A bar in Manchester is giving away unlimited pints throughout January – meaning that for the price of one pint you can drink as many as you like this month.
The catch? The deal’s only available on draught alcohol-free beers as part of a Dry January promotion, which hopes to encourage more Mancs to try the alcohol-free versions created from its best-selling beer range.
BrewDog, which has two bars and a ‘dog house’ hotel in Manchester city centre, has revealed it is giving away bottomless pints of its alcohol-free draft options all month in a bid to encourage more mindful drinking and get people back into the pub.
Image: BrewDog
Bestsellers like the original Punk IPA are available in the offer, just transformed to remove the alcoholic part- forming Punk AF, soon to be your new favourite Dry Jan alternative.
Elsewhere, you’ll also find other popular AF alternatives like Elvis AF, Lost AF, and Nanny State – giving you all the flavour, just without the percentage.
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And there’s more, too. To coincide with the arrival of Dry January, BrewDog has just released a new, tiki-inspired AF draught fruit punch beer for the occasion. Called ‘Made For Us’, the alcohol-free fruit beer, created by Square Root, is served over ice to make it extra refreshing.
Image: BrewDog
Given it’s Dry January and our pockets are wrung dry, feeling the full force of the festive aftermath, BrewDog’s venues in Manchester are getting savvy by offering up unlimited non-alcoholic pints to make their non-alcoholic options even more affordable.
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If you’re new to a lack of alcoholic booze and seriously wanting a pint, it’s a place where you can seek solitude and enjoy a draft beer to soothe the Dry January jitters- all without the ‘getting drunk’ part.
Essentially, you can get free refills of all your favourite pints for the price of one- what’s not to love about that?
The ‘Brewdog & Beyond Burger’, a completely vegan monster burger made with a beyond meat patty, vegan black pudding, onion rings and seasoned vine tomatoes. / Image: BrewDog
The bar’s also getting in on Veganuary, with a 2 4 1 offer on its vegan and vegetarian mains this month – all created in collaboration with friends at Beyond Meat, Biffs, Temple of Seitan, Moving Mountains and THI.
That means you can enjoy the likes of its BrewDog & Beyond Burger, a completely vegan monster burger made with a beyond meat patty, vegan black pudding, onion rings and seasoned vine tomatoes, for free when you order a second meal alongside.
To get the 2 4 1 food offer, all you need to do is sign up using this link to get a voucher you can use throughout the month.
Enormous Manchester venue set to open (again) after brief rebrand
Daisy Jackson
A huge, glamorous restaurant and bar space looks set to reopen just months after it closed down and attempted to rebrand.
SakkuSamba announced back in June that it was closing for a short while to undergo a refurbishment.
That news came after two years hosting all-you-can-eat sushi dinners and star-studded parties in Spinningfields, like an afterparty with Ne-Yo following his show at the AO Arena.
They wrote at the time: “Exciting News! We will be closing our doors on June 2nd for an exciting refurbishment and upgrade. We’re sorry to be closing for a little while, but stay tuned for updates over the next couple of weeks as we begin this transition!
“We can’t wait to show you what’s coming next soon!”
But then SakkuSamba never reopened and the space instead became Raft, essentially Manchester’s most boujie buffet.
Raft had a huge dining room upstairs, a hidden club room, a ‘toilet disco’, 360-degree DJ booths, and a ‘coastal boozer’ on the ground floor.
The restaurant when it was previously SakkuSamba. Credit: The Manc GroupVs when it was Raft. Credit: The Manc Group
Raft was only open for three months when it was suddenly bolted shut, with a forteiture notice in the window that was apparently linked to a ‘historic dispute’.
And now, in an unexpected twist in events, SakkuSamba has shared that it’s coming back to Manchester.
Keeping up okay? Let’s continue.
In the first post since announcing the temporary closure and refurbishment of both of its restaurants (in Manchester and in Bradford), SakkuSamba wrote: “SakkuSamba 2025. Manchester keep your eyes peeled, major announcement coming soon.”
If it follows the same format it took previously, that means a fusion of Brazilian and Japanese cuisine together in a swanky all-you-can-eat setting.
And hopefully it’ll last longer than poor Raft did…
Manchester set for its busiest weekend of the year with pop-up Park and Rides to open
Emily Sergeant
Pop-up Park and Ride facilities are set to open as Manchester prepares for what’s expected to be its busiest weekend of the year.
The festive season in the run up to Christmas always sees more people flock to the city centre than usual, but this weekend will likely be even busier than expected, as not only are Manchester Christmas Markets still in full swing, but there are also a number of gigs, live festive shows, and major sporting events coinciding with this.
So in a weekend that sees legends gigging and the Manchester Derby take place, as you would expect, thousands are predicted to flock to Manchester city centre and Etihad Campus.
Manchester Christmas Markets are in full swing and Paul McCartney will be at Co-op Live this weekend / Credit: The Manc Group | Wikimedia Commons
Because of this, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is taking action and encouraging people to dodge the likely congestion and use public transport instead where possible – with pop-up Park and Rides set to be introduced for weekend shoppers and fun-seekers who do want or need to drive.
On Saturday and Sunday, Booth Street West Car Park D (M15 6PD) – which will have 965 parking spaces available – will be free for customers travelling to the city centre by bus, and then again on Sunday, the same car park will be free for those attending Paul McCartney at Co-op Live.
Your ticket to the gig must be shown on entry, before a dedicated shuttle bus then takes you from the car park to the Etihad Campus.
Disney On Ice will be hosting four shows at AO Arena this weekend / Credit: Supplied
Shuttle buses – which are only available on the Sunday – will depart from Higher Cambridge Street and run to Co-op Live and back every 15 mins from 4pm until midnight.
Emirates Old Trafford cricket ground (Talbot Road, Stretford, M16 0PX) will also have 500 parking spaces available for Metrolink customers on Sunday, but you must show a valid pre-booked tram ticket to park there.
On Sunday [15 Dec], we’re offering free parking at Emirates Old Trafford to help relieve congestion in the city.
The Park and Ride is available to customers with a valid tram ticket purchased on the app, at a ticket machine or via contactless.
Anyone else planning to drive across the weekend may also want to consider using one of the permanent Park and Ride sites and complete their journey on foot or by public transport, and you can find more information and the locations of these sites on the Bee Network website here.
Tram capacity has been increased for the festive season, with every available tram running until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.
The V1 and 36 bus services now also run 24 hours a day.
Other late-running buses on the Bee Network from Manchester include the 43 service to Manchester Airport, the 86 to Sale, and the 142 to East Didsbury.
Georgina Pellant -
10th January 2022 
