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Scenic lakeside dining domes open for afternoon tea at Heaton Park

The Manc The Manc - 23rd February 2022

Heaton Park has revealed a new trio of scenic lakeside dining domes, perfect for those looking for a unique afternoon tea experience in Manchester.

Situated in Manchester’s largest park with stunning views of the lake and gardens, not to mention the Grade-I listed Heaton Hall close at hand, the domes offer an extra special afternoon tea experience surrounded by nature.

Each is private and heated to ensure maximum comfort, with a menu that features a number of different afternoon tea options, including vegan options.

Image: Heaton Park Cafés

All carefully curated by Heaton Park Cafés, who host the domes, the menus are designed to offer a mix of afternoon tea classics and imaginative variations.

The classic afternoon tea keeps things traditional with delicious sandwiches, free-range Heaton scotch egg and homemade sage and onion sausage roll.

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On the sweet side, think chocolate brownies, homemade Victoria sponge, scones and homemade jam with vanilla Chantilly cream and a baked meringue with pineapple and passionfruit.

Image: Heaton Park Cafés

There’s a miniature offering for children, too, served on a decorative wooden boat for added lakeside fun. Inside, they’ll find a Manchester bee sandwich, sausage roll, mini-scone with jam and cream, Victoria sponge and chocolate brownie bites.

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Elsewhere, vegans are treated to a vegan Scotch egg and homemade ‘not so sausage’ roll, alongside pulled barbecue jackfruit and tofu sandwiches, vegan Victoria sponge, pistachio carrot cake, vegan scone with jam and plant-based crema, and fruit jelly with pineapple and passionfruit.

All menus are priced at £23.95 per person and served with a pot of English breakfast tea or regular hot drink. Children’s teas are priced at £14.95. The Dining Domes can seat up to six and advance booking is essential.

Heaton Park is a historic area on the edge of Manchester and is the perfect setting for a family day out. There’s something for all ages with an animal centre and tram museum, play areas, bowling greens and food and drink curated by The Stables Café and The Lakeside Café.  

Find out more and plan your visit here.

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95% of Mancs apparently want the city to be ‘cashless’, new study reveals

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Contactless payment

An eye-opening new study has found that only 5% of Mancs still use cash as their preferred method of payment nowadays.

It comes as no surprise that cash is less of a ‘king’ nowadays than it used to be, but now a new report by global financial technology company SumUp has suggests that only 5% of people in Manchester prefer to pay with cash, while 59% choose debit and credit cards, so that leaves one question… is Manchester on its way to becoming a cashless city?

To discover how payment preferences are evolving, SumUp conducted a nationwide survey to gather insights from UK consumers about their payment habits.

The company was particularly intrigued to not only discover payment methods people prefer, but what their concerns around certain payment methods, alongside how they feel about businesses that don’t accept digital payments.

95% of Mancs apparently want the city to be ‘cashless’ / Credit: Mylo Kaye (via Unsplash) | Pexels

Firstly, before we go any further, it’s important to note that almost two thirds (63%) of Manchester residents said they have changed the way they make payments over the past year.

Unsurprisingly, debit and credit cards remain the top choice for the majority of Mancs, with over half (59%) saying it was their preferred method of payment, followed by mobile payment methods such as Apple Pay and Google Pay at 24% – which is likely thanks to their ease of use and the ability to have multiple cards on one device.

While a third (31%) of Mancs said that they ‘don’t mind’ cash and still opt to carry it for situations where digital payments aren’t an option, a growing number of people in the city are feel that digital payments are more favourable, with 25% thinking that businesses should adapt to modern payment methods and whilst 28% finding it ‘inconvenient’ when a business doesn’t accept digital payments. 

A further 11% of people even say that cash-only businesses wouldn’t be an option they’d consider, and would actually avoid them wherever possible.

Card payment
Only 5% use cash as their preferred method of payment / Credit: Rawpixel

When it comes to concerns around digital payment methods, where do Mancs stand then? Well, the survey found that a third (33%) of people are worried about their reliance on technology, especially being unable to pay if their phone dies, for example, while an additional 32% of people are concerned about security risks such as hacking, fraud, or stolen card details.

Among other things, 26% of survey respondents also said they worry about the privacy aspect of digital banking and the tracking your data.

“While debit and credit cards continue to dominate as the preferred payment method, it’s clear that cash is slowly declining in use, particularly among younger generations,” Corin Camenisch, who is the Marketing & Growth Lead at SumUp, commented on the report.

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“That said, cash still holds its place for many.

“Looking ahead, we can anticipate a rise in innovative payment methods like digital wallets, especially as younger consumers increasingly embrace the convenience and flexibility they offer.”

Featured Image – Pavel Danilyuk (via Pexels)

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Met Office predicts UK is set for ‘hotter than average’ summer

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant Sunbathing in the park

The Met Office is predicting that the UK is set for a ‘hotter than average’ summer this year.

Fresh off-the-back of the news that 2025 is already the hottest spring on record, with a recorded 630 hours of sunshine from 1 March until 27 May, beating out the previous sunniest spring in 2020 by just four hours, the Met Office is now predicting that the UK is on the verge of a summer that’s ‘hotter than usual’.

According to its three-month outlook, the Met Office has predicted that it’s 2.3 times more-likely than ‘normal’ that it will be hot in the UK between 1 June and 31 August.

The average temperatures during those months are set to range from 10-17°C.

After it was revealed that this has also been the UK’s driest spring in more than a century, meteorologists are warning Brits that there could heatwave conditions could be reached at various times throughout the summer.

The release of the long-range forecast – which gives an indication of possible temperatures, rainfall, and wind speed over a period as a whole – comes after temperatures soared to 8°C (46F) above the average for this time of year this Saturday just gone (31 May).

It is important to note, however, that the Met Office thinks these predicted temperatures are similar to those in recent years, and it does not guarantee ‘prolonged’ hot weather.

The Met Office is predicting that the UK is set for ‘hotter than average’ summer this year / Credit: Mylo Kaye (via Unsplash)

The Met Office said in a statement: “While the current three-month outlook shows an increased chance of a hot summer, the temperature signals for this summer are similar to those for recent years and consistent with our warming climate.

“The increased chance of hotter than average temperatures is not a guarantee of prolonged hot weather or heatwaves, but it does mean that heatwave conditions could be reached at times.

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“However, it’s important to bear in mind that an increased chance of hot conditions could also reflect a mix of hot and cool days, warm nights, or less extreme levels of warmth rather than continual heatwave conditions specifically.”

Featured Image – Garry Knight (via Flickr)

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