A magical Christmas grotto is coming to Manchester’s Northern Quarter
As well as meeting the main man himself, there'll be appearances from the Ice Princess, Mrs Claus, the Snow Queen, and brother and sister elves Holly and Ivy
A fairy tale grotto experience is coming to Manchester’s Northern Quarter this Christmas, bringing dancing ice princesses and the Snow Queen herself into the heart of the city.
Taking place across four dates in December, Native Manchester and Ducie Street Warehouse will transform into the fantasy land known as ‘Mancunia’ as it presents its popular NQ Grotto experience for the second year.
Featuring an immersive Christmas performance from Santa and his elves, alongside some of their closest friends,the magical grotto experience will take over the towering heights of the Atrium at Native Manchester for four special days.
Image: Jack Kirwin -JK Photography-Photo by Jack Kirwin -JK Photography-
Guests can expect to enjoy a beautiful Grotto theatre performance, with a magical journey unlike no other awaiting families this Christmas at the NQ venues.
The 60-minute experience will be completely family-friendly and feature dances with the Ice Princess, a singalong with Mrs Claus, storytime with the Snow Queen, and silly time with the brother and sister elves Holly and Ivy.
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Children will also get to meet the big man, Santa Claus himself, and tell him all the things that are on their Christmas list this year. Who knows, he might even have a little surprise in store for them.
Image: Jack Kirwin -JK Photography-
Alongside the Grotto experience, there will also be food stalls in the atrium available with festive food and drink offerings from Ducie Street Warehouse.
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Perfect for little and big kids alike, the family-friendly event is set within the trendy, warehouse-chic surroundings of the Grade II listed Ducie Street building, where guests can grab comfortable floor cushions and sit together to immerse themselves in an exciting Christmas wonderland.
Photo by Jack Kirwin -JK Photography-Image: Jack Kirwin -JK Photography-
The NQ Grotto will return to the Northern Quarter at Native Manchester across four dates in December – 4, 11, 18, and 19.
Tickets are available to book now, with each day offering a 60-minute session each at 10 am, 11.45 am, 1.30 pm, 3.14 pm and 5 pm.
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Priced at £12 for adults and £10 for children, entry is free for children under 2. Tickets can be purchased here.
Feature image – supplied
News
Manchester Airport issues update for anyone flying today after hundreds of cancellations yesterday
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Airport has issued an update for anyone catching a flight today after hundreds of cancellations yesterday.
In case you hadn’t heard, hundreds of flights at several major UK airports – including Manchester Airport – were disrupted by a technical fault at air traffic control provider National Air Traffic Services (NATS) yesterday (8 September 2026), with the incident grounding planes and resulting in numerous cancellations.
According to Flightradar24, more than 1,000 flights were cancelled nationwide, and many passengers were told to expect disruption for the rest of the day.
One of the worst-affected airlines was said to be Ryanair, with around 65,000 passengers affected by the cancellations and delays.
Manchester Airport issued its first statement addressing the matter at 3:15pm yesterday, stating: “We are aware of an issue affecting NATS’ air traffic control service at UK airports, which may result in delays to some departing flights from Manchester Airport today.
“Passengers due to travel are advised to check the latest status of their flight with their airline. We will continue to monitor the situation and share further updates as more information becomes available.”
Now, although the issue has been resolved, Manchester Airport has issued further statements informing anyone travelling today what they can expect.
The airport started off by saying that it is ‘operating as normal’ today, but that passengers are advised to ‘check with their airline for the latest information’.
“A full flight schedule is expected to operate [today] but the airport may be busier due to rescheduled flights,” it added.
Passengers were then thanked for their ‘patience and understanding’ over the past 24 hours.
Featured Image – Ivan Shimko (via Unsplash)
News
Hundreds of staff at four Greater Manchester hospitals to strike AGAIN next week
Emily Sergeant
Another round of strikes has been called at a handful of major Greater Manchester hospitals.
Amid ongoing disputes following the first set of strikes at the end of last month, it has now been announced that more than 350 Northern Care Alliance Foundation Trust (NCA) employees – including nurses, clinical support workers and housekeepers – who are members of the union UNISON will once again walk out for three days next week.
According to the union, the dispute centres on the NCA’s use of an outside agency called NHS Professionals (NHSP) to manage overtime.
When covering staff shortages, workers are entitled to time-and-a-half pay – however in some cases, staff earn less than they would on a normal shift, and some have even been missing out on more than £80 per shift, the union added.
Operating theatre staff were previously on picket lines in June, and although an option to resolve the row was initially tabled by NCA bosses, this has now fallen through.
Hundreds of staff at four of Greater Manchester’s hospitals are set to strike next week / Credit: Stephen Andrews (via Unsplash)
This means that staff at Salford Royal Hospital, Royal Oldham Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary, and Fairfield Hospital in Bury are walking out next week on Monday 14, Tuesday 15, and Thursday 17 September.
The union’s North West regional organiser, Kevin Dolan, said the trust had given ‘no indication’ that it’s willing to re-enter negotiations, adding that operating theatre services were ‘chronically under-staffed’ and staff were choosing to work extra shifts to cover shortages.
Ahead of the August strikes, the trust declared a critical incident to help it secure extra support and keep urgent surgery running, while also announcing that some procedures would have to be postponed.
Understandably, some disruption is expected at each of the hospitals on strike days.
But Gertie Nic Philib, who is the chief people and strategy officer at the Northern Care Alliance, said that the trust will do ‘everything we can to minimise the impact on patients’ and ‘maintain high standards of care and quality at all times.’
“We also have contingency plans in place for emergency situations,” they concluded.
Georgina Pellant -
29th October 2021 
