The power and potential of interior design is limitless.
And perhaps nothing proves this to be true more than what is hidden behind the doors of this unassuming three-bedroom Victorian home in Stretford, which has been completely transformed into a vision of the 1970s by one retro-obsessed mum.
Known aptly as the 70s House Manchester, walking inside this characterful home is truly like taking a step back in time, and it’s absolutely brilliant.
70s House Manchester is a lifelong passion of Founder and Creative Director, Estelle Bilson.
Estelle, 43 – the daughter of an Antiques Dealer, who has bought and sold vintage for over 25 years and attended auctions with her father from the age of four, before starting to collect for herself at the tender age of 13 – moved from London to Manchester in 2015.
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She set about curating a seventies-style home and managed to revamp the entire property for just £1,500, as she bought nearly all the bits and bobs secondhand.
This then inspired the concept behind the ever-growing brand.
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70s House Manchester
70s House Manchester
Starting humbly as an Instagram page, before turning into a ‘Location Home’ and then a thriving, multi-faceted business selling luxury, British wallpaper, fabrics and various other lifestyle boutique items, the 70s House Manchester specialises in recreating the era that spawned everything from disco, to Biba, glam rock and Studio 54, by taking influence from mid-century design, more than a dash of 70’s funk, and “the love of fun, bold, graphic style”.
The home itself – which is filled with the collection of seventies furniture and object d’art that Estelle has spent hours tracking down from auctions, eBay, and charity shops – actually had a previous life as the local corner shop and even once appeared on Coronation Street.
Each room inside the home is described as being “a constant evolution in design, depending on which amazing vintage finds inspire Estelle”.
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But it has to be said, the family doesn’t actually live like they’re in the 70s.
70s House Manchester70s House Manchester
“We don’t live like it is 1974, but we appreciate the styling, design and quality of build of the furniture.” Estelle insists.
“It’s more exciting, diverse and colourful – not to mention sustainable, value for money and better built than most things you can buy in the shops today, [and] it’s also very budget friendly [too], if you know where to find the bargains.
“Second hand doesn’t have to be second rate and although our home is filled with vintage treasure it still looks relevant, stylish and homely and not too much like a junk shop, which can be the danger when you buy too many second hand things.
“Some have compared it to a shrine or a museum – it’s neither.
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“It’s simply our home, which we chose to furnish with things that make us happy.”
70s House Manchester
Not only has 70s House Manchester enjoyed success as a ‘Location Home’, a popular Instagram page with over 43K followers, and a growing interiors brand, but Estelle also markets the house and its contents to hire for photoshoots, film and TV sets and events.
And after a successful 20 year career in Technical Design and Product Development for some of the UK’s most luxurious fashion brands and with a qualification in Interior Design, she was perfectly poised to be able to use her skills and expertise on the esteemed panel of dealers on the popular BBC One show The Bidding Room last year too.
70s House Manchester prides itself on “looking back to move forward” – and that’s exactly what it does.
You can find more information about 70s House Manchester, and shop from the styling boutique via the website here, and follow along for updates and inspiration on Instagram too.
Robbie Williams is releasing a big budget biopic later this year – only it stars him as a monkey?…
Danny Jones
Robbie Williams has always been a true popstar but he’s never exactly played it paint by numbers, which is why learning that his upcoming biopic features him as a CGI monkey sounds much less random than it would be coming from anyone else.
There have been countless big-budget movies about rockstars and famous musicians even in just the past few years – One Love about Bob Marley, Back to Black about Amy Winehouse, Elvis and even the upcoming Bob Dylan biopic – but there is a single one we could name where the star is a monkey.
Announced this week, BETTER MAN will tell the story of Robbie Williams’ life and career right up until the present day and is set to be released this festive period.
The first trailer has now dropped too and whatever you make of the concept, visually at least, looks pretty good – only time will tell whether it’s a good film or not.
First trailer for the Robbie Williams biopic ‘BETTER MAN’, starring a CGI monkey as Robbie Williams.
The tagline for the film is, “Discover an extraordinary journey that can’t be told in an ordinary way” and as Williams addresses in the short teaser, starting by simply saying, “I know what you’re thinking? What’s with the monkey?”, they’ve certainly found a way to tell this story diferently.
In fact, although telling his story through the medium of a monkey wasn’t his idea to begin with and, as he and director Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) told the likes of Heart Radio, there’s a few reasons for it.
First off, Robbie said of the film and its vision: “I want everything that I do from here on in to be slightly unusual, so that fits that narrative.”
