Costa Coffee is well and truly warming up for winter after unveiling three new limited edition drinks to its festive food and drinks range.
The “countdown to Christmas is on” at Costa.
After over a week of teasing the new editions to this year’s winter menu, the popular coffee shop chain has finally made the announcement this morning that it has “teamed up with all your festive favourites” to bring a trio of indulgent hot drinks to stores nationwide at the start of next month.
The Terry’s Chocolate Orange Hot Chocolate, the After Eight Hot Chocolate, and The Purple One Latte will all be available to try out from next Tuesday, and given this is one of the first times Costa has collaborated with some of the nation’s favourite festive chocolate treats, you can bet people are excited.
The announcement has already racked up thousands of interactions, shares and comments on all social platforms after just a few short hours since posting.
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At Costa, Christmas isn’t cancelled! In fact, we’ve teamed up with all your festive favourites, to bring you the most wonderful range of the year ?? After Eight Hot Chocolate, ? Terry’s Chocolate Orange Hot Chocolate & The Purple One Latte ? pic.twitter.com/19GRvQAmlt
Luckily for fans of Costa’s Christmas drinks from previous years though, these three new indulgent offerings aren’t arriving in replacement of any usual festive favourites.
The chain also confirmed via Twitter this morning that the much-loved Black Forest Hot Chocolate, Gingerbread & Cream Latte, Irish Velvet Latte, Cinnamon Spiced Cappuccino, and Spiced Apple will all be returning to the Christmas menu this year.
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The announcement of this new festive hot drink team up comes after Costa unveiled its festive food menu for 2020 a few weeks back, which sees lots of new items introduced and some fan-favourites return.
On the savoury side, this year’s new food range includes the Lobster Toastie, British Pork & Bramley Apple Sausage roll, British Turkey & The Trimmings Toastie, Brie, Maple Bacon & Cranberry Stonebaked Panini, Vegan Turkee, Cranberry & Stuffing Bloomer Toastie, and Pigs under Blankets Stonebaked Panini and Pigs & Blankets Mac and Cheese.
If you’re after something sweet, you can try out the new After Eight Muffin and Terry’s Chocolate Orange Muffin to accompany your hot chocolate.
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Or try the new Vegan Lotus Biscoff Cheezecake, Vegan Father Christmas Gingerbread, the gluten-free Vegan Christmas Fruit Cake, the gluten-free Vegan Mince Tart, Rich Chocolate & Hazelnut Shimmer Cake, Jammin’ in the Chimney Cake, a range of Panettones, and so much more.
You can also take your pick of plenty of returning festive indulgences too.
Costa CoffeeCosta Coffee
Speaking on the unveiling of the new food menu, Cathy Port – Head of Food at Costa Coffee – said: “Christmas has always been such a magical time of year at Costa Coffee and we know that this year in particular, our customers are looking to us to make the festive period that extra bit more special.
“We’re incredibly proud to launch our 2020 limited edition Christmas food menu, which we believe is our best yet.
“It features so many iconic products, which we know our customers have raved about, but also brings in some phenomenal new innovations and partnerships to excite and delight returning and new customers. From the decadent Lobster Toastie to the Vegan Turkee, Cranberry & Stuffing Bloomer Toastie and the iconic new muffin collections, there’s something for everyone.”
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Costa’s Christmas Food & Drinks menu will be available at branches nationwide from Tuesday 3rd November.
Ginger’s Comfort Emporium has closed its long-standing Northern Quarter site
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester dessert favourite Ginger’s Comfort Emporium has unfortunately closed its long-standing site in the city centre.
The Northern Quarter-based ice cream icons have been serving delicious artisan scoops out of Afflecks for over a decade, but now they’ve decided to call time on the original location.
Having somewhat quietly closed this past weekend, those in the know came along for their final scoops from the pretty little parlour tucked away in a corner on the first floor of the indie shopping palace.
Officially closing on Saturday, 4 October, Ginger’s NQ is sadly no more.
Explaining the decision on social media, owner Claire Kelsey wrote: “There’s no sad reason. We’ve had a fantastic 12 years here, but unlike the other sides [of] the business, it’s 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, and I need to start having proper time off over winter.
