A three-day outdoor festival full of food, drink, and live music is set to return to a hidden street in Manchester city centre in just a couple of weeks time.
Back by popular demand after what was a successful run in 2021, city centre dining and leisure destination, The Great Northern Warehouse, has announced that it’s hosting its three-day outdoor festival, Deansgate Mews Festival, once again in 2022 – with live music, market traders, Al Fresco dining, and so much more on the lineup.
Just as the name suggests, the street festival will take over Deansgate Mews – a hidden street nestled just above the city’s main thoroughfare, Deansgate from Friday 20 – Sunday 22 May, with the final day of the festival coinciding with the Great Manchester Run.
The festival is completely free to attend, and will celebrate all the eclectic independent food and drink businesses on the street.
Deansgate Mews Festival is back by popular demand later this month / Credit: Deansgate Mews Festival
Over 40 different music acts are also on the lineup this year, and it features local acts such as South By Zero, The France, and Uno Mas, who will all be taking centre stage to entertain guests over the three-day “sunshine celebrations”.
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As well as the returning Lion’s Den outdoor stage, also new to the festival this year will be a second stage located within live streaming and music recording specialists, Low Four, which has an lineup of Dirty Freud and Ad Hoc Records – representing the likes of Agadir and Parapet EP – and a disco DJ set from Marple band, Dutch Uncles, from 10:30am-5pm on Sunday 22 May.
Over 40 different music acts are on the entertainment lineup this year / Credit: Lion’s Den Manchester (via Facebook)
When it comes to what’s on the summer-inspired food and drink menu, festival-goers can expect to tuck into treats from Deansgate Mews’ newest restaurant, Another Hand – which is known for its locally-sourced produce and seasonal cocktails.
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The Mews Bar will also be serving up some of the finest of wines paired with meat and cheese sharing boards across the festival, and for the Saturday and Sunday, you can make the most of the spritz menu offering 2-4-1 on selected spritzes, and 50% off flatbreads too.
And if the selection of food, drink, and live entertainment wasn’t brilliant enough as it is, there will also be pop-up Gift Emporium selling a range of unique and quirky gifts across the three-day festival, with local Manchester brands including floristry specialist Bahflorals, Dolly Florence selling artwork and paintings, and independent clothing brand Elize Clothing.
The festival will celebrate the eclectic independent food and drink businesses on the street / Credit: Another Hand | The Mews Bar (via Facebook)
“Following on from last year’s success, we are delighted to bring you the return of Deansgate Mews Festival, and we anticipate it will be bigger and better than ever,” said Mark Schofield – Centre Director at The Great Northern Warehouse.
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“Our ambition with the festival is to invite local people along to enjoy a free weekend of music, accompanied by fantastic outdoor dining, drinks and shopping.”
You can find out more about the Deansgate Mews Festival 2022here.
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 -
12th May 2022 