“As humans, we care more for animals than we do for humans. So the audience is probably going to have more empathy for me as a monkey than they would’ve done for me as me.” That’s a fair point: a cute CGI monkey can definitely be rooted for, but it’s Gracey’s explanation that makes it sound most interesting.
As he puts it, the idea to make a furry version of the 50-year-old came from looking to reflect the hitmaker being “pushed on stage” like a “performing monkey” throughout his life, even when heavily under the influence of durgs and alcohol. But it goes much deeper than that.
“This is how he sees himself.” Director Michael Gracey explains why Robbie Williams is a monkey in #BetterManMovie – In select US theatres December 25. Everywhere in the US January 17. pic.twitter.com/GBSyFNfRe5
The Australian director, who also headed up fellow pop music icon P!nk’s autobiographical documentary, goes on to explain: “He was always putting on a performance at [his hometown] Stoke for the other kids, at home for his parents.
“It made it so powerful for me because I was like, You’re going to fall in love with this character, this little monkey. And you’re going to invest emotionally in this little monkey. As long as you set that contract at the start of the film, you’re in, and you will go with that monkey through the entire journey.”
Robbie will be played and largely voiced by Chesterfield-born actor Jonno Davies via motion capture technology, not unlike that used for the Planet of the Apes films, with the story spanning his fractious childhood to boy band success with Take That and then solo superstardom.
Still one of the best-selling and most well-known pop stars to ever do it, he will naturally take full control of the singing sections in the film as well as provide narration.
As he put its himself in the voiceover we’ve now heard, “I’m one of the biggest pop stars in the world but I’ve always seen myself a little less… evolved”. The stylistic choice has certainly split opinion already, with some calling it a “fantastic” approach from a “working class lad” who made it. Others have only found the immediate humour in it thus far.
idea for a film… the life of Robbie Williams told through the perspective of a CGI monkey pic.twitter.com/UhVtr4O8cX
Set to release on Boxing Day 2024, the blockbuster project from Paramount Pictures also features Steve Pemberton, Damon Herriman’ Raechelle Banno, Alison Steadman, Kate Mulvaney; Frazer Hadfield, Tom Budge and Anthony Hayes.
With a budget of a reported $110 million, the movie has actually already been debuted at the Toronto Film Festival and was met with pretty positive reviews, with The Guardian giving it four stars and labelling it a “surprisingly entertaining saga.”
As for us, we will say that we’d probably have watched a Robbie Williams biopic anyway, but let’s just say it being told through the lens of a monkey has very much piqued our interest.
There’s also another feature-length project still being made right here in Manchester that we’re very much keeping our eye on.
Featured Images — Paramount Pictures/Drew de F Fawkes (via Flickr)
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Aldi is looking to give someone free shopping for a year with its new ‘superfan card’
Emily Sergeant
Aldi has launched its first ever ‘superfan card’, and is looking to give one lucky person free shopping for a full year.
Did you know that, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the average UK household now spends, on average, £4,124 on groceries annually? For many families, that figure could be even higher too unfortunately – but for one lucky Aldi shopper, they soon won’t have to part ways with a single penny for 12 whole months.
That’s because the budget supermarket retailer has just launched a new ‘superfan card’ for the first time ever, and wants to celebrate its most loyal customer by offering them a year’s-worth of groceries for free.
Only one shopper will be able to claim the exclusive new card.
Aldi has launched its first ever ‘superfan card’ / Credit: Simon Hadley (via Aldi UK)
While Aldi is the UK’s cheapest supermarket, which tends to mean customers spend less groceries overall, the wide selection of seasonal Specialbuys on offer in the fan-favourite ‘middle aisle’ can often mean they end up spending more, which is why Aldi’s Superfan Card will be worth £5,000 so the winner can bag the exciting extras as well as the essentials.
Richard Thornton, who is the Communications Director at Aldi, is calling this a “once in a lifetime opportunity”, adding: “We know how passionate our customers are about Aldi, and we wanted to find a way to give something truly special back to Aldi’s biggest fan.
“We can’t wait to see the creativity and enthusiasm in the entries.”
The new card will give one lucky person free shopping for a full year / Credit: Aldi UK
All bargain-lovers need to do to be in with the chance of winning the new card is explain to Aldi judges – who will carefully review all submissions – in no more than 250 words they are the company‘s biggest fan and deserve to win a year’s worth of free shopping.
You just need to be over 18, and to email your name, age, hometown, and your entry to [email protected], before the deadline on Halloween (31 October) at 11:59pm.
Emily Sergeant -
26th January 2021 
