In a day and age where even the most bog-standard of takeaway coffees costs more than £3, and where you have to think very carefully about if you can afford to stick your radiator on, the Bearded Feeder at Piccadilly Gardens is a rare beast.
A staple of the Piccadilly Street Food Markets, this stall is somewhere you can still get a filling lunch for a fiver – and you’ll get some pretty solid Star Wars puns on the side.
The Bearded Feeder has a solid reputation amongst Mancs, thanks in no small party to its quality meaty burgers (100% beef, 100% pork, 100% Sith, they say. Told you they liked a Star Wards pun).
The family-run business has a mouth-watering menu that includes pulled pork, ‘Force-pushed’ burgers, and chicken wings, with prices for mains starting at a mere £5.
Pound-for-pound, there aren’t many places matching that value and quality.
ADVERTISEMENT
Despite so many huge players in Manchester’s burger scene – Burgerism, Almost Famous, Slap & Pickle, Hawksmoor, to name a few – The Bearded Feeder is a name that pops up every time we ask people for their burger recommendations.
It’s founded and operated by Scott Andrew, a man who is quite literally a bearded feeder, and who has kept his prices affordable despite the insane costs of operating any sort of business in 2023.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Exogarth platter from The Bearded Feeder burger stall at Piccadilly Gardens in ManchesterThe Bearded Feeder at Piccadilly GardensThe Bearded Feeder’s Wookiee burger at Piccadilly Gardens
His dishes include the Vader hot dog, the Chosen One burger, and the Wampa loaded mac and cheese.
The Wookiee burger features a smashed beef burger patty with cheese, topped with pulled pork and barbecue sauce, and it’s a burger about the size of the Death Star itself. It’s also only £7, or £10 as a meal deal.
The Exogorth is bigger still, a tray heaped with all of the Bearded Feeder’s best bits.
ADVERTISEMENT
There’s pulled pork, belly bites, mac and cheese, and two chicken wings, topped with jalapenos and crispy onions.
It’s one of the top-rated burger joints in the entire city, with people reviewing it as ‘the best burger I have ever eaten’ and ‘heaven’.
You’ll be Skywalkering on air after you’ve eaten this one…
Strictly Come Dancing Live to return to Manchester as part of 2027 UK tour
Emily Sergeant
Strictly Come Dancing Live is set to return in 2027 for a spectacular new UK arena tour.
Hot on the heels of last weekend’s dazzling launch show for the 2026 BBC series, audiences are invited to get their dancing shoes on and their ’10’ paddles at the ready, as a new lineup of celebrities and professionals will be taking to the dancefloor for 29 shows across the country – including three shows in Manchester.
Head judge Shirley Ballas will be hitting the road, alongside fellow judges Anton Du Beke and Craig Revel Horwood, with Janette Manrara also presenting.
Directed by Craig Revel Horwood himself, Strictly Come Dancing Live takes the magic of the BBC TV show and turns it up to another level.
Expect jaw-dropping group dances, breathtaking routines, stunning costumes, and live music from the legendary Strictly band and singers, all brought together in a first-class arena production.
As always with the Strictly Live Tour, there is one very important decision to be made at every show – which couple will lift the Glitterball Trophy?
And that decision is not in the hands of the judges. The judges are there to critique and provide their invaluable opinions on each dance routine, but they do not hold the power, as this lies with the audience instead, who can vote using their mobile phones to decide who is the winner.
Strictly Come Dancing Live is returning to Manchester as part of its 2027 UK tour / Credit: Supplied
The tour kicks off at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena on 22 January for the first of five shows, and will then cha-cha-cha its way across the UK, visiting other major northern cities like Sheffield, Newcastle, Liverpool, and Leeds, before arriving in Manchester at the start of February.
Strictly Come Dancing Live will take to the AO Arena stage on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 February 2027, with two shows happening on the Saturday.
Tickets officially go on sale this week, with venue pre-sales beginning at 10am on Thursday 24 September, before general sale starts on Friday (25 September), also at 10am.
Manchester to host G20 Summit in 2027 with more than a dozen world leaders descending on the city
Emily Sergeant
Manchester has been confirmed as the host city for the G20 Summit next year.
It was already announced back in November last year that the G20 Summit would be coming to the UK in 2027, and plans were apparently already being discussed to host it in Manchester even before Andy Burnham became Prime Minister and Number 10 North was set up.
But now, ahead of this year’s leaders’ summit being held in Miami in December, it has been confirmed that the G20 Summit will arrive in Manchester in November 2027.
Manchester is said to have been picked to host the leaders’ summit because of its ‘cultural heritage’.
Bringing together 19 of the world’s largest economies and two major multilateral bodies – the European Union and the African union – G20 members who will be invited to attend the summit next year make up 85% of global GDP, 75% of international trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population as a whole.
Manchester has been confirmed to host the G20 Summit in 2027 / Credit: 10 Downing Street | Paul Kagame (Flickr)
G20 members are also some of the UK’s closest economic partners, the Government insists.
17 of the UK’s top 20 global export markets attend the summit, as do 18 of the UK’s top 20 sources of foreign direct investment.
The presidency of the G20 is currently held by the US but will pass to the UK after the leaders’ summit hosted by the president at his Trump National Doral Miami golf resort in December.
The 2027 summit will be held at Manchester Central, it has been confirmed, and other locations across the UK will also host other G20 events as part of the year-long presidency, but these are yet to be announced.
Daisy Jackson -
13th October 2023 
