A mile-long beer festival celebrating Manchester’s independent breweries is coming to Piccadilly Trading Estate next month.
Four of Manchester’s finest brewers are teaming up to host a massive free party along the city centre’s industrial beer mile.
Taking place on Saturday 13 May, Sureshot, Cloudwater, Track, and Balance are each inviting a guest brewery, an independent food vendor and live DJS down to their taprooms for a riotous all-day block party.
Kicking off at 12pm, punters can move freely between each taproom – collecting a stamp card designed by artist David Bailey at each.
At its upstairs taproom, award-winning brewery Cloudwater will host a Friends and Family sour bar with food from Isca wines in Levenshulme and music from Andy Votel and friends.
Over at Track Brewery, meanwhile, drinkers can enjoy a tap takeover from Verdant as well as selections from founder Adam, as well as tapas-style food from the excellent Porta.
Meanwhile, Sureshot Brewery, founded by former Cloudwater boss and mash time legend James Campbell, will host a tap takeover from Burning Sky Brewery and serve food from Lily’s Vegetarian Deli.
Final brewery Balance will also be running a pop-up bar at Sureshot throughout the day with guest beers from Torn Plant, which produces modern minimal intervention ciders and blends from the north west of England, outside of Delamere Forest. On the decks, it will welcome 2 DJs including the Wizard King.
Entry for the brewery block party is free, and anybody who collects all four brewery stamps on the day will be entered into a draw to win a hamper of beer-related goodies.
Featured image – Cloudwater
Eats
Manchester favourite Nell’s to open new site for New York-style pizza, karaoke and shuffleboard
Daisy Jackson
Much-loved New York-style pizza joint Nell’s has announced big plans for a brand new location – they’re heading to MediaCity.
Nell’s are stepping things up a notch with the move, adding in private karaoke booths, shuffleboard tables, and a huge outdoor terrace in their new site.
Nell’s MediaCity is set to open this autumn, promising 22-inch New York-style pizza (also served in gigantic slices), frozen margs, and ice cream sandwiches.
There are already several spots around Manchester where you can get a slice of Nell’s, including their restaurants at Kampus and in Altrincham, the OG Northern Quarter site in Common, and at The Beagle in Chorlton.
And now it’s Salford’s turn, with plans unveiled for the team to expand over to MediaCity’s quayside Orange Building.
Nell’s co-founder Jonny Heyes said: “We’ve been thinking about MediaCity for a long time, it’s such a great area and we’ve seen what brilliant operators like Kargo have achieved so when this space came up, we jumped on it!
“The venue is huge which has given us the chance to really play with the experience.
“This idea of karaoke and shuffleboard accompanying our made-for-sharing pizzas and great cocktails feels like a natural next step for us as a brand.”
Nell’s have also partnered with Deliveroo and Slerp to send 14-inch and 22-inch pizzas far and wide.
The new opening is expected to create more than 35 new jobs, and as Common & Co has twice been named in the Times 100 Best Places To Work list, you might want to check those out HERE.
These viral sensations are a plush toy created by Hong Kong-born, Netherlands-raised designer Kasing Lung, who drew inspiration from his love of fairytales to create a character with bunny-like ears, large eyes and big smiles.
They’re swinging off handbags all over the UK at the minute and people are queueing for hours for the latest Labubu drops.
At Sweet Dreams, they’re making edible chocolate Labubus using a special mould flown in from Japan.
Each one has a pistachio kunafa filling and is painstakingly painted by hand.
And that brings us neatly to the next viral craze at play here – Dubai pistachio chocolate.
An army of pistachio chocolate LabubuInside a chocolate pistachio Labubu
Kunafa is a staple in Middle Eastern bakes and pastries but hit the global mainstream last year when thick chocolate pistachio bars stuffed with it went viral online, spawning countless dupes and inspired specials.
And finally, chocolate covered strawberries – hardly a new invention, but this simple dessert has rocketed in popularity especially in food hotspots like Borough Market in London.
Head into Sweet Dreams and you can build your treat from the base up – choose white or milk melted chocolate for your strawberries, layer on pistachio kunafa, then top with either a milk or white chocolate Labubu.
A slightly daft novelty? Yes. But that doesn’t stop them being delicious.
This is the only place in the UK currently selling Dubai pistachio chocolate Labubus.
Georgina Pellant -
18th April 2023 
