Inspiring Manchester women are all around us. They are our mothers, our sisters, our friends.
International Women’s Day helps remind us of this, as well as encouraging us to think more broadly about those who’ve made a big impact on our city, our country, and the wider world.
Of course, Manchester is no stranger to inspirational women. Our history is built on them – as is our present.
From famous campaigners like Lydia Becker, Marie Stopes and Emmeline Pankhurst, to writers like Elizabeth Gaskell and Carol Anne Duffy, whether they were born here or drawn here for centuries women have been shaping the course of history for those to come long before we had the vote.
But today, we’ve taken a little time to focus on those making the city what is today – shouting out ten inspiring Manchester women from all walks of life.
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From actors and musicians to athletes, businesswomen, chefs and even local politicians, Manchester women continue to be at the forefront of history in 2022 – and we’re damn proud of them.
Figen Murray
Image: Supplied
2022 started in a big way for Figen. The inspirational campaigner and educator was named on the New Year’s Honours list and appointed OBE, recognised for her services to counter terrorism.
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The mother of Martyn Hett, who was tragically killed in the Manchester Arena at just 29 years old, Figen has chosen to honour his memory by embracing and championing peace.
Since 2017, she had been fighting tirelessly to make venues safer with her Martyn’s Law campaign whilst also completing a Master’s degree in Counter Terrorism from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).
Her efforts have since led to the rapid progression of the Protect Duty, a new piece of legislation that would see certain public places required to be prepared for, and protected against, terrorist attacks.
Mancunian-based marathon runner and personal trainer Amy Hughes made history in 2014 as the first woman to run 53 marathons in as many days – beating not just the women’s record, but the men’s record too.
Not content with bursting into the record books just once, the Shropshire-born athlete did it again in 2020 – raising £12,400 for NHS Charities Together by running for 26 hours straight on a treadmill. She has since founded Sculpt In Haus pilates studio, based on Lloyd street.
Karina Jadhav
Image: Karina Jadhav
The North West’s youngest independent female restaurant operator and owner, Karina Jadhav founded her current concept Menagerie in August 2016 after moving away from venues Neighbourhood, Victors Hale and Southern Eleven.
Hugely successful, over the years her venue Menagerie has become a hotspot for the city’s glitterati crowd and is a great place to visit if you’re in the mood for some celeb spotting.
DJ Paulette
Image: DJ Paulette
As the first female resident to take on the decks at The Hacienda, DJ Paulette is an icon of the city’s dance music scene.
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A familiar face around Manchester’s restaurants and bars and a key fixture at cult queer club night Homoelectric, she also has her own radio show and is currently in the process of writing a book about her experience in the music industry – due to be released next year.
A powerhouse of Manchester’s music and events scene, for years now Sophie Bee has been behind the programming at Bavarian party palace Albert’s Schloss – putting together the house band and live entertainment that has made it such a go-to-spot for anyone and everyone on a night out.
A Creative Producer for the multi-concept operator Mission Mars, she also works on events like La Discotheque, Audio Farm and Homoelectric, oversees similar programming at Escape To Freight Island and has organised stages at Glastonbury in the past.
Mary Ellen McTague
Image: Mary-Ellen McTague
As the chef-owner and The Creameries in Chorlton and co-founder of restaurant-backed charity Eat Well Manchester, Mary-Ellen is a hospitality force to be reckoned with.
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From cheffing in Michelin-starred kitchens to writing columns for The Guardian and, most recently, battling food inequality in Greater Manchester, she’s not just a great chef but a community-minded philanthropist too.
Mobilising quickly at the start of the pandemic to use restaurant food headed for the bin, alongside her partners through Eat Well MCR she’s provided over 50,000 meals to people in need since March 2020.
Julie Hesmondhalgh as Hayley Cropper in her famous red anorak, with on-screen husband David Neilson. / Image: ITV
The Corrie queen who gives back in spades, actor Julie Hesmondhalgh is known for her 15 years on-screen as Hayley Cropper – but her off-screen work makes her even more of a notable figure.
