A Manchester couple has been gifted the bench they met on at a city centre bar to keep as a memento in their new flat.
In a classic Manc love story, Christian Steels and Jade Hindley first met each other at the popular Revolución de Cuba Manchester, just off Deansgate on Peter Street, during a “fun-filled fiesta” over three years ago, and have been “soulmates” living happily together ever since.
“I took a particular shine to Jade,” Christian said.
“She was the most stunning girl I had ever seen, so I pulled her to one side on the street outside the entrance and invited her to sit with me on one of the benches.
“It was a very out-of-character move from me [but] I must have been spurred on by several Zombie cocktails and I asked for her phone number. Then later that night, I messaged her (keen, I know), and we have now been going out for over 3 years and live together.”
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With Jade’s birthday fast approaching and the pair having recently moved into a new flat together, Christian hatched a plan to celebrate his girlfriend’s birthday with a gift that would commemorate their time together and decided that the original bench from outside the bar would be the perfect memento, so he sent a heartfelt to Revolución de Cuba asking if he was able to buy it of them.
And Revs were more than happy to take him up on the offer, gifting Christian the bench for free.
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Revolución de Cuba Manchester
The owners of Revolución de Cuba’s Manchester branch then contacted the original manufacturers of the bench to organise for its proper removal and modification, so that it could be safely re-installed on the balcony of the couple’s new flat.
Once it had been moved to its new location, Christian then attached a gift tag to the bench, which read “Where It All Began” to complete the birthday surprise.
Jade was apparently “utterly flabbergasted” when the gift was unveiled.
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Speaking on the heartwarming gesture, Clinton Ghent – Operations Director for Revolución De Cuba, which is currently temporarily closed to the public amid England’s third national lockdown – said, “When Christian approached us, we fell in love with his story, and with our bars currently closed we wanted to extend the fun and fiesta we usually host in our bars to him at home.
“This felt like a great second best, and along with some of our freshly made cocktails, he can enjoy the fiesta experience until we reopen”.
Revolución de Cuba Manchester is due to reopen for indoor hospitality as part of ‘Step Three’ of the government’s roadmap to lifting lockdown on 17th May, at the earliest.
Kirstie Allsopp threw a banana skin at a driver in Stockport in littering row
Daisy Jackson
TV personality Kirstie Allsopp has admitted that she threw a banana skin at a driver in Stockport after she caught them littering.
In a furious rant on Twitter, the Location, Location, Location star said that she ‘leapt out of the car’ in order to pick up the fruity peel that was thrown out of another car window.
She then lobbed it straight back into the car, at the littering offender.
Saying that she’s been ‘horrified’ by the state of litter across the UK, Kirstie detailed the incident from her visit to Stockport.
Kirstie said: “In the last few weeks, travelling around the UK, I’ve been horrified by how bad roadside litter has become. Why is litter so much worse, who thinks chucking an empty red bull, for example, out of a moving car is acceptable?
“Last week in Stockport a banana skin flew out of the window of the car in front, we were at [traffic lights] and I was a passenger so I leapt out of the car, picked it up and threw it back into the car, the driver just threw it back out again.
In the last few weeks, travelling around the UK, I’ve been horrified by how bad roadside litter has become. Why is litter so much worse, who thinks chucking an empty red bull, for example, out of a moving car is acceptable? Last week in Stockport a banana skin flew
“But that’s not how to solve the problem. What is the solution…… £££ fines? In some places police take litter very seriously, I don’t feel that in the UK though. Closing roads to clear the litter? This would inconvenience us all, but would be a reminder of the cost of litter. Asking roadside landowners to clear their patch? What do you think?”
She later added: “I have a pet theory on this, I think a lot of litter is guilty eating, people consuming things they know they shouldn’t, and not wanting to dispose of the evidence at home.”
One fan replied to her: “Ohh you have been to my neck of the woods i have wrote to Stockport Council several times about cleaning all this litter up and there answer was ‘yes we are rotared to do a clear up in May’, i said ‘how about every month’, they replied ‘we do a clear up once a year only’. I just laughed.”
Yes, it’s true – in what is news that admittedly sounds fake, but somehow actually isn’t, one of the best rappers of all time has revealed himself to be an avid watcher of Britain’s longest-running soap, and is such a fan of it, in fact, that he said he’s “determined” to make an appearance on it sometime in the future.
The iconic ITV soap – which is set in the fictional Manchester suburb of Weatherfield, and celebrated an impressive 60 years of entertaining the masses back in 2020 – currently averages around six million viewers per episode, and has developed a well-deserved legion of loyal fans over the last six decades.
And it turns out, one of those loyal fans is chart-topping rap superstar Snoop Dogg.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun this week, the 51-year-old first spoke about how he’s “down to perform” at King Charles III‘s Coronation in a couple of months time, before he launching into how much he loves another type of coronation.
“Coronation Street, I love it,” the 17-time Grammy Award nominee admitted.
Snoop Dogg says he’s a massive Coronation Street fan / Credit: ITV / The Manc Group
“If they call me I’ll do it. I’ll play whenever they need. I love the cinematography, acting, the storylines and just the reality.
“I’d like to be a part of it because they’ve been a part of my culture.”
As bizarre as it all sounds, this surprisingly isn’t the first time the rapper – whose real name is Calvin Broadus Jr – has publicly revealed he’s a fan of the soap, and even famously admitted all the way back in 2010 that he had his agent get in touch with ITV to see if there was any chance he could make an appearance.
“I had my agent reach out to them to see if they could try to get me on and they said they were interested so hopefully it might happen,” Snoop told the BBC.
“It would be perfect for me to be on the show.”
The chart-topping rapper says he’s ‘determined’ to get a role on it / Credit: ITV
The Drop It Like It’s Hot and The Next Episode rapper isn’t the only famous name who’s revealed himself to be a fan of Coronation Street in recent months.
One of the greatest and most well-respected singer songwriters of all time, Bob Dylan, also admitted in an interview with WSJ back in December 2022 that he loves binge-watching the soap.
Dylan explained that that he’s “no fan of packaged programs or news shows”, and that the ITV soap makes him “feel at home” despite being “old-fashioned”.
Emily Sergeant -
8th March 2021 
