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Manchester city centre gym forced to close for repairs following New Year’s Eve flooding

They're currently assessing the damage and attempting to drain their facilities.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 3rd January 2025

A city centre gym has been forced into temporary closure after it was flooded following heavy rainfall on Greater Manchester on New Year’s Eve.

While lots of people were toasting the end of 2024 earlier this week, many other residents and local businesses woke up to a less-than-ideal way to start the new year as flooding plagued the likes of Stockport, Altrincham, Bolton, central Manchester and more.

A whole section of the Bridgewater Canal over in Dunham Massey, Cheshire and here in the city centre, the flow caused various sections bits of waterside path to disappear completely underwater.

Naturally, being a very canal-centric district, Castlefield ended up being one of the most heavily affected areas and, unfortunately, The Y Club gym and health centre saw much of their facilities flooded and have had to close for drainage and repairs.

The gym and health club said in a lengthy post on social media: “Overnight, the Y Club was impacted by severe flooding, which has affected the ground floor, including the swimming pool, changing rooms, gym and fives courts.

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“This is devastating news for our staff, members, and the entire Y Club community. Our immediate priority is to address the situation and begin the process of reopening the affected areas. The floodwaters will need to subside before we can safely begin repairs and restoration efforts.”

Explaining that various rooms will be out of action for a more significant period, they have made plans to relocate the majority of their gym equipment into the sports hall – mostly unscathed in comparison – to allow for gym members to still make use of the facilities.

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The message on Instagram goes on to read: “As a result of this, the Y Club will remain closed until Wednesday, 7 January. We will continue to provide updates on when specific areas of the club will be ready to reopen.

“We understand how important the Y Club community is to all of you, and we share in your frustration. Please know that we are working tirelessly behind the scenes to restore the club and get things back to normal as soon as possible.”

sports activities y club manchester
The sports hall where gym equipment facilities are being moved. (Credit: The Y Club Manchester website)

“Any questions you may have please contact the club via email [at] [email protected]. Thank you for your patience and support during this challenging time.”

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We’re sure we speak for everyone when we say we hope they get back on their feet in time to reopen properly next week and that the damage/repairs aren’t too costly.

Y Club is located right next door to the Castlefield Hotel and although the two Liverpool Road buildings are attached, there has luckily been no word of flooding in the latter as yet.

The gym was the only popular Manchester destination to have been hit with the watery scenes either, as student favourite bar and nightclub Joshua Brooks was forced to close on New Year’s Eve after their basement room – which sits precariously just above the canal – unfortunately flooded as well.

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Featured Images — The Y Club (via Instagram)

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Neil Young U-turns on Glastonbury drop-out after being confirmed as festival headliner

Danny Jones Danny Jones Neil Young now headlining Glastonbury Festival 2025 after pulling out

Barely a beat or two after having seemingly dropped out of the festival, Neil Young has now U-turned on Glastonbury 2025 and now looks set to be headlining it.

The legendary musician called out the world-renowned music festival for being under “corporate” control at the whim of the BBC (its official media and broadcasting partner for nearly 30 years) and said he would no longer be playing his slot.

Young went so far as to call it a “corporate turn-off”, claiming the event is “not how I remember it” in a message on his website.

However, just a few days after posting the news, it now appears as though the Canadian singer-songwriter will still be playing Glastonbury – and not just as one of the multiple legends lined up for 2025 either, but as a headliner.

Neil Young is now seemingly headlining Glastonbury 2025. (Credit: Screenshot via Neil Young Archives)

As you can see in the update shared on Friday, 3 January, the 79-year-old now claims there was an “error” in the information he received regarding his performance at the festival.

Having now cleared up whatever confusion occurred, he and his band the Chrome Hearts will in fact be playing the festival as planned, reiterating his long-lasting love for the festival.

Quite a far cry from the sentiment he seemed to be getting across in his previous post, but make of that what you will.

