
Find out more about everything happening this year here.
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Have you noticed any ‘street nipples’ popping up around Manchester in recent weeks?
Yes that’s right, we did say ‘street nipples’, you heard us correctly.
In case you weren’t aware, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and as a way of marking this hugely crucial event, pavement studs across major UK cities like Manchester have been transformed into nipples as part of a bold conversation-starting initiative from charity Breast Cancer UK.
Pavement studs often go unnoticed, just like the early signs of breast cancer – but this clever new campaign is already stopping people in their tracks.
Need a spot for breakfast? Manchester’s newest food hall has got you covered.
House of Social now does breakfast – and my lord, are you lot in for a treat with this one.
From Ok Taqueria, there’s breakfast burritos packed with jalapeño sausage patties and all manner of other breakfast items, there’s a taste of New York from Dough Religion in the form of pancake stacks and in-house bagels.
And last but not least, Burger and Beyond has the hangover cure sent from the heavens, with breakfast buns and the most PERFECT hash browns on the side.
Summer may be over, but guess what? Now that autumn is well and truly here, that means we get to wear layers, cosy up in our favourite places, and eat heartwarming plates piled high with all the major food groups.
Whether you want the likes of Banyan’s bottomless Yorkshire puddings bigger than your head, or swapping your meat out for a pie (you heard us), we’ve got something to suit everyone… you can even get dog roasts too, if you ask The Refuge nicely.
Check out our top 25 best places to head to for a perfect roast in Greater Manchester here.
Roast dinners / Credit: The Manc Group
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Does your sweet tooth needing satisfying instead? Look at these spooky bakes.
Manchester’s most creative bakery has delivered the goods again this autumn, with a whole menu of seasonal treats and spooky pastries.
Half Dozen Other’s Halloween-inspired specials include a pistachio choux bun with a wobbly brain inside, an adorable pumpkin and pecan danish, and cherry cookie pie complete with witchy marzipan finger on top.
And beyond that, this month’s menu features a pistachio twist on their sell-out honey toast twice-baked croissant, a blood orange pain au chocolat, and a vegan charcoal cookies and cream croissant.
Or how about crumble and custard doughnuts instead?
Now we’ve got your attention.
Of course we’re talking about Baby Mayhem – the tiny hatch in Ancoats that’s become famous locally for its ice cream doughnuts, but now they’ve gone all autumnal with a batch of new specials.
Treat yourself to a warm doughnut, filled with spiced apple and topped with crunchy crumble and custard, or grab a sharer full of dinky doughnuts with ice cream and your choice of sauce, served on top of either a Biscoff or Kinder milkshake.
Fans of their weird and wonderful spaghetti ice cream needn’t worry either, because that’s still on tap, along with different fruity flavours like cherry.
Featured Image – Chris Payne | The Manc Group | Manchester BID
Boroughs
Thousands of elderly and disabled people to get free 24-hour bus travel across Greater Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Hundreds of thousands of elderly and disabled people in Greater Manchester are set to benefit from round-the-clock bus travel for free.
Currently, as part on an ongoing pilot scheme, people with a Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM)-issued concessionary travel pass have free unlimited travel on Bee Network buses between 9.30am and midnight during the week, and all day on weekends and public holidays.
The rule was lifted in August on a trial basis for a month, meaning older and disabled residents in Greater Manchester had access to unlimited free bus travel any time between the allocated hours.
During the August trial, more than 100,000 journeys were made by older and disabled people – with up to 6,000 people a day making use of the pilot.
But now, after proving to be a huge success, the pilot is being extended even further, so that 400,000 eligible residents will now get free bus travel 24-hours a day, seven days a week, starting from 1 November.
If you travel with a TfGM-issued concessionary travel pass, from 1 November you’ll be able to use it on #BeeNetwork buses before 9.30am as part of a second month-long trial.
As well as free early-morning bus travel, during the trial starting in November, eligible residents will be able to board the Bee Network’s night buses for free too.
TfGM says allowing concessionary pass holders to travel at any time will ‘better connect’ them to healthcare, leisure, and retail opportunities.
“The last trial in August was a brilliant success, which saw more than 100,000 journeys made by our older and disabled people before 9.30am,” commented Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.
“We are now carrying out this second trial, at a busier time of year, to see whether we can safely remove the restriction permanently and help our older and disabled people to get to work, go shopping, and get to medical appointments.
“We want the Bee Network to be the best public transport system possible and this means it needs to support all of our residents and communities to make the journeys they need to make and use the bus more.”
Georgina Pellant -
11th August 2023 
