A bakery in Manchester is selling some incredible giant Rolo-inspired cookies, and we’re just a little bit obsessed.
Created by the bakery team behind Gooey Co., the sweet treats resemble the iconic Rolo chocolates – but in giant cookie form.
Wrapped in gold just like our original childhood favourite, Gooey’s Rolo-inspired cookies have been created as a January special and are available for a limited time only.
To create it, they’ve taken their famous milk chocolate cookie dough, dipped it in Belgian milk chocolate and filled it with a sticky caramel centre for that ultimate soft, chewy Rolo goodness.
An original ROLO versus the Gooey ROLO-inspired cookie / Image: Gooey Co.
Priced at £3.50 each, the ROLO-inspired cookies are available from the Gooey kiosk, located at Ducie Street Warehouse close to Manchester Piccadilly train station.
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They are also available to preorder for collection or for delivery within Greater Manchester, and can be ordered through the Gooey website here.
You best act quickly if you want one, though, as the special is only available until this Sunday 16 January.
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Image: Gooey Co.
After that, the team will be bringing back some of their fan’s favourite specials from last year -and are currently holding a vote on which ones to bring back next over on the business’s Instagram page.
Notable specials that could come back include the tiramisu donut, red velvet cookie sandwich, Terry’s chocolate orange donut and peanut butter jelly cookie .
That said, there are over 20 different options currently up to a vote – so if you feel strongly about seeing one return to the kiosks’ counter, be sure to head over and vote on Instagram to make your opinion count.
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Gooey’s Red Velvet cookie special features two red velvet cookies with buttercream filling, dipped in white Belgian chocolate / Image: Gooey Co.
Launched just before the first lockdown began, in the past nearly two years Gooey has pivoted the hell out of its business model to become one of the most in-demand collection and at-home bakery delivery services in Manchester.
First opening inside Wilson’s coffee on Stevenson Square in February 2020, it soon took its chocolate chip cookie slabs and bulging doughnuts on the road – reopening in May for delivery across the region.
By July, the team had also opened a kiosk inside Ducie Street Warehouse and can still be found there today slinging all manner of sweet treats, as well as hosting a selection of treats over at their other venue, the new neighbourhood wine bar and cafe Arlo’s.
They’re really known for their cookies and donuts as Gooey, but over at Arlo’s you’ll find some more elaborate creations on the counter – such as Lemon meringue tarts, chocolate eclairs, hazelnut choux buns and cinnamon buns.
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Keep up with all things Gooey by following them on Instagram here.
Olivia Dean proves she deserves all her flowers with a captivating performance for BRITs Week 26 for War Child
Clementine Hall
BRITs Week 26 for War Child continued in Manchester last night, with Olivia Dean taking over a beautiful candle-lit Albert Hall… and it was a night we won’t forget.
I don’t need to tell you how utterly brilliant Olivia Dean is.
It’s something I’ve known for years (humble brag), but luckily it seems the entire world has caught on over the past few months.
I’ve been lucky enough to see Olivia five times now, and from watching her joyfully shake here banana-shaped maraca on a small stage at Glastonbury in 2023, to swishing her olive green satin gown at one of the country’s best venues last night – her indisputable talent remains.
Images: The Manc
The Art of Loving, her sophomore album, came out in September last year and features global hits ‘Man I Need’ and ‘Nice to Each Other’.
The record is a perfect analysis of love in all forms. Her heartfelt yet humoured lyricism explores its constant ups and downs, but perhaps the most prominent theme of love throughout is self-love.
And this is so clear as we watch Olivia beam from ear to ear as she makes her way through a setlist that is a celebration of her entire discography.
Of course, we heard all the fan favourites from the new album including ‘Lady Lady’ and ‘So Easy (To Fall In Love)’, but we were also treated to some of her older songs like ‘Echo’ and ‘UFO’ that initially brought her into the limelight.
A highlight for me was Ladies Bathroom which saw the gigantic disco ball hanging above us kick into gear, which as you can imagine at the gorgeous Albert Hall was a real sight to behold.
The entire evening underlined why smaller, grassroots venues are so bloody brilliant and deserving of our support now more than ever.
Image: Supplied
No pushing, no overcrowding, we were all there to revel in Olivia’s greatness and we all knew how lucky we were.
This was no doubt a very special show, a complete one-off in aid of BRITs Week 2026 to raise money for War Child, which Olivia joyfully announced that we had raised £270,000 for that night.
It’s no surprise that Olivia Dean is one of the most exciting artists in the world right now, oozing class, charm and impeccable talent.
We’ll be watching with our fingers crossed as she attends the BRIT Awards on Saturday evening with an impressive (and very well deserved) five nominations.
If you’re lucky enough to have tickets to her upcoming tour then just know how much fun you’ll have, but you’ll never have as much fun as Olivia does on that stage.
You can find out more about the remaining War Child performances here.
Featured image – The Manc Group
Manchester
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.
Georgina Pellant -
11th January 2022 
