The full lineup for the Manchester Food and Drink Festival (MFDF) has been revealed – and it sounds amazing.
Taking place down at the festival hub in Cathedral Gardens, MFDF will run from 16 – 27 September. As ever, the hub will be free to enter with some special events and feasts requiring tickets to be purchased on top.
Highlights of this year’s programme include a mammoth chippy tea feast, an Oktoberfest takeover from Albert’s Schloss, a wine and fizz festival at Halle St Peters, and an ultimate night of pub grub feasting from The Bull and Bear’s Tom Kerridge (the only UK chef to ever win two Michelin stars at a pub, thank you very much).
Elsewhere, an artisan food market will feature some of Manchester’s finest local producers, hosting two separate line-ups across each weekend.
And of course, there will also be an amazing range of street food traders popping up at intervals throughout the duration of the festival.
Other happenings at the festival include a four-day MFDF street food trailer takeover with chefs from Evuna and Tast Catala; a fundraising kitchen from anti-food poverty enterprise Eat Well MCR; and a gaggle of street food chalets hosted by sponsors Just Eat and filled with their top restaurant partners.
There’ll also be live entertainment from local bands like Mr. Wilson’s Second Liners and The Lottery Winners over on the City Life stage.
One of the street food traders confirmed for this year’s Manchester Food and Drink festival lineup / Image: The Hanoi 75
MFDF also has its own street food kitchen trailer on-site, which will be taken over by some of the city’s best-loved restaurants and chefs over a four-day period: including Evuna, Jackie Kearney and Tast Catala.
Headline sponsor Just Eat will install restaurant partners La Bandera, Vertigo, JJ’s Vish and Chips and Peck n Yard inside street food chalets.
And Meatless Farm will also be in attendance throughout the festival, serving up a full burger menu alongside samples of their excellent vegan cooking products.
An artisan food market will also feature some of the region’s best independent food and drink producers, makers and businesses, bringing down guests like Ancoats’ community bakery Companio, Chorlton Cheesemongers and HM Pasties to name just a few.
Bars, meanwhile, will include a Manchester Beer Bar celebrating locally-brewed ales, beer and cider, a gin and tonic bar from Franklin and Sons, and a Truly Hard Seltzer bar from alcoholic sparkling water brand Truly.
Manchester’s biggest chippy tea feast is coming to MFDF this September – with boozy ice cream for dessert.
Manchester’s biggest chippy tea feast
Manchester’s best-loved restaurants, chefs, chip shops and food traders will be coming together on 22nd September in what’s being dubbed “Manchester’s biggest chippy tea”.
One of Manchester’s best traditional chippies, Anchors of Didsbury, will join Hip Hop Chip Shop, JJ Vish and Chips, acclaimed Ancoats fish restaurant Street Urchin and Stockport’s Lord of the Pies for the event in serving their own take on this classic Northern staple.
For dessert, there’ll be boozy ice cream courtesy of ‘A Few Scoops’ who will be bringing their special pink Tuk Tuk ‘Jolene’ to the Hub serving up the perfect chippy tea boozy finale.
As this is expected to be very busy, a limited number of tables are available for pre-booking here.
The ultimate pub grub feast, with a live music sound track
Tom Kerridge’s The Bull and Bear is hosting a one night pub grub style takeover at the festival hub, creating their own take on street food with a special three-course meal.
Designed especially for the festival, think potted Loch Duart salmon with apple jelly and cucumber chutney; followed by braised beef and blue cheese pie with English mustard mash and Seven Brothers ale gravy; finished off with a pudding of banana custard, dates, pistachio, and honeycomb.
A live music soundtrack will provide the perfect accompanying ‘pub at the hub’ atmosphere, and Manchester beer bar will be on hand with a selection of local craft beer to bring that proper pub variety.
Tickets cost £55 per person and can be booked here.
A Schlosstoberfest takeover feast in July, with brats, pretzels and lederhosen
Albert’s Schloss will be taking over the MFDF street kitchen on the evening of Thursday 23 July with Bavarian street food and lively entertainment from their brilliant house dancers and musicians.
Expect brats, pretzels and lederhosen a-plenty, plus German other street food favorites like mayonnaise loaded fries.
Free to enter, walk-ins welcome.
The CityLife stage is a regular fixture at MFDF and always hosts great local artists
What’s happening at the CityLife music stage?
Featuring a curated line-up of Manchester’s best local bands and musicians, The CityLife stage always brings a great selection of local talent to MFDF. This year looks set to be no different.
The festival will kick off with live music from Mr. Wilson’s Second Liners on Thursday 16.
Friday 17 will see local indie-pop band The Lottery Winners take to the stage. Hailing from Leigh, they will be performing an acoustic preview ahead of their first Manchester Live gig at the Ritz on 25 September.
Sunday 19 and Sunday 26 September will bring the Flat Cap Brass, then on Sunday 19,Fine Lines will play exquisite roots infused Americana with echoes of Dylan and The Band.
What about the app?
For the very first time the entire programme of what’s happening will be available via a brand new MFDF App – bringing the Festival to your fingertips like never before.
App users will be able to browse the full festival programme, reserve a table at the Festival Hub and vote in the MFDF awards too. The app can be downloaded by IOS users here or at this link for Android users.
