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Manchester’s Christmas drive-in cinema is screening classic films all festive season

Daisy Jackson - 2nd December 2021

Park N Party’s Christmas City has returned to Greater Manchester, screening festive classics at its drive-in cinema.

The immersive drive-in experience has opened its doors and will be showing Christmas blockbusters right through until New Year’s Eve.

This week alone, Christmas City’s line-up includes family favourites like Elf and Home Alone, which families will be able to enjoy together from the safety of their own cars.

There’s romance in the air too, as hit romcom The Holiday hits the big screen, plus screenings of Miracle on 34th Street, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Santa Clause.

The fun continues right the way through until December 31, and next week features some festive family action like Abominable, A Christmas Carol, and The Polar Express.

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Visitors will also be able to park up for cosy viewings of The Polar Express, The Christmas Chronicles, and A Christmas Carol.

Later in its run, Christmas City will throw a fancy dress extravaganza while screening Disney blockbuster Frozen – and there’ll be prizes for the best-dressed.

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Christmas City has taken over a new location at the Soccer Dome in Stretford.

It brings the biggest outdoor screen in the UK – a whopping 150 sq metres – to our home city.

As well as the films, visitors will travel through a Christmas Village with live actors and plenty of festive surprises.

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Kids can post their letters to Santa in the dedicated Christmas post box and explore the North Pole – Santa Claus himself will even be there to greet people.

There are photo opportunities available with scenes from Elf and The Grinch, plus a fully-licensed bar and festive food vendors.

The line-up for Christmas City – December 2 to December 12

The Holiday – Thursday December 2, 8pm

Home Alone – Friday December 3, 8pm

Elf – Saturday December 4, 2pm

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The Santa Clause – Saturday December 4, 5pm

Miracle on 34th Street – Saturday December 4, 8pm

How the Grinch Stole Christmas – Sunday December 5, 2pm

Home Alone – Sunday December 5, 5pm

Elf – Sunday December 5, 8pm

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Elf – Wednesday December 8, 8pm

A Christmas Carol – Thursday December 9, 8pm

Christmas With The Coopers – Friday December 10, 8pm

Abominable – Saturday December 11, 2pm

The Polar Express – Saturday December 11, 5pm

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Office Christmas Party – Saturday December 11, 8pm

The Christmas Chronicles – Sunday December 12, 2pm

Elf – Sunday December 12, 5pm

Home Alone – Sunday December 12, 8pm

Tickets are now on sale. Tickets are priced at £45 per vehicle + VAT.

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You can also book a premium Christmas pod, which seats six people, for £66.

Featured Image – Park N Party

Things To Do

Hardcastle Crags – the prettiest autumn walk in the North West with a great restaurant at the end

Daisy Jackson A walk around Hardcastle Crags in Autumn. Credit: The Manc Group

A walk around Hardcastle Crags in Autumn. Credit: The Manc Group

This is the time of year where it’s particularly difficult to drag yourself off the sofa and into the great outdoors.

The weather isn’t quite crisp enough to feel festive and most of us (even the pumpkin spice latte, cardigan-clad crew) are missing the more reliable warmth of the summer months.

But autumn is here, like it or not, and it definitely has its perks.

One of which is the undeniable beauty the season brings.

It’s not just the blazing red, orange, yellow and brown leaves that suddenly take over the green spaces around the UK.

It’s also in the sunsets and sunrises that become so much easier to catch while the days are shorter (you have to admit, the commutes are prettier when they coincide with sunrise).

The riverside walk at Hardcastle Crags. Credit: Unsplash

And there aren’t many places better to soak in all the autumn beauty than Hardcastle Crags, just across the border in West Yorkshire.

The National Trust site sits between Leeds and Manchester and is a popular day trip destination for Mancs, given the trains that run regularly to Hebden Bridge.

A walking route around Hardcastle Crags at this time of year will take you through a landscape of blazing orange trees, babbling streams, and dappled sunlight.

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When you catch a golden autumnal day the leaves will crunch underfoot, but even on a soggy day the leaf mulch has its own special kind of beauty here.

There are two walking routes between the main car park and Gibson Mill, a former 19^th century cotton mill which is now home to a lovely cafe.

One will take you down to the river, where wooden boardwalks weave right along the water’s edge.

There are even stepping stones you can use to scamper across the river – a great Instagram pic, or just a way to keep the kids entertained for a few minutes.

A walk around Hardcastle Crags in Autumn. Credit: The Manc Group

The other route goes up through the upper woodland, where pine trees loom and you get a great view of the valley below.

For an easy loop, you can do both – a stroll through the trees, a stop for coffee and cake, then return along the river (or vice versa).

But with 15 miles of footpaths, you can explore way beyond that.

The National Trust’s list of walks includes everything from a wheelchair and pram-accessible estate track to peaceful woodland loops, to rocky scrambles and former railway lines.

And when you’re done with Hardcastle Crags itself, there’s a world-class restaurant in the gorgeous town centre itself.

Coin sits in the shell of the former Lloyd’s bank, with exposed brick and massive period windows, and specialises in natural wine and small plates.

When The Manc Eats visited, we found plates of freshly-cut meat and cheese served alongside ice-cold batched classic cocktails, where ‘quality is key, and it shines through on the plate’.

