A huge festival dedicated to all things vegan is coming to Manchester this weekend, bringing over 80 stalls showcasing all the tools you need to live your best plant-based, sustainable life.
Offering a mix of street food stalls, beauty and household products, vegan cooking products and more, whether you’re vegan, vegetarian or just thinking about making a bit of a change, Manchester Vegan Festival is the place to go for inspiration.
Taking place this Sunday 15 May at Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Trafford, Manchester Vegan Festival is set to be full of surprises – selling everything from authentic Eritrean street food and toiletries to a vegan cookbook for humans and their dogs.
Run entirely by volunteers, all the proceeds from the festival (and that cookbook) will go to support animal welfare charity Miracle’s Mission – a non-profit animal welfare organisation works with sick, injured and disabled animals worldwide.
Other charities and not-for-profit organisations attending include Greenpeace, Hugletts Wood Farm Animal Sanctuary, Plantlife, Viva!, Woodland Trust and WWF.
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Food and drink stalls
Teatime Collective is a vegan bakery based in Hulme. At the festival, you’ll find vegan cakes by the slice as well as Bakewell tarts, rock road, chocolate tortes and apple turnovers. / Image; Teatime Collective
Root2Ginger sell natural ginger drink mixes that are alcohol free and made here in Manchester. / Image: Root2Ginger
On the street food front, look out for authentic Eritrean and Ethiopian cuisine from House of Habesha and hearty wraps from Seitan’s Kebab. Elsewhere, you’ll find a Greek vegan deli, vegan vfish and chips from There’s No Catch, and an array of vegan hotdogs from VDogs.
As for the food and drink stalls, here you’ll find a host of Manchester-based makers including Root2Ginger, Kind Hearted Chocs and Teatime Collective.
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For fiery, spiced mint and ginger health drinks, Root2Ginger is a must, whilst Teatime Collective and Bolton-based Vegan Infinity are the places to visit for vegan cakes, brownies, truffles, apple turnovers, bakewell tarts and bars.
Artisan vegan chocolate shop Kind Hearted Chocs will be there with its special handmade selection boxes, and there will also be a stall selling a vegan cookbook for humans AND dogs. Called Bo’s Book, all the profits go to help needy dogs at the animal welfare and education charity Miracle’s Mission.
For all things beauty, household and lifestyle, stalls at the festival will include natural and organic vegan toiletries from iUVO Skincare, Eden Perfumes and fashions from Slogan Clothing, and Viva la Vegan.
Eden Perfumes promise to match your favourite perfume without chemicals, whilst Slogan Clothing has all your ethica, vegan and ecological clothing, boots and accessory needs covered.
Also exhibiting is the ultimate vegan food and camping experience happening in June 2023 – VFest UK. This brand new upbeat event features exciting headline acts, yoga, family entertainment, fun shows, international speakers, stalls, global food caterers and much more.
Charity support
The event supports Miracle’s Mission, a charity that works to provide a place of safety for animals in danger, to educate on the needs of neutering both pets and strays and to neuter stray dogs and cats to prevent the birth of more animals onto the streets.
The mission also rehabilitates and re-homes dogs in need, often with disabilities, from its UK rescue base.
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Speaking on the upcoming event, Manchester Vegan Festival organiser Victoria Bryceson said: “I’m really looking forward to the Manchester Vegan Festival which is set to be even bigger and better than last year’s.
Nelly from Miracle’s Mission is a double amputee looking for her forever home. / Miracle’s Mission
“We received so much positive feedback last year and there’s now so much demand that this festival is becoming a sell-out event. I think it’s partly because people really love the friendly atmosphere.
“The wonderful thing about the event is that it’s for everyone whatever your lifestyle. Just come along and bring your friends for a great, fun day-out.
“You’ll have everything you need there, whether you’re looking for some retail therapy, some ‘me’ time, precious family time, or just a lovely meal out with some friends.”
Manchester Vegan Festival takes place on Sunday 15 May 2022 from 10.30am to 4.30 pm at Bowlers Exhibition Centre, Longbridge Road, Manchester M17 1SN.
Admission is £5, with under 16’s allowed in for free, or £15 for VIP tickets that can be ordered in advance from Eventbrite, These include fast track entry and a goody bag full of vegan products, samples, discounts and offers.
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman to step down from Strictly Come Dancing
Danny Jones
Long-serving Strictly Come Dancing presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman have announced that they will be stepping down from the beloved reality TV competition after more than three decades between them.
The Strictly team will, of course, ‘keep dancing’, but this still feels like the end of an era.
While Claudia Winkleman only became a joint co-anchor back in 2010 in preparation for the legendary Sir Bruce Forsyth’s eventual retirement in 2014, Tess Daly has been one of the two lead presenters since the hit smash-hit UK show first started way back in 2004.
