When it comes to Sunday roasts, everyone likes theirs done in a particular way – normally however their mum cooks it.
Sometimes this leads to weird and wonderful combos. Sweetcorn, baby corn, mashed potatoes AND roasties (served together) all count as crimes against the roast in our book, as does adding ketchup and mayo.
Thankfully, there’s none of that to be found at Manchester restaurant Hawksmoor – one of the only London brands to launch in Manchester during the 2010s and successfully stay the test of time.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: The Manc Eats
Housed in the former Victorian Courthouse on Deansgate, the steakhouse manages to be chic, glamorous and entirely unpretentious all at once, which is – we assume – how it’s become such a hit with Mancs where other London openings have, sometimes brutally, failed.
Whilst it’s pretty hard to beat the way your mum does it, I think it’s fair to say that Hawksmoor’s roast is a pretty strong contender for the best in the city. Even better, they won’t ask you to help with the washing up.
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Designed to share, roasts here can be split between two or three people – with starters, mains, sides and puddings all included and priced from just £50.
Mains choices include perfectly-pink cuts of bone-in prime rib, chateaubriand and sirloin, as well as Dartmouth lobster with garlic butter, whilst sides span the likes of creamed spinach, macaroni cheese, grilled bone marrow, carrots, roasties, cabbage and – or course — giant Yorkshire puddings.
We’re talking Yorkshire puddings bigger than your face, crispy beef fat roasties, unlimited jugs of bone marrow gravy, and an oozing skillet of cauliflower cheese made with a four-cheese blend of Ogleshield, mozzarella, Stichelton and ‘good Cheddar’.
When we visit, we’re also treated to half a dozen Vietnamese oysters to start – topped with soy sauce, micro coriander and a crispy onion that just adds the perfect amount of crunch to the otherwise firm-yet-slippery molluscs.
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Vietnamese oysters with crispy onion and micro coriander. / Image The Manc Eats
An Amaro Correcto and a Silver Bullet cocktail. / Image: The Manc Eats
The passionfruit pavlova and the Ambassador’s Reception. / Image: The Manc Eats
And for pudding? A tart passionfruit pavlova, featuring the most perfectly round meringue I’ve ever seen, and the famous ‘Ambassador’s Reception’, which nods to a nostalgic childhood favourite that Hawksmoor isn’t, for legal reasons, allowed to name.
Of course, being a steak house, the wine list here is excellent too – helped along by the fact that one of the co-founder’s mothers just happens to be a wine critic for The Guardian.
Frankly, you really can’t go wrong here. From the food, to the friendly service, to the bar offering, it’s not hard to see why this Manchester restaurant is the undisputed king of the Sunday roast – and then some.
Feature image – The Manc Eats
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World-renowned rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd announce HUGE Manchester anniversary gig
Thomas Melia
Legendary Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd are returning to Manchester for a limited UK tour at one city’s foremost venues.
Six years since their last visit, we’re sure they’ve missed ‘That Smell’ of a Manchester crowd and it’s safe to say safe we’ve missed them too.
Known for our love of live music and gigs, there’s no better place to stop off at other than Manchester when you’re playing a world tour, especially celebrating the 50th anniversary of the band’s formation.
Their name needs no introduction, however, if you need a reminder of this band’s remarkable career then ‘Don’t Ask Me No Questions’.
Just kidding, the well-seasoned country and blues veterans from Jacksonville, Flordia are one of the most acclaimed acts to ever come out of the US; in 2006 they received one of the biggest honours any artist could wish for, getting inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.
With 14 official studio albums, several EPs and numerous live recordings, there are definitely more than enough songs to pack into one unforgettable night.
As one of just four dates here in England, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Manchester tour show is taking place at none other than the AO Arena, which has also reached a milestone in 2025 as they celebrate 30 years of unbelievable gigs. What better way to party than with a good ol’ fashioned rock show?
They won’t be travelling solo either, they’re also bringing Georgia-based rockers Blackberry Smoke as a support act, notable for their 2012 single ‘One Horse Town’ along with many others.
Rockin’ it out like they always do, bring on Manchester. That iconic Lynyrd logo will look immense in AO Arena this year.Credit: Supplied
They’ve chosen the right venue to belt the hits too and, ironically, they’ve chosen a Tuesday for their Manchester date, meaning you’ll be able to walk out of the concert singing ‘Tuesday’s Gone’ with more conviction than ever.
One thing is for sure, with a legacy as big as this, the rockers are guaranteed to have a great time. There might not be any founding members left following the passing of guitarist and songwriter Gary Rossington in 2023, but you can bet the current lineup will do the originals justice and then some.
Lynyrd Skynyrd visit the AO Arena in Manchester on Tuesday 15 July 2025 with tickets going on sale from Friday 24 January at 10am. You can grab yours HERE.
Manchester’s historic connections to slavery will be at the heart of a major new exhibition
Emily Sergeant
Manchester’s historic connections to slavery are to be explored during a major new exhibition coming soon to the city.
The Science and Industry Museum, in the heart of our city centre, is already known and loved for telling the story of the ideas and innovations that transformed Manchester into the world’s first industrial city.
But now, a new free exhibition is set to “enhance public understanding” of how transatlantic slavery actually shaped the city’s growth.
Produced by the Science and Industry Museum, in partnership with The Scott Trust Legacies of Enslavement programme, and developed with African descendent and diaspora communities through local and global collaborations, this landmark project will put Manchester’s historic connections to enslavement at the heart of a major exhibition at the museum for the first time.
Featuring new research, it will also explore how the legacies of these histories continue to impact Manchester, the world, and lives today.
Set to open in early 2027, the exhibition will run for a year in the museum’s Special Exhibitions Gallery.
Alongside that hub at the Science and Industry Museum itself, the project is also set to have a collaborative city-wide events programme, and a lasting legacy – with a new permanent schools programme, and permanent displays in the future too.
As mentioned, the new exhibition is part of The Scott Trust Legacies of Enslavement programme, which is a 10-year restorative justice project launched in 2023.
Manchester’s historic connections to slavery will be at the heart of a major new exhibition / Credit: Science Museum Group Collection
Through partnerships and community programmes, the project aims to improve public understanding of the impact of transatlantic slavery on the UK’s economic development, and its ongoing legacies for Black communities – with a strong focus on Manchester, the city in which The Guardian was founded back in 1821.
The museum’s existing gallery content and ongoing work around sharing the inextricable links between Manchester’s growth into an industrial powerhouse and a textile industry reliant on colonialism and enslavement will be developed through the project.
Through a “collaborative re-examination of the past”, the exhibition will also share a more inclusive history of a city that prides itself on being at the forefront of ideas that change the world.
It’s opening at the Science and Industry Museum in early 2027 / Credit: Science and Industry Museum
Speaking ahead of the exhibition’s arrival in early 2027, Sally MacDonald, who is the Director of the Science and Industry Museum, says: “This will be an exhibition about important aspects of our past that are profoundly relevant to the world we live in today.
“Revealed from the perspectives of those who experienced enslavement and whose lives have been shaped by its legacies, we will foreground stories of resistance, agency, and skill.
“The exhibition will explore themes of resilience, identity and creativity alongside exploitation and inequality, and will feature a specific focus on the ways that scientific and technological developments both drove and were driven by transatlantic slavery.”
Further details on the project will be announced in due course, so stay tuned.
Georgina Pellant -
1st June 2022 
