The Rat & Pigeon, which only opened in June, has seen great success in the first few months since its big launch – and now it’s about to take that success through to the early hours.
Coined as ‘the backstreet boozer’, this spot is situated on Back Piccadilly just a stone’s throw away from Piccadilly Gardens.
It used to have a gruesome past when it was Mother Macs, but has now been reborn by the team behind the Crown & Kettle pub in Ancoats into a three-storey modern but traditional pub.
The Rat & Pigeon is now extending its opening hours to 3am to make the most of its new first floor space ‘The Red Room’.
In honour of the venue, the pub is hosting a three day free entry party titled ‘FREE AM’ from 12 September til 14 September.
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Each night will feature two artists helping celebrate the pub’s new venture. Names like Dead Stilettos, Velma and Truthpaste are headlining the respective Thursday to Saturday dates, giving their warm welcome to the brand-new hotspot upstairs.
After the bands have blessed The Red Room music scene, there are three different themed club offerings for those of you who want to keep the party going.
Thursday is titled as ‘Unknown Treasures’, with Friday claiming ‘First Aid On Wax’ and Saturday’s closer crowned with ‘Funk Yeah!’.
The pub itself will still keep its traditions as a drinking domain, however the self-contained first floor will just extend its legacy as it dips its toe into the club scene.
The Rat & Pigeon are passionate about supporting upcoming bands and acts through the revamped music site, revealing: “We’re aiming to help nurture the Grassroots scene and bring our guests a wide variety of musical and performance content.”
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It’s all about the three’s at this independent public house, as not only will they be hosting their three day free entry party and opening til 3am, there are three floors too!
If you’re looking for your next day drink or night out why not give The Rat & Pigeon a cheeky visit, nestled in the heart of Manchester city centre.
The best things to do in Greater Manchester this week | 16 – 22 September 2024
Emily Sergeant
September is well underway now, and the cosy season is upon us.
For many people, the end of summer can sometimes mean the end of all the fun, but as we head into autumn, there’s still absolutely no shortage of things for the whole family to be getting up to across Greater Manchester.
Finding it a bit tricky to pick what to do though? We’ve chosen a few of the best bits for another edition of our ‘what’s on‘ guide this week.
Here’s some of our recommendations.
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The Book of Mormon
Manchester Palace Theatre
Monday 16 September – Saturday 5 October
The Book of Mormon / Credit: Supplied
The Book of Mormon is back in Manchester.
Known and loved for being one of the best musicals the 21st Century – and one of the funniest of all time – having scooped up dozens of coveted awards both in the US and here in the UK in its time, The Book of Mormon is currently out on tour, and the Elders have now arrived in our city for an extended stay.
The hilarious production has taken over the iconic Palace Theatre stage until early October, and there’s still chance to grab yourself some tickets too.
Did you see that a massive new vintage clothing store has now opened in Manchester city centre?
ReMarket has opened on London Road, wedged between Piccadilly Markets and Manchester Piccadilly train station, with 6,000 sq ft filled with rails ripe for the rummaging.
From Dickies and Levi’s, to Stone Island and Gucci, there are some serious brands and serious bargains to be found inside, as well as a number of different independent brands – including Bare Necessities, Archive X, 28 Vintage, Cherry Blossom Vintage and Blank Seams.
ReMarket / Credit: The Manc Group
The best way to think of it is as a department store… but for very cool, independent vintage and second-hand brands.
Injecting Hope: The race for a COVID-19 vaccine / Credit: Science Museum Group
More than 100 objects and stories collected during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic are now on display as part of a new exhibition at the Science and Industry Museum.
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The groundbreaking new exhibition, titled Injecting Hope: The race for a COVID-19 vaccine, explores the worldwide effort to develop vaccines at pandemic speed, while uncovering the inspiring stories of scientists and innovators around the globe who collaborated to tackle the worldwide COVID-19 challenge along the way.
A groundbreaking new immersive exhibition exploring our relationship with the natural world is now open at Manchester Museum.
‘Wild’ look at how people are creating, rebuilding, and repairing connections with nature, and how the natural world has traditionally been presented and idealised through Western art, as well as looking at some unique approaches to environmental recovery too.
The exhibition will also crucially look at how we can tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis by making the world more wild.
Manc visitors will be able to walk through the iconic Jurassic World gates, explore some richly-themed environments, and encounter a life-sized Brachiosaurus, Velociraptors, and the most fearsome dinosaur of all, the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Did you see that Bolton has launched its own ‘Hollywood of the North’ TV and film location tours around the town centre?
Merely months after being named Greater Manchester’s new ‘Town of Culture’, Bolton is already proving why 2024 is its year, as the town is celebrating its shiny new title by celebrating all the times it has been chosen as a filming location for dozens of major film and TV productions over the years.
