The Trafford Centre doors may currently be closed to all non-essential retail, but once restrictions allow, there’s some new names ready and waiting.
With England firmly within the third national lockdown amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, only a handful of essential retail outlets are still serving in The Trafford Centre, while hospitality businesses are just permitted to offer takeaway services, but the mall is still gearing up to “bolster the fashion, wellbeing and food offering in 2021” with four new openings.
These new openings include the North West-based fashion retailer Forever Unique, luxury cosmetics brand Rituals, Manchester-born burger and shakes chain Archie’s, and the launch of US-based Slim Chickens.
The bricks and mortar launch of women’s occasion wear retailer Forever Unique – which was founded by husband-and-wife team Seema and Sandeep Malhotra ten years ago – has seen the Manchester e-commerce brand sign for a unit near Selfridges on the upper mall, after the company has since grown rapidly as an online-first brand, successfully breaking into international fashion markets, and securing stockist partnerships in over two-dozen countries.
“Over the last 12 years, our main priority has been to successfully expand into new markets and raise the profile of the brand.” Seema and Sandeep Malhotra said.
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“Our goal is to explore new and innovative ways to engage a wider market, allowing consumers more diverse ways to shop and interact with Forever Unique and we’ve seen increased demand for accessible ways to shop, so we’re excited to be offering a store at The Trafford Centre where customers can physically see and shop the product in a more intimate retail experience.”
The Trafford Centre
Alongside this, the Trafford Centre is also expecting a boom in wellbeing purchases this year.
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As consumers look towards post-pandemic treats – with leading market research company Kantar suggesting good value holistic care as a key retail theme for 2021 – luxury cosmetics and home brand Rituals has also joined The Trafford Centre.
The brand is set to cater to this popular wellbeing trend from a 1,500 sq. ft. unit located close to the Main Dome near Selfridges.
And when it comes to new eateries, iconic Manchester-born burger and shake bar Archie’s has taken a 6,500 sq. ft. unit in the upper-level of The Orient, and Slim Chickens – which focuses on Southern US hospitality to deliver a fast casual dining experience – has also agreed a lease
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This is Slim Chickens’ first restaurant in the north of the UK, and it is currently occupying a 3,500 sq. ft. space in The Great Hall.
Having opened late last year, Archie’s and Slim Chickens have joined other eateries in The Orient, and will be providing both deliveries and click and collect services for the duration of lockdown and until normal service is resumed.
Both are eager to welcome diners to sit in once restrictions allow.
Speaking on the mall’s new openings, Nick Williams – Senior Director at CBRE, The Trafford Centre Asset Manager – said: “As one of the UK’s most popular retail and leisure destinations, The Trafford Centre continues to enhance the vibrant mix of brands available to its visitors to reflect consumer trends and create opportunities for emerging brands to reach a wider audience.
“We are absolutely delighted to welcome these new brands and look forward to our visitors enjoying their unique offerings.
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“Across the retail and F&B categories, we’ve seen some exciting additions to the centre’s brand line up this year from both regional and internationally recognised brands [and] these signings demonstrate confidence in the long term outlook for The Trafford Centre as we look forward to 2021 and beyond.”
Adrien Welch
To help “make the centre a safe place for all”, The Trafford Centre asks that visitors remember to always follow marked routes and visit with their household / social bubble only.
Everyone that visits the centre, whether that’s to work or shop, will need to wear a face covering too.
The Trafford Centre defines a face covering as “something which safely covers the nose and mouth” and visitors can use reusable or single-use face coverings, as well as also use a scarf, bandana, religious garment or hand-made cloth covering, but these must all securely fit round the side of the face.
To ensure safe social distancing, the centre will be observing capacity limits and this means that customers may be asked to queue outdoors during busier periods and are advised to dress appropriately for the winter weather.
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A number of car parks and entrances will also remain closed to help manage capacity.
Enhanced hygiene regimes will continue, with regular deep cleaning of key areas and touchpoints like escalators, toilets and keypads, and hand sanitation stands will also remain at entrances and throughout the centre.
The COVID-safety measures are hoped to “provide all visitors with additional reassurance” and further information can be found here.
Opening Times
Monday – Friday: 10am – 10pm
Saturday: 10am – 9pm
Sunday: 12pm – 6pm
You can find more information ahead of visit via the Trafford Centre website here.
