Sachas Hotel in Manchester, part of the Britannia group, has a bit of a reputation.
It ranks 125th of 126 hotels in the city on TripAdvisor (The Merchants on Back Piccadilly ranks worst if you were wondering), averaging out at 2.0 out of five.
Reviewers have described it as ‘horrible’, ‘absolutely awful’, and even ‘hell’, with frequent complaints about rooms that are boiling hot.
And the one time one of our staff members stayed there, all he had to say was: “Not great to be fair… when I got there someone was getting f**gered in the foyer.”
But when you look at Sachas in Manchester on paper, it’s got a lot going for it.
There’s an art deco interior complete with a big chandelier, it’s in a prime location right on the edge of the Northern Quarter and Market Street, and it’s one of the city’s most affordable hotel options.
There’s also the option to host your wedding here, and that’s a bit of a bargain too.
Sacha’s Hotel in Manchester, where you can get married for less than £1,000. (Credit: Booking.com)
In what might be one of the best-value wedding packages in the city, Sachas Manchester will throw you a full do, complete with a three-course dinner for your guests, a bucks fizz reception, and an evening buffet – for less than a grand.
The infamous hotel’s silver package comes in at £999 and also includes things like your table linens, cake stand and cutting knife, a private lounge bar for cocktail hour, and a red carpet welcome.
Your wedding reception can take over the Washington Suite, with the option to have a civil ceremony here too.
Not fancy enough?
Can we tempt you with Sachas in Manchester’s £1499 GOLD package, which also gets you a stay in the ‘gorgeous bridal suite’, a full English the next morning, extra space for guests, tea, coffee, a stage, and a complimentary balloon arrangement?
Because nothing screams ‘just married’ like a complimentary balloon arrangement.
STILL not posh enough? Let’s dive into the £2500 Platinum Package, shall we?
Now you’re in the Lincoln and Madison reception street, with an extra function bar, a changing room, chair covers (sashes are an extra 50p per chair), a bottle of prosecco for the happy couple, and the hire of the ceremony space.
The standard wedding space can accommodate 50 to 250 guests, but you can spill out into an extra room and fit up to 550 guests in.
So if you’re newly engaged and looking for a wedding venue in Manchester, maybe Sachas is the one?
Just watch out for the f**gering guests in the foyer on your way out…
There’s a 13-seat, BYO-beer bike you can ride around Manchester
Daisy Jackson
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.
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.
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.
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.
Jason Manford has final word on ‘naughty’ rule that sparked unexpected Village Hotel experience
Danny Jones
Local comedian Jason Manford has shared “the last I’ll say on the matter between The People vs The Village Hotel”, after expressing his disappointment over a rule that saw him have a somewhat unexpected experience at one of their locations.
The Salford-born and Stockport-based stand-up was forced to share his room with another individual at The Village in Bournemouth after being told the hotel was fully booked.
Manford‘s room had essentially been resold, which led him to stay in a double with his friend and colleague; however, as explained in multiple videos, not everyone was fortunate enough to secure a last-minute solution.
Still, on the upside, at least they didn’t have to share a bed…
As detailed in the first of three posts seen above, Manford and co. arrived at the hotel late (as is typically the case with any touring comedian, especially a headliner) following his gig at the Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre on Sunday, 29 June.
The 44-year-old is currently on his ‘A Manford All Seasons’ tour, which saw a flurry of new dates added back in November, and got underway back in February.
Although he assured that the staff did their job and were “lovely” through the whole ordeal, he reiterated that he found the little-known rule “very naughty” and “not on”.
He also mentioned that a doctor who arrived shortly after them at the hotel reception, sadly, had to be turned away from the Bournemouth branch.
Manford went on to add that the hotel manager did apologise for the situation, but as he notes in the clips, the worry is that it could cause even bigger dilemmas if it were a wedding, someone with kids, “or a million different situations that you could have been in which are much more serious than [his].”
Essentially, the duo were just lucky they turned up when they did and said as much.
Despite noting that he’d heard of airlines opting for similar policies in the past, he confessed he’d never come across such a rule in more than “25 years of touring” as a comic.
Echoing his frustration, surprise and concern, musician Georgina Jackson said in the comments: “That is so bad! As a touring lone female musician who uses hotels a lot, what are we expected to do? But the fact is… they don’t really care…
“Thanks for highlighting it, as they might actually start caring when the bookings drop off! And, I imagine the hotel/town was busy with your audience!! How blinking ironic!!”
The hotel group has since asked the Salfordian funny man to take the very public complaints down, but Manford has refused despite them requesting quite “politely”, insisting that he believes more people need to know about obscure and largely unknown rules like these.
You can see the most recent and final statement on the whole Jason Manford-Village Hotel situation in full down below.
Daisy Jackson -
5th January 2024 
