Manchester

Gorilla FINALLY confirms reopening plans after mysteriously closing for months

People feared it was gone for good.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 19th June 2023

Beloved Manchester gig venue Gorilla has finally confirmed its reopening plans, after quietly closing due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’ back in the spring.

The intimate music space and bar had said in April that it would be ‘temporarily closed’, with most assuming it would be back open after that weekend.

But then forfeiture notices appeared in the windows and gigs there kept getting moved to other, similar-sized venues around the city.

Today, Gorilla has finally confirmed that it will be reopening – we’ll just have to sit tight for a bit longer yet.

They wrote on Twitter that the space is having some ‘essential building work’ done by its landlord.

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The statement also addressed the ‘quiet’ couple of months and thanked everyone for the support during the closure.

Gorilla said: “G O O D N E W S ! ! We have exciting news!

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“Gorilla is in the process of having some essential building work done by our landlords, but We are not going ANYWHERE!

“We are so excited to continue having the best gigs, with the best bands and by far the best fans for a very long time.

“We get that we’ve been quiet the last couple of months and moving the gigs that we have has been sad, but we are so thankful to all our music industry friends for supporting us whilst we have been unexpectedly closed.

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“Keep an eye out for some exciting news & big parties, see ya in in September! Love Gorilla xx”

Gorilla gigs up to and including Amigo the Devil on 24 June have already been rearranged to other venues.

Ticket-holders will be contacted about any other rearranged shows.

If Gorilla opens in early September, gigs already lined-up include Manchester Psych Fest, Wheatus, and Coach Party.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Manchester

One of Manchester’s newest arts venues to host brand-new comedy festival this summer

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

A brand-new comedy festival is set to take over one of the city centre’s newest arts venues this summer.

That’s right… some of the UK’s best comedy names are coming to Manchester.

That’s because renowned production company, A Lovely Time, has put together an absolutely jam-packed lineup of television names, internet sensations, and hotly-tipped newcomers, for a weekend full of comedy shows in the heart of the city centre at the exciting new arts venue Fairfield Social Club – which is tucked away down at the Green Quarter.

The exciting new festival, which is called A Lovely Weekend, will kick off on Friday 7 June with a gala show hosted by the company’s very-own Amy Gledhill, who comedy fans may recognise from appearances on BBC‘s Would I Lie To You, and more.

Then, across the rest of the three-day long weekend lineup, you can expect to catch comedy sets and work-in-progress performances from the likes of Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees Phil Ellis (Icklewick FM on BBC Radio 4), and Olga Koch (Live at The Apollo on BBC One), Paddy Young, who recently won the BBC New Comedy Award, Chris Cantrill (Avoidance on BBC One), and Blackpool’s-finest Tom Lawrinson.

Internet sensations such as Stevie Martin and Abi Clarke are also on the lineup, as well as hotly-tipped Edinburgh debutante, Hannah Platt, and Geordie sketch supergroup, Metroland.

You can even catch something a little bit different from Poppy Hillstead too, who’s set to transfer her popular podcast to the stage.

One of Manchester’s newest arts venues is set to host a brand-new comedy festival this summer / Credit: @see_hef (via A Lovely Time on Instagram)

Split across two venues over three days, A Lovely Weekend is all looking set to be the largest undertaking from comedy production super-duo, A Lovely Time, which was created by promoter John Stansfield and comedian Chris Cantrill, and, as mentioned, it will take over the newly-opened Fairfield Social Club – a venue which has already hosted brilliant shows from the likes of Josie Long, Three Bean Salad, Ashley Gavin, and Nick Helm since opening back in March.

“We’re so excited to be bringing A Lovely Weekend to Manchester,” commented founder, John Stansfield.

“The city is long overdue a proper comedy festival, and across the three days at Fairfield Social Club, we’ve programmed some of our absolute favourites to ensure a lovely time for all.”

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Tickets to A Lovely Weekend have just gone on sale yesterday (Wednesday 1 November), and are already selling fast – with both day and full weekend passes available from £20, and individual show tickets up for grabs from £6 each too.

Find out more and get your tickets here.

Featured Image – @see_hef (via A Lovely Time on Instagram)

Manchester

Manchester’s new Instagrammable coffee shop is giving away FREE drinks tomorrow

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

One of Manchester’s newest Instagrammable coffee shops is giving away free drinks tomorrow ahead of the bank holiday weekend.

With another long weekend right around the corner, and much of Greater Manchester and the UK fortunately looking set to bask in the springtime heat, popular coffee chain, Blank Street – which is one of Manchester city centre’s newest residents, with two sites in Piccadilly Gardens, and on the corner of King Street and Cross Street – has decided it wants to help the country “beat the 3pm slump”.

Ahead of the upcoming bank holiday weekend, the chain is inviting Mancs to “meet for matcha” tomorrow afternoon (Friday 3 May).

The exciting freebie offer is all said to be “inspired by data” that shows that almost half of office workers aren’t taking a break from their desks during the day, even despite research showing that this can boost productivity.

Hundreds of iced matcha lattes will be served up at Blank Street‘s Manchester branch on the corner of King Street and Cross Street between 3pm and 4pm tomorrow.

Manchester’s new Instagrammable coffee shop is giving away free drinks tomorrow / Credit: Blank Street

For anyone “ice cold pick-me-up ahead of the long weekend”, but keen not to tip their employers off, the coffee shop chain has created an online tool to allow workers to discreetly add a matcha moment to their diary. 

The brand-new online tool will apparently help to “distract calendar snoopers” by creating a cleverly-named meeting and adding it automatically to Outlook, Google, or Apple calendars – with potential meeting titles that include plenty of corporate jargon to “provide the perfect alibi”.

So, all matcha fans need to do tomorrow afternoon is show the Blank Street team at their chosen branch a meeting in their calendar, and in return, they’ll receive a free small iced matcha latte of their choice from the chain’s delicious spring menu.

Blank Street’s popular matcha offering includes the Classic Matcha, the viral Blueberry Matcha, the silky-smooth White Chocolate Matcha, and the brand-new sumptuous Golden Matcha, so there’s something to “inspire every matcha lover to take a little time out”.

As matcha allows a slow release of caffeine, Blank Street says it’s the “perfect drink” to keep energy levels up throughout the afternoon when you’re stuck at your desk on a Friday.

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You’ll need to be quick though, as the free drinks will be given away on a first come first served basis, and only one will be allocated per customer.

So get yourself down to Blank Street on King Street from 3pm tomorrow.

Featured Image – Mai Eats Food (via Blank Street on Instagram)

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