Manchester’s Summer Beer Thing festival will return to the city centre next weekend with over 20 breweries in tow pouring some of the UK’s freshest pints.
Taking place from Friday 30 June to Sunday 2 July, this year’s line-up has just been released and there are some absolutely cracking breweries signed up including local favourites Sureshot, Track and Squawk.
All three will be hosting stands across the weekend, alongside a brilliant line-up of visitors including Sheffield’s Triple Point, Dundee’s Holy Goat, Bristol’s Left Handed Giant, and FLOC from Canterbury.
Rivington Brewing Co and Verdant, from Cornwall, will be there too, with Talking Tides, from Redcar, and the Lake District’s Lakes Brew Co also attending.
Coinciding with the end of Pride Month, London’s Queer Brewing, the project set up to provide visibility for LGBTQ+ people in and around beer, will also be making an appearance.
Image: Summer Beer Thing
Image: Summer Beer Thing
There’ll also be guest kegs from international names including Collective Arts (Toronto, Canada), Jester King (Austin, Texas) and Frau Gruber (Swabia, Germany).
It’ll be bliss for beer lovers, with loads of beer taps nestled throughout the garden all weekend and DJs bringing the party vibes.
For the first time, this year’s Summer Beer Thing will see each of the indie operators at the foodie neighbourhood also open their doors to festival-goers, offering up one-off special drinks, able to buy with festival tokens.
Nell’s will be pouring a special Schoffertopper – Grapefruit Schofferhofer with frozen grapefruit margarita float, whilst Great North Pie will serve their twist on a Spanish classic with Tinto De Vimto.
Elsewhere, Three Little Words are putting on a specially-mixed Raspberry Gin Punch, and The Beeswing will offer ‘The Bees’ting’, whilst Redlight keep it classy with Mini Pomme Verte Martinis and Pollen keeps us all nicely caffeinated with its special cold brew coffee.
Image: Summer Beer Thing
Image: Summer Beer Thing
The summer fixture is the sister festival to Manchester’s biggest beer festival, Indy Man Beer Con, which is staged every autumn at Victoria Baths.
Since starting in Manchester in 2017, it’s gone from strength to strength, attracting thousands of beer lovers eager to try the latest brews, as well as those new to craft ale looking for an accessible way to get involved and try something different.
Speaking ahead of the event Louise Bruin at Summer Beer Thing said: “We’re proud to be bringing a massive collective of breweries to Manchester for a weekend-long celebration in the Kampus garden.
“It’s no surprise we think British independent brewers are among the best in the world, so it’ll be brilliant to have so many of them all together in one place with a real celebratory atmosphere.
“It’ll be a perfect weekend for those who love craft beer and want to try all the latest seasonal brews, from crisp craft beers, to fruits, sours and stouts. Collaborating with all the Kampus bars and restaurants will just take it to the next level too.”
Tickets are priced between £6 and £10 and include a branded glass in which to sample craft beers, fruits and sours, hoppy, hoppier and session beers, as well as a range of non-beer drinks. These can be purchased via the Summer Beer Thing website.
The full list of participating breweries at Summer Beer Thing 2023:
Baron (Buntingford)
Beak (Lewes)
Burning Sky (Lewes)
Drop Project (Mitcham)
Fell (Flookburgh)
FLOC (Canterbury)
Holy Goat (Dundee)
Lakes Brew Co (Lake District)
Left Handed Giant (Bristol)
Little Earth Project (Sudbury)
Makemake (Portsmouth)
Maltgarden (Poland)
Pastore (Cambridge)
Queer Brewing (London)
Rivington (Cornwall)
Runaway (Stockport)
Simple Things Fermentation (Glasgow)
Squawk (Manchester)
Sureshot (Manchester)
Talking Tides (Redcar)
Thornbridge (Bakewell)
Track (Manchester)
Triple Point (Sheffield)
Verdant (Cornwall)
Yonder (Radstock)
Zapato (Marsden)
Featured image – Summer Beer Thing
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Inside The Faraday Pub, the Northern Quarter’s newest boozer
Daisy Jackson
A brand-new pub has opened slap bang in the middle of the Northern Quarter – take a look inside The Faraday.