These new behind-the-scenes tours are led by local historian and professional tour guide, Suzanne Hindle, and will feature all of the town’s famous filming spots.
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Bolton Film & TV Tours / Credit: Supplied | BBC
Visitors will get to explore places such as court rooms, cells, and Crescent corridors whilst hearing tales of how the industry adapt these unexpected locations to set the scene.
The National Theatre’s acclaimed production of War Horse returns to The Lowry as part of its all-new UK tour this week, and it’s described as being an “unforgettable theatrical experience” which takes audiences on an extraordinary journey from the fields of rural Devon to the trenches of First World War France.
Based on the beloved novel by Michael Morpurgo, this powerfully moving and imaginative drama, filled with stirring music and songs, is a show of “phenomenal inventiveness”.
Greater Manchester’s iconic heritage railway is currently hosting one of the most unique fine dining experiences in the region.
Running on selected Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays throughout the summer, East Lancashire Railway’s ‘Red Rose Diners’ are described as being “the ultimate first class foodie experience”, as they start with a glass of fizz and stretch over an almost three-hour steam train journey through the Irwell Valley.
The experience includes a four-course dinner with complimentary sparkling wine, followed by tea or coffee and after-dinner chocolates.
Góbéfest is back in Cathedral Gardens this weekend.
Manchester’s original international urban folk music and dance festival will be taking over the city centre greenspace from Friday 20 to Sunday 22 September with a curated mix of bands and solo artists, folk dance troupes, choirs, and so much more.
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Independent food and drink traders will be serving up favourites from around the Carpathian Basin, alongside craft beer, a Hungarian wine stall, a cocktail bar, and a palinka (Hungarian fruit brandy) bar, while there’ll also be free activities in the family tent too – including music and dance workshops, arts and crafts, and storytelling.
Day tickets will set you back £10 each, while children under 12 go free, and you can find out more about this year’s festival here.
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Fancy a free roast dinner this Sunday? Who could say no to that…
We know Sunday roasts very much fall into the ‘if ain’t broke don’t fix it’ category of British food, and rightly so, they’re absolutely glorious – but every now and then, they’re made fresh and exciting again, and that’s exactly what Maray have done with theirs.
Plus, who on earth is ignoring a FREE roast dinner?
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Roast dinner at Maray / Credit: The Manc Group
That’s right, not only are Maray’s incredible Middle-Eastern twists on the classic carvery combination of lovingly cooked joints of meat, exquisitely cooked vegetables, and their take on firm favourites like the potato (the best bit, let’s be honest), but they’re also going to be dishing them out for free.
You can get yourself a roast dinner without paying a single penny for one day only at Maray this Sunday, and you can find out more here.
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Featured Image – The Manc Group | Supplied
Things To Do
Extra date added for festive screening of The Holiday with live orchestra in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
You can watch The Holiday on a big screen with a live orchestra playing the soundtrack in Manchester this Christmas.
The Holiday is one of the best-loved Christmas films of all time.
In case you haven’t got around to watching it before, the 2006 romcom directed and produced by Nancy Meyers stars Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black, and tells the story of how two women, who have never met and live 6,000 miles apart, find themselves in the same exact place in life.
They meet online through a home exchange website, and impulsively switch homes for the holiday.
Shortly after arriving at their destinations, both women find the last thing either wants or expects – a new romance.
An extra date has been added for a festive screening of The Holiday with live orchestra in Manchester / Credit: Universal Pictures
Since its release nearly two decades ago, watching The Holiday has become an annual tradition for millions worldwide every time the festive season rolls around – but how would you like to watch this classic in the most magical way possible? Streamed live onto a big screen in the theatre with a complete concert orchestra playing its soundtrack by the legendary Hans Zimmer? Well now you can this Christmas.
After a sell-out run in 2023, The Holiday In Concert will be going on a 16-date tour across the UK again this November and December, and will be taking place in the some of the country’s greatest concert halls – including The Bridgewater Hall here in Manchester.
The in-concert experience with a full orchestra and cinema-size screen is described as being an “incredibly unique” and “immersive” way to experience this cult-classic film.
JUST ANNOUNCED // Due to popular demand, The Holiday in Concert returns to the Hall on Monday 23 December for an extra date! Enjoy Hans Zimmer's score played live-to-film by a stunning full concert orchestra 🎼 Tickets on sale Friday 13 September 10am. ℹ https://t.co/TslToqd32Apic.twitter.com/5WpA6X5vQ2
Due to overwhelming demand for the Manchester show on Friday 6 December, a second date in our city has now been added to the tour’s run on Monday 23 December, and tickets for the new show are on sale at 10am tomorrow (Friday 13 September).
Liverpool, York, and Sheffield are some of the other northern English cities forming part of the tour, while the show will also be staged in London, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Swansea, and more.
Thomas Melia -
4th September 2024 
