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
Huge waterside food hall to breathe life into old Manchester warehouse
Georgina Pellant
A new waterside food hall is tipped to open in Manchester as the Allied London team set their sites on a former warehouse on the banks of the river Irwell.
Sitting on the cusp of Spinningfields and Salford, Shipyard, as it will be known, will take inspiration from popular existing concepts such as Manchester’s Mackie Mayor, Lisbon’s Time Out Market, and the Kyiv Food Market.
Located on the corner of Water Street and New Quay Street, according to plans submitted to Manchester City Council it will move into a long-empty warehouse formerly known as Albert Shed.
Due to open in the same part of town as the hotly-anticipated new venue Factory International, after sitting empty for years it’s hoped that the new project will breathe some new life back into the area.
Promising to bring a mix of artisan vendors and ‘rolling smaller stalls’, the new food hall plans to create a new riverside dining destination in the Manchester neighbourhood of St. Johns.
Developers want to transform the existing first floor car park of the building into a food hall, then add a second mezzanine level to provide more seating.
Image: Albert’s Shed / Allied London
A statement to planners said: “We have been working alongside Allied London on the Shipyard (formerly Albert Sheds) to create a new riverside dining destination within the prime location in St. John’s Masterplan.
“Being one of the few original industrial buildings left within the city centre, its high ceilings and waterfront location will provide the perfect atmosphere from day to night.
“Our proposals are to repurpose the former warehouse into an eclectic and curated destination that compliments the wider St. Johns Masterplan, by encouraging a mix of artisan vendors and rolling smaller stalls.”
“It is envisaged that the food hall will become more visible during dusk and evening time as the interior is illuminated,” the documents added. “The form of the timber canopy will provide solar shading from morning sun whilst at night the internal space will illuminate the river side.”
Feature image – Alberts Shed / Allied London
Food & Drink
Aldi launches new ‘magic bags’ with £10 worth of food for just £3.30
Emily Sergeant
Aldi has teamed up with the world’s largest surplus food platform to offer ‘Magic Bags’ for just £3.30 at hundreds of its stores.
In a bid to tackle food waste while also offering even lower prices to customers, and following on from what was considered to have been a “successful” trial last year, the UK’s leading budget supermarket has teamed up with Too Good To Go to offer surplus food bags across all of its 990 stores right across the country.
The ‘Magic Bags’ will be packed full of a wide range of grocery products that are approaching their sell-by or use-by dates at less than a third of the price.
They’ll set you back just £3.30 each for what is at least £10 worth of food.
As well as Aldi helping shoppers during the cost of living crisis, by working with Too Good To Go, the supermarket chain is helping to spread awareness about food waste and promote the different ways to reduce it.
Aldi launches new ‘magic bags’ with £10 worth of food for just £3.30 / Credit: Too Good To Go
The nationwide rollout of the ‘Magic Bag’ scheme is expected to save a further 4,000 tonnes of food from going to waste every year.
To get a Magic Bag, all shoppers need to do is download the free Too Good To Go app and search for their nearby Aldi store, before reserving a bag to collect from the store at an allotted time.
“Rolling out our partnership with Too Good To Go is another way of allowing us to cut down on food waste, while also offering customers the opportunity to pick up our food at even lower prices,” explained Liz Fox – Corporate Responsibility Director at Aldi UK.
“With the rising cost of living impacting so many, Too Good To Go offers a simple and accessible way for consumers to save money and reduce waste.”
The scheme is expected to save a further 4,000 tonnes of food from going to waste every year / Credit: Aldi
Sophie Trueman, Managing Director of Too Good To Go, added that the company is “thrilled” to be partnering with Aldi, adding: “Having already had fantastic feedback during a successful trial period, I know our Too Good To Go community is going to jump at the chance to save Magic Bags from their local Aldi and prevent even more good food from going to waste.”
On top of the new ‘Magic Bag’ scheme, all of Aldi’s UK stores will continue to donate surplus food to local causes 365 days of the year through its partnership with Neighbourly.
Aldi has been widely praised by shoppers on social media since announcing the scheme.
Emily Sergeant -
12th January 2022 