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The TikTok that TRICKED people into thinking Oasis played at Parklife last night
A TikTok video has gone viral overnight after one user tricked people into thinking there was a surprise Oasis set at Parklife last night.
In case you haven’t heard, or your social media feed hasn’t been packed with videos giving you serious FOMO, the biggest weekend in the Manchester music calendar, Parklife, is well underway.
Heaton Park may have been home to another familiar British rock band, Catfish and The Bottlemen on Friday night, but a certain rock band which definitely weren’t in attendance last night (as much as TikTok might want you to believe) is Oasis.
Although Parklife is welcoming the likes of A-list talent such as Charli XCX, 50 Cent, Jorja Smith and more, familiar household name and Britpop icons Oasis are not playing out across any of the two-day weekender.
Parklife is Manchester’s biggest festival weekender.This festival draws in crowds of up to 80,000 across both days.
But a video uploaded last night, which showed Oasis seemingly playing a set at this music festival, went viral with the caption, ‘Can’t believe Oasis just performed at Parklife’.
One TikTok user seemed very annoyed at the fact that, “My daughter was there and she hasn’t told me !!!! She hasn’t said anything ???”
Another said: “No way I sold my ticket.”
Someone else commented: “Wait what?!”
While another user outsmarted this viral video by asking the original uploader: “Do Oasis know about this?”
The video which has now resurfaced and gone viral online was actually taken back in 2022 when Liam Gallagher played out to a packed 85,000 crowd at Knebworth – not Parklife.
Although Liam Gallagher may have been scheduled to play Heaton Park back in 2020 on his own, he definitely didn’t play last night and the rest of the Oasis troupe, including Noel, definitely weren’t in attendance too.
This, however, will be a different story next month as the boys are set to play five non-consecutive nights at Heaton Park between 11 and 20 July.
Parklife is back, which means festival fashion is back, and Manchester has absolutely delivered on its outfit trends once again.
Every year in the fields of Heaton Park, tens of thousands of music-lovers flock to the biggest party of the year.
And Manchester loves an excuse to get dressed up, whether it’s donning a pair of hot pants, the latest trainers, or something as tiny as a bikini.
Gone are the days where people would just wear jeans to a festival – especially Parklife, which has always delivered a more rave-inspired outfit.
Of course, the inevitable plastic poncho has featured pretty heavily in this year’s Parklife wardrobes.
And we did spot one guy wearing an ankle tag as an accessory…
But here are five other outfits trends we spotted around Parklife this year.
Leopard print
Outfit trends at Parklife 2025 – leopard print
Whoever said leopard print is a neutral is my kinda person, and this is one outfit trend you cannot get away from at Parklife.
We spotted the same pair of sequinned leopard micro-shorts about 300 times on day one of the festival, as well as some other variations on the legendary animal print.
There were leopard print bikini tops, leopard print jeans, leopard print two-pieces and plenty more in between, and they all looked amazing.
Ruffle skirts and frilly shorts
Outfit trends at Parklife 2025 – ruffle skirts
Manchester got the memo – tiny ruffle skirts and frilly shorts are the ultimate festival outfit essential this year, if Parklife is anything to go by.
These have been absolutely everywhere, whether it’s lace-trimmed hot pants or pretty white tennis skirts.
Ideally paired with a little chain belt, we’ll be seeing a lot more ruffles and frills today I reckon.
Cowboy boots
Outfit trends at Parklife 2025 – cowboy boots
Mixed feeling about cowboy boots at a festival – on the one hand, they look absolutely 10/10 gorgeous stunning amazing chic cool.
But on the other hand THINK OF THE BLISTERS. What happened to a sensible wellington boot?!
We saw a lot of people walking around barefoot with their cowboy boots in hand by the end of night one, but at least they looked cute before then.
Sports shirts
Outfit trends at Parklife 2025 – football shirts
It looked like a day out at an American football game out there are Parklife – the trend for colourful, Varsity football shirts was all over the place.
The girls were out in bold red, green, pink and all sorts of other colours, matching their sports shirts with tiny shorts and boots.
Big fan of this one.
Crochet
A festival style as old as time, little crochet shrugs have been making a healthy comeback in the fields of Parklife in 2025.
As well as crochet cardigans we’ve spotted a lot of mini dresses and bikini tops too.
It’s taken over from the trend from a few years ago where everyone squeezed into a full-body fishnet suit and is a much more bohemian twist.