Food & Drink

A double-decker party bus with free cocktails is coming to Manchester this weekend

It will be pulling up in Spinningfields this Saturday.

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant - 23rd May 2023

A double-decker party bus with free cocktails is coming to Manchester this weekend as popular bar chain Be At One celebrates 25 years in business.

The bar’s 90’s style double-decker bus will be visiting Spinningfields’ Hardman Square on Sunday 28 May, popping up from 1 to 6pm with plenty of free cocktails and good vibes.

Here, guests will be invited to hop on board and join in the celebrations with complimentary drinks dished out all day, plus live DJs and more live birthday entertainment.

With over 100 cocktails to choose from, Be At One boasts one of the most extensive cocktail menus in the mainstream nightlife scene.

A longstanding fixture on the high street, it is a challenge for most to walk through the city centre without encountering at least one Be At One bar.

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First established in 1998, the cocktail connoisseurs have become one of the UK’s most trusted go-to venues.

Read more: Erling Haaland spotted cooking his own dinner in flashy Manchester restaurant Mnky Hse

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Now, this May they are taking guests back to a time when it was impossible to shuffle past a bar or club without VengaBoys – We Like To Party being blasted through the walls. 

Through eccentric colours, groovy prints and notes of nostalgia up and down their personalised party bus, the group’s three-day weekender will be a true celebration of what has been an incredible 25-year run of entertaining city-goers across the country.

As well as stopping off in Manchester on Saturday, the party bus will also be popping up in Birmingham’s Bullring Shopping Centre and at London Victoria Station. 

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Read more: Food to overtake energy bills in driving up UK cost of living crisis

Michelle Farrell, Director of Marketing of Stonegate Group commented: “Celebrating a 25th birthday is a remarkable milestone for any business, and we couldn’t think of a better way to mark the occasion than visiting our guests right in their hometowns.

“Not only will the Be At One party bus be touring up and down the country, but all 40 of our cocktail bars will be throwing their own birthday bashes all weekend – it’s a celebration not to be missed!” 

The Be At One party bus schedule will be:

May 26 – 1pm – 6pm – London Victoria Station

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May 27 – 1.30pm – 6pm – Birmingham Bullring Shopping Centre 

May 28 – 1pm – 6pm –  Manchester Spinningfields 

Featured image – Supplied

Food & Drink

A historic Stockport pub has officially become a listed building

Danny Jones Danny Jones The Angel Inn pub Stockport made a grade II listed building

The Angel Inn pub in Stockport has officially become the thriving Greater Manchester borough’s latest listed building.

Being granted Grade II-listed status following an extensive visit and survey by Historic England (HE), Stockport Market Place’s Angel Inn may have had a lick of paint amidst the ‘Old Town Revival’ over the last decade or so, but the pub itself was erected back in the 16th century.

Reopened as one of the area’s most beloved boozers back in 2018, whilst still maintaining key fixtures and that feeling of authenticity, it harks back to the town’s Cheshire roots and taps into a deep vein of local culture.

The assessment, which was completed earlier this month, means that Angel Inn has been recognised as having special architectural or historic significance – i.e. the definition of a listed building.

Writing in a post on social media, the government-backed English heritage organisation detailed that while the inn predates the Early Modern/post-medieval period, the Angel‘s frame is comprised of wood from the 15th century.

But it gets even more interesting than that…

As well as being one of a select few surviving, traditional wattle-and-daub structures in the UK – nearby Bramall Hall being another (and a technique that had died out by the 18th century) – a close inspection of the internal floorboards unearthed something truly fascinating.

It just so happens that tests by HE proved that one particular plank of flooring “was cut from a tree alive in 1086, the year the Domesday Book was completed: the oldest government record held in The National Archives, commissioned by William the Conqueror.

How bloody cool is that?

It’s also worth noting that it’s genuinely a brilliant boozer and one of the most popular watering holes you’ll find in the town centre, promising a cosy interior, an intimate little outdoor area out back and serving plenty of regional ales.

angel inn stockport listed building status
You only have to glance at the exterior to clue into its age, let alone what there is to be found inside.
how old is angel inn stockport?
Way back when.
Credit: Historic England (handout)/Stockport Archives

Although they say it’s likely that the floorboard in question was originally cut for an earlier building situated in the same location, it still goes to show how old this particular North West settlement is.