Furthermore, chief organiser Emily Eavis – whose parents Michael and Jean Eavis set up the first ever Glastonbury music festival back in 1970 – not only hopped on social media to confirm that ‘Shakey’ will be performing but that he will be headline the main Pyramid Stage.

“Neil Young is an artist who’s very close to our hearts at Glastonbury”, she wrote, adding: “He does things his own way and that’s why we love him.”

So has he been given a slot upgrade of sorts or what? It still remains a little unclear.

At present, Rod Stewart is set to play the iconic and outright ‘Legends’ slot during Sunday teatime this June. We likely won’t hear much else about the rest of the lineup until sometime in spring.

This, of course, isn’t the first time Neil Young has done a 180 following a well-publicised decision in protest against a big media company.

The music veteran famously removed all of his discography from Spotify for two years before it eventually reappeared back in March 2024.

As for whatever happened between him and the festival or whether this was some gamesmanship from the influential music icon, at the end of the day, he’s heading to Worthy Farm after all.

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For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Per Ole Hagen/Rachel D/Ross Belot (via Flickr)

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Met Office issues double Amber weather warning for snow in Greater Manchester

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Met Office issues double Amber weather warning for snow in Greater Manchester

The Met Office has slapped TWO Amber weather warnings across Greater Manchester with snow and ice forecast to be on the way.

The weather service said predicted that snow and freezing rain over the weekend are likely to lead to disruption, including possible power cuts, transport delays and road closures.

There is currently an Amber weather warning for snow covering an area from Newcastle all the way down to Greater Manchester.

And there’s a separate Amber warning for snow and ice which covers everywhere from Cardiff up to Greater Manchester.

It means that our city is currently under three separate weather warnings across the UK, according to the Met Office.

The warnings for snow and ice are in place from 6pm on Saturday until midday on Sunday, while the warning for just snow begins on Saturday at 9pm and doesn’t end until Sunday at midnight.

According to the Greater Manchester weather forecast, we are likely to see heavy snow showers overnight on Saturday and into Sunday morning.

Though in typical Manchester fashion, there’s then heavy rain forecast on Sunday afternoon which may melt any snow that does fall.

Check the latest forecast before you travel HERE.

The Met Office said: “Snow will become persistent and locally heavy as it pushes south to north across the warning area. As well as snow, a period of freezing rain is also likely bringing some hazardous travel conditions, before milder air follows across all areas by Sunday morning.

“Whilst there is some uncertainty in details, 3-7 cm of snow is likely for much of the warning area, with locally 15-30 cm for the higher ground of Wales and the southern Pennines. Freezing rain could lead to ice accretion in places, especially parts of Wales, before the milder air leads to a rapid thaw of snow and ice in the south of the warning area through Sunday.

“It is safer not to drive in these conditions, but if you need to make an essential journey, consider alternative forms of transport, to keep you and others safe. If you must drive, do this more safely by: using dipped headlights; accelerating gently, using low revs and changing to higher gears as quickly as possible; starting in second gear to help with wheel slip; maintaining a safe and steady speed, keeping distance from other vehicles; using a low gear to go downhill, avoiding braking unless necessary; steering into skids, not taking your hands of the wheel, and avoiding slamming on brakes.

“People cope better with power cuts when they have prepared for them in advance. It’s easy to do; consider gathering torches and batteries, a mobile phone power pack and other essential items.

“If isolated due to snow or ice, follow these simple steps to keep safe and well: keep the thermostat set to the same temperature both during the day and at night; turn off electrical heaters and put out your fire before going to bed; ensure pets are safe by keeping them warm and comfortable; prevent frozen pipes by opening kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors to allow warmer air to circulate around the plumbing; stay indoors, wrap up warm and close internal doors to keep the heat in; and, if you need support call the British Red Cross Support Line on 0808 196 3651.

“Help to protect vulnerable people that you know including older people, those with underlying conditions and those who live alone; they may need support with food and medical supplies. If you are worried about your health or that of somebody you know, ring NHS 111.”

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Featured image: Unsplash, Dylan4photography

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