A bottomless brunch with over 200 board games is coming to Manchester this month as street food and beer favourite Grub unveils its New Year’s Eve plans.
The venue has revealed it will be teaming up with Dungeons & Flagons to see out the last afternoon of the year with 90 minutes of endless booze and board games.
With non-stop glasses of fizz, mimosas, house pints and house wine, plus all your board game favourites from Monopoly to Scrabble, to Cluedo and Cards Against Humanity, it’s set to be a raucous and fun-filled affair.
That’s not all on the games front, either, as organisers have said there’ll be extra party games taking place too to help brunchers see 2022 out in style.
Image: Dungeons & Flagons
Image: GRUB
Food wise, brunchers can expect to dig into an array of different street food from Grub’s regularly-changing roster of brilliant vendors
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Taking place on 31 December from 1pm to 5pm, it’s being billed as Manchester’s first-ever bottomless board game brunch.
However, the event is accessible to everyone and its organisers state that guests can come alone or with a group of pals.
Bottomless board game brunch tickets are priced at £22.50 each and include entry, access to the board games for 4 hours, and 90 minutes of bottomless drinks. Guests can choose to start their bottomless at either 1.30pm or 3.30pm.
Alternatively, those who are keen for board games but don’t want to go bottomless can also get involved by purchasing a standard ticket for £2.50, which includes entry and access to the board games for four hours.
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Image: Dungeons & Flagons
Image: Dungeons & Flagons
Dungeons & Flagons are an independent tabletop gaming events company who are passionate about introducing board gaming to as many people as possible at their fun, friendly and interactive events.
Hosts will be on hand to help with games, so whatever your level of experience is you don’t need to let a lack of understanding of the rules get in the way of a good time.
Speaking on the upcoming event, Jules Bailey, Director and Owner of GRUB, said: “We’ve loved working with Dungeons & Flagons to bring Manchester’s most friendly board game meet-up to GRUB this year.We’re so excited to give everyone a fun way to see out the last afternoon of 2022.”
Glitzy Manchester restaurant KAJI has quietly shut down
Daisy Jackson
A glamorous Manchester restaurant famed for its Japanese cooking and sushi has quietly closed its doors for good, it seems.
KAJI, on Bridge Street, has pulled table reservations and repossession notices have been stuck into its windows.
The glitzy, futuristic restaurant made a pretty big impact on the city’s dining scene since opening in 2022 – but not always for the right reasons.
It first launched as MUSU, and hit headlines when vandals smashed the windows and threw paint all over the restaurant space in the middle of a busy Valentine’s Day service.
It attracted other famous faces too, including Man City boss Pep Guardiola, and Jason Derulo.
Then in 2024, the restaurant rebranded to KAJI, promising dishes cooked over fire in ‘homage to ancient Japanese cooking techniques’.
And last year it received a review in The Telegraph, where William Sitwell said that KAJI was ‘all tummies, bald heads, tattoos and heat’, describing the experience of eating there as ‘brash (and pricey) torture’.
KAJINotices in the windows of KAJI
But now, it appears the business – which launched a new menu concept just weeks ago – has oh-so-quietly shut its doors for good.
When you try to book a table, no availability is showing.
And walking past its glamorous Bridge Street location now, you can see repossession notices have been displayed in the windows.
It appears that the landlords of the building took possession way back on 10 April – and KAJI has been silent on social media ever since.
Michelin-recommended rooftop restaurant Climat has closed its doors with immediate effect
Daisy Jackson
One of Manchester’s top-rated restaurants has announced its shock and immediate closure.
Climat, which is set way up high in Blackfriars House with staggering views of Manchester city centre, has said that the Michelin-recommended restaurant is now permanently closed.
In a heartbreaking statement, founder Christopher Laidler said that Climat is ‘yet another casualty of the times we’re living in’.
Laying out the brutal reality of running a hospitality business, Chris wrote about ‘rampant food inflation’, an ‘ever-increasing tax burden’, and ‘the persistent cost of living crisis’, describing it as a perfect storm against hospitality.
Then delving deeper into the numbers, he shared that Climat has faced an eye-watering £112,000 electricity bill for its first 13 months in business – that’s 400% more than they’d budgeted.
That was chased by a 33% increase in staff wages, then a jump in business rates from £12,000 a year to £38,000 a year.
Couple that with reduced footfall and it’s ‘spelling disaster for so many’.
Climat has closed its doors with immediate effectClimat has laid their finances bare in their closing statement
He wrote: “Whilst I wanted to highlight these reasons for closure, in the naive hope the Government will start to listen before it’s too late for others, I want to acknowledge the fantastic work of our team over the last 3.5 years.
“The closure does not do justice to their efforts and dedication. I’d also like extend a huge debt of gratitude to our guests for their support, enabling us to build a nationally recognised wine list – our raison d’être.”
Signing off, he said: “I wish everyone the very best of luck in these challenging times. Bye for now, Christopher.”
Climat opened in late 2022, with an impressive wine list and a beautiful restaurant space overlooking Manchester.
It didn’t take long before it was added to the Michelin Guide, which wrote: “An open kitchen is the focus of the room, with its aromas filling the air, and the concise fixed-price menu includes well-executed dishes such as halibut with spinach and sorrel velouté, where the ingredient quality shines through.
“Wine is a feature with one side of the room acting as a bar and the carefully curated list deftly mixing traditional and modern styles.”
Georgina Pellant -
19th December 2022 
