Halloween has returned to city once again… and this year, even more giant inflatable monsters than ever before have taken to the streets.
It’s been a long time coming, but spooky season is now officially here in Manchester.
Returning for its eighth year, Halloween in the City – which is organised by Manchester BID and CityCo, and is the country’s biggest Halloween celebration – is back for some more frightful fun this week, and just as it’s always been known and loved for, the family-friendly festival will be filling the city centre with things that go bump in the night.
Thousands of families are expected to head into the city wearing their spookiest costumes for the two-day FREE event taking place this weekend.
With the celebrations set to begin at 10am on both days, there’s a jam-packed lineup of events and activities for everyone to get stuck into – including the Monsters Rock! Music Festival, Walk the Plank’s legendary Monster Party Procession, and so much more.
If you’re looking to get in on the action early though, then you’ll be pleased – or frightened – to find out that the iconic MCR Monsters have already arrived.
They’re now looming over the city’s rooftops in greater numbers than ever before.
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Created by artists Filthy Luker and Pedro Estrellas, the colourful collection of giant inflatable monsters have invaded the city centre from today right up until Halloween itself next Tuesday (31 October), so for those who dare to stay in the city as night falls, popular landmarks and buildings will be turning a ghoulish green to help make a Manchester a terrifyingly good place to be this Halloween.
16 giant inflatable monsters are now looming over Manchester / Credit: The Manc Group
There’s a total of 16 monsters to spot at more than a dozen locations, and here’s where you’ll need to head on down to to find them.
Manchester Arndale, Exchange Square – Above Next, M4 3AJ
Selfridges Exchange Square, M3 1BD
Exchange Square (28 & 29 October only) – Festival Entrance, M3 1BD
Exchange Square (28 & 29 October only) – Music Stage, M3 1BD
Corn Exchange Manchester – Inside Exchange Square, M4 3TR
Harvey Nichols, New Cathedral Street, M1 1AD
New Cathedral Street (28 & 29 October only) – Near Ted Baker M1 1AD
The Royal Exchange Manchester, St Ann’s Square, M2 7DH
Castlefield Viaduct, Duke Street, M3 4PU
AO Arena, Victoria Station Approach, Hunts Bank, M3 1AR
AO Arena, Victoria Station Approach, Hunts Bank, M3 1AR
New Century Hall, Miller Street, M4 4AH
New Victoria, Corporation Street, M4 4DZ
KAMPUS Aytoun Street, M1 3GL
The Church, Chorlton Street, M1 3HN
Depot Mayfield, Baring Street, M1 2PY
As mentioned, the MCR Monsters are part of the wider annual Halloween in the City celebrations.
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Organised by Manchester BID on behalf of retailers, restaurants, and businesses in the city centre, the two-day event includes a fancy dress challenge, a monster procession, a monster music festival, and so much more.
They’re part of the annual ‘Halloween in the City’ celebrations / Credit: The Manc Group
The ‘Monsters Rock! Music Festival’ will take over New Cathedral Street, St Ann’s Square, Market Street and Exchange Square, with live bands, DJs, rides, circus acts and even monster portaloos, while Walk the Plank’s popular ‘Monsters Rock Out Procession’ is back by popular demand after 2022’s success.
The frighteningly-good carnival will feature giant puppet monsters, stilt walkers, and a live band partying their way through Manchester Arndale and Market Street.
Thousands of families are also expected to take part in the ‘Team Trick vs Team Treat Challenge’, where you can win points for your team, and you’ll even be able to take to the ice on a spooky outdoor ice rink too, as Scare Skate returns to Cathedral Gardens for another year.
Find out more about everything happening for Halloween in the City 2023 here.
Featured Image – The Manc Group
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Manchester’s historic connections to slavery will be at the heart of a major new exhibition
Emily Sergeant
Manchester’s historic connections to slavery are to be explored during a major new exhibition coming soon to the city.
The Science and Industry Museum, in the heart of our city centre, is already known and loved for telling the story of the ideas and innovations that transformed Manchester into the world’s first industrial city.
But now, a new free exhibition is set to “enhance public understanding” of how transatlantic slavery actually shaped the city’s growth.
