Manchester’s five-star hotel The Lowry is hosting a bottomless afternoon tea this Mother’s Day – complete with unlimited cakes, sandwiches, desserts, scones and live entertainment.
Its decadent afternoon tea served in the River Restaurant will get a Mother’s Day upgrade, moving into The Grand Ballroom for the day where guests will find tables stacked high with sweet treats and savoury delicacies.
Live music will be performed by local artists Jack Buckley Duo, providing upbeat acoustics throughout the day, whilst for children there will be live entertainment in the form of a magician who’ll be on hand to wow them with his various tricks.
Mothers, mother figures, families and children are all welcome. / Image: Supplied
The bottomless afternoon tea will be available in two-hour slots, with a huge range of sweet and sacoury delicacies on offer. Guests will be able to help themselves as they please during that time.
From the sweet treats menu, think lemon tart topped with Italian meringue, strawberry Fraisiergateaux, Malteser cheesecake served with bailey crème Chantilly, and pistachio financier grue nougatine paired with sour cherry mousse.
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As for the savoury selection, there’ll be heaps of mushroom duxelles tartlets with chervil mayo alongside a variety of delicate tea sandwiches, such as fresh Gravadlax salmon with zesty lemon cream cheese and chives, roasted beef served with onion chutney and horseradish, and hummus and roasted Mediterranean vegetable wraps.
Scones will also be piled high, with both fruit and plain choices available, all served with endless Cornish clotted creme and fine strawberry preserve.
For the little ones, the hotel’s Mother’s Day afternoon tea includes ham, cheese, tuna and egg sandwiches, followed by double chocolate brownies, jam doughnuts, strawberry marshmallow skewers served with chocolate dipping sauce and homemade candy floss.
As for drinks, there will be as many cups of freshly brewed hot tea as you can muster.
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Image: The Lowry Hotel
The bottomless Mother’s Day afternoon tea is priced at £39.95 each for adults and £15 for children, sittings are available between 12 – 4pm on Sunday 27 March. Each table will be given a two-hour period in which to enjoy the bottomless afternoon tea.
Marketing Manager, Rhea Leach at The Lowry Hotel said: “It’s a joy to watch families and friends come together, to celebrate a special occasion with us at The Lowry Hotel, as we raise a glass to all the great mums and mother figures out there.
“Our unlimited Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea is a much-loved event that provides the perfect backdrop for families to spend quality time together, whilst enjoying unlimited treats, tea and live music.”
To book The Lowry Hotel’s Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea, please visit the website here.
Feature image – Supplied
Manchester
Disney On Ice is returning to Manchester this winter on latest UK arena tour
Danny Jones
Whether you’re looking for something to give your children a thrill, or you’re a fully fledged ‘Disney adult’ yourself, you’ll be glad to hear that the smash-hit Disney On Ice show is coming back to Manchester city centre later this year.
Returning globally for its 45th anniversary and celebrating over three and a half decades here in the UK, Disney On Ice is set for its 16th edition here in Manchester this winter.
Bringing iconic characters, storylines and scenes to life with incredible choreographed ice-skating routines, as well as all-singing-all-dancing musical numbers, you won’t find many more spectacular family-friendly live shows than this one.
Well and truly a staple of the annual entertainment calendar around the globe, these performances attract millions every year, and now thousands more will get to watch the latest version at the AO Arena.
As written on the social media post confirming the next batch of dates, the venue wrote: “Follow the quest for Tinker Bell through the dazzling worlds of Coco, Moana, Frozen, and Beauty and the Beast.
“Experience thrilling skating and memorable moments from Aladdin, Toy Story, and The Little Mermaid. Watch Stitch crash the action with mischievous surprises. It’s non-stop fun for the whole family!”
Dubbed ‘Discover The Magic’, this upcoming iteration of the Disney format is said to be all about “celebrating love and bravery”; expect more than 170 dazzling costumes made by over 100 artisans using thousands of yards of fabric, adorned with hundreds of thousands of hand-set Swarovski crystals.
One of the most impressive parts about these performers – besides their obvious gifts for music and movement – is how quickly they change outfits, transforming in under 30 seconds before stepping back out onto the impressively designed stage, which is estimated to weigh in excess of 12,000 pounds.
