The Alan, one of Manchester’s newest hotels, is giving away hundreds of rooms for just £1.
The hospitality newcomer has transformed the old Princess Street Hotel into a design-led space that blends the building’s existing industrial details with luxury touches like marble and velvet.
The striking six-storey hotel has a bar and restaurant on the ground floor, with an open kitchen and pop-up event space.
There are 137 rooms at The Alan, ranging in size from ‘the standard’ to the Alan Suites. Each one features high ceilings, warm textures and shades of blush pink, sage green and taupe.
The Alan is giving away rooms for £1. Credit: Supplied
Every room comes with an Emperor-sized bed, 200 thread Egyptian cotton bedding, 50″ Samsung Smart TVs with Google Chromecast, fast WiFi and Audio Pro Bluetooth speakers.
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And now, to give Mancs a chance to experience the building’s makeover, The Alan will be giving away overnight stays for just £1.
There’ll be 365 rooms up for grabs for a quid – to enter, all you need to do is sign up to The Alan’s newsletter to be entered into the raffle.
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The Alan in Manchester. Credit: Supplied
The winners of the raffle will be chosen on Friday 15 April, and sent details of how to book their £1 room.
The Alan opened back in February, showing off a beautiful new interior, including a huge patchwork floor in the lobby made up of different slabs of marble.
Interior design agency Red Deer, which worked on the project, said it wants to ‘counter-act the wastefulness of the construction industry, creating intriguing touchpoints that celebrate the inherent value found in old materials that may be classed by some as ‘defective’ or ‘broken’’.
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Bathrooms in The Alan suites. Credit: Supplied
The Alan is championing local businesses in both its rooms and its communal spaces, with Ancoats Coffee Co and Bohea Teas stocked in the rooms and Pomona Island and Cloudwater beers behind the bar.
Its new restaurant and bar space serves an all-day seasonal menu, headed up by Iain Thomas, formerly of the Edinburgh Castle.
Iain has worked in kitchens since he was 16 and will use some ingredients from his own allotment in his menu, which features dishes like Cheshire beef tartare with confit egg yolk, salt-baked celeriac, and lamb fat cabbage.
The Butcher’s Quarter provides the meat for the larger plates, from grass-fed sirloin steaks to free-range pork and Gatehouse Farm lamb chops.
An ‘extraordinary’ new Live Aid musical is coming to Manchester on its UK tour
Emily Sergeant
An ‘extraordinary’ new musical based on Live Aid is coming to Manchester as part of an upcoming UK and Ireland tour.
Producers Jamie Wilson Productions say they’re ‘thrilled’ to announce that Just For One Day – The Live Aid Musical will head out on a big UK and Ireland tour starting out in March 2027, and visiting loads of major cities along the way – including Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Nottingham, and plenty more.
The production take us back to 13 July 1985 – the day music united the world.
Live Aid was an unprecedented global music event that brought 1.5 billion people together, and they all have a story to tell about ‘the day rock ‘n’ roll changed the world’.
Now, more than 40 years on from that famous day, audiences in Manchester will get to discover the behind-the-scenes story of Live Aid in a whole new way, as Just For One Day – The Live Aid Musical is the story behind the greatest gig in music history.
What makes Just For One Day special? Nostalgia, relevance to today and a message for the new generation 🤘 pic.twitter.com/wRBV4Ar1Hv
— Just For One Day | The Live Aid Musical (@liveaidmusical) June 9, 2025
With hit songs by Bob Dylan, David Bowie, The Who, U2, Queen, Madonna, The Police, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Diana Ross, and more all featuring, these iconic artists made history at simultaneous charitable concerts in London and Philadelphia.
The musical is written by John O’Farrell and directed by Luke Sheppard, with musical supervision, arrangements and orchestration by Matthew Brind, choreography by Ebony Molina, and casting by Stuart Burt.
“Just For One Day brilliantly reimagines why Live Aid worked then and why the humanity of that day still matters now,” commented Bob Geldoff.
“I’m delighted that more of the UK and Ireland will finally get to see this extraordinary and compelling musical. The reaction the show gets continually surprises and amazes me, standing ovations and people come back time and again, introducing the Live Aid story to new generations.”
Just For One Day – The Live Aid Musical will arrive at Manchester Opera House in May 2027.
Tickets went on general sale this morning (Wednesday 17 December) at 10am, and you can get your hands on them via ATG Tickets here.
Featured Image – Supplied
City Centre
You can step inside a fashion show with Vogue’s immersive ‘Inventing the Runway’ show in Manchester
Thomas Melia
A Vogue immersive show titled ‘Inventing the Runway’ has arrived Manchester, and it’s even co-created by Anna Wintour herself.
Ever fancied learning more about the fashion world? Well, now’s your chance to hear everything you need to know from global fashion leaders and lifestyle magazine Vogue.
The Anna Wintour-approved immersive experience comes alongside the announcement of Factory International‘s Winter lineup, which features another new event all about voyaging to the moon.
Vogue: Inventing the Runway incorporates interviews, visual media and more to help attendees visualise fashion shows of the past, present and future.
Visitors will be surrounded by incredible visuals on all sides (including underfoot), fully stepping inside the world of high fashion.
As well as understanding how fashion shows became the pinnacle of a designer’s vision, this runway-themed display also includes looking back at iconic moments of fashion and pop culture.
‘Inventing the Runway’ by Vogue is focusing on outfits worn by models and A-listers alike, with narration from the one and only Cate Blanchett.
A glimpse inside Vogue: Inventing the Runway. Credit: The Manc Group
You can expect to see curated pieces by significant creative minds in fashion history like Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood and lots more.
Throughout the Vogue experience, as well as coming visually face to face with fashion, you will also hear a soundscape that perfectly reflects this innovative industry with a fusion of classical and pop music.
This fashion exhibition uses the same Lightroom technology behind the impressive David Hockney experience that opened back in December.
Anna Wintour, Chief Content Officer, Condé Nast, and Global Editorial Director, Vogue said: “At Vogue, we’ve been lucky enough over the decades to see many incredible runway shows, which have often told the story of fashion as much as the clothes themselves.”
“This Lightroom experience is a wonderful opportunity for a lot more people to experience first-hand the thrill of watching the history of fashion unfold right in front of them.”
You can experience Vogue’s ‘Inventing the Runway’ immersive show from 18 December to 10 January.
Find out more information and grab your tickets HERE.