City Centre

Shocking footage shows damage left by New Year’s Eve blaze as One Eight Six rebuild begins

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 14th February 2022

New videos from inside Manchester bar One Eight Six show the devastation left behind by its fire earlier this year.

A blaze ripped through the popular Deansgate bar just after midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Balloons and decorations caught alight as people celebrated the arrival of the new year.

The bar has been closed ever since.

One Eight Six on Deansgate has been closed since New Year’s Eve.

One Eight Six co-founder Dean Mac has today posted new videos of the interior of the cocktail bar.

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The footage shows the space littered with debris and blackened with soot.

Its refurbishment is now officially underway as the venue works to reopen again later in the year.

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Inside One Eight Six. Credit: Dean Mac

It’s understood that the space will have to be stripped back to its foundations for the rebuild.

Back in January, shortly after the fire, Dean wrote: “We cannot put into words how deeply excruciatingly painful this is to be writing, but the fire that broke out just after midnight on NYE has completely destroyed the main room and the majority of the contents within.

Read more: Manchester Pride to axe live music festival as it ‘refocuses its efforts’

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“We will be forever grateful to all our brave staff and the emergency services that saved peoples lives that night, and no matter what material items are gone, everyone is safe.

“If any of you have any doubts, we WILL come back from this and we WILL be re-opening again as soon as we possibly can.

“From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your constant support.”

Featured image: No Chintz / Dean Mac

City Centre

Manchester launches new fund to help support city’s ‘struggling’ grassroots music venues

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Live music crowd

An important new fund has been launched to help support Manchester’s local grassroots music venues that are ‘struggling’.

Manchester City Council has teamed up with national charity Music Venue Trust (MVT) to launch the fund as a ‘rapid’ and ‘targeted’ intervention to protect the small venues that make Manchester’s music scene and culture world-renowned.

The launch of the new fund comes following reductions to the Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure Business Rates Relief Scheme.

Council and MVT say this new initiative is designed primarily to ‘ease the financial pressure’ caused by Manchester’s grassroots music venues having to transition to these new business rates tariffs.

The fund aims to recognise and highlight the ‘vital’ contribution that grassroots music venues make to Manchester’s economy and to its identity as one of the world’s leading music cities.

This initiative has been made possible through the previously-reported Council revenue generated by live concert arena, stadium, and festival activity during what has been a record-breaking year – particularly summer – for major events throughout the city.

Applications for the fund are now open to venues.

Grant applicants must be able to demonstrate that they are a location in Manchester that has a dedicated live music or performance space, puts on live music at least three times per week or consistently feature it as part of a wider cultural programme, and has an organisational focus on music – with other services being subsidiary or dependent on music activity.

The size of grant awards will be based on a venue’s business rates liabilities – with the maximum amount that can be applied for being £20,000.

Manchester has launched a new fund to help support the city’s ‘struggling’ grassroots music venues / Credit: Rahul Kukreja | Joshua Hanson (via Unsplash)

“We understand the importance of smaller venues, the stages where talent is nurtured and the city’s music begins,” commented Cllr Bev Craig, who is the leader of Manchester City Council, as the new fund was announced this week.

“We also know that across the country, grassroots venues are struggling, and that’s why in Manchester, we’re taking action to ensure that real support reaches our venues quickly.

“This swift delivery is virtually unheard of in the sector, but we are determined to innovate.”

Read more:

Applications for funding are now live on the Music Venue Trust website and will close on Friday 28 November, and payments will then be made by Saturday 31 January 2026.

You can find out more and apply here.

Featured Image – Nathan Mullet (via Unsplash)

City Centre

Curious kids can meet star of hit CBBC show Operation Ouch! in Manchester next month

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Got a curious kid on your hands? You can take them to meet the star of one of their favourite TV shows at the Science and Industry Museum next month.

In case you hadn’t heard, Operation Ouch! is back in Manchester again with a fresh new experience for 2025, and this time around, visitors can journey through an ear canal covered in gooey wax, squeeze past sticky snot, and delve deeper into how our brains interpret the world.

Thousands of families from across Greater Manchester and beyond have already visited the city centre museum make the most of the new exhibition, and get stuck into the wide range of immersive and interactive activities it has on offer.

But for those who haven’t been able to pay a visit yet, this summer couldn’t be a more ideal opportunity to do so.

Operation Ouch! star Dr Chris Van Tulleken will be at the Science and Industry Museum next month / Credit: Science Museum Group

That’s because Dr Chris Van Tulleken – who is one of the presenters of the BBC show Operation Ouch! – will be at the museum in a couple of weeks time to meet visitors as part of his myth-busting mission to answer some of the public’s deepest questions about our senses.

Dr Chris will be at the Science and Industry Museum for one day only, and will not only join mini medics on their voyage through the senses, but will also be on-hand to answer brain teasers from the audience during a series of live Q&As.

Whether it’s banging on a super-sized eardrum, venturing into a massive eyeball, or even taking a whiff of a ‘smell library’, this world-premiere exhibition dives into the science behind hearing, sight, touch, taste, and smell – and Dr Chris will be there every step of the way.

Also to celebrate Dr Chris’ visit, the museum is introducing additional sense-themed activities that very same weekend, where sight and sound will be examined during an interactive experience led by the museum’s expert Explainers.

Read more:

Book your tickets to visit Operation Ouch! Brains, Bogies and You on Sunday 9 November, for any of the time slots between 11:30am – 1pm, and 2:45 – 4:15pm for the opportunity to grab a selfie with Dr Chris from inside the exhibition.

Tickets will cost visitors £10 each, with those under three going free, and a range of family discounts available.

Get tickets here.

Featured Image – Science Museum Group

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