Marks & Spencer, Bella Italia, and Yard & Coop are just some of the places offering kids the chance to eat for £1 or free his half term.
Now that schools across Greater Manchester are out for February half term, and with the rising cost of living crisis sadly continuing to make its impact felt on many families, plenty of supermarkets, independent and chain restaurants, and pub groups across the UK are offering kids the chance to eat a hearty meal out for as little as £1.
Some are even offering up children’s meals completely free of charge.
So if you’re looking to treat the kids to a meal, but you’re keen to keep things on the cheaper side and save a few pennies, then thankfully, eating out just got a whole lot easier.
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Supermarkets
Here’s a round-up of all the supermarkets offering dining deals this half term.
M&S Cafe
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When you spend over £5 in the M&S Cafe this half term, kids can get a meal deal – which normally costs around £3.95, and includes either a sandwich, toastie, pizza or pasta, and a snack, fruit, and a drink – completely for free.
One free children’s meal per transaction, and the offer runs through Friday 24 February.
Asda
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Asda has teamed up with Quaker Oats to offer children a warm breakfast completely free of charge from all its 205 in-store cafes from 8am to 12pm every day across the UK while schools are out this February half term.
All day everyday throughout February half term, you can get any meal from the kids menu for free with any one adult meal at a value of £4.99 or over at Morrisons cafes nationwide, and the offer applies to anyone under 16 years of age.
Lots of places are offering kids the chance to eat for £1 or free this February half term / Credit: YO! Sushi & Beefeater
Restaurants & Cafes
Ducie Street Warehouse
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The restaurant at Ducie Street Warehouse in the heart of Manchester city centre will be offering kids the chance to eat a meal “designed for curious minds” completely free of charge with every adult meal £10 or over from Monday 20 to Thursday 23 February.
The offer is valid for children aged 10, and under and up to two children.
Yard & Coop
The Northern Quarter’s home of buttermilk fried chicken is offering a ‘kids eat free deal’ this February half term.
Available each weekday from 12pm-7:30pm, one selected free kids meal comes with every adult main, and they get to choose from a menu that includes the likes of Nugz, the veggie option of Not Chicken Nugz, or vegan chicken.
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There’s lots of chances to save pennies / Credit: Bella Italia
Banyan
Kids can eat for free at Banyan Spinningfields this February half term when you buy an adult main meal, so it’s perfect for when you want to head out as a family for lunch, or for an evening when you don’t want to spend time cooking.
The offer is available until 6pm from Monday 20 – Friday 24 February.
Bella Italia
Children can eat for £1 with any adult main meal at Bella Italia this February half term.
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Free to claim between 4pm and 6pm from Monday to Thursday, the Piccolo menu is aimed at children aged two to six years, with the Grande for seven to 11-year-olds, and some of the dishes include meatballs, bolognese, carbonara, and pizza.
The deal includes up three courses and a fruit water.
Bill’s
Up to two kids per table eat free all day at Bill’s from on weekdays up until Friday 24 February when an adult orders any main dish, so whether it be breakfast, lunch, or dinner, there’s a dish to feed your little one no matter the time of day.
The menu features a range of delicious family favourites – including buttermilk pancakes, mac & cheese, and fish fingers and chips.
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Yard & Coop and The Real Greek are two of the places offering kids dining deals / Credit: Yard & Coop | The Real Greek
YO! Sushi
Japanese street food and sushi favourite YO! is letting children eat for free this half term each weekday until Friday 24 February with every adult paying at least £10 – with the offer including a main, a side, and a drink from the Kids Meal Deal menu, and a dessert can be added for £1.50.
The Real Greek
With a popular branch in the Corn Exchange in Manchester city centre, and a new restaurant having recently-opened in the Trafford Centre too, The Real Greek is offering one free kids meal for each adult who spends £10 or more when they dine in at their restaurants.
Children under 12 get to choose a kids meal, a drink, and an ice cream or sorbet.
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Dunelm Cafe
Dunelm Cafe is offering kids the chance to grab a free mini main meal this February half term, along with two snacks and a drink for every £4 spent.
The offer is available from 3pm each weekday from Monday to Friday.
Hearty meals are available at all times of the day / Credit: Hungry Horse, Beefeater & Morrisons
Pubs
Hungry Horse
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, which is why Hungry Horse Pubs – which has several branches in Greater Manchester – is offering kids the chance to eat breakfast for free with every paying adult.
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The offer is available from 8am – 12pm every day of February half term.
Farmhouse Inns
Farmhouse Inns – which has a number of sites across Greater Manchester – is offering its email subscribers the chance to grab two kids’ meals, including the delicious fresh carvery, for £1 each from Monday to Saturday when accompanied by a paying adult.
The offer is available up until Saturday 25 February.
Kids eat for free at Banyan Spinningfields this February half term / Credit: Banyan
Table Table, Beefeaters & Brewers Fair
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Ensuring no one goes hungry this half term, each Table Table, Beefeaters & Brewers Fair branch across Greater Manchester is offering a free breakfast for every child with a paying adult.
You can choose as much as you like from the cooked and Continental selections, including bacon, sausages, eggs, hash browns and more, alongside baked pastries, cereal, fresh fruit, and chilled juices and unlimited tea or coffee to accompany.
Sizzling Pub & Grill
There’s a whole host of Sizzling Pub & Grill restaurants across Greater Manchester and the north west that are offering kids the chance to eat for just £1 with every adult main meal.
The offer runs from Monday to Friday between 3pm and 7pm.
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Featured Image – Bill’s
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‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Benson Boone has announced a headline gig in Manchester – and it’s a big one
Danny Jones
American pop sensation and unrivalled king of unnecessary front flips, Benson Boone, has just announced his first-ever headline Manchester arena gig as part of a new arena tour.
The solo artist and acrobatic chart-topper has seen a meteoric rise in the US and, as is usually the case across the Atlantic, he’s become increasingly popular over here too.
Benson may have performed here in Manchester before as part of the 2024 MTV EMAs and for a small show at The Deaf Institute, but now big fans have the added Boone of getting to watch a standalone show at one of Europe’s leading indoor entertainment venues.
Announced on Friday, 30 May, the 22-year-old will be making his way across the pond from Washington for a limited run of UK concerts, with a date at Co-op Live arena being one of just five dates.
Extending his ‘American Heart Tour’ ahead of the release of his eponymous sophomore record, with this autumn leg, Co-op Live will mark his individual visit to 0161.
The Grammy-nominated artist has earned several nods of recognition already for his first album, Fireworks & Rollerblades, which was released just last spring.
He has been described as among the current trend of male singers who fit into the American Idol and ‘Voice audition pop’ genre (a term recently coined online), along with the likes of Teddy Swims, Shawn Mendes, Alex Warren and others.
Regardless of the slightly tongue-in-cheek term, he’s become a huge hit around the world and landing him is still a big coup for the venue that has already welcomed similarly massive pop contemporaries like Swims, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and more.
In case you’re wondering just how big a deal he is over in the States, even this early in his career, his domestic headline dates sold out in seconds, quite literally…
The last time he visited Co-op Live was to perform at the most recent MTV EMAs
Benson Boone is coming to Manchester on Monday, 27 October and will be playing just two other British venues: The O2 in London (two nights) and the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
Safe to say you don’t want to miss this one if you like soaring vocals and lots of flipping.
General admission tickets go live at 10am on Thursday, 5 June, but Co-op Members can gain access via the arena’s official pre-sale window from the same time on Tuesday (3 Jun).
Emily Sergeant -
17th February 2023 