You can take a glance at the scenes from their most recent spring tour of a similar name down below.
Such an impressive display all-round.
You can find the full list of UK shows here – we’ve highlighted all the Northern ones for you:
Disney On Ice UK tour dates – winter 2026/27
Birmingham bp pulse LIVE: Oct 28 – Nov 8, 2026
Newcastle Utilita Arena: Nov 11 – Nov 15, 2026
Nottingham Motorpoint Arena: Nov 19 – Nov 22, 2026
Aberdeen P&J Live: Nov 26 – Nov 29, 2026
Belfast SSE: Dec 3 – Dec 6, 2026
Sheffield Utilita Arena: Dec 9 – Dec 13, 2026
Manchester AO Arena: Dec 16 – Dec 20, 2026
London The O2: Dec 24 – Jan 3, 2027
With the likes of other big Disney Concerts and the Entertainment group productions coming to Manchester over the next year or so, including the recently announced Worlds Collide UK crossover tour, there are plenty of opportunities to immerse yourself in all kinds of classic movie magic.
The pre-sale opens from 10am this Friday, 12 June, which you can prepare for now; as for general admission, tickets will be available from the same time on the last Friday of the month (26 June).
All-new VIP magical passes have also been added for the very first time this year, meaning guests of all ages can enjoy all the glitz and glamour possible.
Whatever package you and/or the kids fancy, you can get ready to grab yours right HERE.
For anyone interested in seeing other animated and digital favourites brought to life in the flesh right here in the city centre, this one might interest you, too…
Calling all self-declared otakus, cinephiles and gamers – this one looks right up your street. 🎼
Featured Images — Publicity pictures (supplied via AO Arena)
Manchester
Top Manchester restaurant ‘so chuffed’ after receiving glowing national review
Daisy Jackson
Top Manchester restaurant Skof has received a stunning review from a national critic, with the team saying they are ‘so chuffed’.
The acclaimed NOMA restaurant, headed up by chef Tom Barnes, has rapidly become one of Manchester’s most decorated restaurants.
Not only does it proudly display its first Michelin star – earned in less than a year after opening – but it’s also been named the coveted AA Restaurant of the Year.
And now Skof can add a rave Guardian review to the list too, with critic Grace Dent heaping praise upon the business.
She said that Skof is ‘well worth the hype’, describing it (much like its parent restaurant L’enclume) to be ‘one of those intensely relaxed yet still ferociously fancy restaurants’.
Dent praised ‘hugely scoffable’ snacks like a cheese biscuit topped with broad bean, pike roe and shiso, as well as a lightly set custard with truffle and mushroom dashi (‘a quiche filling on steroids’).
In her Guardian review, she also loved the final course always served at Skof no matter how much the menu changes with the seasons – the tiramisu served from a giant bowl, tableside.
“The final hurrah: that scoop of Tom’s dad’s tiramisu, served from a big bowl,” Grace Dent wrote.
“It’s a clunky, sentimental and, ultimately, glorious end to the meal. Many Michelin-starred restaurants bookend your visit with a gift of seeds, teabags or fancy chocolate, but at Skof they send you on your way with this tiny taste of boozy stodge that’s both incongruous with everything that went before but at the same time is also symbolic of Tom Barnes’ life and everything that went before.”
Grace Dent heaped praise on Skof in a recent Guardian reviewSkof placed 29th in the National Restaurant Awards
The amazing review also said: “Fine dining can at times be truly maddening, and leave diners hungry and hoodwinked, but Skof is proof that this often precarious blend of pacing, staging and portion size can be properly magical.”
She signed off by saying: “Skof is clever and emotional… It’s also well worth the hype, so do try to nab a table, if you can. It’s fancy, yes, but it also fills you up. This is fine dining that even a naysayer would like.”
Skof has said that it’s ‘so chuffed’ to receive the review, which landed in The Guardian on the restaurant’s second birthday.
They wrote: “Our 2nd birthday just got a quite a bit more special with an absolutely amazing review from @gracedent. We’re so chuffed with the write up. Hope the man from the traitors comes down, so we can serve him a crumpet.”
You can read Grace Dent’s full Skof review in The Guardian here.
Georgina Pellant -
1st March 2023 