As well as making history with her groundbreaking role as the first transgender character on a British soap, she is the patron of a number of UK charities including Trans Media Watch, which is dedicated to improving media coverage of trans and intersex issues.
As the first new Manchester Council leader in for 25 years, and the first openly-gay woman to hold the position ever, Bev Craig is definitely an inspiration to many.
And whilst she hopes, in time, that these two facts will become the “the least interesting thing” about her, we still think it’s a feat that deserves celebrating.
This year, she will be launching a commission around tackling misogyny and violence against women and girls in Manchester – asking people to input their views and their feelings on the matter in light of an increase in incidents since the start of the pandemic.
An actress and narrator, today Maxine Peake is at the forefront of British acting – putting Manchester on the map with appearances in a host of mainstream TV shows and films such as The Real Anne Williams, Black Mirror, Dinner Ladies and Peterloo.
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After living in London for years, she moved up to Salford in 2009 to give herself freedom to choose more risky roles and take lower-paying jobs in theatre.
In recent years, she’s also become somewhat of an activist – using her fame to speak out at the Peterloo Memorial Peterloo Memorial march and the anti-Tory protest and calling for a coup in the Guardian.
Angela Rayner
Image: Commons Wikimedia
Stockport -born politician Angela Rayner is the current MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, Droylsden and Failsworth and deputy leader of the Labour party. A former care worker, throughout the pandemic she was outspoken when it cam to championing the efforts of key workers.
As a key player in the Shadow Cabinet, she recently said on the record that she is “doing the groundwork now: to make sure that the party’s next leader is a woman.
She recently told Times Radio: “I think the Labour party is ready and I’m doing the groundwork now to make sure it’s ready by supporting other women and saying you can achieve whatever you want to achieve.
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Feature
In celebration of Momo Shop: a Chorlton favourite that has flourished since its rebrand
Danny Jones
It’s not often we go out of our way to hammer home just how staggering we found a restaurant, but after now losing track of the number of times that a member of our team has eaten at Momo Shop in Chorlton and come back near speechless, it deserves more than a review.
We regularly hold ourselves back and resist the urge to talk in superlatives wherever possible, especially because we worry we might be falling into the recency bias trap, but in this instance, we’re going to go out on a limb and fall on our hospitality sword. Well, this particular writer is…
It’s official: Momo Shop Nepali Street Food – for our money, anyway – is up there with one of THE best restaurants in Manchester right now.
And there are plenty of reasons why, not least of all because of the years of practice they have feeding increasingly discerning Manc diners under a different moniker.
Simple but charming – all the focus is on the foodAnd the food speaks for itselfSome of the most flavourful fillings you’ll find in ManchesterBusy any given night of the weekNo review (Credit: The Manc Eats/Momo Shop via Instagram)
If you don’t live in/frequent Chorlton, you’ll be forgiven for thinking that this gaff was a somewhat new addition to Chorlton, but in actual fact it’s been gradually growing a loyal and passionate following for more than seven years.
This is because before the miniamlist rebrand that saw the walls stripped back, the exterior painted blue and cutesy little bits of artwork hung amidst that familiar and atmospheric festoon lighting, Momo Shop was once The Little Yeti.
Its former iteration boasted hundreds of glowing reviews in its own right, which already plated up plenty of stunning Nepalese food, but since switching primarily towards serving a menu primarily made up of momos (Tibetan-style fried dumplings hand-folded into various shapes) they’ve well and truly shone.
Now approaching a full 12 months under the new name, the Nepali street food spot isn’t just one of a relatviely small handful considering how much great South Asian food there is across Greater Manchester, we’d wager it could be the very best representing that Alpine-Himalayan belt in our region.
Our latest visit was genuinely just as good as our first, second, third and so on – take your pick.
From the simply incredible deep fried pork dumplings and the deeply moorish butter sauce that goes with literally any momo filling, to the super traditional buffalo ones that are not only authentic but, come on, where else can you find such a unique meat in these parts? It’s some of the best food we’ve eaten.