Our reviewer said: “With its higgledy-piggledy stone mill houses, surrounding woodland, hidden waterfalls and treasure-trove charity shops, Hebden Bridge is a popular attraction all of its own for those wanting to venture beyond the city. Coin is simply the cherry on top.”

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Things To Do

HAIM at Co-op Live, Manchester – tickets, times, setlist, and more for UK tour

Rock trio HAIM are gearing up to play their first ever arena show in Manchester next week.

Sisters Este, Danielle and Alana – more widely recognised by their surname, which also doubles as the title of their group, HAIM – are about to perform their biggest Manchester show to date.

This should come as no surprise, with the band amassing a cult following of fans and almost seven million monthly listeners on Spotify – thanks to huge tunes like ‘The Wire’, ‘Now I’m In It’, and ‘Don’t Wanna’, as well as newer single released like ‘Relationships’ and ‘All over me’.

The band have already recently played to a near 70,000 fans, thanks to their longtime friend and musical collaborator Taylor Swift, who brought the band out as a special guest on her global phenomenon The Eras Tour last summer.

But now, HAIM are going it alone.

They’ll be stringing up their guitars, and warming up their vocal chords to sing their angsty and fiery hits over at Manchester’s biggest entertainment venue, Co-op Live.

HAIM are bringing their 'I quit' tour to Co-op Live in Manchester on 30 October / Credit: Supplied — HAIM are bringing their ‘I quit’ tour to Co-op Live in Manchester on 30 October / Credit: Supplied

HAIM – UK Tour Dates 2025

Friday 24 October – Nottingham, UK – Motorpoint Arena
Saturday 25 October – Cardiff, UK – Utilita Arena
Sunday 26 October – Brighton, UK – Brighton Centre
Tuesday 28 October – London, UK – The O2
Thursday 30 October – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
Friday 31 October – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro

Tickets

No need to ‘Pray to God’, as there’s still a good selection of tickets available for any Manchester HAIM lovers to grab HERE.

If you’re feeling a bit fancier, however, and fancy watching HAIM while ‘Spinning’ the night away in a premium seat, then you can find a handful of tickets up for grabs over on SeatUnique, starting from £25 HERE.

Setlist

Gone
All over me
Take me back
My Song 5
Cry
Spinning
Don’t Wanna
The Steps
Gasoline
Blood on the Street
Hallelujah
Summer Girl
Want You Back
Relationships
Now I’m in It
The Wire
Down to be Wrong

What are the stage times for HAIM in Manchester?

Co-op Live has a strict curfew of 11pm, and with doors opening at 6:30pm and a start time of 7.30pm, this rock trio certainly won’t be working to ‘The Wire’ to cram in all their hits, meaning you can get home before the crack of dawn.

Bedroom pop musician Dora Jar supported the girls throughout the North American shows, however there’s no official artist confirmed for the UK leg so far.

Rock trio HAIM are gracing Manchester, London, Glasgow and more on their UK tour / Credit: Supplied

How to get to Co-op Live

Tram

For those of you heading to Co-op Live, you’ll be glad to know it’s right next door to a rather famous big blue stadium and its integrated Metrolink stop.

Head along the light blue or orange lines directly to the Etihad Campus or Ashton-under-Lyne, and you can get off the tram literally spitting distance from the arena. You can find the full map HERE.

Trams run frequently on the Ashton-Eccles line to the Etihad stop, with services leaving every six minutes from the city centre and until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Bus

You can find the full list of bus routes HERE, with the one in closest proximity to the venue being the 53 bus, which runs from Cheetham Hill through to Higher Crumpsall, Old Trafford and Pendleton, leaving just a two-minute walk to Co-op Live.

You also get free Bee Network travel with any valid event ticket.

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Car and parking

If you’re driving, there is limited parking available at the venue, but this must be pre-booked ahead of time, and there are designated drop-off areas.

The postcode is M11 3DU and you can follow the signs towards the wider Etihad Campus as you get closer, and directions to the adjacent drop-off points will also be signposted.

Keep in mind that congestion on the roads close to the stadium is expected to gather around two hours prior to any event, so if you are travelling on the road, these are the suggested times they provide come event day, though estimates will obviously vary:

Alan Turing Way (both directions): plan an additional 20 minutes into any journey by road.
Hyde Road (eastbound): expect an additional 15 minutes to be added to your journey.
Mancunian Way (westbound): plan for an extra 10 minutes of travel time.

There are also three park-and-ride facilities near Co-op Live, but be advised that the Velopark and Holt Town stops will be closed post-event to help safely manage crowds:

Ashton Moss (Ashton line) – 183 spaces and 12 disabled spaces
Ashton West (Ashton line) – 184 spaces and 11 disabled spaces
Ladywell (Ashton-Eccles line) – 332 spaces and 22 disabled spaces

Walk/cycle

Lastly, Co-op Live is only a half-hour stroll from Manchester Piccadilly, and you could even walk along the canal all the way to the front door if you fancy taking the scenic route.

Greater Manchester now also offers the option to hire bikes through the Beryl scheme, with riders able to locate, unlock, get to their destination and then safely lock up the bike all through an easy-to-use app. There are hire points just near the south-west corner of the Etihad Stadium on Ashton New Road.

For more information on all travel options, you can check out the enhanced journey planner.

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Featured Images: Terrence ‘O Connor and Lea Garn / Press Shots (via supplied)