A Manchester cafe is giving away massive prizes in a Willy Wonka-style giveaway, with golden tickets hidden in its cakes.
Loaf MCR, which has sites on Oxford Street, Affinity Living, and in Selfridges Trafford Centre, will be hiding the golden tickets beneath its mini loaf cakes.
Anyone lucky enough to find one will win prizes including two tickets to see Jason Manford with a chance to meet him, a meal for four at Bundobust, and a Birthday Party Cake Package worth £200 from Loaf.
The golden tickets are going to be hiding underneath Loaf’s Willy Wonka-inspired special loaf, a super-chocolatey chocolate sponge with a smooth ganache centre and a white chocolate-infused buttercream.
The cake is then topped with colourful sweets inspired by Roald Dahl’s classic tale, like a swirly lollipop, fizzy sweets, popping candy and pink mushroom foams.
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A golden ticket sticker will be hidden in five of the £4.50 loaf cakes between Monday 27 November and Sunday 10 December.
Loaf MCR wants to spread a little festive cheer as Christmas approaches and is offering Mancs five chances to win big.
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As well as the three massive prizes already announced, there are still two top-secret rewards to be revealed.
Inside Loaf’s all-pink cafe on Oxford Street. Credit: The Manc GroupLoaf’s doing a huge golden ticket giveaway to spread Christmas cheer. Credit: Loaf MCR
Aiden Ryan, founder of Loaf MCR, said: “We love to play with nostalgia and Willy Wonka gives just that! We love that we can infuse Christmas with a little bit of magic.
“At Loaf, we believe in giving people great experiences, and what better way than to start the Festive season with a treasure hunt?
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“We’ve partnered with some great Manchester businesses to make this happen!”
There’ll be a limited number of the special-edition Willy Wonka loaf cakes available.
Once all five golden tickets have been found, there’ll be one last chance to win ‘The Golden Key’, which will get you free coffee and cake from Loaf MCR for a year.
But you won’t be able to find the golden key through cake – this prize will be given to someone nominated by the community of Manchester, and will reward someone who deserves something special this Christmas.
Prizes including in the Loaf MCR Willy Wonka giveaway
A Birthday Party Cake Package worth £200 from Loaf MCR, including 50 mini loaf cakes and a birthday cake.
Ultimate Christmas Dinner for four at Bundobust, Indian street food and craft beer specialists, to taste their festive menu. (Yes, your first drink on the house too!)
Two tickets to see Manchester’s favourite comedian Jason Manford live at the AO Arena and a meet and greet.
Two more prizes to be revealed this week…
The Loaf MCR x Willy Wonka giveaway will run from Monday 27 November until Sunday 10 December.
‘Hidden’ Manchester cocktail bar shuts down after only six months
Daisy Jackson
A cocktail bar in Manchester city centre that opened only last December has reportedly closed down, with its final service today.
Ego Death, a ‘hidden’ speakeasy-style bar in the Northern Quarter, told CLASS magazine that they were told by backers that they would have to close.
It opened under the steer of acclaimed bartender Cressida Lawlor, co-founded by Beau Myers, who also founded the original Almost Famous.
The bar is beneath newcomer smash burger joint Super Awesome Deluxe and accessed through an unmarked door within the takeaway.
Shortly after Super Awesome Deluxe opened, Almost Famous went through a high-profile closure of all of its restaurants this year, later bought out and reopened by D2.
And now just six months after launch, Ego Death looks set to be closing for good.
Cressida told CLASS: “The team here is wildly talented so the goal now is to get them into jobs so they can pay their bills and keep a roof over their heads.
“No one wants Ego Death to die and I think we’ve made enough of a stir in the six months that we’ve been open to find a new site and investment.
“Our last day is going to be Sunday, so anyone who can get here for one final party should come down.”
She later added on Instagram: “Truly gutting but there is always light in any form of darkness. Come see us this Sunday for the final service as we go through a true ego death.”
Ego Death came from the same team behind Socio Rehab (which if you remember it from 2004 was a bit of a local institution) and had a cocktail menu inspired by the speakeasy bars of New York City.
Behind the bar the stars were bourbon and champagne, plus cocktails inspired by the Big Apple – including one named after Sex and the City’s Samantha Jones.
Beau Myers, co-founder at Ego Death said at the time of its opening: “It’s been 20 years since we opened Socio Rehab so it seems pretty poignant to be opening another amazing cocktail bar. We changed the landscape of cocktail bar culture then and that’s something we’re trying to do again.
“We’ve partnered with Cressida Lawlor to make this dream happen. She’s a total firecracker and reminds me a lot of myself 20 years ago, she’s the future of cocktails and bartending and has that maverick spirit.
“Together we’ve created Ego Death, hidden in a basement behind an unmarked door at the back of a burger shop will be this cocktail haven. An underground escape throwing out the best classic cocktails, bourbon, and champagne from top level bartenders.”
This Manchester bar serves a bottomless cheese fondue with endless beer and wine
Georgina Pellant
There’s a bar in Manchester serving a bottomless cheese fondue with endless wine and beer, and it honestly sounds like the perfect treat.
While it might scream cosy winter night in, with a huge outdoor terrace, The Mews is also a firm favourite during the summer months.
Add in a board of melt-in-the-mouth charcuterie, springy pieces of garlic sourdough and a host of crunchy cheese biscuits, and you’ve got yourself the ideal afternoon if you ask us.
But there’s more. Alongside all that cheese and meat and bread, included in the price of The Mews’ bottomless fondue, cheese lovers can also enjoy 90 minutes of non-stop drinks.
Bottomless cheese fondue at The Mews on Deansgate in Manchester. (Credit: The Manc Eats)
Costing £37.50 each, included in the deal is a huge pot of melted Italian Fontina cheese served with homemade garlic croutons, sourdough crackers, and slices of British charcuterie.
You’ll also get to enjoy an hour and a half of endless pints of house pilsner and carafes of red or white wine to enjoy alongside.
Serving up to six people, the bottomless cheese fondue is available only when you pre-book, so make sure to get in touch ahead of your visit to let The Mews know that you’re coming.
If you’re not on the sauce, you can opt for the cheese fondue alone. Without the booze, it’s quite a bit cheaper at £25 for one, and £2.50 on top for any additional people who want to get stuck in.
Housed up on Deansgate Mews, just behind the main hustle and bustle of Deansgate, there’s plenty of space inside as well as a large, secluded terrace that is quite the suntrap (when the Manchester sun is shining).
Daisy Jackson -
28th November 2023 
