Christmas karaoke huts and curling lanes are coming to Spinningfields
Crazy cocktail bar Clubhouse is hosting a massive month-long Christmas party on Spinningfields Square with karaoke huts, duelling pianos and a 10m long curling lane
Spinningfields’ Square will be transformed into a winter wonderland later this month as wacky cocktail bar Clubhouse takes it over – bringing karaoke huts, a curling lane, and a giant 35ft high Christmas tree along for the ride.
Completely heated and covered in a giant pergola, the square will be transformed into a festive party hub following some careful planning by the cocktail connosieurs behind Clubhouse.
The team – who haven’t yet enjoyed a Christmas together before, thanks to 2020’s successive lockdowns – will be throwing their own version of a Christmas party in the square, complete with alpine karaoke huts, free-flowing Christmas cocktails, live music, and duelling New Orleans-style pianos.
Elsewhere, there’ll be festive cocktails like Santa Baby (pink gin, triple sec, sour, sugar and cranberry) and Life’s A Grinch (kiwi, sour, sugar and coconut) delivered straight to your huts; and a full on festive kebab and loaded fries menu created by the team behind Kong’s Chicken Shop and Meat and Three.
Chipotle orange and cumin pulled pork Christmas kebab with pickled red cabbage, tomato and cucumber, lettuce, garlic sauce, homemade chilli sauce and spiced pickled gherkins (£13) / Image: The Manc Group Chipotle orange and cumin pulled pork Christmas kebab, pulled turkey and cranberry kebab, and loaded fries with pigs in blankets, baconnaise and cranberry hot sauce (£13) / Image: The Manc Group
Think pigs in blanket-loaded fries, a festive poutine with mozzarella, mulled wine gravy and sprouts, plus Christmas kebabs stuffed with your choice of pulled turkey, chipotle orange and cumin pulled pork, mulled wine braised beef brisket, or slow cooked mushrooms and fennel.
Kicking off next Wednesday, 17 November, a Clubhouse Christmas will be opening on the Deansgate-facing square outside Spinningfields restaurant Australasia next week.
We’ve also heard rumours about a grinch who’ll be roaming the square in the evening – but that’s yet to be confirmed.
Clubhouse is well known for its crazy cocktails, which come garnished with treats like flumps, custard cremes and Haribo tangfastics / Image: The Manc Group
Music will be on from 7 – 10 pm every Friday and Saturday, with duelling pianists taking requests for everything from Metallica, to Christmas songs, to pop anthems. / Image: The Manc Group
Karaoke huts will be bookable for up to 6 people, priced from £50 an hour with an almost infinite number of song options. There’ll be drinks service direct into the huts, with drinks packages available to add on when you book.
Huts themselves will be priced at £50 an hour, with options for drinks on top priced from £35. For that, you’ll get 6 cans of prosecco served on ice, or alternatively you can opt for three four pint pitchers of Clubhouse pilsner (£50), or for two festive cocktail jugs of your choice (£50).
The bar will be bringing its wild, party bar attitude to Spinningfields Square from 17 November / Image: Clubhouse There’ll be plenty of drinks pouring at the Clubhouse bar in Spinningfields square / Image: The Manc Group
There’s also a VIP drinks package priced at £100 that gets you a jug of festive cocktail, a pitcher of clubhouse pilsner and 6 cans of prosecco.
As for the 10m long curling lane, an hour on here with up to six people will cost you £60. Just like in the huts, you can pre book drinks or use a QR code to have them delivered to you whilst you play.
Open from 12 pm – 11 pm every day, with last order at 11 pm, a Clubhouse Christmas kicks off on 17 November and runs up to 23 December before taking a short break for Christmas. It will then return on 26 until 30, before breaking for the New Year.
Whilst walk ins are welcome, booking is recommended. Karaoke huts can be pre-booked here.
To keep up with all things Clubhouse Christmas, make sure to follow the Instagram page here.
Featured Image – Clubhouse
City Centre
Halloween in the City will return to Manchester with iconic inflatable monsters and loads more
Emily Sergeant
Halloween is soon set to return to the city, and dozens of huge inflatable monsters will be invading Manchester next month.
Yes, it’s that time of year yet again… the monsters are back.
After several years of looming over Manchester‘s most-notable rooftops and lurking around famous city centre sites, it’s been revealed that the iconic MCR Monsters will be returning for another year of spooky celebrations next month, along with loads of other terrifying tricks and treats – with something for the whole family to get involved with.
