As if Valentine’s Day wasn’t cheesy enough, we’ve just heard that there’s an all-you-can-eatcheese night coming to a pub in Manchester next month.
Taking place at Northern Quarter pub Pie and Ale on 16 February, the night will see Leeds-born cheese tasting company Homage to Fromage lay on a giant help-yourself cheese buffet they’re labeling the ‘Cheese of Love’.
Created for romantic and cheese lovers alike, the event promises to showcase a ‘gorgeous selection of eight sexy, sultry, sensuous cheeses’ with some ‘soft and yielding,’ and others ‘big and strong’ with some form of melted cheese also set to make an appearance.
Kicking off at 7pm, unlimited portions of the good stuff will be served for a whopping two and a half hours – and there’s absolutely no limit on how many crumbly bits, hard or soft cheeses you reach for.
Image: The Manc Group
image: Homage to Fromage
As for drinks, thanks to the brilliant bar at host venue Pie and Ale you can also get stuck into a large selection of ales and craft beers: with six rotating cask ales, craft lager and beer on tap, and plenty of cans and bottles in the fridge.
Stocking an array of beers from near and far, Pie and Ale’s bar is undoubtedly a treasure trove for beer lovers but it also has something for wine drinkers, with a small list of reds and whites, and a decent cocktail and spirits list on offer.
The night will be laid back and informal with organisers promising that there will be some belting cheeses making an appearance.
image: The Manc Group
image: Homage to Fromage
Put together by Homage to Fromage co-founders Nick and Vickie, an unlikely duo from Yorkshire who formed a business following a random conversation on Twitter in 2011, cheese lovers will be able to dig into unlimited portions for just £20 a head (tickets are priced at £40 for a table of two). Drinks are not included.
This isn’t a snobby cheese night for those that know the difference between a quartz cheese and a brie, it’s all about bringing people together to have a sensory and social experience that foods like cheese can offer.
That said, there will be scoring sheets available for those who want to play cheese critic for the evening.
Drinks prices for Manchester Oasis gigs announced – and you’ll be pleasantly surprised
Daisy Jackson
The prices of drinks at Heaton Park for the five huge Manchester Oasis shows have been released in advance.
With the Gallagher brothers reuniting on stage in their hometown for the first time this weekend (and then again next week), it’s a huge moment for our city.
Those lucky enough to snag tickets have already forked out a small fortune to witness this moment in history (still scarred from the dynamic pricing debacle).
And most of us were probably bracing to spend another small fortune on beers at the Oasis Manchester gigs.
But you might be pleasantly surprised at the drinks prices up at Heaton Park for Oasis Live ’25.
It’s now been confirmed that pints of lager and cider will be just £6.50.
Before you turn your nose up, remember that pints at our two arenas – the AO Arena and Co-op Live are now sitting around the £9 mark.
Prices for other drinks, like wine and spirits, we’ll have to wait until Friday to see.
Heaton Park will also be the home of the ‘largest beer garden’ and the longest bars in the city for the Oasis reunion.
With a major heatwave predicted for the first shows, fans are being encouraged to stay hydrated (on WATER, not beer, please).
Ticket-holders will be allowed to bring a sealed bottle of water up to 500ml in with you, but it must be collapsible plastic.
Solid plastic and metal containers will be rejected on safety grounds.
There’s a free water point on site where you can fill up your bottles again.
Oasis will perform at Heaton Park in Manchester on 11, 12, 16, 19 and 20 July.
Dates announced as resident doctors prepare to stage strikes this month
Emily Sergeant
Resident doctors in England have voted to stage strike action over pay, and the dates for the industrial action have now been confirmed.
The British Medical Association (BMA) says doctors have ‘spoken clearly’ after the results of a vote published today revealed that 90% of resident doctors have voted in favour of a potential return to industrial action.
It comes after the ballot – which ran from 27 May until 7 July – saw a turnout of 55% members, with almost 30,000 (29,741) votes cast.
26,766 of those votes endorsed the use of strike action as part of efforts to restore pay, while just under 3,000 voted against it.
The result means that resident doctors have now secured a fresh mandate to stage industrial action when they choose from now until January 2026.
BMA resident doctors committee co-chairs, Melissa Ryan and Ross Nieuwoudt, said that, while no doctor took the possibility of striking lightly, a clear majority of members felt that they had ‘no other choice’ given the ongoing failures to restore pay.
They added that Health Secretary Wes Streeting has the power to ‘make the right decision’ on pay, and urged the Government to return to negotiations ‘as soon as possible’.
It’s now been confirmed that resident doctors will stage a full walk out from 7am on Friday 25 July until 7am on Wednesday 30 July.
These upcoming strikes come after resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors, until 2024 – in England participated in an unprecedented 11 rounds of strike action after negotiations with the previous Conservative Government over restoring pay repeatedly stalled.
“Doctors have spoken and spoken clearly – they won’t accept that they are worth a fifth less than they were in 2008,” the committee co-chairs said. “Our pay may have declined but our will to fight remains strong.
“Doctors don’t take industrial action lightly, but they know it is preferable to watching their profession wither away.
“The next move is the Government’s – will it repeat the mistakes of its predecessor? Or will it do the right thing and negotiate a path to full pay restoration and the restoration of doctors’ confidence in our profession’s future?”
Georgina Pellant -
24th January 2023 
