In recent years, dry January could be a bit of a slog, with the only alternatives for delicious cocktails and tasty pints drinks like cups of tea and fizzy drinks.
Similarly, those who choose not to drink alcohol year-round were left with a substandard (and often overly sugary) offering in pubs and bars.
But one local brand is changing all that, and doing it from an actual brewery.
Hip Pop brews and cans its range of delicious kombucha drinks – which are wildly popular in the US but only just hitting their stride here in the UK – from a site on a farm in Cheshire, manned by professional brewers.
Inside Hip Pop’s brewery in Cheshire. Credit: The Manc GroupInside Hip Pop’s brewery in Cheshire. Credit: The Manc GroupInside Hip Pop’s brewery in Cheshire. Credit: The Manc Group
The drinks are made with 100% natural ingredients – they’re vegan, gluten free, dairy free, lower in sugar, and naturally full of antioxidants, enzymes and acids.
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Hip Pop also makes living sodas, made with apple cider vinegar, which are only 30 calories a can and come in three flavours (tropical peach, pink grapefruit and ginger turmeric).
The whole family-run operation, overseen by the Hip Pop dog Bo, is run by a small team who can create honest drinks with nutritious ingredients.
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Hip Pop’s resident dog Bo. Credit: The Manc GroupHip Pop’s range of kombucha Credit: The Manc Group
There’s no pressure to add cost-saving artificial and processed ingredients like sweeteners or preservatives.
Since launching in 2019 (back then known as Booch and Brew) you might have noticed their colourful cans infiltrating shelves across the country. As they should.
The four flavours of Hip Pop’s kombucha are all genuinely delicious as well as good for your gut – in fact, their very slogan is ‘tastes good and does good’.
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They even have the seal of approval from the BBC’s Kate Goodman, who founded Reserve Wines back in 2003.
The local business sells taster packs if you want to try all the flavours at once, with flavour blends of strawberry and pineapple; blueberry and ginger; ginger and yuzu; and apple and elderflower.
Those kombucha six-pack taster packs, a great introductory offer to the Hip Pop brand, are currently discounted too. You can take 20% off here (the discount will automatically apply at the checkout).
You can also take 15% off your first order using the code TRYHIPPOP15.
View the whole Hip Pop range and place your order at drinkhippop.com.
Featured image: The Manc Group
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Hit theatre production set at a house party to visit Manchester on UK tour
Daisy Jackson
Alright then, 24 hour party people, we’ve found a theatre production you might like the sound of – it’s called The House Party, and it’s set in (you guessed it) a house party.
This smash hit production by pioneering theatre company Headlong is set to land at HOME in March as part of the arts venue’s 2025 theatre season.
It tells the tale of a wild 18th birthday party, where Christine is trying to pick up the pieces of her best friend, a newly-dumped Julie (who happens to be the birthday girl).
Themes of class, power and privilege are all explored with a raw intensity as the cast on stage plough through shots and dive head-first into a night that will change everything they know.
The House Party, which has received glowing reviews from previous showings, is filled with ‘privilege, desire and destruction’.
When it stops off in Manchester, its cast will include Bridgerton’s Sesley Hope as Christine, Synnøve Karlsen (Miss Austen, Last Night in Soho) as Julie, and Tom Lewis (Gentleman Jack, Patience) as Jon.
The ensemble of Frantic Assembly performers includes Ines Aresti, Oliver Baines, Cal Connor, Micah Corbin-Powell, Rachael Leonce, Jaheem Pinder and Jamie Randall.
The House Party is written by Laura Lomas and is a reimagining of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie for today’s generation.
It’s directed by Headlong’s artistic director Holly Race Roughan, who directed the Royal Shakespeare Company’s world premiere of David Edgar’s major new political play The New Real.
The House Party. Credit: Ikin YumThe production will be at HOME. Credit: Supplied
Movement direction will come from Frantic Assembly’s Scott Graham.
Prior to the UK tour of The House Party, Headlong celebrated its 50 year anniversary, including the hit production of A Raisin in the Sun which played nationwide.
The House Party will be at HOME in Manchester between 25 and 29 March, 2025 – you can get your tickets HERE.
Greater Manchester’s annual Repair Week is back to make you fall back in love with your stuff
Daisy Jackson
If you’re not a handy person, when something breaks, the temptation is often to abandon or bin it straight away.
But that’s just not how we’re gonna do it here in Greater Manchester any more, with the return of the annual Repair Week to help you learn valuable repair skills and save money at the same time.
Whether it’s tinkering with your bicycle, fixing up your small tech items, or having your furniture re-varnished and upcycled, there are so many places and people who are on a mission to help you fall back in love with your belongings.
There are even workshops to help you put flat-pack furniture together.
Taking place between 3 and 9 March, Repair Week will be the chance to learn skills, fix your stuff, gain repair confidence and find local fixers.
Events throughout the week (and beyond) will be hosted by community groups, businesses and plenty more.
You can sharpen knives, fix zips, and un-wobble chairs with a little hand from local repair heroes.
JillyGDesign Jewellery in Heaton Moor will fix up your sentimental and special jewellery items, while Rag Revival will help you turn unusable textiles into new creations with basic sewing skills.
There are repair cafes popping up all over Greater Manchester where you can take your belongings.
Greater Manchester’s annual Repair Week is back to make you fall back in love with your stuff. Credit: Supplied
Repair Week will highlight schemes like the Manchester Library of Things, where you can borrow the tools and equipment you need for those repair jobs at home.
During the week you’ll also be able to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the incredible Renew Hub, the UK’s biggest reuse hub, where donated items are brought back to life.
Similarly, you’ll be able to get inside the textile recycling centre run by homelessness charity Emmaus Bolton, where you can choose your own fabric from the scrap store and turn it into a very handy draught excluder to keep costs down and your heat in.
Recycle for Greater Manchester’s Repair Week will take place between 3 and 9 March, with workshops, events and resources to help you revive your belongings.
Daisy Jackson -
17th January 2023 