Organisers Manchester BID are set to turn the city centre into a ‘monstrous playground’ once the free two-day festival of frightful fun returns.
Halloween in the City will return to Manchester with iconic inflatable monsters and loads more / Credit: Manchester BID | CityCo
This year’s annual Halloween in the City celebrations will feature a week-long colourful invasion of the MCR Monsters, following the two-day family festival across the city’s popular shopping destinations.
For the first time ever, the epic MCR Monsters – which are created by talented local artists, Filthy Luker and Pedro Estrellas – will invade the city’s rooftops and buildings on the opening day of the Halloween in the City festival.
They’ll be taking over leading locations including Manchester Arndale, Selfridges, The Royal Exchange, KAMPUS, and AO Arena – with more terrifying takeovers yet to be announced.
A slimy creature will also be on the loose across the city centre, as ‘The Leech’ – a wriggling eight metre-long monster, created and produced by Walk the Plank – makes its anticipated return.
As for other spine-chilling activities over the weekend-long festival, you can expect 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 light up in spooky style.
To finish things off, thousands of pumpkin lanterns will, once again, line the city’s shopping streets to add a ‘flicker of fun’ to the festival celebrations.
Halloween in the City festival will take over Manchester city centre on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 October, and MCR Monsters will be in town from Saturday 25 – Friday 31 October.
The pumpkins may potentially appear even earlier, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled.
The Manchester public are being invited to consult on ‘landmark’ development plans for Red Bank
Danny Jones
Members of the Greater Manchester public are being invited to take part in the official consultation period ahead of the proposed plans for a big new development in Red Bank.
The central district, located right near Cheetham Hill and now considered a key part of the Northern Gateway regeneration area, is on the verge of a significant transformation in the shape of two huge new ‘landmark’ towers.
With more skyscrapers steadily popping up all over the city centre and neighbouring parts of Salford (at an increasingly quick rate, we’d hasten to add), local residents are rightly being encouraged to come and share their thoughts and feedback on the impending project.
CGIs of the two new towers from near and afar. (Credit: Supplied)
Pencilled in by LWP Redbank Limited, the public consultation is not just specifically related to 50–54 Red Bank, but the surrounding area too.
With two separate planning permission applications submitted to Manchester City Council – one regarding the apartment blocks themselves and another to the ‘public realm’, which includes the immediate vicinity and, most notably, potential “future access to the historic viaduct.”
The headline of the major update to the Red Bank neighbourhood is, of course, the two apartment buildings, which would create a total of 509 new homes and employment opportunities.
Made up of a mix of one, two and three-bedroom flats said to be suitable for both single occupants and families, the developers are also slated to create several shared amenities, landscaped outdoor areas, and sweeping city views.
Equally important is how it will integrate into the existing area at ground level, with new commercial units set to complement the thriving businesses under the recognisable Red Bank arches; more than 2,000 square metres of open space will link the towers to the viaduct.
Sustainability is said to be at the heart of the proposals too, with the scheme expected to be largely car-free, as well as improving travel links to public transport networks, cycle parking, energy-efficient features, “including air source heat pumps and other low-carbon technologies.”
At present, those for the construction argue that limited use is being made of the space.
Locals hoping for a positive dialogue during the consultation period will be pleased to hear that “native planting, trees, and rain gardens will create green and welcoming spaces, with active frontages and open sightlines improving safety and vibrancy” have all been promised.
Issuing a statement on behalf of the project team, a spokesperson said in a recent press release: “Red Bank is fast becoming a creative and vibrant part of Manchester, and our vision is to build on this character to create a distinctive new neighbourhood.
“These proposals bring forward much-needed homes, alongside new public space, and active ground-floor uses that will add to the life of the area. We look forward to hearing what local people think during our consultation, which is being held until Friday, 3 October.”
A consultation drop-in event will take place at GRUB MCR, 50 Red Bank, Cheetham Hill (M4 4HF) from 3-7pm on Wednesday, 17 September. Further feedback is also welcome either HERE, over the email at [email protected], or by freephone: 0800 689 1095 (Mon-Fri, 9am-5:30pm).
If all goes ahead as planned, you can expect work to start on this particular part of the ‘Victoria North Masterplan’ early next year, if not even sooner.
Georgina Pellant -
11th November 2021 