Produced by the Science and Industry Museum, in partnership with The Scott Trust Legacies of Enslavement programme, and developed with African descendent and diaspora communities through local and global collaborations, this landmark project will put Manchester’s historic connections to enslavement at the heart of a major exhibition at the museum for the first time.
Featuring new research, it will also explore how the legacies of these histories continue to impact Manchester, the world, and lives today.
Set to open in early 2027, the exhibition will run for a year in the museum’s Special Exhibitions Gallery.
Alongside that hub at the Science and Industry Museum itself, the project is also set to have a collaborative city-wide events programme, and a lasting legacy – with a new permanent schools programme, and permanent displays in the future too.
As mentioned, the new exhibition is part of The Scott Trust Legacies of Enslavement programme, which is a 10-year restorative justice project launched in 2023.
Manchester’s historic connections to slavery will be at the heart of a major new exhibition / Credit: Science Museum Group Collection
Through partnerships and community programmes, the project aims to improve public understanding of the impact of transatlantic slavery on the UK’s economic development, and its ongoing legacies for Black communities – with a strong focus on Manchester, the city in which The Guardian was founded back in 1821.
The museum’s existing gallery content and ongoing work around sharing the inextricable links between Manchester’s growth into an industrial powerhouse and a textile industry reliant on colonialism and enslavement will be developed through the project.
Through a “collaborative re-examination of the past”, the exhibition will also share a more inclusive history of a city that prides itself on being at the forefront of ideas that change the world.
It’s opening at the Science and Industry Museum in early 2027 / Credit: Science and Industry Museum
Speaking ahead of the exhibition’s arrival in early 2027, Sally MacDonald, who is the Director of the Science and Industry Museum, says: “This will be an exhibition about important aspects of our past that are profoundly relevant to the world we live in today.
“Revealed from the perspectives of those who experienced enslavement and whose lives have been shaped by its legacies, we will foreground stories of resistance, agency, and skill.
“The exhibition will explore themes of resilience, identity and creativity alongside exploitation and inequality, and will feature a specific focus on the ways that scientific and technological developments both drove and were driven by transatlantic slavery.”
Further details on the project will be announced in due course, so stay tuned.
Featured Image – Science Museum Group
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Charlotte Dawson will be handing out compliments and big prizes in Manchester to brighten Blue Monday
Daisy Jackson
TV star Charlotte Dawson will be cheering up Blue Monday in Manchester, dishing out compliments to strangers and awarding some big prizes too.
The actress, who is the daughter of the legendary late Les Dawson, will be bringing her signature sunny energy to Printworks on Monday 20 January.
Otherwise known as Blue Monday, it’s believed that the third Monday in January is the most depressing day of the year – so she’s here to nip that in the bud.
Between 1pm and 3pm on the huge gaming screen inside Printworks – part of its £21m transformation that included adding a huge digital ceiling – Charlotte Dawson will be spreading joy and laughter.
She’ll be live streaming straight to passers-by, spreading smiles and dishing out compliments.
Charlotte will also be treating visitors to some amazing prizes from Printworks’ collection of bars, restaurants and leisure venues.
These prizes will include free brunch for four at Walkabout, gaming sessions at Bierkeller, or family cinema tickets with Ice Blasts at VUE. Other prizes include Nando’s vouchers, a drink and activity for two at the new Trax Social, and much more.
And the top prize will be a luxury overnight stay for two at Hotel Indigo, just across the road in the very heart of Manchester.
Charlotte Dawson will take part in Blue Monday at Printworks, Manchester
There’ll even be free coffee vouchers for Todd St Cafe on offer to brighten your Blue Monday.
Kristian Brennan, Marketing Manager at Printworks, said: “We couldn’t be more excited to have Charlotte at Printworks this Blue Monday.
“As a true Mancunian icon, her vibrant personality is exactly what we need to brighten up the most depressing day of the year and we know she’ll bring plenty of laughs and smiles to everyone who stops by.
“What makes this event truly unique is the opportunity for the public to chat with Charlotte under Europe’s largest digital ceiling, which will showcase new mood-boosting content.
“It’s an innovative and exciting way for people to connect, and we can’t wait to see families and friends come together to create joyful memories in this truly unique setting!”
Emily Sergeant -
25th October 2023 