“The name ‘Angel Inn’ dates from as early as 1769, though the site’s hospitality roots extend further, with references to “Cotterell’s inn” used for sequestrators’ meetings in the 1640s, who met to organise the confiscation of property of supporters of King Charles I during The English Civil War”, HE went on to add.

Angel Inn is one of only a handful of venues like this in Greater Manchester and Cheshire; safe to say a lot of time, effort and money are being put into preserving these links to the past.

You’ll find Exhibit B just down the road.

Stockport Council secure in funding £1.6 million to help fix the roof of historic Bramall Hall
The ultimate example of ‘SK is Cheshire, not Greater Manchester.’

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Featured Images — The Manc Group/Historic England (handout)/Stockport Archives

Food & Drink

‘Classy, clever, confident’ – New Manchester restaurant receives glowing Guardian review

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson British classics at Winsome, Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group

Winsome, one of the newest restaurants on Manchester’s dining scene, has gone and received a seriously glowing review in The Guardian this weekend.

Legendary restaurant critic Grace Dent said that the British bistro ‘may well be my new favourite restaurant’, lauding chef patron Shaun Moffat’s ‘elegant but plentiful modern cooking’.

She said that there’s even a teeny touch of Toby Carvery in their Sunday offering, with meaty and saucy dishes and ‘cartoon-esque XL yorkshire puddings’.

Winsome opened back in March under the steer of three hospitality heavyweights – ex-Edinburgh Castle chef Shaun Moffat, former Schofields head bartender Tom Fastiggi, and Belzan founder Owain Williams.

It’s a beautiful, stripped-back space at the foot of the Whitworth Locke aparthotel and Moffat’s first venture as a chef patron.

Based on this Guardian review, he’s doing a pretty good job so far…

Grace Dent said of Winsome’s nostalgic yet modern menu (featuring dippy eggs and puddings that sound like school dinner puds): “This is Cool Britannia wearing a napkin bib with a side portion of rhubarb jelly and custard for pudding.”

Novelty crockery at Winsome. Credit: The Manc Group
Novelty crockery at Winsome. Credit: The Manc Group
Chef patron Shaun Moffat at Winsome. Credit: The Manc Group
Chef patron Shaun Moffat at Winsome. Credit: The Manc Group
Dippy egg and asparagus. Credit: The Manc Group
Dippy egg and asparagus. Credit: The Manc Group
Inside WInsome on Princess Street. Credit: The Manc Group
Inside WInsome on Princess Street. Credit: The Manc Group

She also wrote that it’s ‘far from a novelty restaurant’ in spite of its animal-shaped crockery.

And Dent added that while there’s an element of fine dining, it’s unpretentious enough that you’re happy to smear it all over the tablecloths and, indeed, yourself.

‘Deeply nostalgic’, ‘forward-thinking fine dining without any of the faff’, is how she described her Winsome experience.

“This is confident, clever cooking that stays just the right side of earnest, or at least as earnest as a chef can be when he also serves up a dessert that is essentially a 1980s school sponge pudding with a scoop of milk ice-cream flecked with multicoloured sprinkles, or hundreds and thousands as they will for ever be known in my heart,” she wrote.

Grace Dent’s Guardian review concluded with: “Winsome may well be my new favourite restaurant, and it’s the new, big, generous beating heart of Manchester hospitality. It’s classy but come-all – bring your gran, bring your baby, no one need feel conspicuous.

“There’s something about the place that makes me want to use it as a canteen, not least out of sheer curiosity as to what Moffat will put on the menu next. Great cooking, and forward-thinking fine dining without any of the faff.

“Bring your appetite and don’t wear pale colours. Aaah, Manchester, you have so much to answer for. Winsome will seriously impact your waistline.”

Winsome said in a post on Instagram: “It doesn’t get much better than that! We’re over the moon, full of pride and could not be more grateful to the team who’ve worked so hard to help us deliver this dream.”

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Featured image: The Manc Group

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