The brand new city centre opening Courts Club is giving away a whopping 500 free coffees this Thursday to Mancs in need of a mid-week pick-me-up.
Let’s be honest, the only thing better than a shot of much-needed caffeine is a freebie.
Courts Club opened last month over in the ever-growing St John’s district just down from Deansgate and next door to Spinningfields, bringing a refreshing combination rarely seen in Manchester: basketball, tennis, boules, a bar, butties, lights bites and more – all in one space.
Bringing a sense of almost beachside Florida meets laid-back Lawn Club (they are the same team behind it after all) to the bustling city centre, and to mark not only their first month of business but a new loyalty scheme, they’ve decided to hand out a shed load of free coffees to celebrate.
The offer is simple: the first 500 people to attend between 8am-12pm this Thursday, 22 August will earn a free coffee as well as an intro to their loyalty scheme, which offers a free drink for every seven stamps collected.
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Plus, they will also be given a headstart with not one but two stamps added, meaning they can collect another free drink after their next five visits.
Opening from 8am and closing at 11pm every weekday, Courts Club is an all-hours venue but, especially whilst the weather is still nice, it’s a great little sun-trap to sit and have your lunch.
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With that in mind, as part of this new promotion under the Courts Club loyalty scheme, they’re also launching the Courts Combo lunch deal, which offers a soft drink or hot beverage with a toastie and a small salad for just a tenner.
Customers can also upgrade their drink to a cheeky alcoholic bev for an extra £2 if they fancy, and the toastie menu includes a selection of gooey sarnies made with a mix of mozzarella and American cheese with garlic butter using local tin loaf bread from independent supplier Half Dozen Other. Oof, go on then.
Credit: The Manc Group/Supplied
Ant Everatt, General Manager over at Courts Club said: “We were given such a warm welcome last month when we opened our doors, and saw over 500 people come down to our launch party.
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“We’re keen to keep growing our relationship and community connections within the neighbourhood and with so many businesses and residents nearby, we’re the perfect spot to grab a coffee – and even better that you can grab a free one on us!
“We’ve already shown we can be the perfect post-work meeting spot and a place to shoot some hoops or play tennis, but now we’re here to show we can serve up coffee, brunch and be the ‘go-to’ morning hangout too.”
It’s certainly going to be our go-to this Thursday if there are free coffees up for grabs, put it that way.
Courts Club is now open seven days a week, with courts available for hire and the space itself open for large group bookings.
Part of the Shiko Group – a boutique hospitality company that manages several bars, cafes and event spaces across Manchester and Leeds such as Canary Bar, Fearns Leeds, Side Street Studios, Deck & Dome, Foleys XYZ, Foleys ABC, The Stables and the aforementioned Lawn Club – there’s real Northern roots behind this latest venture.
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You can get another look at all the fun they have on offer down below:
Manchester Day 2026 – all the road closures set to be in place across the city centre
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Day is back for 2026 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 Sunday 26 July, and as always, it’s set to be ‘the day summer officially starts’ in the city centre – with organisers going all in to make this year’s event one of the very-best yet.
This year’s Manchester Day is promising to have a ‘distinctly Catalan flavour’, as performers from Barcelona head to Manchester to join in the festivities in what is a first for the event.
The day will be packed full of free events and activities to get involved with.
Heading into the city centre for Manchester Day this Sunday 26 July?
Some transport services will be affected by planned works and road closures, so plan ahead. 🚋
— Manchester City Council (@ManCityCouncil) July 23, 2026
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, with city’s streets and squares filled with Catalan spirit, along with some surprising links to books and reading along the way.
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.
A number of road closures and parking suspensions will be in place / Credit: Manchester City Council
Manchester Day 2026 – Road Closures
Sunday 26 July
From 11am to 3pm, Manchester City Council has confirmed that the following roads will be closed:
Peter Street (Hall Street to Deansgate)
Mount Street (Windmill Street to Albert Square)
Deansgate (St Johns Street to Cateaton Street)
From 11am to 4pm, the following roads will be closed:
St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
Market Street (Cross Street to Exchange Street)
St Ann’s Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
Cross Street (Corporation Street to Princess Street)
All accessible bays, bus lanes, and taxi ranks within the closed areas will also be suspended during from 9pm on Saturday 25 July to 9pm on Sunday 26 July.
The parking suspensions set to be in place are:
Peter Street (Portland Street to Deansgate)
Mount Street (Windmill Street to Albert Square)
Deansgate (St Johns Street to Cateaton Street)
Central Street (Southmill Street to Mount Street)
St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
Market Street (Cross Street to Exchange Street)
St Ann’s Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
Cross Street (Corporation Street to Princess Street)
Princess Street (Cross Street to George Street)
John Dalton Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
Clarence Street (Princess Street to Booth Street)
St Mary’s Street (Southgate to Deansgate)
Southgate (King Street West to St Mary’s Street)
Museum Street (Peter Street to Windmill Street)
Southmill Street (Windmill Street to Lloyd Street)
Lloyd Street (Southmill Street to Deansgate)
Dickenson Street (Portland Street to George Street)
George Street (Princess Street to Dickenson Street)
Cateaton Street (Exchange Square to Deansgate)
St James’ Square (John Dalton Street to End)
Booth Street (Cooper Street to Clarence Street)
Kennedy Street (Cooper Street to Clarence Street)
King Street (Spring Gardens to Cross Street)
Queen Street (Deansgate to Lincoln Square)
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 2026 is taking over the city centre on Sunday 26 July, and will be kicking off at midday right through to 5pm.
Check out everything you need to know ahead of the event here.
Featured Image – Manchester City Council
City Centre
Temporary location for ‘Number 10 North’ in Manchester city centre reportedly confirmed
Emily Sergeant
The temporary location for the new Number 10 North project has been announced.
You may remember that earlier last month, it was revealed that Andy Burnham had intentions to create a Number 10 North if he was to become Prime Minister, and now that he is, more details on this move to Manchester have been revealed.
Number 10 North is expected to be a ‘dominant driver of the UK’s economy’ once it’s officially up and running, Government ministers say.
According to BBC News reports, civil servants working for Government departments based in London have been offered relocation packages to encourage them to move to the northern base in Manchester, which is said to be being overseen by cabinet minister and ally of Andy Burnham, Louise Haigh.
The temporary location for ‘Number 10 North’ in Manchester city centre has reportedly been confirmed / Credit: gov.uk (via Wikimedia Commons)
Haigh – who is the first secretary of state – has reportedly been asked, according to the BBC, to have been asked to lead a new Office for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (OPMC), which will give her control of key decision-making bodies across Government.
The OPMC will include No 10 and No 10 North, as well as other teams within the Cabinet Office.
It is understood, according to the same BBC reports, that the initial temporary location of No 10 North will be Heron House, just off Albert Square in central Manchester, which is the same building that currently houses offices for the intelligence service GCHQ, and where eyewitnesses have spotted police officers guarding in recent days.
🚨 NEW: No 10 North will temporarily be based at Heron House in central Manchester
Whitehall civil servants have been offered relocation packages to encourage them to move pic.twitter.com/BVyUkNfxRr
The longer-term base for Number 10 North, however, is expected to be at the new Government ‘Digital Campus’, which is currently under construction in the Ancoats and is not due for completion until 2032.
Alongside Whitehall officials who are willing to move to Manchester, it is also likely there will be a significant movement of staff from Burnham’s former mayoral team at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), the BBC reports.
You can discover more about the plans for Number 10 North here.
Danny Jones -
20th August 2024 