And we don’t just mean of late; Momo Shop might genuinely among of the nicest scran we’ve had in ages and it’s no exagerration to say that the first taste we enjoyed from many of these flavours have formed some of the strongest culinary memories we’ve created in quite a while.
It’s also worth nothing that it isn’t just one main snack-sized dish. The chow mein, keema noodles and cheesy chops are showstoppers themselves, and we’ve already booked in again for a 30th birthday celebration purely so we can try those lambs ribs and their take on a shashlick.
Nevertheless, we love the idea of the numerous configurations and concotions by pairing different dumplings and owner Niti Karki gave us some pro-tips of the best duos and even let us in on the trade secret of her go-to combo when she’s hungover. Legend.
Once again, at the risk of sounding too hyperbolic, odd moments have felt like core foodie memories on a par with our favourite all-time meals.
Personally, I’m glad to report that this isn’t just a review: consider this a declaration that Momo Shop has quickly become my favourite restaurant not just in Chorlton but in all of central Manchester, something I haven’t had since the heartbreaking closure of Cocktail Beer Ramen + Bun in 2023.
Plenty of varietyDamn straightNiti = absolute iconWe’ll keep your condiment secret forever, Niti…
There might be an element of the almost HakkaPo-esque style drawings, the colour palette and the carefully curated pop-punk, old school emo and post-hardcore playlist that’s over half a decade in the making that makes particualrly partial to this place
But before we wrap up this glorified love letter parading as a ‘review’, we also want to give a special nod to the charming staff and Niti’s mum, specficially, who was too modest to even let us share her picture, but whose wealth of wisdom, influence and experience has clearly inspired Momo Shop’s success.
Don’t be shy, Sue – the only thing more stylish than the food was you, girl. Pop off.
Put simply, we’ll be going back here as regularly as possible until we try every different momo + sauce variation there is, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us.
If you are in the mood for more dumpling excellence, by the way, you might want to check out the unassuming Northern Quarter gem that is Chef Diao.
Lady Gaga is a tour-de-force of talent at the Co-op Live Manchester
Clementine Hall
Lady Gaga proves she’s a truly world-class act after two sold-out nights at the Co-op Live Manchester, as if we needed any reminding.
The city of Manchester has been flooded with harness-wearing, mesh-sporting little monsters over the past two days.
And that’s because the absolute icon that is Lady Gaga brought her ‘Mayhem Ball’ to the Co-op Live for two nights.
I don’t think you’ll find anyone who doesn’t know who this fabulous woman is. Over the past decade, she’s won an Oscar, headlined the Super Bowl, performed in blockbusters alongside Al Pacino, no less, and her songs are literally ingrained into our minds.
It’s been a whole 11 years (yes, really) since she performed in Manchester, and it’s safe to say she was back with a bang.
The performance was split up into five distinct acts, and each one was as exhausting and exhilarating as the next.
She begins the show by bopping out of a comically huge red dress, but this staging was only the start of what madness was about to ensue.
Luckily, we’d been prepared by the other half of the Audio North team, who had the equal privilege of seeing her on night one and were left similarly speechless.
Throughout the 30-song epic, we had crutches, sand pits, cages, skeletons, enough wigs to produce an amateur production of Annie, and we didn’t question any of it. Why would we? It’s Lady Gaga.
Kicking things off with ‘Bloody Mary’, the two and a half hour marathon didn’t leave any stones unturned.
We had all the bangers, from ‘Just Dance’ and ‘Paparazzi’ to ‘Bad Romance’ and ‘Applause’, it had us wondering why any other superstar even bothers putting a song out these days.
Pop is in a good place at the moment with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish and so on, but you can make a strong case for Gaga having helped pave the way for every lady in the business ever since.
Gaga truly had us in the palm of her hands (or claws at one point), even more so when she left the stage to de-robe and show her more vulnerable side for the last two songs – beanie firmly on.
It wasn’t just a concert: this was a fully-fledged tour de force of talent that Manchester won’t forget any time soon.
Sometimes there’s no point in intellectualising why someone has that ‘X-factor’; sometimes you just have to take a step back and say WOW.
The Manc -
8th March 2022 
