City Centre

Looney Tunes characters spray-painted across Manchester in new street art trail

The new street art trail is aiming to welcome people back to the city post lockdown.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 16th June 2021

Have you seen the playful world of Looney Tunes has started taking to the streets of Manchester over the last week?

Well, your eyes weren’t deceiving you.

11 of the most-beloved characters from the Looney Tunes series – including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Speedy Gonzales, Tasmanian Devil and more – have all been spray-painted at various locations across the city centre as part of an exploratory street art trail that’s aiming to welcome people back to the city post lockdown.

There’s also a family-friendly walking tour taking place, too, so you can see all the colourful characters popping up around the city. 

In partnership with Warner Bros UK, CityCo and Manchester BID enlisted the talents of street artist Captain Kris to create artwork of the iconic Looney Tunes characters across 12 of the city centre’s most popular hubs.

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With the art trail hoping to appeal to both families and nostalgia-hunting adults alike, the mischievous artwork sees Daffy Duck waiting for a tram at Exchange Square, Speedy Gonzalez sprinting through Spinningfields, Bugs Bunny bursting out of Primark, Porky Pig popping a pipe at Pen and Pencil, Wile E. Coyote chasing Road Runner around Symphony Park, and the Looney Tunes gang skateboarding through Deansgate Square.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CP5uguTHzVB/

But how exactly does the tour work?

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Using the latest technology, QR codes have been hidden within each piece of character art revealing a virtual map and the opportunity to discover what else is new from the Looney Tunes – including the chance to watch a trailer for the new Space Jam: A New Legacy film, which is hitting screens this year.

The map shows each location on the trail, and allows people to discover them all as they make their way through central Manchester.

The trail locations are:

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  1. Spinningfields
  2. Deansgate Square
  3. First Street
  4. Circle Square
  5. Canal Street
  6. 111 Piccadilly
  7. The Pen and Pencil
  8. Common x2 
  9. Primark
  10. Exchange Square tram stop
  11. Printworks
Street artist Captain Kris was able to bring the characters to life through imaginative design / Credit: CityCo & Manchester BID

Captain Kris and street art collective Blank Walls designed the artwork with the aim to make the trail vibrant and interactive.

“Like most people, I’ve loved Looney Tunes since I was a child,” Captain Kris said.

“It’s been a lot of fun creating these cheeky, adventurous poses, with the Looney Tunes characters wreaking havoc across Manchester.”

Speaking on the arrival of the new art trail, Vaughan Allen, Chief Executive of CityCo & Manchester BID, said: “Manchester is renowned for its street art which is well-loved by residents, workers and visitors [so] we’re delighted to be partnering with the legendary Warner Bros company to bring its iconic Looney Tunes characters to the city centre for this fun, family-friendly, outdoor art trail.

“This is a great way of continuing to animate the city this summer in support of our business community.”

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You can explore Manchester’s Looney Tunes trail from now until the end of July.

The Manc has been following the Looney Tunes characters as they’ve been popping up around the city this past week, so head on over to our Instagram (@the.manc) and TikTok (@the.manc) to see them all in action.

Featured Image – CityCo & Manchester BID

City Centre

This Manchester restaurant is serving an all-you-can-eat curry buffet throughout Ramadan

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

A restaurant in Manchester is serving up a bottomless curry buffet throughout Ramadan and it sounds absolutely epic.

From today, 23 March, Zouk Tea Bar & Grill on Oxford Road is bringing back its brilliant all-you-can-eat Indian buffet – serving up unlimited quantities of customer favourites including the likes of chicken sindhi biryani, dall makhani and tarka dall curries alongside assorted naan breads, roti, and basmati rice.

Served throughout the month of Ramadan, there are an impressive amount of dishes on offer – and all for the price of £25pp for adults or £12.50 per child (under 12), with under 5’s eating free.

image: Zouk
image: Zouk

Add to the list a huge quantity of chicken tikka and seekh kebabs, a whole stuffed lamb raan, chicken 65, vegetable samosas, and more curries of lamb and potatoes, spinach and chicken, and it’s easy to see why Zouk’s bottomless buffet continues to be such a hit year-on-year.

