Independent food, drink and retail neighbourhood Hatch MCR has now reopened doors just in time for Christmas shopping, haircuts, and takeaway services.
As England’s second national lockdown comes to an end, and Greater Manchester enters into Tier 3 restrictions as part of the UK government’s new “tougher” three tiered regional system, Hatch will be bringing an alternative festive shopping experience to the city centre with all of the neighbourhood’s excellent local and independent businesses opening their doors ahead of the festive period.
The site has been transformed from urban summer escape, to cosy winter wonder-village and offers a unique, twinkly and festive shopping experience nestled underneath Mancunian Way.
Hatch will be open on Tuesdays – Saturdays from 12-8pm.
As well as Christmas shopping, Hatch’s friendly neighbourhood grooming salons – Portland Barbers and Industry – will also be open to take care of that all-important post-lockdown, pre-Christmas haircut.
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And independent street food will be on the menu too, with a slimmed-down Tier 3 collection of traders opening for takeaway, including inventive sandwiches by Ate Days a Week, Asian street food by Fuku, fabulous takeaway wine by Vin-Yard, Sicilian street food by Tarricrii, vegan dishes from Herbivorous, Vietnamese street food from Hanoi 75, and Cyprian cuisine from Mezze.
All takeaway food can be ordered and collected here.
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The rest of the Hatch crew is gearing up to be back after the next regional tiered review, when it is hoped that the whole destination will reopen for the full Hatch experience.
As Manchester strives to get Christmas back on track, the Hatch teams are encouraging everyone to shop local this festive season and reward loved ones with something unique and extra-special under the tree by supporting local businesses at the same time.
Hatch MCRHatch MCR
With Small Business Saturday coming up this weekend – Saturday 5th December – Hatch is also set to reward customers shopping from any of the destination’s indie traders by handing out Hatch gift vouchers as spot prizes.
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The vouchers will be assigned completely at random throughout the course of the day, with £100 worth given away, and all shoppers need to do to be in with a chance of winning a voucher is to buy local and independent at Hatch on Saturday.
Hatch is also proud to be part of the 50 Windows of Creativity trail, with a mural by Caroline Dowsett having taken over one of the units.
Speaking on the reopening of Hatch MCR, Andrea George – Director of Retail at Bruntwood Works – said: “Hatch has been transformed into a gorgeous, cosy winter wonder village and all our retailers, hairdressers and takeaways are open and ready for the festive period.
We are open Tuesday – Saturday allowing customers plenty of time to come along and support local independent businesses in a safe environment.
“Our businesses have worked extremely hard to be able to open their doors safely within Tier 3 restrictions and we’re all looking forward to welcoming shoppers back to Hatch for Christmas shopping.”
You can find more information and COVID-safe procedures ahead of your visit via the Hatch MCR website here.
103 Oxford Road, Manchester, M1 7ED
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A massive social for Manchester runners is happening in the city centre this winter
Danny Jones
With the bulk of race season nearly over, the local running community is finally starting to wind down and indulge in some well-deserved rest and relaxation – well, that and a sprinkle of clubbing, as the massive Cross Club Social for Manchester runners is back for 2025.
Following a successful sophomore edition last winter, the MCR Cross Club Social is returning for another proper good bash and looks to be shaping up nicely.
Hosted at a brand new venue, with sets from Manc-based DJs, karaoke and even giveaways on the night, the runners are going BIG this year.
So, if you’re part of a local running club or even just a Greater Mancunian who’s partial to a bit of jogging and looking for a night out, you’d best keep 8 November free.
Credit: Cross Club Social
Combining forces once again, the third iteration of the Cross Club Social sees multiple Manchester running clubs putting on one of the biggest parties of the year, with people from all over the community turning up to swap their trainers for dancing shoes.
Ticket prices have crept ever so slightly this year, mainly because of just how well attended the 2025 event was, but also to help raise money for their official charity partner.
However, it goes without saying that all newcomer clubs and solo runners in general and welcome to come along to this year’s event, which is also the first to be held at Fairfield Social Club near Angel Meadows Park – the more the merrier, as far as these lot are concerned.
For example, here’s a taste of the kind of turnout it got last year…
Early bird access will be on sale from 10am this Friday, 10 October, with the general admission tickets going live at the same time next week (17 Oct).
The social itself will run from 5pm until midnight, with last entry at 8:30pm, and you can bank on there being some kind of after-party elsewhere on the night. Get ready to grab your tickets HERE.
It’s also worth noting that the two previous years sold out fast, so make sure you put in a PB-worthy performance when it comes to that online shopping basket if you want to be there.
Once again, the Manchester Runners Cross-club social is a completely non-profit event; all funds from ticket sales go directly towards setting up the next one, back into the running clubs who take part, and to charitable organisations like The MCR 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness.
Lady Gaga is a tour-de-force of talent at the Co-op Live Manchester
Clementine Hall
Lady Gaga proves she’s a truly world-class act after two sold-out nights at the Co-op Live Manchester, as if we needed any reminding.
The city of Manchester has been flooded with harness-wearing, mesh-sporting little monsters over the past two days.
And that’s because the absolute icon that is Lady Gaga brought her ‘Mayhem Ball’ to the Co-op Live for two nights.
I don’t think you’ll find anyone who doesn’t know who this fabulous woman is. Over the past decade, she’s won an Oscar, headlined the Super Bowl, performed in blockbusters alongside Al Pacino, no less, and her songs are literally ingrained into our minds.
It’s been a whole 11 years (yes, really) since she performed in Manchester, and it’s safe to say she was back with a bang.
The performance was split up into five distinct acts, and each one was as exhausting and exhilarating as the next.
She begins the show by bopping out of a comically huge red dress, but this staging was only the start of what madness was about to ensue.
Luckily, we’d been prepared by the other half of the Audio North team, who had the equal privilege of seeing her on night one and were left similarly speechless.
Throughout the 30-song epic, we had crutches, sand pits, cages, skeletons, enough wigs to produce an amateur production of Annie, and we didn’t question any of it. Why would we? It’s Lady Gaga.
Kicking things off with ‘Bloody Mary’, the two and a half hour marathon didn’t leave any stones unturned.
We had all the bangers, from ‘Just Dance’ and ‘Paparazzi’ to ‘Bad Romance’ and ‘Applause’, it had us wondering why any other superstar even bothers putting a song out these days.
Pop is in a good place at the moment with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish and so on, but you can make a strong case for Gaga having helped pave the way for every lady in the business ever since.
Gaga truly had us in the palm of her hands (or claws at one point), even more so when she left the stage to de-robe and show her more vulnerable side for the last two songs – beanie firmly on.
It wasn’t just a concert: this was a fully-fledged tour de force of talent that Manchester won’t forget any time soon.
Sometimes there’s no point in intellectualising why someone has that ‘X-factor’; sometimes you just have to take a step back and say WOW.
Emily Sergeant -
3rd December 2020 
