But it seems like the titles just won’t stop coming, as now, renowned media company Time Out has released its fifth annual list of the best cities in the world to visit right now – and Manchester has made the cut.
Every year, more than 20,000 people in cities around the world are surveyed for the Time Out Index to identify the best places to visit right now, and this year, the company has also decided to tap into the expertise of Time Out’s global network of local editors and city experts to compile the annual ranking.
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Last year, the list focused on how cities pulled together through the COVID-19 pandemic through community spirit and resilience, but for the 2022 ranking, Time Out says its has added extra weight to the things that make cities great places to visit as well as to live.
Manchester has been named one of the best cities in the world for 2022 / Credit: Unsplash (Josh Taylor | Chris Curry)
This means that the top cities this year are places that excel at going out, including eating and drinking, art, culture and museums, and nightlife, and they are places that locals rate highly for fun, for beauty, and basically, aren’t boring, overly expensive or overrated.
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To make for an even more enjoyable break, the top picks also score well for practical factors like walkability, good public transport, safety, and sustainability.
And Manchester has taken the overall 11th spot on the list.
According to Time Out, us Mancs have voted our city as the second friendliest, with 74% of locals’ votes, and it also came second for its resilience (67% of residents), and the third best for progressiveness (65%) – however, out of all of the global cities surveyed, Manchester received the least votes for its beauty, with only 11% of residents surveyed rating its looks.
The city has taken the overall 11th spot on the annual Time Out Index 2022 / Credit: Visit Manchester
Also, after topping the list for nightlife last year, Manchester doesn’t even feature in the top three this time around, but Time Out pointed to there being “great things to do on the horizon”, with the upcoming opening of arts venue The Factory, and the Castlefield Viaduct highline-style park.
Edinburgh has taken the top spot on the 2022 list, followed by Chicago, Medellín, Glasgow, and Amsterdam rounding out the top five, and other UK cities like Birmingham and the capital of London also making an appearance on the longlist.
“The Time Out Index 2022 combines the experiences and opinions of more than 20,000 people in hundreds of cities around the world,” explained Dave Calhoun – Chief Content Officer North America & UK at Time Out.
“This year, we are showcasing the cities that locals, and our editors, not only love living in, but that we think everyone should be visiting.
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“Our list of the Best Cities in the World provides the ultimate travel bucket list.”
Featured Image – Flickr
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Liam Fray says ‘yes’ to Courteeners supporting Oasis on tour amid rumoured 2027 dates
Danny Jones
Liam Fray has said that the Courteeners are ready to “answer the call” if/when it comes to supporting Oasis on their next big live tour, with rumours of dates for shows in 2027 ramping up.
The fellow Manc favourites were heavily suggested as potential support acts for the Live ’25 reunion gigs, but Cast and Richard Ashcroft were ultimately selected as the warm-ups for the world tour.
With that in mind, when asked if Courteeners would be ready to open up for Oasis on their still only hypothetical tour next year, Fray had a very quick answer:
Not to speak for the Middleton musician, but it’s a bit of a no-brainer, really.
As you can see, in a recent interview with Radio X host Johnny Vaughan promoting the indie rockers’ new single, ‘Plus One Forever’, the 41-year-old frontman made it clear that he and his bandmates would bite hands off if the other Liam and/or his brother Noel offered a slot to them.
The younger Gallagher brother definitely had plenty of fun teasing supports last time around, before making some fairly more obvious posts and then seemingly just announcing them on social media according to his own timeline.
LG does what he wants, after all.
As for the supposed ’12 nights at the Etihad Stadium’ reported recently, not to mention all the other sets across the country that would no doubt follow should they come to fruition, Fray could say little else other than simply “Yes” to the prospect.
Joking, “Well, it is from me – I don’t know if someone else has said no!”, there have been no other indications on this front, but it’s safe to say it’d be a huge booking for everyone involved and a HUGE crowd-pleaser; Liam looks to be working on one of his own, elsewhere, too…
The two lead singers have both graced the stage of the Emirates Old Trafford stadium at Lancashire County Cricket Club, as well as Heaton Park, respectively.
Liam noted that he was at Heaton Park himself for that unforgettable summer last year, and also praised Wigan’s very own Ashcroft for being “unbelievable” when he caught him at Wembley. Big shoes to fill. The question is, who would you like to see supporting Oasis on their possible tour dates in the future?
In the meantime, we’ll have to be satisfied with gearing up for the release of the highly-anticipated reunion documentary, with the title and a first trailer now revealed.
New interactive map shows where to find 500+ Manchester venues with air conditioning
Emily Sergeant
Do you feel that? Yeah… it’s getting warmer outside.
After all, it is only early July, so we can’t be expecting that the only heatwave (or so to speak) we’re going to get this year has already been and gone, can we? It stands to reason that the sun would grace Greater Manchester with its presence once again before this season’s out – and according to the Met Office, that time has come.
The sun is shining and the temperatures are rising for the next couple of weeks, but if that’s not really your bag, then luckily someone has made a new interactive map that shows where all of the bars and restaurants that have air conditioning are in the city.
There are more than 280,000 pubs, cafes, restaurants, and bars in England and Wales, but only around 8,000 (3%) of them are confirmed to have air conditioning.
The good news, though, is that around 500 of them are in Manchester, and thanks to Where’s Cool, we now know where they are.
A new interactive map shows where to find the 500+ Manchester venues with air conditioning / Credit: Where’s Cool | MCC
Founded by Thomas Chivers, Where’s Cool has been created by a combination of thorough research of Food Standards Agency and public MHCLG Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) data, as well as public contributions.
So, where a venue’s EPC says it has ‘cooling’, it gets marked as confirmed on the map, and then it’s up to the public to fill in the gaps by simply telling Where’s Cool whether a place has AC or not, and eventually, once a few people agree, the map updates.
“I created this Map in May in the middle of the first heatwave,” explained creator Thomas Chivers.
“I’m really glad I did, because we’re now somehow on our third and it’s only July. I needed to find somewhere cool to work because my flat was far too hot to work in.
“For those of us, like me, who work from home without aircon, it’s become a necessity to know where we can go with our laptops when the temperature starts to creep above the 30 degree mark. Hopefully the Where’s Cool map can be useful in helping others find a place to go and cool off, as well as helping out the hospitality venues who can always do with the customers.”
You can see which Manchester venues have air conditioning on Where’s Cool here.
Emily Sergeant -
12th July 2022 
