It looked like Walkers had already got their big festive announcement out of the way nice and early this year.
Back in October, the snack food giant confirmed the impending launch of sausage roll-flavoured crisps; a perfect flavour to add to the snack bowl over the Christmas holidays.
But apparently, that was just the warm-up.
The bigger reveal came this week – with Walkers taking to social media to reveal the grand return of the much-loved Prawn Cocktail and Salt & Vinegar flavour Quavers.
Prawn Cocktail and Salt & Vinegar flavour Quavers are coming back!
Wanna be the first to taste them? And WIN A LIFETIME SUPPLY OF QUAVERS?
It’s tough to remember the last time there was quite so much excitement for the launch of a snack.
ADVERTISEMENT
Despite Quavers being most widely available in cheese flavour since their inception, some people have never forgotten the days where these curly crisps boasted different tastes.
Several years ago, Quavers were available in both green and pink bags – and despite some short-lived success, these flavours were ultimately discontinued.
ADVERTISEMENT
Certain fans felt more passionately about the decision to stop the production of Prawn Cocktail and Salt & Vinegar flavour Quavers than others – with one person even launching a petition on Change.org to bring them back.
Now, it appears those ardent snack lovers have finally got their wish.
Green and pink Quavers are both returning to shelves – and Walkers is offering one lucky winner the chance to bag a lifetime supply.
ADVERTISEMENT
There’s no official release date yet, but the first whispers are suggesting January 2021.
We’re all hoping for a much better year next time around. Flavoured Quavers would be a pretty solid way to kick things off.
Trending
Five Greater Manchester-based artists we’ve been listening to this month | January 2026
Danny Jones
Happy New Ye—ah, never mind, we’re well past that; however, we’re never past soaking up new music and song recommendations from the best music city in the world – we’re pretty sure that’s why they really call it Greater Manchester…
If 2026 does happen to be your first year with us, this feature is pretty self-explanatory: every month, we round up some of the best tunes and Manc-based artists you may not have heard before.
Or maybe you have, and you’ve just forgotten about them. You don’t have to be a big name or an up-and-comer here at Audio North; you make it on this list if you’re good. It really is as simple as that.
So, without further ado, let’s get stuck into our very first collection of regional artists you need to try of the year…
Five Manchester artists we’ve been listening to recently
1. Spangled
First up for 2026 is a group we’re expecting big things from this year, and hopefully plenty of new music to back it up. They’re playing a huge Ritz headline show with some other Manc bands at the end of February, and it’s sure to be a party, especially when that new single ‘Barracuda Cadillac’ kicks in.
Spangled is a name you may have already come across, and they’ve certainly been working hard over the past half a decade, but we’ve got into a real groove with them of late. Post-punk, alt-rock, or straight-up Manc indie in moments; they’re given all sorts of labels – we just call it full-tilt rock and roll.
They’ve got a great swagger about them. Frontman Ben Johnson has a bit of Rob Damiani about him; the guitar work is excellent, they do a good music video, and they’ve even got a track that sounds like ‘The Only One I Know’ by The Charlatans. We’d say start with ‘Little Tom’, ‘Human’ and ‘Drift Away’.
Ok, off to a strong start, and while we’re hoping for those lads to finally release their first full album in the coming months, we’re hoping to see fellow rising rock project, PAVÉ, drop a proper lengthier sophomore LP sometime soon. If you fancy taking things up a notch in terms of heaviness, these are just the ticket.
Mixing plenty of distortion, electronics and wider effects to their overall sound, this four-piece (which was also formed in 2019) is great for anyone trying to keep their nu-metal and grunge-soaked younger selves alive, and they definitely know how to write a radio-friendly chorus.
Alanya Jade’s vocals soar over hard-hitting riffs and rapid drumming patterns, and the lyrics are appropriately brooding. We’d recommend their big single, ‘The Weight Of Letting Go’, another fan favourite, ‘Whatever The Cost’, and our personal favourite thus far, ‘aren’t YOU scAREd to be ALONE?’
Sticking with Manc rock but with plenty of US influences, we move on to Gallagher’s Green. Named after a cigarette brand and showing no shame in championing not only some post-Britpop, but unmistakable Americana and even country, this collective has roots in Oldham, the North West, Yorkshire and Ireland.
Their backstory and journey up to this point is as fascinating as it is moving, with founding duo Ian Gallagher and Jon Olphert first meeting whilst serving in Iraq back in 2008, before going to enjoy gigs together and eventually forming a band of musical brothers all their own.
They’ve maintained a clear mix of mainstream transatlantic sounds; it always sounds familiar, but there’s definitely more of a leaning towards the Stateside vibes. Put simply, your dad’ll LOVE these, and we mean that in the best way. ‘Just A Dream’, ‘Not My Day to Die’ and ‘Better Days’ are our standouts.
You’ll get a bit of Oasis, Shed Seven, Feeder, as well as bits of Foo Fighters, Incubus, and much more.
4. CQ Wrestling
Our penultimate pick is, quite frankly, a band that should have been named on our Greater Manchester artists of the month list AGES ago, but given they’ve had a bit of a sea change in the last couple of years or so, we held off to see what we’ve made of it.
We needn’t have worried – if anything, we’re more obsessed than ever. No longer Chappaqua but now simply CQ Wrestling, the local indie turned even grungier and more shoegaze than ever outfit definitely suits this particular writer’s general tastes, but it does help set them apart a bit more these days.
