Bez is hosting a bottomless bingo brunch in Manchester – try saying that ten times fast after a few bevs, we dare you.
Yes, that’s right, the maraca-shaking Happy Mondays hype man is hosting a boozy bingo extravaganza at former railway station-turned-food hall Escape To Freight Island, and it sounds like it will be one hell of a party.
Hosted by the wild man of pop, the man who once shook the maraca so hard whilst ‘tripping [his] nut off’ that he left a wound on his hand, we think it’s fair to say that this event is already teed up to trump most bottomless brunches in the city – and that’s before we even get into the food, the drinks, and of course, the bingo.
Image: Escape To Freight Island
Joined by a host of comedians, dancers, singers and DJs, Manchester’s best-loved party hero will lead the day’s festivities, kicking things off from 11am and running through until 2pm that afternoon.
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Tickets are priced at £45 per head and include an hour of bottomless drinks alongside a street food dish of your choice from any of Escape’s traders.
Taking place on Saturday, 7 May, you’ll be able to get stuck into some of the food hall’s brand new offerings including new arrivals Gooey, Batard, Carnival and Lucky Foot – all of whom are set to be moved in by the beginning of May.
Think chargrilled meats from Hawksmoor co-founder, chef and food critic Richard Turner, fried chicken from the team behind popular Liverpool concepts Madre and Belzan, plus sweet pies with icecream and hot cookie dough from the likes of Manchester bakers Batard and Gooey.
Elsewhere, you’ll find kebabs and salt and pepper smiley faces from Michelin star chef Brad Carter at the One Star Doner Bar, healthy Vietnamese dishes from Mi and Pho, 22″ New York pizzas from Voodoo Rays, tacos from Madre and classic Italian dishes from Belzan.
As for drinks, you’ll be treated to endless glasses of ‘Bez’s Boozy Vimto Punch’ with multiple alcohols, Vimto syrup, juice and citrus (we think the ‘multiple alcohols’ says it all here).
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Image: Escape To Freight Island
Image: Escape To Freight Island
As for drinks, whilst the full list of bevs included in the bottomless offer has not yet been released, there’s sure to be a wide ranging choice given that Escape To Freight Island boasts a number of different bars selling everything from cocktails and fine wines to craft beers, classic lagers, ciders and softa.
Your ticket covers your entry, drinks and food, but you’ll also be asked to pay an extra £1 stake on arrival if you want to take part in the bingo game.
To find out more and purchase tickets for the bottomless bingo brunch with Bez, visit Escape To Freight Island’s website here.
Feature image – Escape To Freight Island / Wikimedia Commons
News
Warning after terrifying video shows party decorations catching fire in a Manchester bar – again
Daisy Jackson
Fire crews in Greater Manchester are warning bars and restaurants to be careful after footage emerged of party decorations catching fire above customers’ heads.
In a similar incident to the New Year’s Eve blaze at One Eight Six in Manchester city centre, the CCTV shows a celebratory sparkler in a cake setting the decorations alight.
In just seconds, the entire ceiling is ablaze, with terrified customers scrambling for the exit.
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue service released the video in a bid to raise awareness and prevent any similar incidents at hospitality venues in the city-region.
Don’t let this happen to your customers in your bar or restaurant
Indoor fireworks next to flammable decorations = 🔥🔥🔥
— Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service (@manchesterfire) October 3, 2022
The shocking incident occurred in a shisha bar in Rusholme, in May this year.
Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but several people were taken to hospital with suspected burns.
In both this instance and in the One Eight Six incident, the cause of the blaze was determined as being ‘indoor fireworks igniting decorations, which then burned rapidly allowing the fire to spread’.
GMFRS is now working with licensing teams from the 10 councils in Greater Manchester to offer free information and advice sessions to owners and managers of cafes, bars, pubs and restaurants in advance of the Halloween, World Cup and the Christmas party season.
The fire tore through the bar in Rusholme in seconds. Credit: GMFRS
Leon Parkes, GMFRS’s director of prevention and protection, said: “Hospitality venues have a responsibility to keep their customers and staff safe and at Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service we want to help businesses to understand their legal responsibilities and take action to protect their property, staff and customers from fire.
“We have seen a couple of instances in the past year in Manchester where fires have broken out in venues caused by indoor fireworks setting light to decorations.
“While fortunately fires don’t occur very often, the impact of a fire can be devastating and many businesses don’t recover.
“Pubs, bars and other venues will be very, very busy during October, November and December. It’s important that staff prepare by getting trained in what they need to do and that they don’t inadvertently create a fire risk.
“We know that the last two years have been really difficult for hospitality businesses and hopefully the forthcoming World Cup and Christmas period will be a boost for them. We gave out fire safety advice in May last year as Covid-19 restrictions eased and we are now working with our partners to help hospitality businesses be safe and stay safe.”
‘Significant risk’ of UK gas shortages this winter, regulator warns
Georgina Pellant
Energy regulator Ofgem has warned that the UK faces a ‘significant risk’ of gas shortages this winter.
According to reports in The Times, the regulator has unveiled concerns that the country could face blackouts over the coming months thanks to an undersupply of gas to Europe caused by Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Warning that a “gas supply emergency” could be looming ahead, the energy regulator has said that some gas-fired power plants could see their supplies cut off, which in turn would stop generators from producing electricity.
The alert comes just days before an expected update from the National Grid on the likelihood of countrywide power cuts this winter.
Responsing to arequest from SSE, which owns several gas power stations, Ofgem outlined what is set to be a huge issue of concern given that the UK relies on large gas plants to produce the biggest share of its electricity supply.
The regulator also pointed to rules that could see power plants penalised as a result of shortages, warning of a worst-case scenario that would see the “potential insolvency of gas-fired generators” caused by rules that require plants to pay huge charges if they fail to deliver on promised quotas.
A letter from Ofgem has revealed the energy regulator is concerned about a "gas supply emergency" this year.
The letter said the war in Ukraine and gas shortages in Europe had led to a "significant risk that gas shortages could occur" this winter in the UK.
Adding that the issue must be addressed to prevent a “significant impact on the safety and security of the electricity and/or gas systems”, the regulator echoed concerns now widespread in Europe as its comments followed a similar statement made by the International Energy Agency (IEA) this morning.
Europeans are already being told they must lower their thermostats and boilers in preparation in case gas supplies are cut off, with Paris-based agency IEA warning today that the EU must focus on getting underground gas reserve levels to 90% of capacity in case of a complete Russian supply shut-off.
Preparation are already being made in Europe with the German government having approved a set of energy-saving measures for the winter to limit use in public buildings. In France, meanwhile, companies have already been warned they may face energy rationing this winter.
Whilst the UK government is yet to announce any energey saving measures, Ofgem has said that it expect s“this winter to be more challenging than last year” and that it is taking “reasonable regulatory steps to mitigate and reduce the risks”.
However, there are concerns that if gas-fired power plants incur costs these could, in turn, lead to energy bills rising for consumers once again.
SSE estimated that it could be fined as much as £276 million for every day it is unable to generate power, rising to £475 million for its largest plants.
This risk, it said, will force generators to reduce their advance sales and could end up “raising costs for electricity consumers” in the long run.
Georgina Pellant -
7th April 2022 
