Comprised of just three stitched together pieces of cotton, for generations now the t-shirt has functioned as a really basic way of telling the world who and what you are.
Long championed by music fans and politicos alike as a form of self-expression, over the years the humble t-shirt has become a great visual shorthand for promoting – and defending – causes close to your chest.
Now they’re being adopted by another group with a cause: the Manchester hospitality sector.
From late-night pizza parlours to gin bars, mental health coffee shops and hoagie spots, there’s now a glut of businesses in the city working with local artists to create their own design-savvy merchandise – and locals have been quick to snap them up.
It’s not all t-shirts, either. There’s beanies, caps, tote bags, jumpers, hoodies – you name it, someone in the hospitality scene has stuck a design on it and marketed it to their customers during Covid.
ADVERTISEMENT
But this is not a vanity project, far from it. Rather, the income stream that merch sales have brought in has been invaluable to struggling Manchester businesses over the past year and a half.
For some, it’s also served as a small act of rebellion against decision-makers they feel have let them down in their time of need.
ADVERTISEMENT
Interestingly, some of the earliest people to grasp this within hospitality were the staff themselves.
Bundobust
Bundobust
In October last year, a group of Manchester bartenders got together (virtually, we assume) to ask how the hell they could support and help those that weren’t in as fortunate a position within the hospitality industry.
At the time, many of their fellow employees were losing their jobs and there was only one charity that seemed to be helping them: Hospitality in Action.
ADVERTISEMENT
The solution? Sell some merchandise and donate the proceeds to charity.
They quickly moved to create some tongue-in-cheek MAGA-style hats that read ‘Make Bedtime Late Again’ – raising much-needed funds for struggling teammates as well as awareness for their cancel the curfew campaign.
Others were quick to follow.
Manchester’s part-time pizza parlour Crazy Pedro’s commissioned a series of murals outside their venue at the end of 2020 that became synonymous with the hospitality sector’s struggle / Image: Crazy Pedro’s.
At Atlas Bar on Deansgate, a spot renowned for having the best and biggest collection of gin in the city, bosses moved to create their own Premium Small Batch London Dry Atlas Gin as a way to bring the bar back into people’s homes.
They – like many others – also launched a range of “at home” experiences, which quickly got snapped up by customers fed up with supermarket gins.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The revenue has created much-needed cash flow, which certainly supported paying bills through lockdown,” acknowledges Managing Director Elaine Wrigley when we chat about the impact of the past year.
But one place in Manchester that has perhaps done more than any other on the merch front is part-time pizza parlour Crazy Pedros, part of The Liars Group.
It all began with customers buying ‘pay it forward’ vouchers, says Nick Coupland, head of marketing and social, when we catch up on how things were during that crazy time in March last year, but things quickly evolved beyond that.
The company has always sold merchandise for Pedros and has long worked with local artist Harrison Edwards on their branding across the group to come up with quirky designs, from pizza boxes that look like actual pieces of art to bespoke cans of Pedro’s Hooch.
NQ64
NQ64
But things really picked up when they started selling their politically charged ‘Buck Foris’ t-shirts in October following the Tier announcements.
ADVERTISEMENT
These sold out almost instantaneously, Nick tells us – adding that they saw a 400% increase in sales after releasing the designs online.
For many loyal restaurant fans, buying merch has become an easy way to support their favourite eateries through a series of lockdowns that has left much of Manchester’s hospitality in rags.
The income has been especially important to the city’s many bars and pubs without a food offering, who have spent more of the past year closed than open.
The pizza boxes at Crazy Pedro’s go far beyond the average / Image: Crazy Pedro’s
It’s not been an easy one for the sector. In fact, according to United City, from March 2020 to March 2021 Greater Manchester was only in restrictions equivalent to Tier One for a total of three weeks.
This means, in the space of a year, hospitality businesses (which account for 33% of all employment in Manchester) lost out not just on their all-important Christmas trade, but also Bank Holidays, Pride celebrations, Halloween, and more.
ADVERTISEMENT
It’s also perhaps unsurprising that the sudden increase in demand for restaurant t-shirts has aligned with the closing of gig venues and nightclubs.
In a way, going out for dinner has become the new “going out”, and was emphasised all too clearly at Escape to Freight Island’s chaotic KANTINA weekend, which somehow managed to create a queueing system more disastrous than Manchester Pride’s ill-fated 2019 festival.
Whatever the reason, things have certainly changed and, as ever, Manchester is pushing back.
The DIY attitude of the punk era is in vogue once again, and this time it’s Manchester’s restaurants and bars leading the charge.
Feature
The adorable open farm in Bolton where you can hold baby lambs, bunnies, and chicks this spring
Emily Sergeant
Just outside of Manchester, nestled within 70-acres of rolling countryside, you’ll find Smithills Open Farm – the perfect place for a spring day out.