Personally, we will always have a very strong soft spot for older tunes like ‘Football’, though we do enjoy the growing aggression in 2023’s ‘Kulture’, but our favourite track at the moment is ‘Catherine Wheels’, which feels like the perfect advert for their relaunch as an even darker brand of modern alt-rock.
5. Oscar White
Finishing on a much softer note for this month, we head into February with the dulcet tones of Devon-born singer-songwriter, Oscar White, who has such a command of the acoustic guitar that we believe his intricate picking could genuinely lull a baby to sleep. Or, you know, a fully grown man…
This Manchester-based folk artist definitely enjoys dipping into the old Celtic and bardic traditions, so it feels quite quintessential for the genre, and best of all, we’re starting you off nice and easy, because he’s only got two tracks out on Spotify, but there is more to be found on his YouTube and other places online.
So, stick on ‘Debts and Dry Land’ and ‘Spencer The Rover’ – both of which show off that fingerstyle guitar, but also do a good job of showing two different ways he deploys his raspy voice – but do check out YouTube for his live version of ‘All Turned Out’ at The Whiskey Jar in NQ. Simply gorgeous.
Interview | Chatting with Tim Burgess before he chats to Mancunians on their doorstep
Danny Jones
In case you hadn’t heard, local music legend Tim Burgess is coming back to the AO Arena right here in Manchester this February for another intimate evening following the success of his last visit.
Set to include not only an interview but live stripped-back performances as well as Q&A, it’s your chance to see one of our region’s most famous musical sons up close and personal.
Returning for a candid and eye-opening sitdown with local DJ and radio host and Northern music champion, Chris Hawkins, it’s sure to be a special night.
Before posting up in The Mezz (which you can still grab tickets for), we had the honour of interviewing Salford’s very own Tim Burgess ourselves. Here’s what he had to say ahead of the event…
So you’ve returned to the AO again for another intimate gig. What do you love most about these smaller, conversational evenings compared to traditional gigs?
“Live events just have a connection with an audience that no remote link, AI or recording could ever match. From arriving and running through a soundcheck, meeting the arena team and catching up with Chris Hawkins, it all builds up to when the audience comes in.
“Chris and I don’t plan what he’s going to ask, so it’s all on the spot – nothing’s recorded, so you never know what might get said.
“Chris is a fantastic interviewer, and I get to meet everyone over the merch table at the end; I don’t get that at a Charlatans show – they are brilliant, and the tour we did in December was a brilliant experience for all of us.
“Maybe I prefer my bandmates being there when it comes to playing the songs, but it’s a chance for an audience to hear them in a way that they probably haven’t heard them before.
For anyone who hasn’t been to a Q&A-Sides show before, how would you describe the experience?
It’s a brilliantly informal night out – the chance to hear some of the stories behind the songs and 35 years’ worth of recording and touring adventures – plus a few songs with me and a guitar, and maybe a harmonica involved too.
“I’ve chatted to lots of people after the shows, and they always say it was a fantastic insight and that they loved the songs – then I realise they’re talking to me and they’d probably just say that anyway.”
Are there any particular songs that really shine in this stripped-back setting?
“You get to hear them as many of them were written. Particularly, the songs that Mark [Collins] and I came up with – it would usually just be me singing and him with an acoustic guitar, so it’s back to how they originally sounded.
“I’ve got quite a back catalogue of songs I’ve learned, so I’ll maybe keep them a bit secret. Suffice to say, there will be a few Charlatans’ classics, absolutely.”
When you look back on your career so far, are there any moments that feel especially meaningful to share in a setting like this?
“Our audience has grown up with us – lots were teenagers when we started, and I was in my early twenties. We’ve shared moments of grief, triumph, elation and tragedy – it’s just that ours were done in the cauldron of touring and recording with sometimes the eyes of the world on us.
“At times, it’s not been easy, but life will have been tough for our fans too. Chris is brilliant at making it seem like it’s just the two of us, and nothing is off limits – then you might say something funny and two hundred people laugh, and you snap back to realising it’s not the two of us talking in a pub.”
You’ve met and worked with so many iconic artists – are there any stories that always get a great reaction when you tell them live?
“I suppose there are some fairly iconic times – lots of people in the audience would have been at Knebworth when we played there with Oasis. Our situation was made all the more poignant as Rob Collins had died shortly before the show, and we weren’t even sure if we would play.
“It was a real existential moment for us – then there are funny stories of doing Top Of The Pops with a dressing room opposite The Smurfs. A lot has happened in those three and a half decades…
Being a Salford lad yourself, what do you think it is that makes a Manchester crowd so special?
I’m biased, but up until the band started, all my greatest moments happened in and around Manchester, and I was part of that crowd, whether watching [Man] United, seeing a band or losing yourself on the dancefloor of a club.
There’s a sense of feeling at home – there’s a BIG, beautiful world out there, and maybe we won’t tell the Midlands contingent in The Charlatans, but Manchester is always a homecoming for us.
Once again, if you fancy grabbing a last-minute ticket for ‘Tim Burgess – Live and In Conversation’ on Sunday, 8 February, there are still a few available.
ADVERTISEMENT
The show starts from 7pm, and you can secure your seat right HERE.
The Manc -
11th December 2020 
