One of the Gay Village’s most beloved nighttime hotspots has just launched a fundraising raffle and the lucky winner could secure an impressive prize.
How does a £1,000 bar tab to spend once the venue reopens sound?
TriBeCa – Manchester’s only New York loft-style bar situated on the edge of the Gay Village on Sackville Street – has delighted fans of the city’s nightlife scene by announcing the launch of this unmissable competition as a way of raising vital funds it lost as a result of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
There are a whopping 2,500 raffle tickets currently up for grabs at this 550-cap venue, which comes with reserved seating for you and your friends to host the ultimate post-lockdown party.
Tickets will set you back £5 a piece, and the raffle will end on Sunday 28th February at 3pm.
TriBeCa Manchester is an independently-owned community venue was established in the heart of the city centre back in 1999, and has since gone on to foster a truly cooperative feel.
It was founded by Hazel O’Keefe, who is also the brainchild behind Dulcet Sounds, Laughing Cows Comedy, Club Feminista, The UK Women in Comedy Festival, and is the catalyst for many other projects, which saw her work recognised by Manchester City Council in 2014 by presenting her with a prestigious ‘Women of Arts and Culture’ award.
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But despite its cultural significance to the city, TriBeCa has received little to no funding as a result of its business closure due to continuous restrictions, which saw the doors to the venue close to the public back in March 2020 and no reopen since.
It’s said that the unoccupied costs of the building are £10,000 a month, and with the business being closed, these debts are piling up, so in an effort to cut costs, Ms O’Keefe did the unthinkable.
She made the difficult decision to move out of her flat and plough her savings into keeping her business afloat.
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TriBeCa Manchester
Despite these amounting difficulties however, Ms O’Keefe has continued to her best to try and support the community of Manchester.
In November 2020, she launched her Sunday Roasts – which included an option to buy “a hot drink and roast dinner for one of Manchester’s homeless” – and in December 2020, she also supported the local charity Baubles 4 Beds, which partners with local school children to create baubles to sell, with all the money raised going towards some of the most vulnerable and homeless people across the region.
Promoting “arts, culture and diversity” are all at the heart of TriBeCa Manchester’s ethos, which is why supporting this raffle is such a worthy cause – and the prize is undoubtedly pretty great too.
40-year-old Chinatown restaurant warns ‘we won’t last another decade’ in defiant statement
Daisy Jackson
There are some businesses that feel so much a part of the fabric of Manchester, it’s hard to imagine the city without them.
But a defiant statement from Happy Seasons, a decades-old family-run restaurant in Chinatown, has said that it’s ‘not sure how businesses like ours will survive in this new world’.
They wrote that is ‘feels like everything is stacked against small businesses’ and said ‘we won’t last another 5-10 years’.
Happy Seasons has been a cornerstone of Chinatown for more than 40 years, famed for its roast meats (proudly hung in the windows) and traditional Cantonese dishes.
Everyone who works in the restaurant has been in the trade for more than 20 years, they wrote, adding ‘it’s all they’ve ever known’.
Happy Seasons has said that their type of business – where everything is made fresh, from scratch, daily – is ‘slowly fading’.
They wrote: “Younger generations are slowly stepping away from hospitality. The government continues to increase costs on our industry, while bills, rent, and even basic stock keep rising. Sometimes it feels like everything is stacked against small businesses.”
Roast meats in the windows of Happy SeasonsHappy Seasons has been in Chinatown for more than 40 years
The restaurant added: “We don’t think places like ours will last another decade if things continue the way they are.”
But in their defiant video shared to customers, the Chinese restaurant said: “We’re not going to let that stop us.
“We’re still going to put the hours in. We’re still going to make everything fresh. We’re still not going to cut corners.
“From our sauces and roasted meats to our soy sauce and sweet and sour sauce, so much of what we serve is made from scratch. The time, effort, and cost that go into these everyday dishes are much higher than they used to be.
“Even though it’s costing us more and more to operate, we’re going to do our best to stick around for as long as we can. Because there may come a day when traditional Chinese food, made the old fashioned way, becomes much harder to find here in the UK.
“So let’s make this one hell of a decade. Thank you for all the support over the years. It truly means the world to us.”
It’s since expanded, launching in Sheffield earlier this year – and now Forbici has set its sights on the Trafford Centre.
The Neapolitan pizzeria will be taking over the former Franco Manca site in The Orient, bringing its biga dough and biga crusts with it to its third location.
Pizza dough here is slow-fermented to create a light, risen crust, before being topped with quality ingredients like San Marzano tomatoes and Italian produce.
Forbici will be bringing their Manchester special, the Lancashire Hotpot, to the Trafford Centre – a pizza topped with crisps.
Other signatures include the Provola e Pepe (topped with San Marzano tomato, smoked provola, black pepper and fresh basil), as well as indulgent white-base pizzas such as the Porcini e Tartufo, loaded with Fior di latte, porcini mushrooms, Italian truffle sauce and chives.
Forbici translates as ‘scissors’ in Italian, and pizzas here are always served with scissors rather than a knife and fork – diners are encouraged to snip their dinner into quarters for the ultimate pizza experience.
Toni Dennan at Forbici said: “We don’t believe pizza should ever be ordinary. Forbici is rooted in the traditions of Naples, made with real craft and precision, but it’s also built with the energy, creativity and ambition of the cities and locations we call home.
“Every detail matters to us, from the dough and ingredients to the atmosphere in the pizzeria. Opening at Trafford Centre gives us the opportunity to bring that experience to even more people and show that pizza, when it’s done properly, can still surprise, delight and create a real sense of occasion.”
Simon Layton, Centre Director at Trafford Centre, said: “We’re delighted to announce that Forbici will be joining us at Trafford Centre, adding to our ever-evolving range of fantastic restaurants.
“As a local success story, we’re thrilled to be championing another Manchester success story, and look forward to sampling some of their delicious pizzas when they open this summer.”
Forbici will open at The Orient at the Trafford Centre this summer.
Emily Sergeant -
7th January 2021 
