Peter Kay, Michelle Keegan, and Marcus Rashford have topped the list of ideal celebrity flatmates in Manchester.
It’s been revealed thanks to a poll by Get Living of 1,000 people from Manchester.
Beloved Bolton-born comedian Kay, actress Keegan, and Manchester United and England star Rashford join other famous Manchester residents such as comedian Jason Manford, footballers Cristiano Ronaldo and Jack Grealish, soap stars Gemma Atkinson and Kym Marsh, and ex-Love Island contestants Molly-Mae and Tommy Fury in the top 10 of Manchester-dwellers people most want to share a home with.
The poll was commissioned by Get Living – which operates and rents homes at the pet-friendly neighbourhood New Maker Yards at Middlewood Locks, conveniently located between Manchester and Salford city centres – to celebrate the launch of a further 500 fully-furnished new homes to rent.
There’s also an additional flexible space for residents to use for co-working – named The Lock – which is home to 92Degrees’ second coffee shop in Manchester.
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The survey hasn’t just revealed the most ideal celebrity flatmates either.
If you’re a decent cook, know how to separate your plastics from your cardboard, and have a cracking sense of humour, then you’re also in luck as that means you’re one of the most desirable flatmates in Manchester.
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The poll found that those who can work from home without making a racket, give you some of their leftover takeaway, and don’t mind throwing a house party also came out as the best traits that people in the city of Manchester look for when choosing who they live with. Other top traits include being older than 32 and taller than six feet, a Manchester United fan, not flashy with their stuff, and a dog person.
Top 10 Qualities in a Flatmate
Clean and tidy
A sense of humour
Can accurately split the bills
Recycles properly
Hard-working
A good cook
Can fix things in the flat
Good taste in TV
Is quiet when they work from home
They read
The revealing of the results from the poll also comes as New Maker Yards hosts an immersive play by Ancoats’ award-winning Hope Mill Theatre across a number of brand-new flats in the neighbourhood.
Titled‘Mates’, the play will celebrate the city’s culture and lifestyle, featuring immersive mediations, comedy, a photo booth and a house party complete with techno DJTicketholders to the free play can finish off the experience by enjoying a free pint or burger at Seven Bro7thers Beerhouse.
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The play is running between 13-21 November, and you can bag free tickets
Elsewhere in the poll, three quarters (75%) said Manchester was friendlier than any other city – with 138,935 residents claiming they never want to move out of the city – the top three most popular neighbourhoods in Manchester are the Northern Quarter, Spinningfields and Salford, the latter of which are within a 10 minute walk of New Maker Yards. Almost a third (31%) thought the city’s best feature was the fact there’s so much going on, despite it being less expensive than London.
For its new homes at New Maker Yards, Get Living has partnered withideal flatmate, the match-making platform for renters, and then commenting on the results of the survey, Tom Gatzen – Co-Founder at ideal flatmate – said: “When it comes to what people look for in a flatmate, this survey showed that in Manchester, it is all about having a great time and living with people you can build a friendship with outside the barriers of a standard flatmate relationship.
“It’s clear the people of Manchester value social qualities and spending time with people that can make them laugh and bond with over the same taste in TV programmes, all while eating a home-made meal.
“That said, my advice would be to ensure that you live with people you can see yourself spending time with rather than just passing each other in the corridor.”
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Kim Quickfall – General Manager of New Maker Yards at Get Living – added: “Our residents are always up for a good time, and with 500 new homes available to rent this winter, we wanted to showcase what living at New Maker Yards is all about [and] we’re delighted to be working with the incredible Hope Mill Theatre to take this immersive play out of the theatre and into our living rooms.”
The play is celebrating the launch of a further 500 homes for rent at New Maker Yards / Credit: Get Living
Like the sounds of New Maker Yards then?
Homes are available to rent starting from £940 per month for a one bedroom apartment, £1,190 pm for a two bed, and £1,695 pm for a three bed, with flexible tenancies, no fees, and no deposits.
Homes come ready with superfast WiFi included and pets live free.
This Manchester hotel has a Bonfire Night ‘escape’ package for pets to help keep them calm
Emily Sergeant
One of Manchester’s most luxurious hotels is transforming into the ultimate pet refuge again over the firework season.
Bonfire Night is loved across the UK for the spectacular firework displays and all the festive-themed activities that go along with it, but the November annual event isn’t so fun for our four-legged friends, as fireworks can be frightening to pets due to loud bangs, flashing lights, and the unpleasant strong smell of spent explosives.