As part of this year’s Manchester Food and Drink festival, there is also a number of fringe events taking place around the city. To find out more and for full details, head to their website here.
The 24th Manchester Food and Drink Festival will take place this year from 16 – 27 September, 2021.
News
Kalvin Phillips is reportedly set to be reintegrated into the Manchester City squad
Danny Jones
Long-exiled Manchester City player Kalvin Phillips is reportedly on the verge of being reintegrated into Pep Guardiola’s squad this season.
The ex-Leeds United star, who signed for the Blues back in 2022, has still only made just 16 appearances for the club, but could now be eyeing up a potential renaissance.
Man City have made plenty of signings this year, but with a number of outgoings and several injuries in key positions, it looks like there could be an avenue for the one-time England international to fight his way back into the team.
As per Telegraph Sport‘s Mike McGrath, Kalvin Phillips is set to be reintroduced to City’s 25-man Premier League selection; the question is, can he make it into a first-team XI?
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Kalvin Phillips has chance to resurrect career at the Etihad Stadium after failed loan spells with Ipswich and West Ham
According to McGrath, Phillips will be “given a chance to resurrect his career at the Etihad Stadium” with the meat and potatoes of the 2025/26 campaign still yet to get properly underway.
Now 29, the Yorkshireman is well and truly within the crucial ‘prime’ years as an athlete, and after such an extended period on the sidelines, he’ll be more motivated than anyone to get his career back on track.
The central defensive midfielder – who was formerly considered a key cog in the middle of the park for Leeds – has spent two loan spells away from the Etihad, but neither really worked out for the undeniably talented footballer.
Having joined West Ham for the latter portion of the 23/24 term and spending the last 12 months on loan at struggling Ipswich Town, his time at both clubs was pretty forgettable, punctuated by little more than a couple of unfortunate red cards and more time on the bench.
Speaking to Sky Sports fairly recently, he confessed that the last couple of years have been very difficult and was visibly emotional discussing his struggles since moving to Man City.
It’s also worth noting that Guardiola himself has admitted to feeling “so bad” for Kalvin Phillips’ situation – perhaps why he now looks like he could be given a second chance.
CDM-wise, Rodri and Nico González are considered the go-to options, but Stockport-born Rico Lewis and Mateo Kovačić have also been used in the role.
Once again, although Man City face somewhat of an injury crisis ahead of the Manchester derby this weekend, any prolonged absences could at least see an opportunity arise for the forgotten man.
What do you make of Kalvin Phillips’ chances of being restored to the Manchester City squad and maybe even putting himself back into national team contention ahead of the World Cup?
Featured Images — Sky Sports (screenshot via YouTube)/pantkiewicz (via Flickr)
News
Brand new venue confirmed as the host of The Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness
Danny Jones
The magnificent Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness is back this year, and with the 2025 event fast approaching, they have announced arguably their biggest host venue yet, setting up in camp in a brand new food and drink hall.
Having housed the incredible charity gathering from Freight Island last year, it was always going to take some beating this time around, but somehow they’ve managed to.
The annual relay run in aid of Greater Manchester’s homeless community will be taking place at none other than the city centre’s recently unveiled House of Social, with the building’s wider student living quarters serving as the perfect fit for the initiative first thought up by university friends back in 2018.
Announced this week, House of Social will be teaming up with the wider First Street neighbourhood to look after the hordes of incredible runners this year.
Jamie Hills, Development Director at Ask Real Estate – who operate the ever-growing First St complex – said of volunteering as this year’s hosts: “First Street is thrilled to welcome and fuel the incredible runners of The Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness.
“As the city’s hotspot for community events and culture, we’re proud to be a place where community thrives, so we’re incredibly excited to support this important initiative. With our fantastic on-site amenities like House of Social, we’re ready to keep those participating powered up and going strong!”
As for co-founder Tom Lewis, speaking to The Manc, he said: “We’re excited to return for our 7th edition, with Manchester being our flagship event.
“Through being hosted at House of Social in First Street, we’re hoping to make this year’s edition the best and biggest yet, aiming to raise £50,000 for the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity Scheme, ‘A Bed Every Night’.
“We’d love to see you all at the event, plus bring your friends and workplace to. There are paces for everyone, including walking laps.”
In November 2024, not only did the fundraising phenomenon mark its first-ever expansion with an inaugural event in Birmingham, but it also surpassed £50,000 here in Manchester alone, and is now set to make debuts in a trio of new cities.
Tom went on to add: “I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve managed to accomplish as a team with starting up three more events across the country this year and expanding Manchester to a scale we couldn’t have dreamed of when we started out seven years ago.”
We here at The Manc Group have been helping The MCR 24 Run Against Homelessness for several years now, and have put in plenty of those 5k laps between ourselves, so you can bank on us being there to put in some more hard yards this November.
Even better still, we’ve already roped in our friends over at The Hoot to help out with the maiden 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness in Leeds, and we hope to see lots more of you chipping in across the North and beyond.
Here’s to helping rough sleepers find beds and get back on their feet all over the country.
The @mcr24hourrun is expanding in 2025 and is heading to Leeds for the first time. 🏃♂️
And they're not the only city making their debut this year either… 👊
Georgina Pellant -
8th July 2021 
