There’s a crisp festival happening at a bar in Stockport this weekend, and we are absolutely obsessed with the idea.
Bask, the Stockport bar that’s become one of the region’s best nights out according to our very local Stopfordian, is laying on bowls upon bowls of crisps as part of its first-ever crisp festival.
Even better it’s entirely free – with both entry to the festival and the crisps themselves costing punters absolutely nothing.
Taking place at the end of the bank holiday weekend, Monday 28 August will see Stockport bar Bask roll-out tables full of crisps in a host of different shapes, flavours, and sizes.
And whilst it’s not been made entirely clear exactly which of our favourite crisps will be on offer on Monday, an A-board outside the bar definitely gives a hint.
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Promotional artwork for the crisp festival suggests you’ll find everything from Skips and Quavers to Wheat Munchies, Squares, Pringles and Monster Munch.
Image: The Manc Eats
Image: Bask / Mark Brown Studio
Packets of Hula Hoops, Wotsits, McCoy’s, Walker’s, Roysters, Scampi Fries, Doritos, and Frazzles also look set to make an appearance at the big crisp bonanza.
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Sharing the news on Twitter, Bask wrote: “You might’ve seen our events board stating CRISP FESTIVAL, and wondered what the hell that is? Well I’ll tell ya… On bank holiday Monday, August 28th, between 2pm – 6pm, we’re hosting the very first FESTIVAL OF CRISPS to take place in Stockport.”
They continued: “We’ll have tables and tables of bowls of crisps, literally as many brands as you can think of, saddled up next to bread and butter to make the ultimate crisp butty.
You might’ve seen our events board stating CRISP FESTIVAL, and wondered what the hell that is? Well I’ll tell ya…
On bank holiday Monday, August 28th, between 2pm – 6pm, we’re hosting the very first FESTIVAL OF CRISPS to take place in Stockport 🙌 pic.twitter.com/ydWh70Obco
“Not only that, we’ll have a resident Bask DJ dropping some cheesy beats to soundtrack your day whilst you crunch.”
“And because we’re good to you, it’s free entry and FREE crisps. Go on then.”
Kicking off at 2pm and running until 6pm, head down to Bask this bank holiday Monday to get your ultimate crisp fix.
Featured image – Bask
Eats
Cosy pubs near the Manchester Christmas Markets where you can avoid the madness
Daisy Jackson
The Manchester Christmas Markets are in full flow for another year, and they are BUSY.
Once again, thousands of people are pouring into the city centre every weekend and evening to browse the massive range of food, drink and gifts being sold from the village of wooden huts that have appeared in town.
And there’s no denying that the markets do bring plenty of festive cheer to town, with Nutcracker mugs in every hand and people munching on sausages as they walk.
But when the hustle and bustle and the cold all gets a bit much – and if you’re anything like us, one or two drinks at the Christmas Markets is plenty – you’ll be looking for respite.
And by respite, we mean a pub.
So here are the best pubs that are very near the Manchester Christmas Markets without actually being in the thick of it.
North Westward Ho, Chapel Walks
Beers at North Westward Ho. Credit: The Manc GroupNorth Westward Ho’s traditional interior. This pub is near the Market Street and King Street Christmas Markets
This stunning pub has been created by Pomona Island, the much-loved local craft brewery, and it’s handily located within staggering distance of the Market Street, Piccadilly Gardens and King Street Christmas markets hubs.
Pomona Island has taken on a chunk of the former Chaophraya restaurant, turning the grand arch-windowed red-brick building serving their own craft beers – from the easy-drinking Factotum, to the excellent Phaedra pale ale.
And boy is it cosy – North Westward Ho feels like a proper Manchester pub that has been styled with dark wooden details, ornate tiling, wall sconces, oil paintings, dark green ceramic brick times, and loads of cosy corners.
It’s opened in a former bin store at Victoria StationThe Victoria Tap is one of the cosiest pubs near the Cathedral Gardens Christmas Markets
The Victoria Tap is a beer bar that’s completely transformed a corner of the station that was previously home to a bin store, and it’s a perfect place to pause between the Cathedral Gardens Christmas Markets and your train home.
You won’t miss your train either – on the wall inside the pub is a departures board that advises how many pints you can fit in before your train leaves.
Northern breweries on the taps at Victoria Tap include Brew York, Blackjack and Runaway, plus a good selection of European beers from the likes of kostritzer, Bitburger and Schremser.
Inside there are traditional parquet floors underfoot and a dark green bar running almost the whole length of the micropub.
This bar is at complete odds with its location – the sight of its cosy, calm interior at great odds to the madness of Market Street it sits behind.
