A brand-new ‘high-tech’ activity bar dedicated to shuffleboard is coming to Manchester and it sounds electric – pun very much intended.
Electric Shuffle, the glamorous sister site to nightlife favourite Flight Club, is coming to the city centre later this year and it’s set to be just the second to open outside of London.
After opening their third location in Leeds back in 2022, the team behind two of the best activity and games bars in the UK are bringing their shuffleboard expertise to Manchester in time for the summer.
Promising addictive and high-energy games, semi-private shuffleboard areas dotted around a stylish art-deco-inspired central bar, an impressive cocktail list and a mouth-watering menu, the aim is to make sure you don’t need to spend the night anywhere else, with a resident DJ on-hand all night too.
You can find bars with shuffleboards all over town these days, but what sets this one apart? Well, they market their offerings as ‘supercharged shuffleboard’ that uses state-of-the-art camera vision technology to track and score every puck, much like the sensors used on Flight Club darts boards.
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Again, like their big brother, the games also capture guests’ best moments with live shareable replays, and can seamlessly integrate up to 32 players – or up to 150 players at once for corporate events. Now that sounds like the kind of chaos we’d love to see.
There are four immersive and fast-paced games to choose from, each designed for team-play while still giving individuals their glory. Games include Eclipse, which sees players aiming to slide and land their puck on (or as close as possible) the target between the middle two zones of the board.
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Then there’s Equaliser, which challenges players to land their puck in the zones at the far end of the table to get the highest score. As for the bar side of things, they’ve got that all worked out too.
Credit: Supplied
Food and drink for all times of day
If anyone’s been guilty of screaming down the roof of one of these activity bars before, you’ll know that like most shuffleboard is best played as a team sport and that group mentality transfers over to the food and drink selection too.
We’re talking small plates, big sharing pizzas, as well as an epic and extensive cocktails menu – all of which will be coming to Electric Shuffle Manchester.
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From staple dishes already proved popular at their Leeds venue such as buttermilk chicken bites with ranch and BBQ dips, spiced cauliflower wings with red pepper tapenade and jalapeño green salsa, big sourdough pizza paddles, loaded fries and more, think big picky tea only levelled up.
As for the booze (it is a bar after all), they’re known for signature cocktails with a twist, like ‘Salted Caramel Euphoria’ – a take on the espresso martini – frozen options for those balmy summer nights and big sharing ones served in a trophy cup. And don’t worry, they’re not only for the winners.
Oh yeah, and they’re also bringing their brunch deal to our shores. Available on Saturdays and Sundays for two hours, guests can enjoy a bottle of Prosecco each and unlimited pizza from start to finish. Costing £35 for 60 minutes of shuffleboard and another hour around the table, it’ll be one of the best value bottomless brunch deals in Manchester.
You’ll have all this and more to get stuck into when Electric Shuffle lands on Deansgate in a couple of month’s time.
While we’re not giving you an exact address just yet, we can confirm that Manchester’s newest shuffleboard bar is set to open on 21 June and will take up an 11,400 sq/ft space to become their biggest site in the county, capable of hosting up to 450 people. Now that’s how you make an entrance.
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CEO, Steve Moore, who co-founded Electric Shuffle and Flight Club alongside Paul Barham, said: “We couldn’t be more excited to bring Electric Shuffle to Manchester. We have loved our time in Manchester so far and the welcome that Flight Club has received over the past five years has been incredible…
“From couples’ date nights to corporate events and everything in between, Electric Shuffle is a place that is built for friends by friends, and we can’t wait to show everyone in Manchester what we’ve been working on”.
Former Lunya site to be taken over by kebab house, five years after closure
Daisy Jackson
The restaurant space that was previously home to Lunya will finally be brought back to life, with a new kebab restaurant moving in.
Lunya, which had a two-storey restaurant and deli on Deansgate in the beautiful Barton Arcade, shut down in 2020.