Smithills Open Farm – tucked away in the picturesque Bolton countryside, beside the historic Smithills Hall and former Coaching House – is, to this day, still owned and operated by the Grimshaw family who have farmed in the area for more than 100 years, and is, by its own admission, a family-run business where children ‘have the time of their lives’ and ‘nothing sits still’.
Anthony Grimshaw moved to Smithills in 1986 with his own young family to start a dairy farm, and ever since then, was encouraged by Bolton Council open a visitor attraction.
The farm went from solely being a working farm to officially ‘opening’ to the public all the way back in 2001, and it’s fair to say it’s gone from strength to strength ever since.
From a huge expansion in 2015, to installing its own dairy and pasteurising plant in 2018, weathering a COVID lockdown where Bolton was one of the worst-hit areas nationally, and going viral on social media, Smithills is showing no signs of slowing down.
At Smithills Open Farm, you’ll find dozens of animals all cohabiting peacefully.
We’re talking everything from the ‘typical’ animals you’d expect to see on a farm like cows, pigs, sheep, goats, donkeys, ducks, rabbits, and horses, to the more exotic kind of residents like alpacas, llamas, emus, and wallabies, as well as meerkats, porcupines, snakes, tortoises and turtles, and so many more.
And thanks to the popular ‘Pets Corner’ and regular tractor rides taking place throughout the day, visitors are able to see, feed, and even hold the animals for themselves.
Smithills Open Farm in Bolton is the perfect spring day out / Credit: The Manc Group
Animal care and education is truly at the heart of everything they do at Smithills Open Farm.
Owners and staff alike pride themselves on giving the animals the ‘best life possible’, while allowing the public to enjoy them too and learn about all the incredible species along the way.
Not only does the farm hold a number of hugely important licenses to operate in the way it does – including a registered Zoo Licence – but it’s also doing a lot to help with the conservation of some rare breeds of animals too, by both allowing customers to see and learn about them, and even overseeing its own breeding to increase numbers.
The animals may be the stars of the show, but it’s only one half of what makes Smithills so special, as it’s remained a working dairy farm all along and supplies milk and a wide range of other products to thousands of households across Bolton.
The farm is also known and loved for its ice creamery and dairy products / Credit: The Manc Group
On site, you’ll also find a shop selling all the products the farm produces, as well as goods from other local sellers, and adorable gifts to take home with you too.
And, of course, how could we forget to give a shoutout to the ice creamery?
People travel from far and wide just to get their fix of these adventurous flavours – and it’s honestly not hard to see why.
Smithills Open Farm is open from 10am-5pm all year round, but as you’d expect, it’s at its cutest (and busiest) around the spring time and school holidays. Whether you want to visit as a family, or organise a school trip, the farm aims to cater for your every need.
‘If only he was here’: Peter Hook reflects on Ian Curtis as Joy Division join Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Danny Jones
We were lucky enough to play a part in a bit of music history (albeit only a small one) this week, as we had the privilege of chatting with the one and only Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order, as the pair were finally admitted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
A long overdue bit of recognition, if you ask, but a momentous day nonetheless.
Chatting with Hooky and a long-time friend, collaborator, and beloved Manchester-based DJ, Graeme Park, in the aftermath of being named in the ‘Class of 2026’, he was visibly moved and honoured by the announcement. Here’s what he had to say…
Joking from the off by repeating Graeme’s initial question, “How does it feel?” (an absolute tap-in, that one), the 70-year-old bassist and co-founder of both iconic Greater Manchester groups admitted that they “had a couple of false starts”, to put it mildly, but went on to add: “we can only thank our fans.”
Confessing there has been somewhat of a mixed reaction about “what it means” to them and/or in the industry these days, he made it clear that on a personal level, it’s still a huge moment.
Put simply, he said: “Without the fans, we’d all be nothing.”
He also went on to praise the sort of no-nonsense, DIY and unapologetic approach of the Manc music scene, quipping: “You know, what would Simon Cowell have said about Ian Curtis, Bez, Shaun [Ryder] – Ian Brown, for god’s sake?!”
Acknowledging that while no one was necessarily an “accomplished singer” (often the case when you start early and just pursue a passion), his caveat was that “they had heart and soul” and “they embody something deep within us all that has lasted and will continue to last.”
Noting a de facto ‘Renaissance’ that a few names have enjoyed – especially following the passing of certain notable figures – he believes, rather, that they never went anywhere and that Northern crowds and beyond have helped those songs stretch to three, four, even five different generations.”
He’s not wrong: they’ve never stopped connecting with audiences, and they NEVER will.
Once more, it was an absolute joy (again, pardon the pun) to chat with Peter and Parky, who clearly haven’t lost their love for each other, nor this business – even after all these decades.
Congratulations to both bands, Hooky, Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, Gillian Gilbert, Tom Chapman, Phil Cunningham, as well as every session musician who’s ever played these tunes and kept them alive.
Last but not least: forever and always, rest in peace, Ian Curtis.
Georgina Pellant -
27th June 2021 
