Easter is almost upon us and Manchester’s restaurants and bars have very much risen to the occasion with some brilliant-looking Easter foodie specials.
From sweet Scotch Eggs that take the pub classic to a whole other level, to deep-fried Creme Eggs, hot cross bun fried chicken French toast, a hot cross bagel and even a hot cross cocktail, there are some banging Easter treats kicking around Manchester this weekend.
Keep reading to discover where to get your sweet fix.
Black Milk, Biscoff Scotch Egg
Image: The Manc Eats
Manchester dessert cafe Black Milk Cereal has created these amazing sweet scotch eggs for Easter.
Swapping out sausage meat for Lotus Biscoff, these genius little treats give the seasonal Cadbury mainstay quite the glow up – in the most Northern fashion possible.
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Comprised of Lotus Biscoff cake mix, white chocolate, and a Cadbury’s Creme Egg with its glossy signature runny ‘yolk’ intact, the ultra-indulgent delight is topped off with a Biscoff crumb to give it that out-of-the-pub-fridge look we all secretly crave.
Available from Black Milk’s Northern Quarter site from now right up to Easter, the sweet Scotch Eggs can be enjoyed to eat in or takeaway from £5.95.
Bread Flower is getting in on the Easter action with this hot cross bun-bagel hybrid.
Think a cardamom and cinnamon raisin bagel, topped with the classic cross and finished with an apricot glaze, and served with a marmalade schmear.
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Find a limited number available on the Bread Flower counter at Ducie Street Warehouse this weekend.
Grandpa Greene’s, Easter Egg Hot Chocolate
Image: Grandpa Greene’s
The popular canalside ice cream parlour and cafe in Diggle, Saddleworth, has teamed up with beloved local chocolatier Slattery’s to give the people what they want.
This year, they’ve updated their original hot chocolate recipe and it now comes with a full Slattery Easter egg, marshmallows, whipped cream, chocolate sauce and mini eggs.
Find it at their Oldham site throughout the month.
Manchester bakery Siop Shop is churning out these fried hot cross donuts in honour of the Easter weekend.
Available from now until Easter Sunday at the Tib Street cafe, in previous years they’ve simply iced the cross on but this year the team has gone the whole hog.
DGHNT, Hot Cross Donuts
Artisan donut baker Sulin Baldwin has created these cardamoom creme-filled hot cross donuts for the Easter weekend.
Covered in a milk chocolate glaze and vanilla drizzle, inside they’re simply bursting with pastry cream.
Available for delivery in Altrincham and Sale, or collection from the Northern Quarter, drop her a message on Instagram to place your order.
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Gooey, Easter box
Image: Gooey
Gooey has created a special Easter box which will be available from its Ducie Street Warehouse kiosk over the long weekend.
Featuring a carrot cake cookie, chocolate-glazed Easter donut filled with white chocolate mousse and passion fruit jam, red velvet cookie cake and dulce de leche-glazed cruller, this looks like one of their best yet.
A Cadbury creme egg, battered and deep fried, served with vanilla ice cream and a dusting of sugar icing, these bad boys will be given away for free on Good Friday to the first 100 through the door.
The kitchen is also making its ‘Hot Cross Fried Chicky’, combining its tender buttermilk fried chicken with a crispy, streaky bacon cross, maple syrup glaze and sweet cinnamon buttered apples, piled into a vanilla custard french toast-fried hot cross bun.
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Ciaooo x Black Milk, Easter chocolate pizza
Image: Ciaooo Pizza MCR
Swan Street pizzeria Ciaoo has teamed up with its Oldham Street neighbours Black Milk Cereal to create this ultimate Easter dessert.
A chocolate pizza loaded with pieces of Kinder Bueno, Kinder Maxi, Nutella, Kinder Surprise and Black Milk’s own homemade Kinderella sauce.
Alex’s Bakery, Easter Egg Cake
Image: Supplied
Famed for its buttercream cupcakes and loaded chocolate brownies, Alex’s Bakery, has launched a Mini Egg Easter Cake for the weekend.
Lovingly created with vanilla sponge, strawberry jam, buttercream and packed with over 100 Mini Eggs, it’s the perfect treat to share with family and friends over a coffee catch up this Easter.
In honour of the Easter weekend, swanky Northern Quarter cocktail bar Mecanica has announced a limited edition ‘Hot Cross Bun’ cocktail.
Featuring Cinnamon Butter washed Bourbon, Pedro Ximénez and Orange Bitters, this is a drink not to be missed.
Fress, Creme Egg Freakshake
Image: Fress
If you want to get your freak on this Easter, Fress has got you covered with a special Creme Egg Freakshake.
Loaded with the ever-popular Cadbury’s favourite, it’s available at the Northern Quarter site for a limited time only.
Dormouse Chocolates, Eggs on Toast Bar
Image: Supplied
Award-winning Manchester chocolatier Dormouse Chocolates has created an ‘Eggs on Toast Bar’ ready for the weekend.
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Comprised of a bread and butter milk chocolate topped with a white chocolate fried “egg” – it offers a tasty take on a breakfast classic and the perfect alternative to a traditional Easter egg.
