The food, drink and music lineup for the Manchester International Festival (MIF) Festival Square 2021 has officially been revealed.
Moving into the square’s outdoor kitchens this year will be pizzaiolos Honest Crust, a new vegan offering Stellar and a selection of traders from Mary Ellen McTague’s Eat Well MCR.
Heathcote&Co will also be in attendance serving up a selection of affogatos, ice cream floats and speciality coffees.
New venture Stellar by Dan Hope (of Firebird Hope and Pepperoni Playboy) will see the plant-based chef slinging out barbacoa sandos, falafel burgers and, of course, his legendary homemade seitan ‘fried chicken’ burgers.
Firebird Hope
Meanwhile, Mary Ellen McTague’s social enterprise Eat Well MCR Marketplace – formed in the first lockdown to turn food waste into healthy meals for the vulnerable – will be well represented at the square with a slew of daily specials from the collective’s members.
Local Eat Well traders and chefs such as ISCA and The Refuge will look to create limited edition specials for ‘build your own’ picnic boxes – with all profits going back into the initiative’s community support work.
Eat Well MCR favourites Chorlton Cheese Shop, Beehive, Holy Grain, Plucky Pickle and Acorn Dairy are all expected to make an appearance.
McTague is no stranger to MIF, having hosted an Alice in Wonderland-themed dinner in 2019.
MIF
Speaking on the new collaboration, McTague said: “Manchester International Festival is the perfect platform to showcase our wonderful marketplace of suppliers – the chefs and restaurants in our amazing collective – so we can tell our story to the wider community, all whilst raising much-needed funds to continue our support work.”
The festival hub will move to Cathedral Gardens for 2021 due to ongoing renovations at the Town Hall.
On the music front, a busy programme will be split across three stages – with different nights curated by the likes of Homoelectric, Dave Haslam, DJ Paulette, Jamz Supernova, Mr Scruff and BBC Music Introducing.
Performances by emerging talents, meanwhile, have been curated through MIF Sounds.
Formed to encourage creatives to keep going through last year’s turbulent events, it will see DJ collective All Hands On Deck, Swing Ting label boss Balraj Samrai and singer One Da all take over the square at different points.
Manchester International Festival 2021 runs from July 1 – 18, with tickets available from May 20.
News
Urgent appeal issued following serious road traffic collision involving motorcyclist on M60
Emily Sergeant
An urgent appeal has been issued following a serious road traffic collision on the M60.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) are appealing for information and dash-cam footage, as well as urging witnesses to come forward, after a motorcyclist suffered life-threatening injuries during a collision on the M60 this past Saturday (12 July).
Shortly after 1:40pm, police were called a report of a collision involving a motorbike on the anti-clockwise side of the motorway, between junctions 25 and 24.
When patrols responded and arrived on the scene, they found a man in his 50s – believed to be the motorcyclist – with life-threatening injuries, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment in an air ambulance, with his family being informed in the process.
An urgent appeal has been issued following a serious road traffic collision involving motorcyclist on the M60 / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The M60 was closed in one direction, between Bredbury and Denton, following the crash from around 2:30pm onwards, and all traffic was diverted while investigations were ongoing.
GMP’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit is in the process of conducting enquiries, and at this time, it isn’t believed that any other vehicle was involved in this incident.
This is why police are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the collision, or who has dash-cam footage, to get in on contact.
Police have also thanked the members of the public who stopped by the roadside to give the man initial first aid before emergency services arrived.
Police issue update on Oasis arrests and fence-jumpers
Daisy Jackson
Greater Manchester Police have shared an update on the arrests made at the opening two nights of Oasis Live ’25.
More than 100,000 people have flocked up to Heaton Park on Friday and Saturday evening for the first two of five Oasis reunion shows.
And largely, things have gone without a hitch, with only 15 arrests made so far.
The majority of these are arrests on suspicion of fraud, with five men and a woman in three separate incidents attempting to access the Oasis gig with fake accreditation.
Another man was arrests on suspicion of assaulting a member of security staff.
Two more men were arrested on suspicion of assault – a section 18 inside the Oasis gig at Heaton Park, and another for a section 47 outside.
Police have also said that ‘a number of people’ have attempted to access the gigs without tickets, with a perimeter gate breached on Saturday night, but ‘failed to do so’.
Five drones which breached airspace restrictions were seized on Friday.
A Section 34 Dispersal Order, which gives officers the power to direct individuals to leave a specified area and not return for 48 hours, has been in place for each night of the Oasis concerts so far.
This will be re-assessed before each concert this week, with the Gallagher brothers back at Heaton Park on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
GMP around Manchester ahead of the Oasis reunion shows. Credit: GMP
Assistant Chief Constable Matt Boyle said: “We have been planning for these events for several months, working with partners and the organisers to make sure everyone can enjoy the concerts safely. To that end, I’m pleased to say that the first two Oasis homecoming events have been a success.
“What has been especially pleasing is how more than 100,000 people have enjoyed these iconic events safely and without trouble.
“We will have a highly visible presence in and around Heaton Park, and across the city, to ensure the next three events continue to pass safely.
“A number of people without tickets attempted to gain entry through a perimeter gate on Saturday night but failed to do so.
Credit: The Manc GroupCredit: Tiktok benwalkerofficialPolice say ‘just 15’ arrests made at Oasis so far
“We continue to support the event organisers and the local authority with their plans preventing any unauthorised access to the arena site.
“While arrests have thankfully been minimal, we have had to take some suspects to custody, including one after an alleged assault on a steward on Saturday night. We will not tolerate any abuse of anyone doing their job.
“On Friday night we also dealt with a number of breaches of airspace restrictions involving drones where our officers seized five drones and spoke to two other pilots.
“We continue to have airspace restrictions in place on the nights of the concerts and anyone found breaching the one-and-a-half-mile restriction zone could face prosecution.”
Georgina Pellant -
4th May 2021 
