Today is National Chocolate Day and if there’s one thing we can unite and all get behind, it’s a love of chocolate, right?
We really hope you said yes to that.
National Chocolate Day couldn’t be a more perfect excuse to properly treat yourself, so if you’re looking to mark this indulgent day in style this year, then there’s plenty of ways to get involved here in Manchester, or right from the comfort of your own home.
Here’s a few of the best products, workshops, courses and hampers that we’ve found online.
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Chocolate Making Workshop
Manchester
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Fancy feeling like a master chocolatier with this incredible chocolate workshop for two?
Right from a central Manchester location, you can be tutored by professionals in the delicate art of piping, cutting, dipping and decorating chocolate. The day will start with a fascinating history lesson, before you taste a wonderful selection of hand-crafted chocolates and then have a go at creating your own personalised giant chocolate button and scrumptious fresh-cream truffles that you can take home as a fabulous memento of the day.
There’s currently a special offer running on this workshop, meaning it’s available to book for just £70 (for two people) on BuyAGift.co.uk, and if you’re looking for something extra special, you can upgrade to a ‘Luxury Workshop’ for a further £20 too, so it’s definitely worth taking advantage of whilst you can.
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Any bookings will be valid for 10 months.
You can find out more and book on to the Chocolate Making Workshop – Manchesterhere.
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Online Chocolate Making Course
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If you were intrigued by the above workshop, but would much prefer to become a master chocolatier from the comfort of your own home, then this engaging course will teach you how to make your own delicious chocolates online instead.
You will get to delve into the fascinating history of this indulgent sweet treat, as well as learn to make and decorate your own chocolate truffles. This online experience will also teach you the art of tempering chocolate, the secrets to perfecting and layering caramel, how to mould chocolate, make elegant chocolate bars and more.
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If you want top tips and advice for making chocolate to a professional standard in your own kitchen, then this is the course for you.
This virtual one-to-one course is now available to book via BuyAGift.co.uk for £25.
You can find out more and book on to the Online Chocolate Making Coursehere.
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Make Your Own Chocolate Pizza
PrezzyBox
Sure, the smooth, creamy loveliness of chocolate isn’t really the first thing that comes to mind when you think about pizza.
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But who says that combining two great foods doesn’t create perfection?
This Make Your Own Chocolate Pizza kit comes with everything you need to create your very own chocolatey masterpiece. All you’ll need to do is melt the delicious chocolate buttons and pour the molten goodness into the base mould, then sprinkle it with some creamy white chocolate ‘cheese’, add chocolate beans, jelly beans or anything else you might have onto your pizza base to create a heavenly treat made to order.
It’s retailing at £12.99 + delivery on PrezzyBox and you can get your hands on it here.
Prefer to treat yourself to a slice without all the hassle of making it yourself first? Don’t worry, there’s also a pre-made 10″ Chocolate Pizza on PrezzyBox too that looks just as indulgent.
PrezzyBox
This Chocolate Pizza is perfect for anyone who’s partial to a few chocolates every now again, or for someone who’s a full blown chocoholic. The ‘pizza’ base is made from the finest Belgium chocolate, topped with all sorts of delicious treats from vanilla fudge and white chocolate curls, to jelly beans, raspberry pieces and chocolate orange slices.
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Basically, you can’t really go wrong with it.
It’s retailing at just £15.99+ delivery and you can get your hands on it from PrezzyBox here.
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Chocolate Letterbox Hamper
Prezzybox
There’s only one thing better than a chocolate bar – a hamper that’s ‘chocked’ full of it, and if there’s only one thing better than a hamper full of chocolate, it’s a hamper full of chocolate that can be delivered right to your front door.
The ultimate indulgence.
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This Chocolate Lover Letterbox Hamper features a selection of artisan chocolate treats that are perfect for any sweet-tooth, including x1 Willie’s Cacao Milk Of The Gods Rio Caribe Chocolate Bar, x2 Monty Bo Jangles Nutty Truffles, x1 Brodericks Nutty Crunchie Caramel Munchie, x1 Gnaw Fudge Crunch Chocolate Bar, x1 Edinburgh Tea & Coffee Co. Chocolate Coffee, x1 Great British Biscotti Chunky Belgian Choc and x1 Hiederegger Marzipan Stick ‘N’ Go.
It’s retailing at £17.99+ delivery and you can get your hands on it from PrezzyBox here.
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Personalised Cadbury Hamper
Prezzybox
There really isn’t a more appropriate way to mark National Chocolate Day than with a hamper full of Cadbury’s chocolate, right?
Even better – a personalised Cadbury Chocolate Hamper.
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The hamper contains x5 Dairy Milk bars, x1 Wispa bar, x1 Twirl, x1 Crunchie, x1 Dairy Milk Caramel bar, x1 Double Decker bar, x1 carton of Cadbury Heroes, x1 box of Milk Tray, x1 pack of Oreo biscuits, x1 pack of Golden Oreo biscuits and x1 Toblerone.
Praise the chocolate Gods.
It’ll set you back £29.99+ delivery and you can get your hands this Personalised Cadbury Hamper from PrezzyBox here.
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Flashbacks: The timelapse of the Trafford Centre construction that’s gone viral
Danny Jones
The Trafford Centre might look like some decadent Roman emperor’s palace or as if it was plucked from the heart of Ancient Grecian city, but as anyone old enough to remember it’s opening and/or construction will tell you, it seems strange to think its not even been around for three decades yet.