This pub is just off the bustling Stevenson Square and has bags of stuff on offer.
Spread across two floors on the site that was previously 7Sins, you’ll find live music, games, cocktails, and of course plenty of pints.
The Lever Street venue has been totally transformed into a cosy space inspired by traditional British boozers.
We’re talking vintage pub mirrors, mismatched bar stools, wood paneled walls, deep burgundy leather banquette seating and a fresh lick of dark green paint.
And this smart pub has got the space to become a live music gem for the Northern Quarter, with live music every Wednesday to Sunday.
Downstairs, there’s still a wide range of games to keep you entertained, including pool tables (which are unlimited play for your booking), electric darts, and shuffleboard.
The Faraday’s drinks menu boasts loads of classic cocktails, including margaritas, old fashioneds (including a tequila version), and a selection of sours.
In pictures: The Faraday pub opens in Manchester
Inside The Faraday Pub
When happy hour rolls around (6pm til 10pm every evening but Saturday) you can get £5 drinks including pints of Guinness, and a selection of spritzes.
On draft there are fan favourites like Guinness, Mahou, Corona, Lowenbrau, Jubel Peach, Camden Pale, Kopparberg, and Camden Hells.
There’s a decent amount of outside seating for when the sun has got his hat on, too, with full sunshine in the afternoons.
The Faraday is open until 1am during the week, and 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.
It’s open now at 43-45 Lever Street in the Northern Quarter.
They’ll be giving away a free pint to the first 100 people to visit on Friday 1 August from 5pm. You just need to show you’re followingThe Faraday on Instagram.
Here & Now – The Steps Musical is coming to Manchester
Daisy Jackson
A musical inspired by pop band Steps is coming to Manchester this year, and the principal cast for Here & Now has now been confirmed.
The musical features Steps’ most beloved hit songs, including Tragedy, Heartbeat, Stomp, the One For Sorrow, Better Best Forgotten, 5,6,7,8, Last Thing On My Mind, Love’s Got A Hold Of My Heart, Chain Reaction, and many more.
The story is set in seaside superstore Better Best Bargains, where it’s Friday night, the vibe is right, and everyone’s dancing in the aisles.
But when Caz discovers the shelves are stocked with lies and betrayal, the summer of love she and her friends dreamed of suddenly feels like a tragedy. Have they all lost their chance of a ‘happy ever after’? Or does love have other plans in store…?
Here & Now has an original book by Shaun Kitchener and is directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, with choreography by Olivier Award-winning Matt Cole and Matt Spencer-Smith as musical supervisor, orchestrator and arranger.
The show is produced by Steps themselves, ROYO, and pop legend Pete Waterman.
Producers have now confirmed that Rebecca Lock will star as Caz, returning from the original run in Birmingham.
Here & Now – The Steps Musical is coming to Manchester
Finty Williams will play Patricia, Blake Patrick Anderson will be Robbie, River Medway (fan favourite on the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, BBC) is Jem, Edward Baker Duly (The King and I) as Max and John Stacey as Lesley.
There are new cast members joining the principal cast too, including Jacqui Dubois (Ghost The Musical UK tour) as Vel, Chris Grahamson (NOW That’s What I Call A Musical UK and Ireland tour) as Gareth and Rosie Singha (& Juliet UK and Ireland tour) as Neeta.
Set design by Tom Rogers, costume design by Gabriella Slade, lighting design by Howard Hudson, sound design by Adam Fisher, wigs, hair and makeup design by Sam Cox, casting by Will Burton for Grindrod Burton Casting, Music Technology by Phij Adams with Production Management by Setting Line.
Steps are one of the biggest pop bands of a generation, made up of Claire Richards, Faye Tozer, Ian ‘H’ Watkins, Lee Latchford-Evans and Lisa Scott-Lee.
In their career they achieved 14 top five singles, four number one albums, 22 million record sales, 500 million streams and 11 sold-out national arena tours.
Steps’ 2017 comeback tour was one of the biggest pop tours of that year, with 300,000 tickets sold, and they’ve continued to release new music.
You can find out more about Here & Now and book tickets HERE.
Georgina Pellant -
22nd June 2023 