Boasting a cumulative and incredible 31 years as the respective lead faces on one of the nation’s favourite IPs, Daly and Winkleman released a joint video on their social media pages confirming the bittersweet news.
Writing in the caption on Instagram, the pair said: “We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream. We were always going to leave together, and now feels like the right time.
“We will have the greatest rest of this amazing series, and we just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC and to every single person who works on the show.
“They’re the most brilliant team, and we’ll miss them every day. We will cry when we say the last ‘keep dancing’, but we will continue to say it to each other. Just possibly in tracksuit bottoms at home while holding some pizza.”
Although Winkleman, 53, began as the presenter of the spin-off programme ‘It Takes Two’, it now seems hard to imagine the main show without either of them.
Confirming that they will be departing the British telly favourite at the end of the current series, which is around a month into its 23rd series.
Daly, 56, went on to share a further statement addressing the decision to quit the Strictly lineup after such a lengthy stay on BBC One.
It goes without saying that, much like when ‘Brucey’ left 11 years ago now, the show just won’t be the same without them.
For now, all we can say is thanks for all the memories, and we’d better see them back in the ballroom or popping up for special cameos in Blackpool again one day soon.
What do you make of the announcement, Strictly fans – and who do you think should replace them?
Featured Images — BBC Media Centre/Screenshot (via BBC)
News
Morrisons set to close more than 100 brand locations across the country
Danny Jones
UK supermarket company Morrisons is set to close more than 100 specific locations across the UK, including multiple here in Greater Manchester.
Despite still being considered one of the giants of the sector here in Britain, Morrisons is continuing its previously announced ‘restructuring’ by adding a number of other shops to the chopping block.
The chain had already announced that a slate of 50 Morrisons Cafes would be closing earlier this year, but now other brand branches are expected to follow suit.
While their major supermarkets will remain virtually untouched, several Morrisons Daily convenience stores, florists, pharmacies and Market Kitchens, like the busy lunchtime spot on Piccadilly Gardens – but don’t panic: the corner store itself is staying as far as we’re aware.
Fortunately, major mainline Morrisons supermarket locations look to be safe from closing. (Credit: JThomas/Jaggery via Geograph)
Despite insisting the business is in good shape and has a “bright future” ahead, Morrisons‘ chief executive, Rami Baitieh, confirmed that “a minority [of sites] have specific local challenges and in those locations, regrettably, closure and re-allocation of the space is the only sensible option.”
It’s also believed that 35 butchers’ counters and the same number of fishmongers are set to wrap up as part of the shake-up.
You can see the full list of Morrisons Cafes closing down below; thankfully, we Mancs have managed to avoid closures in this particular department.
Morrisons Cafe Locations closing
Bradford Thornbury
Paisley Falside Road
London Queensbury
Portsmouth
Great Park
Banchory North, Deeside Road
Failsworth, Poplar Street
Blackburn, Railway Road
Leeds, Swinnow Road
London, Wood Green
Kirkham, Poulton Street
Lutterworth, Bitteswell Road
Stirchley
Leeds, Horsforth
London, Erith
Crowborough
Bellshill, John Street
Dumbarton, Glasgow Road
East Kilbride, Lindsayfield
East Kilbride, Stewartfield
Glasgow, Newlands
Largs, Irvine Road
Troon, Academy Street
Wishaw, Kirk Road
Newcastle, UT Cowgate
Northampton, Kettering Road
Bromsgrove, Buntsford Industrial Park
Solihull, Warwick Road
Brecon, Free Street
Caernarfon, North Road
Hadleigh
London, Harrow, Hatch End
High Wycombe, Temple End
Leighton Buzzard, Lake Street
London, Stratford
Sidcup, Westwood Lane
Welwyn, Garden City, Black Fan Road
Warminster, Weymouth Street
Oxted, Station Yard
Reigate, Bell Street
Borehamwood
Weybridge, Monument Hill
Bathgate
Erskine, Bridgewater Shopping Centre
Gorleston, Blackwell Road
Connah’s Quay
Mansfield, Woodhouse
Elland
Gloucester, Metz Way
Watford, Ascot Road
Littlehampton, Wick
Helensburgh
Sadly, it seems that plenty of people saw this coming, with early reports of the off-license/corner shop-esque Daily shops following soon after cafes were confirmed to be closing back in March.
Morrisons closing 52 cafes, 17 convenience stores, and potentially 365 people redundant
Just before new NI tax laws kick in from next month
Retail is 10% of total UK employment, a notoriously low margin business
This is where Greater Manchester comes in, as a handful of florists and Market Kitchens in the region are to join the wider collection of closures by the end of the year.
Georgina Pellant -
13th May 2022 