It doesn’t stop there, either. There is a mouthwatering selection of desserts included in the buffet too, with choices like mango and raspberry Mumbai mess, chocolate brownies and fresh fruit alongside traditional favourite gulab jamon.

Each day the menu will vary slightly but it will always include a wide selection of salads, starters,
curries, chutneys, accompaniments, desserts, and roasted lamb.

This year Zouk has created two sittings for the halal buffet, following requests from customers to keep it
running for longer each evening. There will be one sitting at Iftar (sunset) each day and a second
sitting an hour later.

Booking is advised and when customers go onto Zouk’s website they can book at Iftar or later in the evening for the additional buffet sitting on their chosen date.

Image: Zouk

Customers are advised to note that the timings do change slightly throughout the month of Ramadan, due to the variation in BST and the arrival of lighter evenings.

Owner Tayub Amjad said: “Everyone is welcome to join us at this special time and we have created a secondsitting of the buffet an hour after Iftar.

Tayub added: “By offering two sittings, we can accommodate families who wish to pray together at
home before coming out to eat and also customers who may not be fasting or participating in
Ramadan personally but who wish to experience the fabulous buffet with friends and family and
learn more about Ramadan.

Read more: Manchester pasta restaurant The Sparrows has just won a prestigious new Michelin award

“All diners joining us will be helping us to support the homeless in Manchester, as we will make a donation from every cover charge to local homeless Charities.”

A typical menu will include:

Salads: Mango Salad, Kachumber, Tabbouleh

Starters: Vegetable Samosa, Mixed Vegetable Pakora, Seekh Kebab, Chicken 65, Dhai Balahi

Mains: Chicken Handi, Lamb & Potato, Dall Makhana, Vegetable Pilau Rice, Assorted Fresh Naan Bread, Chutney & Raita, Carvery, Roasted Lamb Raan, Chef Special Rice

Desserts: A selection of freshly made desserts

Drinks: Mango Lassi, water

Feature image – Zouk

City Centre

Manchester pasta restaurant The Sparrows has just won a prestigious new Michelin award

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

Two months after it was listed in the prestigious Michelin Guide, Manchester European pasta and dumplings restaurant The Sparrows has been honoured by inspectors once again – this time with a Bib Gourmand.

The restaurant is just one out of 20 restaurants in the UK and Ireland to be awarded the coveted Michelin award, it was revealed yesterday.

The news comes ahead of the announcement of Michelin’s new starred restaurants, which will be unveiled on Monday.

Not quite a star, but most definitely not a consolation prize, the Bib Gourmand is named after Bibendum, the friendly Michelin Man and the official company mascot for the Michelin Group.

Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats

According to Michelin, it is a just-as-esteemed rating that ‘recognizes friendly establishments that serve good food at moderate prices.’

The new rating is definitely something for The Sparrows to be proud of, and another step up from its guide inclusion in January.

Read more: Reviewed: The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pasta and dumpling restaurant that just made the Michelin Guide

At the time, the guide described it as follows: “Nestled under the railway arches in Manchester’s Green Quarter is a restaurant whose name is (almost) the English translation of the word ‘spätzle’ – which gives some clue as to the style of food on offer here.

“The dumplings and assorted pasta dishes are all made in-house and include excellent pierogi. The focus on Eastern Europe carries through to the wine list, which has a leaning towards Polish wines.”

Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats

Now, it’s sure to have even more customers clamouring at the door.

Loved by locals for its continental pasta and dumplings, gorgeous European wine list and sake collection, The Sparrows in the Green Quarter is something of a hidden gem – tucked in a disused railway arch on Red Bank.

It received rave reviews from local and national critics alike when it first opened in 2019 in a tiny space with room for just 12 covers. Since then, it’s relocated to a bigger home and its following has grown significantly.

Read more: A restaurant in Ancoats is serving up plates of crispy fried squirrel

Front of house is headed up by Polish-born Kasia Hitchcock with her chef partner Franco Concli at the helm in the kitchen.

Plates celebrate Franco’s Tyrolean heritage, with their signature dish spätzle, a rustic fresh egg pasta from which the restaurant takes its name, sitting front and centre.

Feature image – The Manc Eats

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