Manchester Food and Drink Festival has confirmed that its annual awards ceremony will be making a return early next year.
A brand-new honour for ‘Takeaway of the Year’ is among the accolades set to be handed out to the most talented businesses in Greater Manchester‘s thriving hospitality industry, as MFDF’s prestigious Awards makes a grand return at a new venue in January 2024.
With Manchester‘s iconic New Century chosen as the ceremony’s new home, and the date of Monday 29 January 2024 now confirmed and in the diary, award nominations are now officially live.
As mentioned, the Awards will recognise businesses in 18 categories – with ‘Affordable Eats Venue of the Year’, ‘Neighbourhood Venue of the Year’, ‘Food and Drink Retailer of the Year’, and ‘Restaurant of the Year’ being some of the heavy-hitters every year.
Other highly-regarded categories include awards for the best bar, chef, pub, coffee shop, and independent food and drink venues across the region.
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Manchester Food and Drink Awards confirms 2024 return and opens nominations / Credit: MFDF (via Instagram)
Businesses are now being invited to submit nominations and put themselves forward to be considered in each of the categories, with the award nomination and judging period running right from July 2022 – which is when last year’s nominees were announced – to 6 September, which is when the self-nomination period closes.
All applications are to be reviewed by the prestigious MFDF judging panel made up of Manchester hospitality experts, and the final awards shortlists is set to be unveiled on 11 September.
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MFDF says the awards are “intended to highlight as many excellent food and drink businesses and talented hospitality professionals as possible”, with the winners decided via a combination of public vote and mystery shopping from the judging panel.
The prestigious ceremony will take place in the new home of New Century early next year / Credit: MFDF (via Instagram)
Speaking as nominations go live, MFDF’s Director Alexa Stratton Powell said: “We are pleased to announce that the awards will be taking place at a new time of year.
“This decision was made after careful consideration around best timing for the hospitality sector [as] separating the Awards from the Festival event itself allows us to focus on each in greater depth [and] we’re really looking forward to this year’s process and ceremony after another amazing year for Manchester’s hospitality scene.
Hidden Manchester bar Mala to offer unique ‘movie night’ experiences inside private cabins
Thomas Melia
You can have your own private film experience inside little wooden cabins at a popular Northern Quarter bar this summer.
Manchester city centre secret garden spot Mala is hosting an event where you and your friends can enjoy a private movie night with food, themed drinks, and bucket loads of free popcorn.
Listed as the ‘Cabin Movie Night’, get ready to sit back, relax and watch a cult classic, all from the comfort of your own personal wooden hut.
The film you’ll be watching is very on-brand too, as it’s none other than none than ‘Labyrinth’.
This secret garden spot is hiding right in plain sight over on Dale Street in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, and as well as hosting events such as these, they’re also home to some top tier eateries too.
Currently El Jefe, Doodles, Wok Bros, Christakis, D&X Caribbean, and Gulf are all serving up some cross-continental delights for you to enjoy in this marvellous space.
Some mouth-watering scran from El Jefe.Wok Bros have some delicious noodle boxes. Credit: The Manc Group
The Cabin Movie Night’ is the perfect way to round up your friends and watch a classic with a cocktail in hand.
There’s a handful of group packages available too at an additional charge, ranging from £30 to £50, which includes themed cocktails for each guest in the booking, and the cost of the ticket.
You can get FREE sandwiches in Manchester this weekend – but only if you have certain names
Emily Sergeant
Hungry Mancs can help themselves to free sandwiches this bank holiday weekend… but there’s a bit of a catch.
You can only get yourself a sandwich if you have one of these particular names.
We’ve been enjoying some absolutely stunning sunshine across Greater Manchester and much of the UK over the past couple of months, and nothing says sunny days more than taking a packed lunch or grabbing a meal deal and taking it to your local park or greenspace for a picnic.
This is why Pret A Manger has decided to make picnics easier for those who are lucky enough to have a certain type of name.
This late May bank holiday weekend, the popular high street coffee shop chain will be dishing out hundreds of free sandwiches across the UK – including here in Manchester – to anyone whose name happens to start with ‘Nic’.
That means people called Nick, Nicholas, Nicola, Nicole, Nico, Nicolette, and plenty of others could be in with a chance of some free feasting over these next couple of days.
You can get FREE sandwiches in Manchester this weekend / Credit: Wikimedia Commons | Supplied
Here in Manchester, it’s the chain’s Portland Street site, just off Piccadilly Gardens, that’s participating in the free giveaway this weekend, and there’ll be 50 sandwiches a day given out, so you’ll need to be quick if your name starts with ‘Nic’ and you’re feeling peckish.
The offer is only limited to Pret’s freshly-made sandwiches, and unfortunately excludes baguettes, wraps, or rye rolls… but free food is better than no food, after all.
All you’ll need to do to grab a freebie is show your ID at the tills of participating stores this Saturday (24 May) to prove your name, and you’ll get to walk out with your lunch in hand, all without having to spend a penny.
Manchester’s Portland Street Pret A Manger will be giving out 50 free sandwiches to ‘Nics’ this Saturday, and they’re on a first-come-first-served basis.
Emily Sergeant -
18th August 2023 