Like an oasis in the dessert, Cafe Beermoth is one of those pubs that provides serious Christmas Markets salvation when you need it most.
The Belgian-style beer cafe champions drinks from across the UK as well as further afield into Europe and America, though it has a strong bond with Manchester’s own Runaway Brewery.
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It’s one of those places you can visit solo or with a massive group and still be welcomed with the same open arms.
You wouldn’t think that the place to escape the madness of the Manchester Christmas Markets would be the Manchester Arndale, aka the biggest shopping mall in town and one that is RAMMED with shoppers in December.
But wedged into a corner of the Arndale Market is Micro Bar, a teeny tiny pub with a good selection of German and Belgian beers on keg plus hundreds of bottles and cans in the fridges.
If you’re quick and lucky, you can get a seat overlooking High Street and feel extra smug that you’re on the quiet side of the glass.
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Arndale Food Market, M4 3AH
The Sadler’s Cat, NOMA
Sadler’s Cat is a craft beer pub near the Manchester Christmas Markets
Formerly known as The Pilcrow, this shed-like pub on Sadler’s Yard is now in the very trustworthy hands of Cloudwater Brewery.
The space itself was built by local people through a series of workshops, with members of the public creating everything from the tabletops to the lampshades.
There is, of course, Cloudwater beers, but also plenty of others to choose from, a menu of natural wines, and both alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails.
The pub is also stumbling distance from Cathedral Gardens – you can practically skate here from the Christmas Markets ice rink.
Disappear from St Ann’s Square – where you can barely move for gluhwein and tinsel – and down into the cave-like wine bar that is Corbieres.
Something of a Manchester institution, this brilliant bar has a jukebox loaded with great music, and a decent range of wines and beers.
It also does free pizza with any drink purchased, Tuesday to Friday 4.30pm to 7.30pm.
AND, as they’re advertising themselves as an escape from the markets, they’re even happy for you to bring the food you buy at the markets into the bar.
Any of the Chop Houses are guaranteed to be maximum cosy, with their Victorian interiors still largely in tact and menus full of massive stodgy food.
There are two that are both right near the King Street batch of Christmas Markets – Sam’s is beneath the previously mentioned North Westward Ho, while Albert’s is within that iconic tall skinny building on Cross Street.
At this time of year they’re extra festive thanks to soft white fairy lights and candles.
Rochdale’s newest restaurant The Martlet receives rave review in The Guardian
Daisy Jackson
The Martlet, the new restaurant that’s recently opened its doors within the magnificent Rochdale Town Hall, has been given a glowing review in The Guardian this weekend.
Restaurant critic Jay Rayner paid a visit to the grand new space and summarised it as ‘Civic pride meets glorious cooking at a remarkably fair price’.
The Marlet opened in the heart of Rochdale town centre a few months ago, led by award-winning chef Darren Parkinson, who grew up locally in Heywood, and Great British Menu star Tristan Welch.
Their menu is packed with classic northern dishes like Jackson’s rag pudding, and bacon chop with Bury Black Pudding and Denshaw egg – and we here at The Manc love it.
But now it’s also caught the eye of the nation’s biggest food critic, who praised The Martlet’s easy but refined all-day approach to feeding its customers, describing it as ‘smart, witty and generous’.
Jay Rayner’s Guardian review said: “[Rochdale Town Hall] could have installed a modish and frankly annoying pan-European small plates bistro that nobody wanted. Or it could have been a bog-standard coffee and cake job…
“But it is so much more. It’s a broad offering drawing on the heritage of Greater Manchester in a smart, witty and generous way, and all at the sort of prices that will make those used to shaking down their bank accounts for a bit of lunch, sigh deeply.”
Jay Rayner praised the Scotch egg at The Martlet in his The Guardian reviewInside The Martlet at Rochdale Town Hall. Credit: The Manc Group
Of the many locally-flavoured items on the menu, he singled out the Bury black pudding Scotch egg (‘a class piece of work’); the traditional rag pudding (with ‘gravy so glossy you could check your hair and make up in the reflection’); and the pork chop (with ‘a seared ribbon of fat at its back, guaranteed to sustain you through a Rochdale winter’).
He also wrote: “You may find portion size challenging. In these parts that’s quite as it should be.”
Rayner also praised the Rochdale Town Hall itself (how could you not set foot in this building and not immediately fall in love?), saying ‘Whatever you do, make time to drift slack-jawed through these chambers’.
The Marlet has said it’s ‘over the moon’ with its review in The Guardian.
What a shining endorsement for this Greater Manchester town.
Georgina Pellant -
20th August 2023 
