Once the hustle and bustle of the festive season dies down, January can often be a much quieter month with not a lot to look forward to.
Those carefree summer nights are still in the distant future, and your friends may have resolved to drinking less, spending less, and sleeping more. The long and short of it? The party’s over, basically, which is the last thing you want to hear when your birthday falls in January.
People with January birthdays have drawn the short straw when it comes to celebrations.
But luckily, one of Greater Manchester’s most-popular restaurants is offering Capricorns and Aquarians the chance to ease the January blues with a ‘Birthday Bonus’ offer.
The Botanist – which has a number of local branches on Deansgate in the city centre, MediaCityUK, Didsbury, Alderley Edge, Warrington, and Chester – is giving those who choose to celebrate their January birthday at one of its restaurants the chance to “pay for the year you were born”.
ADVERTISEMENT
The offer means that those with the January birthday and everyone in their booking will only pay for the amount that corresponds to the year you were born when dining from the restaurant’s group set menu.
Need an example? Let’s say, if you were born in 1993, then you’ll only pay £19.93 each, instead of the usual cost of £30 per person.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Botanist is giving people with January birthdays the chance to “pay for the year you were born” / Credit: The Botanist
The older you are, the cheaper your meal is.
That means you’ll make a saving of about a third per person, so if you do have a January birthday, your friends will have no excuse but to celebrate with you over one of The Botanist’s signature dishes.
The menu offer applies to lunch and dinner sittings and includes three courses plus a glass of wine, bottle of beer, or non-alcoholic mocktail.
ADVERTISEMENT
Some of the dishes on offer include favourites such as Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings, Rump Steak, and the mouthwatering Oreo Cookie Dough, as well as vegan options including the Plant Based Burger, Cauliflower Wings, and Raspberry and Almond Frangipane Tart, and for an extra special touch, you can also pre-order a birthday dessert or cocktail, complete with an edible ‘Happy Birthday’ message.
Booking is essential to redeem the ‘Birthday Bonus’ offer, so you can view the menu and book at your nearest restaurant on The Botanist website here.
Featured Image – The Botanist
Food & Drink
Stockport County’s Christmas dinner in a cup returns for 2025 as part of new festive food range
Danny Jones
We can’t believe it’s rolled around again already, but with the festive period well underway and the big day just a few weeks away, Stockport County have brought back their viral ‘Xmas dinner in a cup’for 2025.
Better still, the County Courtyard has seen some new Christmas specials added to its food menu, too.
The local football club are absolutely flying in League One at the moment, having spent plenty of time at the top of the table already and still well and truly contesting those promotion/play-off spots.
If you’re a Stopfordian, that’s plenty of cause for celebration right there, but with the Christmas dinner in a cup also up for grabs once more, the holiday season literally couldn’t taste any better right now.
For those who’ve never seen it before, it’s exactly what it says on the tin – well, cup: a little Sunday dinner in a County-branded takeaway coffee cup, complete with a healthy pour of gravy and pretty much all the trimmings you could hope for.
Yes, including sprouts, because all of you who still don’t touch them need to grow up already.
Currently priced at just £4.50, not only does it contain virtually all the major food groups (barring the customary matchday pints, of course), it might just be one of the healthiest and best value-for-money bits of footy scran around – certainly in Greater Manchester, anyway.
But, as mentioned, that’s not all this year; Stockport are also serving up the new festive hot dog and even a ‘leftover Christmas curry’ in a bowl, which might even be more warming on a cold night at Edgeley Park than the Xmas dinner in a cup or clinging onto a flask of Bovril.
Anyone else craving that curry with a cheeky bit of bubble and squeak now?
It’s also worth noting that you’ll only be able to get one of those on Boxing Day, by the way, when the Hatters host Lincoln City in the league.
As for the rest of it, County fans can get their hands on this seasonal scran for the first time this year at the weekend when Dave Challinor’s side take on Barnsley at 12:30pm, and two of the three specials will then be served at home every game over the holiday period.
Speaking of random Christmas food creations, there’s another limited-time-only and potentially divisive example that we’ll also be sampling this December…
Joe & The Juice opens at the Trafford Centre as viral brand’s comeback continues
Daisy Jackson
Joe & The Juice has opened another new store in Manchester – this time at the Trafford Centre.
The juice and coffee brand used to be based in Debenhams in the city centre, but vanished from Greater Manchester when the department store folded.
But Joe & The Juice is going through a remarkable resurgence and has relaunched back into our city in a big way.
First there was a huge new store on Cross Street in the city centre; now, it’s a new site in the Trafford Centre; and soon, it’ll be another spot on Mosley Street.
Joe & The Juice opens today – Black Friday – in the shopping centre, with exclusive deals and giveaways from a spinning prize wheel all day.
Inside you’ll find their signature menu of juices, smoothies, health shots, coffees and matchas, plus its viral Scandi-inspired sandwiches like the Tunacado.
There’s also its first-ever Christmas sandwich – the Joe Ho Ho is a typically Joe & The Juice-style twist on a classic Turkey butty.
The new shop also has a new dedicated space for JOE app users, where you can pre-order and collect your purchase, skipping the queues.
Joe Ho Ho festive sandwichSmoothies at Joe & The JuiceThe new Joe & The Juice is open at the Trafford CentreIt’s the second Joe & The Juice to open in Manchester this yearCredit: The Manc Group
Joe & The Juice will be open in the Upper Dome of the Trafford Centre from 8am to 10pm, Monday to Sunday.
Jon James, Joe & The Juice’s UK Managing Director, commented: “Manchester’s vibrant community is what makes it the perfect home for Joe & The Juice and the response the city has shown to our Cross Street opening said it all.
“We’ve grown fast across Manchester and can’t wait to bring even more people into the Joe experience as we open our Trafford Centre store this Black Friday, ready to fuel with our wide, functional offering.
“With further spots coming across the city next year, we’re only just getting warmed up.”