View the chocolatier’s full Easter selection here.
Full list of road closures set to be in place for Manchester Day 2024
Emily Sergeant
Manchester Day is back for 2024 this weekend, and the full list of road closures set to be in place has been confirmed.
Now that schools are officially out across Greater Manchester, and the summer holidays are well and truly here, the hugely-popular Manchester Day is making a return once again this Saturday 27 July, and as always, it’s set to be “the day summer officially starts” in the city centre – with a massive celebration of “all things Mancunian” on the cards.
The theme of this year’s annual event is ‘Let The Games Begin’, and it’s inspired by the international summer of sport, just 2024 Olympics kicks off over in Paris.
The day will be packed full of free events and activities to get involved with.
Some city centre roads will be closed on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 July for Manchester Day.
These will include:
🛣️Deansgate 🛣️St Ann Street 🛣️St Mary’s Gate 🛣️Market Street 🛣️King Street
— Manchester City Council (@ManCityCouncil) July 21, 2024
But of course, in order for the all the fun to go ahead as safely as possible, and as tends to be the case for events like these, Manchester City Council says it will need to make some temporary road closures to facilitate it.
The full list of road closures has now been confirmed by the Council, and there’s some major city centre thoroughfares set to be out of action.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Manchester Day is back for 2024 to celebrate the international summer of sport / Credit: Manchester City Council
Manchester Day 2024 – Road Closures
Saturday 27 July
From 6am to 11:59pm, Manchester City Council has confirmed that the following roads will be closed:
Deansgate (Manchester Cathedral to John Dalton Street) – access will be maintained to Marks and Spencer’s car park and Number One Deansgate.
St Ann Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
St Mary’s Street (Southbridge Street to Deansgate)
Market Street (Exchange Street to Cross Street)
Fennel Street (Corporation Street to Cathedral Street) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cathedral Street (Fennel Street to Exchange Square) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cateaton Street (Exchange Square to Deansgate)
Barton Square (St Ann’s Square to St Ann Street)
King Street (Cross Street to Deansgate) – no access for deliveries.
All accessible bays, bus lanes, and taxi ranks within the closed areas will also be suspended during from 6pm on Friday 26 July to 11:59pm on Saturday 27 July.
The parking suspensions set to be in place are:
Deansgate (Manchester Cathedral to John Dalton Street)
St Ann Street – including the bays outside St Ann’s Church (Deansgate to Cross Street)
St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
St Mary’s Street (Southbridge Street to Deansgate)
Southgate (St Mary’s Street to King Street West)
Market Street (Exchange Street to Cross Street)
Fennel Street (Corporation Street to Cathedral Street) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cathedral Street (Fennel Street to Exchange Square) – access will be maintained for morning deliveries only.
Cateaton Street (Exchange Square to Deansgate)
Victoria Street (Cathedral Approach to Deansgate)
Todd Street (Corporation Street to Station Approach)
King Street (Spring Gardens to Southgate)
South King Street (Ridgefield to Deansgate)
Barton Square (St Ann’s Square to St Ann Street)
King Street West (Deansgate to St Mary’s Parsonage)
St James’s Square (John Dalton Street to South King Street)
Cross Street (King Street to Corporation Street)
Museum Street (Peter Street to Windmill Street)
Marsden Street (Cheapside to Brown Street)
Manchester Day 2024: Let The Games Begin! will take over the city centre on Saturday 27 July from 12pm-6pm.
Check out everything you need to know ahead of the event here.
‘Complex’ Metrolink repairs to the Rochdale via Oldham line could take weeks to complete
Emily Sergeant
Work currently underway on the Rochdale via Oldham line is expected to take several weeks to complete.
Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) has confirmed that land movement affecting the Metrolink network near Derker has now “slowed”, and this means that detailed ground investigations and temporary repair works have been able to get underway.
In order for trams to run again on the crucial line from the city centre to the two major Greater Manchester towns, TfGM says that a small section of track has to be moved back – also known as ‘slewed’ – into its original position.
The overhead line poles also need to be repaired too, the transport operator revealed.
Rochdale line update
Land movement affecting the Metrolink network near Derker has slowed, enabling detailed ground investigations and temporary repair works to get underway.
To get trams running again, a small section of track has to be moved back into its original position… pic.twitter.com/byERjitdi1
Unfortunately though, due to the “complex” nature of these works, and despite the fact that TfGM says it’s actively looking to “accelerate” the repairs, the project is expected to take up to five weeks to complete in full.
On top of this, the detailed ground investigations will also establish whether any further work to strengthen foundations beneath the track will be needed at a later date.
TfGM has apologised for the inconvenience caused to passengers.
‘Complex’ Metrolink repairs to the Rochdale via Oldham line could take weeks to complete / Credit: TfGM
Speaking on the scale of works currently underway, and how long he expects them to continue for, Pete Sommers, who is TfGM’s Network Director for Metrolink, said: “I’m sorry for the impact this is having, and will continue to have, on people’s journeys.
“We are working to get trams running through the area again, but this remains a complex and challenging issue and it could still be a few weeks before this happens.
“We will of course keep passengers updated, and I’d encourage people to check our social media channels and website for the latest information and advice.”