It was one of the earliest and most high-profile closures caused by the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, with owner Peter Kinsella penning at the time a heartbreaking open letter to then-PM Boris Johnson.
The Lunya site has remained empty for the last five years despite its enviable location in the heart of Manchester – but finally, new signs have gone up and a new operator is swooping in.
The windows now tease the arrival of Great British Doner, touting itself to be ‘the ultimate doner experience’.
The new opening will be selling wraps and boxes stuffed with beef, chicken, halloumi and falafel.
In a statement supplied to Place North West, Andrew Hynes, director at Hynes Illingworth said: “Barton Arcade will be the first UK opening for British Doner with two additional locations also secured in Manchester city centre.
Great British Doner is moving into the old Lunya site on Deansgate
“The business has been established by experienced restaurateur, Mehmet Korkut, previous owner of Café Istanbul and UK franchise owner of heritage brand Sultanahmet Koftecisi.”
There’ve been a lot of changes down this end of Deansgate in the last couple of years, including the openings of Simmons, with the city’s ‘biggest happy hour’, and Mama Roux’s, as well as the departures of Classic Football Shirts within the Barton Arcade.
When it opens, Great British Doner will join the likes of award-winning coffee shop Pot Kettle Black, and independent menswear retailer The R Store in the landmark building.
The viral factory in Oldham that sells £2 Colin the Caterpillar cakes
Thomas Melia
A factory in Oldham has gone viral online after sweet fiends discover they sell ‘Colin the Caterpillar’ cakes for less than half price.
There are some things that just go hand in hand: a brew and a biscuit, peanut butter and jelly and Brits and their crazy obsession with a character chocolate cake from M&S called Colin the Caterpillar.
Since hitting the shelves in 1990, more than 15 million Colin the Caterpillars have made their way from supermarket shop floor to our sweet-treat-awaiting plates.
Who would’ve ever guessed that the home to this cheeky chappy, who M&S have made their unofficial mascot (after Percy Pig, of course), has been crafted and created right here in Oldham?
The utterly delicious Colin the Caterpillar cake which you can get for £2 at Park Cakes.The shelves at Park Cakes are stacked with Colins and Connies.Credit: The Manc Eats
Established in 1937, The Park Cake Bakeries – or just Park Cakes, colloquially – has been serving up this critter-inspired cake for over 30 years, and savvy shoppers have flocked to their factory shop to get their hands on some very sweet savings.
There’s a whole range of cakes on offer at this Oldham dessert factory shop, including slabs, sponges, loaves and even sweet pies too.
Whether you’re a firm believer that the birthday person deserves all of Colin’s white-choc face or you precisely cut it up so everyone gets some, Park Cakes has the solution, selling bags of the character’s chocolatey face so you can have one all to yourself.
The cake isn’t the only thing that leaves a sweet taste in your mouth, as the prices will too. Colin the Caterpillar, who normally retails for just under a tenner, is sold for around £2 at this Oldham factory shop.
It’s always the ones that look unassuming, isn’t it?
Alongside producing one of the most adored cakes in the UK, they’re also responsible for lots more of your favourite supermarket sweet treats, and we’re definitely not complaining.
You can let your sweet tooth go wild in this factory shop as they sell everything from rainbow birthday cakes to sticky toffee puddings.
There’s so much on offer too, how about a giant bag packed to the brim with misshapen golden flapjacks that’ll last you over a week and cost you less than a fiver? Sounds like a plan to me.
If you haven’t had enough of your Easter chocolate fix, why not trek over to Oldham and stock up on even more chocolate and sweet treats? Trust us, there’s plenty to choose from.
Park Cakes factory shop can be found on Ashton Road in Oldham and is open from 10am-4pm, so go and grab yourself a seriously sweet deal before everyone else beats you to it.
Mini Colins, small in size but still packed with all that chocolatey goodness.Flapjacks and cookie dough bites are just some of the wonderful treats you might be able to get hold of.Credit: The Manc