As Greater Manchester’s and one of the North West’s most famous shopping centres full stop, the iconic attraction first began being built back in 1996, when John Major was Prime Minister, Manchester United were still Premier League champions, Britpop was at its peak and George Michael was number one.
It’s fair to say that a lot has changed since then and although Oasis might be back come 2025, The Trafford Centre and surrounding area are pretty unrecgonisable compared to nearly 30 years ago.
All told, it took approximately 27 months to erect the neo-classical epicentre of all things shopping, leisure, food and fanciness – and here’s what the process looked like:
With the initial 14 million sq ft shopping centre being completed in September 1998 following approximately 810 days of work, The Trafford Centre debuted to the Manc public and beyond.
It took more than 3,000 builders to bring the 60 hectare site to life at the peak of construction and since then the plot has only grown bigger, bolder and more ambitious over time.
Present day, it has everything from cinema screens and a mini Legoland to a Sea Life location, multiple bowling alleys and countless other forms of entertainment beyond just rows of shops and restaurants – hence why it remains busy pretty much year-round.
Back then, British celebrities, popular local names of note, politicians, dignitaries and prominent figures from the retail industry got to visit as part of exclusive preview events in the days before its launch date.
You can see the spectacle and fascination surrounding the official opening event here:
Seems surreal watching this today but the construction of the Trafford Centre was a huge moment not just for 0161 but all of the North.
But of course, the entire complex itself has seen multiple extensions over the years, including massive developments such as Barton Square and The Great Hall.
At the outset, it cost more than £600 million to build The Trafford Centre; the major renovations mentioned above which took place in 2008 cost another £100m and the Trafford Palazzo revamp around a decade later came in at around £75m.
There has and always will be lots of money put behind this intruguing monument to modern consumerism, and big brands will continue to flock to open units within the huge expanse whenever they can: some of the most recent being Archie’s, Flying Tiger, Sephora, Tiffany, Gymshark and more.
We’ll admit the aesthetic still makes us double-take from time to time (though not as much as confused Londoners visiting for the first time), but it’s not like this part of the world hasn’t boasted plenty of other curiosities in the past…
Featured Images — Charles Bowring (via Wikimedia Commons)/The Manc Group
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‘Nothing is eternal’: Is Pep Guardiola hinting at the end of Manchester City’s supremacy?
Danny Jones
Pep Guardiola looks to have suggested that more than a decade of Manchester City’s supremacy and Premier League dominance at the very least might be coming to an end.
Speaking in his post-match press interviews after City were knocked out of the Champions League by serial European Cup winners Real Madrid, Guardiola cut a somewhat more deflated figure than usual following the 3-1 defeat.
A Kylian Mbappe hattrick which was closed out within an hour of play was enough to stretch the aggregate score to 6-3 over the two legs and Madrid doubling their lead across the tie proved yet again why, not unlike City domestically over the last decade, they’re the kings of the continental competition.
In contrast, however, Pep seemed to accept the loss much more easily than perhaps we’ve seen in the past and rather than appearing familiarly frustrated or defiant in the press conference; instead, he seemed rather reflective, responding to one reporter: “Nothing is eternal”.
🗣️ "Nothing is eternal" – Pep Guardiola.
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Insisting that they have to decide whether a significant rebuild is needed to keep competing at the very top level consistently as they have done since the 54-year-old arrived back in 2016, he argued that it is only with that they’ll be able to determine what comes next.
As for the result itself, he made no bones about Carlo Ancelotti’s side having “deserved it”, stating simply that “the best team won” and that fans and players alike have to “accept the reality: they were better.”
Having been a familiar foe for Pep long before he arrived in Manchester, both at Barcelona and Bayern Munich – not to mention City having faced Los Blancos a dozen times before Tuesday night since 2012 – there have been less surprising outcomes for supporters to come to terms with.
“With time, the club and everyone is going to accept what it is but for now we have 30/40 games for the Premier League next season to try and be here [in the Champions League] and to improve. Nothing is eternal”, said the Catalan coaching genius.
On the other hand, he also went on to add that it was merely a reflection on the night itself and not what his team have achieved in recent years.
He went on to remark that “when we were playing outstanding it hurt more” to be knocked out of the UCL when he felt they deserved to stay in it, but still insisted: “We have been unbelievable and we have to try step by step to get better from today.” Tonight just wasn’t the night.
Who knows? Perhaps it was just some more melodrama from a manager with an undeniable flare for pageantry and playing into/in the face of narratives when he doesn’t come out on top – which hasn’t happened all that often until their dip in form this season.
Plus, there’s certainly still plenty for him and the fans to be positive about; not only has the arrival of their ‘Egyptian Prince’ and the media’s Mo Salah successor, Omar Marmoush, got plenty of people excited – especially after that first-half hattrick against Newcastle – but so too have the other January signings.
In fact, for all of his downplaying in this particular presser (which you can hear in full HERE), it felt like there were only upsides after their victory over Newcastle, even going so far as to dub new signing Nico Gonzalez a ‘mini-Rodri‘.
You can watch the highlights from the game down below:
Pep is right, nothing is eternal – but sometimes you just come up against talents like Mbappe and there’s very little anyone can do about it.
Emily Sergeant -
7th July 2020 
