A live show devoted to reviewing crisps is coming to Manchester
Adam Evens will take you through his T.A.S.T.E system (Texture, Amount, Satisfied?, Taste and Economy) - and you'll even have your own packet of crisps to review along with him
A live comedy show devoted to reviewing different kinds of crisps is coming to Manchester next month, and it sounds equal parts essential and hilarious.
Called, appropriately, The Crisp Review, the one-man show will be popping up at The Kings Arms Theatre in Salford this July as part of the Greater Manchester Fringe.
The man behind the crisps is Adam Evens, a self-professed snack enthusiast on an unabashed mission to ‘receive crisps to taste, for free, from crisp manufacturers.’
From humble beginnings spent reviewing crisps in his bedroom during lockdown, he’s now taking his thoughts out on the road – bringing his amusing Instagram and TikTok videos to life on stage.
Initially, Adam was just using Instagram and TikTok to share his amusing takes on different crisps in a bid to get some freebies.
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Using his thorough, if fairly confusing, T.A.S.T.E system (Texture, Amount, Satisfied?, Taste and Economy) Adam diligently reviewed every crisp after crisp, only occasionally giving up several times in his quest for that elusive free crunch.
Eighteen months and fifty reviews later, though, a box finally arrived containing seven free packets and an overwhelming sense of success. Now he’s clear on one thing – he’s not planning on stopping any time soon.
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Rather, the new goal is ‘to milk this idea to death’ (and we’re completely here for it).
So, we can look forward to future productions including crisps, a documentary about crisps, games involving crisps, graphs about crisps and *potentially* (sponsor pending) a packet of crisps.
For now, though, it’s all about the upcoming theatre show. Audience members will even be able to join in with the reviewing process, with each ticket holder gifted a free snack to taste during the show – courtesy of Serious Pig.
With a run of appearances stretching from 5-16 July, it’s already proving extremely popular with more dates added by organisers due to popular demand – so don’t hang about if you want to snag a ticket.
To get yours, head over to the Greater Manchester Fringe Festival website here.
News
Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Georgina Pellant -
17th June 2022 