With multiple bangs occurring from numerous displays too, pets are rarely able to pinpoint where the booming explosions are coming from, only making it more terrifying for them.
This is why, after becoming a huge success following its launch last year, Kimpton Clocktower Hotel in the heart of the city centre has brought back its special ‘Bonfire Night Escape’ escape package, turning the already pet-friendly hotel into a firework-free sanctuary.
The hotel‘s year-round ‘PAWfect Stay’ package includes any dog staying at no extra cost, plus a pet tuckbox, a guide to the best dog-friendly places in the city, and a toy waiting for them in the room, but this fireworks season, pet owners will also get a luxury hamper including Pet Remedy’s ‘Party Season Survival Kit’
The kit comes together with a range of fast-acting products to help immediately in stressful situations such as fireworks, and includes calming spray, a plug diffuser, and some calming wipes too.
On top of that, dog owners can also take advantage of the hotel’s Music Concierge service, which allows guests to request a record player and vinyls to be placed in the room ahead of check in – with lots of classical and relaxing music records available to distract anxious pets from the noise of Bonfire Night celebrations.
Kimpton Clocktower Hotel has a Bonfire Night ‘escape’ package to help keep pets calm / Credit: Elisha Terada (via Unsplash)
The award-winning The Refuge Bar and Restaurant inside the hotel also offers a menu of carefully-curated dog treats throughout the week, as well as doggy Sunday roasts all Sunday.
David Lockhart, who is the General Manager at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, said he likes to think of the hotel as a “home-away-from-home for our guests”.
“Our top priority is making sure everyone is feeling safe and comfortable,” he added. “We can’t wait to welcome our November guests and help them care for their four-legged family members, giving them everything they need.”
The Bonfire Night Escape package at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel is available to book from Friday 1 November, subject to availability, and you can request the package via the hotel concierge or by emailing [email protected] to book.
Scissor Sisters confirm reunion after more than a decade ahead of massive Manchester gig
Danny Jones
Still a firm cult favourite from the 2000s, Scissor Sisters are officially back and are bringing a special reunion tour to Manchester and the UK and Ireland at large.
The American outfit were one of the biggest and most well-known pop groups on this side of the Atlantic during their heyday, notching three BRIT Awards and two number-one albums.
Starting out in New York, like many bands in an oversaturated music market, they ended up proving to be much more popular here in Britain than they ever did in the US, not to mention becoming real icons among the LGBTQ+ community.
And now, over a decade later, the Scissor Sisters are set to repay the likes of Manchester, Leeds, London and more with a series of comeback shows, including one at Co-op Live arena – a gig which the venue has already teased earlier this week.
Confirming the reunion on social media on Thursday, 10 October, the band said: “Exciting news, for the first time in over a decade, we will come together again, live next May across the UK and Ireland.
“And for the first time ever, our debut album Scissor Sisters will be performed in full in celebration of its 20th anniversary – alongside all the other Scissor hits from along the way… See you very soon. Jake, Babydaddy, Del.”
Long-time fans were quick to notice that there was no mention of fellow founding member Ana Matronic nor former drummer Randy Real; the band themselves told BBC that the current lineup following their indefinite hiatus is by no means a way of replacing anyone but does give them a chance “to get some people on stage and ask some friends to do fun things.”
Frontman Shears’ 2023 Cabaret co-star, Rebecca Lucy Taylor, was also teased with a possible appearance on the Scissor Sisters reunion tour. Either way, they’ve promised a “little bit of chaos, anarchy” and an “‘anything can happen’ energy again.”
It’s been 12 whole years since we last saw them out on the road, so it’s only fitting that they give us a dozen UK/IE dates, starting at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena before bringing the comeback party down the home stretch in Dublin.
Scissor Sisters are set to stun the Manchester crowd with their Co-op Live debut on Wednesday, 21 May 2025, with special guest support from Alison Goldfrapp of the iconic electronic music duo, and we truly really can’t wait to roll back the years with them.
Pre-sale goes live on Wednesday, 6 November at 10am which you can access via their website and general admission tickets will be available from the same time the following Friday, 8 November.
We can’t wait to hear all the favourites – ‘Filthy/Gorgeous’, ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancin”, ‘Take Your Mama’ and more – but, until then, the announcements coming out of Manchester’s biggest new music venue just don’t stop…