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Hip Pop – the local brewery producing drinks that are nursing Mancs through Dry January

And you can try them all with 20% off.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 17th January 2023

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 Group
Inside Hip Pop’s brewery in Cheshire. Credit: The Manc Group
Inside 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 Group
Hip 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.

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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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A huge Stanley Chow exhibition featuring inflatable portraits of Manc icons is coming to Manchester

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson MCR Made is a new Stanley Chow exhibition of inflatable portraits

Some of Manchester’s most famous faces are about to get even bigger, with a new Stanley Chow exhibition coming to town this summer. 

And rather unusually, the artist’s portraits will be inflatables…

The huge new MCR Made exhibition is set to take over Manchester Arndale from 3 August all the way into the autumn. 

Shoppers and locals will be able to admire 13 portraits of Manc icons, which will be up to six metres in length, whether it’s Oasis legends or Suffragettes, football heroes or creative pioneers. 

The gigantic inflatable Stanley Chow portraits will be suspended right across the iconic shopping centre for an art trail that celebrates the figures who have shaped the city. 

The impossible-to-miss exhibition features famous faces from the worlds of music, sport, science, politics, art and culture.

Along the trail you’ll spot the likes of Liam and Noel Gallagher, Marcus Rashford, Phil Foden, Emmeline Pankhurst, Alan Turing, L.S. Lowry, Lemn Sissay, Caroline Aherne, Aitch, and a host of other trailblazers, all in Stanley’s signature and distinctive style. 

MCR Made showcases the work of legendary local artist and illustrator Stanley Chow in an exciting new way, encouraging exploration through photo opportunities and a social media competition. 

Stanley Chow said: “The Arndale Centre for me is my Mecca, and I’m sure it is for so many people from Manchester. I’m old enough to remember when it first opened as a shopping centre nearly 50 years ago, and I haven’t stopped coming here since. 

Inflatable portraits by Stanley Chow will take over Manchester Arndale this summer
Inflatable portraits by Stanley Chow will take over Manchester Arndale this summer

“I’m a proud Mancunian, so I was very flattered and touched to be asked to do this. Art needs to be seen everywhere, and not always necessarily in a gallery. I can’t think of a better place for as many people as possible from all walks of life to be able to see my work presented this way.”

David Allinson, Centre Director at Manchester Arndale, said: “Manchester has always been a city that outperforms and exceeds expectations. Through music, sport, science, politics, creativity and innovation, Manchester’s influence is recognised around the world, and MCR Made celebrates the icons whose talent, ambition and determination helped build that reputation.

“The exhibition feels particularly at home inside Manchester Arndale, itself a Manchester institution that has been woven into the city’s fabric for almost five decades. The shopping centre provides the perfect backdrop for celebrating Manchester, its creativity and the iconic figures behind its global reputation.”

Manchester Arndale will also be giving visitors the chance to own a piece of MCR Made, with 26 limited edition A4 prints signed by Stanley Chow up for grabs. Two prints of each icon have been produced, with winners allocated their artwork at random. To enter, simply follow @manchesterarndale on Instagram and like the competition post. 

MCR Made will run at Manchester Arndale from 3 August – 24 October, and is totally free to visit.

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Featured image: Supplied

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P1 Fitness – The Manchester gym that strikes the perfect blend of PT and group-based coaching

Danny Jones Danny Jones Manchester gym classes group coaching P1 Fitness

We here at The Manc team are trying to get fit; it can be hard to find time for the gym when you’re busy, not to mention staying in shape when you’ve got a food scene as good as Manchester’s, which is exactly why P1 Fitness Studio is a perfect match for us.

Maybe you’ve fancied giving a personal trainer a go, or even tried a class or two, but perhaps the schedule, the price, the location or some other factor meant it wasn’t for you.

Whatever your reasoning, if you’re the kind of person who can admit they need a bit of a kick up the backside to get their arse in gear and actually stick at this gym lark, we can assure you this is an ideal place to build the right kinds of habits.

And trust us, they’ll keep pushing to make sure it sinks in.

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Top-end facilities, secure lockers, every bit of kit you’ll ever need and much more (Credit: The Manc)

Aside from the anti-ego environment in general – you won’t catch anyone staring at themselves in mirrors here – it’s also just nice to be around people with similar lifestyles.

Boasting tonnes of positive reviews online, P1 Fitness is a place for busy professionals who aren’t willing to let work and all other time-consuming parts of ‘adulting’ be an excuse to not carve out less than an hour to better themselves.

And for most people, that really is all it takes to start seeing a difference; two 50-minute sessions might not sound like a lot to some, but the effort you put in during the group workouts is more than enough to get the benefit.

They focus on quality, not quantity, making sure every day that you turn up is worthwhile, and no drop of sweat is wasted.

Better still, they keep the numbers low and even break off into smaller groups to explain and tailor workouts to suit each person.

It’s not just weekly blocks stuck on a wall that you have to stick to: everything is flexible, and they do try and give everyone as much one-on-one attention as possible from the P1 staff.

Here’s what some other members have had to say in their recent testimonials:

“The biggest difference isn’t that I’m fitter and stronger. It’s that I don’t have to think about it anymore. Before P1 I’d spend all week telling myself I needed to go to the gym, then I’d be too tired, it’d be busy, I didn’t know what to do, and I’d end up doing nothing and beating myself up about it.

“Now I just turn up twice a week. Someone tells me what to do, I get coached to do it right, then shower, go back to work and my fitness takes care of itself. It’s one less thing I have to worry about.”

Louise

“I genuinely thought I hated gyms. In fact, when I saw one, I used to cross the street to avoid it… Turns out I hated the ‘usuall’ gym experience. Wondering what I was supposed to be doing, fighting for equipment in the crowd and being self-conscious about my form.

“At P1, I simply walk in, everything’s ready – someone coaches me through the session, we have a laugh in the group, and before I know it I’m finished. I actually look forward to training now, which is crazy.

Damien

One of our very own, Lonnie, says it’s given him a sense of “structure, routine and a community” in the gym like never before, and added that “it’s become that third space where people can come together to better themselves in a fun and unique way.”

Abby is ever the hard-working, friendly face; her husband and fellow co-owner, Peter, is a ‘BFG’ who will always push you to your limits but knows when not to beast you; Ben is a great instructor with a great way of breaking down movements, and Mel is the smiling assassin who is as dedicated as she is smiley.

Then there’s Katie, who is somehow juggling a PhD and working at P1 part-time, all whilst being an absolute Duracell bunny of a trainer. All in all, you couldn’t ask for a better team.

Best of all, you can choose when to register for a session based not only on who you prefer working with, but whatever time suits you; you can even put your name down as last-gasp as you like – in fact, we’ve turned up with five minutes’ notice on more than one occasion.

It’s also great to see that they’re more than happy to roll out a mat or pick up a weight and properly get stuck in there with you.

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Credit: P1 Fitness (supplied)

Put simply: much like you, all of these guys have their own special traits, but one thing they do all have in common is an incredible amount of drive and passion for the work they do, not to mention the knowledge and experience to back it up.

We’re not going to give you any harder of a sell than that; all we’ll say is that we’re feeling more positive about our current fitness journey than we have in a long time, and if you want to make similar progress, P1 might just be for you.

So, if you are truly looking to get fitter in a setting where consistency, accountability and community thrive, consider this your sign to finally get serious.

You can find out more and enquire about joining right HERE.

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p1 fitness coaching staff
You won’t find a friendlier team. (Credit: Supplied)

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Featured Images — The Manc Group

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