Who’s in the market for an incredibly silly, quite boozy, bit different activity in Manchester? Because we’ve got just the ticket.
The Manchester Beer Bike is a 13-seat bicycle/tram/bus hybrid contraption thing (not its official name) which you can now rent for rides around the city centre.
If you’ve never seen one of these before, essentially you can all your mates sit around a bar, except you’re on saddles, and your feet are on pedals.
Imagine a tandem bicycle, but the size of a small van and with space for a dozen people, and you’re on the right lines.
We took the Manchester Beer Bike out for a spin, so if you’ve been curious what’s in store, let us break it down for you.
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Your experience kicks off at The Trading Route at St John’s, which is the official pick-up point for this tour.
Which is handy, because the bike is BYO-booze, and The Trading Route is a proud stockist of Manchester Union Lager, among other drinks from its on-site shop.
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Once you’ve gathered up your beverages, it’s on to the bike itself, where you can perch yourself on a saddle or (if you’re lucky) sit on the bench at the back and make your mates do all the hard work for you.
And it is, actually, surprisingly hard work when you’re going uphill. You’ll be grateful for your cans of beer, let’s put it that way.
Your experience is led by a driver who’ll keep you on track and make sure your own playlist is blasting from the Bluetooth speakers on board.
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Manchester Union Lager aboard the Manchester Beer BikeNothing but happy, smiling (and tipsy) faces.Credit: The Manc Group
The route the Manchester Beer Bike takes heads up Peter Street from St John’s, passing landmarks like the Albert Hall, the Great Northern Warehouse, the Midland Hotel and the Central Library.
Then it takes a turn onto Portland Street and loops through a section of Chinatown, before heading back along the other side of the Manchester Art Gallery and Manchester Town Hall.
Then it’s down Deansgate, with the towering Deansgate Square skyscrapers in front of you, before you turn back down towards St John’s.
Along the way, you WILL hold up traffic, and you will get honked at – but you also find a lot of people laughing at you, and it’s kind of nice to spread such joy on your afternoon jaunt.
It’s a wheelie good laugh, promise… Find out more and book your spot HERE.
The best cheese tasting party in the North is BACK at a new Manchester venue
Danny Jones
That’s right, one of the biggest and best cheese tasting nights in the entire land is returning to Greater Manchester at a brand new city centre venue.
Not to be over-the-top, but this isn’t just another experience sampling possibly the greatest foodstuff on Earth, it’s a fully-fledged cheese-lovers’ party.
Some of you may have come across Homage2Fromage before, but for anyone unaware of the Yorkshire-born event, it started out as a monthly cheese tasting club and went on to expand across the dairy-adoring North at large.
Relaunching here in Manchester for 2026, all you lactose-intolerant people better watch, because Home2Fromage is coming back with a vengeance and heading to the Northern Quarter. Here’s how it went down the last time we visited one in Leeds:
Leeds, Sheffield, Harrogate, Manchester and who knows where else next.
Posting up in a relatively recent addition to NQ‘s bar and restaurant scene, The Faraday – a pub on Lever St that replaces the old Seven Sins back in October – it looks set to be an ideal venue for the regular evening series.
Homage2Fromage will be making its Manc return this month, and better still, they’re holding a cheeky little giveaway to sweeten the pot.
As in the deal, we mean – not the inevitable bowls full of olives, chutney, oil and various other dips…
To welcome this celebration of all things cheese coming back to Manchester city centre, they’re giving away a bunch of free tickets: 20 pairs in total.
Worth over £50 a piece for each twin set of tickets, you’d be a fool not to at least throw your hat in the ring for this one.
As you can see, the competition closes this Thursday, 19 February, ahead of the full relaunch party next week (Wed, 25 Feb), and all you have to do to enter is fill out this super quick survey.
It really is as simple as that; a few quick words are all that stand between you and a potential mountain of cheese and more.
You can find all you need to know about the event right HERE, and in case you haven’t popped into The Faraday just yet, see more down below.
It’s still somewhat early days, but we can see ourselves spending a fair bit of time in this up-and-coming Manchester watering hole, especially when there’s cheese nights involved.
Featured Images — The Manc Group/Publicity pictures (supplied)
Things To Do
Huge festival of colour celebrating ‘new beginnings’ is coming to Trafford Centre this spring
Emily Sergeant
A huge festival of colour celebrating renewal and new beginnings is coming to the Trafford Centre next month.
You may’ve heard the news that it has rained somewhere in the UK every day since 2026 has begun, with the North West and Greater Manchester in particular coming off quite badly, as you’d expect, but don’t worry because colour is returning to the region this spring, and this year, it’s set to be brighter than ever before.
Known for bringing communities together through music, colour, and wellbeing, RDC Festival’s Elements is back next month, and will be transforming the Trafford Centre into a vibrant global celebration inspired by Holi – the ‘Festival of Colours’.
Holi is traditionally a celebration of renewal, love, and new beginnings, and Elements is designed to bring this spirit to life through immersive colour play, movement, and ‘shared joy.
Festival organisers are inviting visitors from far and wide to step into a world of ‘colour, sound, and connection’.
Taking place on Saturday 14 March, the festival is designed to awaken the senses and create unforgettable moments of togetherness, and you can expect everything from throwing vibrant colours, to dancing beneath global sounds, and plenty more.
There’ll also be an ‘energetic’ programme of live entertainment and DJs playing out tunes and sounds from across the world, and foodies will be able to explore the delicious Tropics Street Food Forest, offering global flavours and refreshing treats all throughout the day.
Beyond the vibrant festival atmosphere, there’ll even be a dedicated RDC Wellbeing Hub featuring music, arts and crafts, and a reflection wall to create a calming space.
A huge festival of colour is coming to the Trafford Centre this spring / Credit: John Thomas (via Unsplash)
And, of course, there’ll also be the famous ‘Colour Run’ at the heart of the event – which is what Holi is best known for.
“We’re delighted to welcome Rain Dance Colour Festival’s Elements,” commented Simon Layton, who is the Centre Director at Trafford Centre. “It’s an event that celebrates colour, culture and togetherness and we’re proud to support vibrant events that enrich our communities and give guests a joyful, shared experience they can return to year after year.”
RDC Festival Elements takes place at the Trafford Centre next month on Saturday 14 March, from 12:30-6:30pm, and early bird tickets are on sale now and include a free colour packet and free RDC ELEMENTS t-shirt for a limited time.
Daisy Jackson -
2nd July 2025 