“I’m looking forward to the extra energy for ideas I’ll have for our events & markets, and not spreading us out so thin! THANK YOU to the wonderful staff over the years, I appreciate your care and your time x
“THANK YOU to Afflecks and Bruntwood [property firm] for being such supportive landlords and THANK YOU to you, our customers, everyone from nervous parents waiting for their kid getting a tattoo to the OG Ginger’s fans getting their fix, kids learning to play chess – it’s been a joy. X”
Kelsey’s comments have been filled with loyal customers bidding farewell to the local favourite, ex-staff members expressing gratitude for being made part of the team, and even parents thanking Claire directly for giving numerous kids their first jobs.
One of those is influencer and now fellow independent business owner, Zack Hipps, who shared a lengthy post paying tribute to the veteran dessert venue.
“The best ice cream in Manchester is no longer so easily available in the city centre, but omg did this place mean a lot to me”, says Hipps.
“This venue had been going for over 13 years, it was the place I got my first job, the place that I first got into coffee, and the indie food scene, it’s where I first took a picture for social media (the second picture) and saw me develop into my content creation career
“It’s opposite where I’ve opened my own lil’ coffee shop and never has something felt so truly full circle as saying goodbye. I would not be the same person without it.”
Perhaps most notably, he signs off not only by wishing them all the best but by teasing that they’ve got “some mad interesting plans coming up”, before clarifying that he can’t say any more.
We don’t know exactly what he’s been sworn to secrecy over, but you best believe we, as well as the rest of Manchester and its boroughs, will be watching closely to see what the brand does next.
And don’t worry, ice cream lovers; you’ll still be able to find their vans popping up all over the region and serving their incredible flavours at events across the North West.
Manc music legends James announce MASSIVE hometown show
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester music legends James have just revealed a massive hometown show here in the city centre as part of a landmark domestic arena tour.
Daisy bucket hats at the ready.
James is arguably the epitome of what it is to be the understated, underdog British band; they’ve gone about the business of making quality music somewhat quietly for several decades now, but they’ve had a fresh wave of interest over the past year or so
Having opened up for the likes of Catfish and the Bottlemen’s comeback shows, not to mention playing multiple big festival slots in recent months alone, they’ve now announced a huge run of UK arena shows – and nowhere does a James crowd quite like us Mancs.
Details have been announced for our 2026 UK arena tour, and we’re delighted to be joined by very special guests @dovesmusicblog with tickets going on general sale this Friday at 9:30am. Access the ticket pre-sale on Wednesday via our official store: https://t.co/DwpGrAUESZ NBL x pic.twitter.com/A4CWVpCooL
Announced as part of the celebrations around their Nothing But Love ‘best of’ LP, which pulls tracks from James’ whopping 18 studio albums, the new run of UK arena shows in 2026 follows on from numerous noteworthy shows this calendar year.
In addition to the aforementioned outdoor gigs, like their stunning sold-out night at The Piece Hall in Halifax – not too far from frontman Tim Booth’s hometown in Yorkshire – the indie veterans also celebrated a huge landmark in 2025.
Surpassing the milestone of 40 years as a band, with a lineup that’s remained largely intact and only really grown in terms of live session players and touring bandmates.
The new “definitive” greatest hits record also includes two brand-new songs in ‘Wake Up Superman’ and ‘Hallelujah Anyhow’, both of which are produced by Leo Abrahams, who worked with the band on their long-awaited number one album Yummy in 2024 – a feat loooong overdue if you ask us.
As evidenced by the sheer amount of new material they continue to put out and the almost non-stop touring, they remain one of the most prolific artists in the country. FACT.
You can see the rest of James’ upcoming tour dates, including a healthy number of Northern stops in the likes of Liverpool, Leeds and more.
James UK arena tour dates 2026
Fri 2 Birmingham Utilita Arena
Sat 4 Leeds First Direct Bank Arena
Tues 7 Aberdeen P&J Live
Wed 8 Glasgow OVO Hydro
Fri 10 Newcastle Utilita Arena
Sat 11 Liverpool M&S Bank Arena
Mon 13 Cardiff Utilita Arena
Tues 14 Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Fri 17 London The O2
Sat 18 Manchester Co-op Live
With James returning to Manchester for their Co-op Live arena debut next April, along with a sensational support slot from fellow local legends, Doves (I know, how lucky are you lot?!), you can bank on this one selling out quickly.
General admission goes on sale this Friday, 10 October at 9:30am, so you’d better be ready to grab yours in a flash.
You can find the ticket link HERE, and we’ll see you in the crowd for a good ol’ singalong.
Emily Sergeant -
27th October 2020 
