The Oast House has already started getting into the Christmas spirit with the return of its famous winter tipi.
Arguably one of the most festive parts of the city centre each year and billed as a “winter escape in the heart of Spinningfields”, the Curious Tipi never fails to be a massive hit – with thousands of Mancunians and visitors to the city taking refuge from the cold and descending upon venue to enjoy a steaming mug of mulled wine and some good hearty grub next to an open fireplace.
And this year will be no exception.
After the much-loved event sadly had to be closed for a big chunk of the festive season last year, “Manchester’s original and most loved” tipi is back, and there’s plenty of exciting things lined up.
Manchester’s original and most loved tipi is back at The Oast House / Credit: Instagram (@theoasthousemcr)
In case you didn’t already know, The Oast House is currently celebrating its 10th birthday, and has been throwing a series of special parties to celebrate this big milestone.
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The venue is throwing 10 parties with the aim of raising £10,000 each for 10 worthy local charities.
The next party on the list is ‘Oastoberfest’ – the pub’s take on Oktoberfest, with Back Chat Brass, lots of bratwurst, and endless tankards of its signature lager, Budvar – which is happening this Friday 15 October, and then the week after that on 21 October, there’ll be a special ‘Hanging Kebabs Showcase’ the week.
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To round off this month’s busy events schedule, there’ll be a party celebrating both old and new Oast House staff members on 29 October.
The Curious Tipi never fails to be a massive hit, with thousands of people descending upon the venue each year / Credit: Instagram (@theoasthousemcr)
Speaking on the events taking place over the next couple of weeks, The Oast House’s Matt Lewty said: “We’re super excited to bring back Manchester’s original – and most loved – Tipi [and] I’m looking forward to seeing old faces from days gone by for The Oast House staff celebration on October 29th.
“If you’ve ever done a shift behind the bar, hung a kebab, greeted guests, played the stage or ran around the floor helping customers, we’d love to see you.”
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Throughout the winter, there will also be a number of Christmassy events taking place – including the iconic cinema nights, wreath making classes, and more.
The Curious Tipi will also be available to hire out for functions and staff Christmas throughout the festive period.
You can find more information about Christmas 2021 at The Oast House here.
Featured Image – The Oast House
Food & Drink
A new ’boutique’ chicken spot has opened in Manchester’s Northern Quarter
Danny Jones
A brand-new chicken spot called ‘Le Coq Boutique’ has just opened in Manchester city centre, serving out of a popular Northern Quarter bar.
Is this the best name we’ve ever heard in our time writing about food and drink? It just might be…
Opening from inside The Social NQ on Thomas Street (formerly known as Smithfield Social), their new resident and poultry-centric kitchen is a bit of a pun on the classic French sportswear label, but having now been versed in the word about the bird for ourselves, we can confirm it’s much more than that.
For starters, the only thing more decadent than the roasted meats are the sides and cocktail menu, which features everything from chunky hash browns and some of the richest sauces you could ask for.
As you can see, the most chicken is well and truly the star of the show here, but what they have done is find unique ways of innovating and experimenting with it.
For instance, if you’ve never had a cocktail with chicken fat in it, here’s a place you can try one.
Honestly, this isn’t our first rodeo with this very particular kind of drink – but for those of you that haven’t, we promise, it really is quite good.
Aside from surprisingly saline kicks beside the salty marg rims we’ve become more accustomed to over the years, there are some very nice drinks on the menu.
But we’ll be honest, if you’re a sucker for the famous ‘chicken wine’ – a.k.a. La Vieille Ferme, if you want to be all formal – we imagine you’ll be sticking to plenty of this.
Having already spent many a weekend, be that afternoon or night, at the old Smithfield over the years, now that it has this fine new in-house food offering tacked on, we suspect we’ll be going back a lot more.
Whether you want lots of crispy chicken skin or prefer it smothered in gravy and various other kinds of savoury jus, if you’re an unadulterated mothercluckin’ chicken lover, then you’ll have a great time here.
As the team has joked in the comments under their first few social media posts, while it isn’t technically mandatory to wear the vintage 80s brand upon visiting, it is “expected”, with “bonus marks and shots” and promised for your efforts.
It’s also worth noting that they have an exclusive launch offer for those who sort a booking early, so we wouldn’t wait around if we were you.
Let us know what you think if you visit anytime soon.
Bunny Jackson’s offer Foo Fighters and Mancs incredible deal if they play their stage after Ritz gig
Danny Jones
Beloved dive bar Bunny Jackson’s has offered the Foo Fighters and Mancunians alike an incredible deal, provided the legendary band if they play on their stage after their gig at the O2 Ritz.
As well as Manchester ramping up the 2026 BRITs Week buzz ahead of the awards at Co-op Live this weekend, a little-known American rock group called the Foo Fighters decided to announce a surprise gig here in town.
But the bigger story now, we’d argue, is that the city centre boozer – which serves as a regular go-to both before and after gigs – is offering free drinks if Dave Grohl and co. pop up to perform on their usual bandaoke platform. As in for EVERYONE.
As explained by the Bunny’s boss, if the Foos make what is quite literally a minute trip down the road to OG Jackson’s wing joint and late-night watering hole after their Ritz gig is over, they’re promising to hand out free booze to all inside the venue.
Joking that they can quite literally “do anything” and may not even fit on their even smaller stage – with this being one of the tiniest of Manchester’s small-cap venues – it’s worth reminding that they wouldn’t be the first big name to surprise punters.
It was only a couple of years ago that both The 1975 and Olivia Rodrigo showed their faces, with the former getting behind the bar and pouring drinks themselves, and the latter even hopping on the mic herself – yes, really.
Just last March, members of Bilmuri also hopped behind the decks for a DJ set, and saxophone player Gabi Rose couldn’t resist hitting some horns live for the crowd, too.
You might want to be at Bunny’s even if you’re not going to the gig anyway. (Credit: Bunny Jackson’s)
So what we’re telling you is that this isn’t entirely beyond the realms of possibility. Keep absolutely everything crossed.
BJ’s was already hosting a pre- and post-curfew party for the big Manchester gig, as they often do, but just think how incredible it would be if the rock icons actually turned up in person. You can find out what else they’ve got planned on the night HERE.
Not only would it mean free-flowing beer for everyone in the gaff, but this would go down as one of the greatest stories in Greater Manchester music history.
If you want to up the chances of this happening, make sure you share it far and wide, getting @ing and pestering them, and hopefully we’ll see you at Bunny Jackson’s with the boys from Foo Fighters!
Oh, and lads, if you’re wondering why we all love it here, look no further:
Emily Sergeant -
12th October 2021 
