Parklife has announced it will have an alcohol-free bar on the festival site for the first time ever this June, welcoming Love From to the fields at Heaton Park.
The huge Manchester festival confirmed that Love From, the city’s only booze-free boozer, would be joining its list of vendors.
It’s the first time in Parklife’s 14-year history that it will have an alcohol-free bar on site, a move with festival boss Sacha Lord says is ‘exciting and important’.
Love From first opened its doors as a pop-up at Kampus in January, where it’s since been granted residency.
Founded by Karl Considine, Love From has long maintained the ‘cutting out isn’t missing out’ and has provided a space that offers all the best bits of a classic cocktail bar, minus the hangover.
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Parklife will be the local bar’s biggest event to date (and they don’t come much bigger than this).
It’s hoped it can spread the importance of the Love From messaging among the young crowds who flock to the festival every year, breaking boundaries around drinking culture as it goes.
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To celebrate this milestone achievement, Love From has even taken over the huge billboard at Victoria Warehouse, and will be collaborating with Parklife to give away to VIP weekend tickets through Instagram.
Founder of Parklife festival and Night Time Economy Advisor for Greater Manchester, Sacha Lord commented: “We’re really excited to be bringing Love From to Parklife festival this Summer.
“Working with local brands is always exciting, but specifically working with Love From as a result of the impact they are having in the alcohol-free space is a really important part of running an inclusive festival.”
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Founder of the Love From bar, Karl Considine, said: “Personally this is a real pinch me moment for a few reasons, even though I don’t drink I love house music, and I am excited to be able to bring my business to Parklife.
“It is wild to me that Love From is only a few months old and here we are working with one of the biggest festivals not just in the UK, but in Europe.”
Karl Considine, founder of Love From, on announcing his alcohol-free bar will be at Parklife festival
It’s also been reported that almost half of young adults (44%) regularly drink no- or low-alcohol drinks.
Sacha continued: “From my own experience through my work for The Warehouse Project, we are seeing first hand how younger audiences want different experiences which includes more propensity to drink no and low drinks.
“Hospitality has to adapt our industry to suit current societal changes, there is a huge resurgence in the non-alcoholic market and we have watched Love From do incredibly well in this space.
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“Working with Love From was no brainer for us and we hope it is the start of a long term partnership!”
Karl concluded: “The fact that a festival like Parklife recognises not just that sentiment of ‘you don’t need to drink to have fun or join in’, but also that they’ve recognised the changing behaviours in drinking culture amongst younger generations is amazing to see.”
Former Lunya site to be taken over by kebab house, five years after closure
Daisy Jackson
The restaurant space that was previously home to Lunya will finally be brought back to life, with a new kebab restaurant moving in.
Lunya, which had a two-storey restaurant and deli on Deansgate in the beautiful Barton Arcade, shut down in 2020.
It was one of the earliest and most high-profile closures caused by the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, with owner Peter Kinsella penning at the time a heartbreaking open letter to then-PM Boris Johnson.
The Lunya site has remained empty for the last five years despite its enviable location in the heart of Manchester – but finally, new signs have gone up and a new operator is swooping in.
The windows now tease the arrival of Great British Doner, touting itself to be ‘the ultimate doner experience’.
The new opening will be selling wraps and boxes stuffed with beef, chicken, halloumi and falafel.
In a statement supplied to Place North West, Andrew Hynes, director at Hynes Illingworth said: “Barton Arcade will be the first UK opening for British Doner with two additional locations also secured in Manchester city centre.
Great British Doner is moving into the old Lunya site on Deansgate
“The business has been established by experienced restaurateur, Mehmet Korkut, previous owner of Café Istanbul and UK franchise owner of heritage brand Sultanahmet Koftecisi.”
There’ve been a lot of changes down this end of Deansgate in the last couple of years, including the openings of Simmons, with the city’s ‘biggest happy hour’, and Mama Roux’s, as well as the departures of Classic Football Shirts within the Barton Arcade.
When it opens, Great British Doner will join the likes of award-winning coffee shop Pot Kettle Black, and independent menswear retailer The R Store in the landmark building.
The viral factory in Oldham that sells £2 Colin the Caterpillar cakes
Thomas Melia
A factory in Oldham has gone viral online after sweet fiends discover they sell ‘Colin the Caterpillar’ cakes for less than half price.
There are some things that just go hand in hand: a brew and a biscuit, peanut butter and jelly and Brits and their crazy obsession with a character chocolate cake from M&S called Colin the Caterpillar.
Since hitting the shelves in 1990, more than 15 million Colin the Caterpillars have made their way from supermarket shop floor to our sweet-treat-awaiting plates.
Who would’ve ever guessed that the home to this cheeky chappy, who M&S have made their unofficial mascot (after Percy Pig, of course), has been crafted and created right here in Oldham?
The utterly delicious Colin the Caterpillar cake which you can get for £2 at Park Cakes.The shelves at Park Cakes are stacked with Colins and Connies.Credit: The Manc Eats
Established in 1937, The Park Cake Bakeries – or just Park Cakes, colloquially – has been serving up this critter-inspired cake for over 30 years, and savvy shoppers have flocked to their factory shop to get their hands on some very sweet savings.
There’s a whole range of cakes on offer at this Oldham dessert factory shop, including slabs, sponges, loaves and even sweet pies too.
Whether you’re a firm believer that the birthday person deserves all of Colin’s white-choc face or you precisely cut it up so everyone gets some, Park Cakes has the solution, selling bags of the character’s chocolatey face so you can have one all to yourself.
The cake isn’t the only thing that leaves a sweet taste in your mouth, as the prices will too. Colin the Caterpillar, who normally retails for just under a tenner, is sold for around £2 at this Oldham factory shop.
It’s always the ones that look unassuming, isn’t it?
Alongside producing one of the most adored cakes in the UK, they’re also responsible for lots more of your favourite supermarket sweet treats, and we’re definitely not complaining.
You can let your sweet tooth go wild in this factory shop as they sell everything from rainbow birthday cakes to sticky toffee puddings.
There’s so much on offer too, how about a giant bag packed to the brim with misshapen golden flapjacks that’ll last you over a week and cost you less than a fiver? Sounds like a plan to me.
If you haven’t had enough of your Easter chocolate fix, why not trek over to Oldham and stock up on even more chocolate and sweet treats? Trust us, there’s plenty to choose from.
Park Cakes factory shop can be found on Ashton Road in Oldham and is open from 10am-4pm, so go and grab yourself a seriously sweet deal before everyone else beats you to it.
Mini Colins, small in size but still packed with all that chocolatey goodness.Flapjacks and cookie dough bites are just some of the wonderful treats you might be able to get hold of.Credit: The Manc
Daisy Jackson -
14th May 2024 
