What's On

All the celebrations lined up for Chinese New Year 2022 in Manchester

Chinese New Year is officially being celebrated in Manchester this year from Tuesday 1 - Sunday 6 February.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 18th January 2022

Chinese New Year 2022 is on the horizon, and as always, Manchester has a whole week of celebrations lined up to mark the occasion.

While Manchester’s usual annual celebrations for Chinese New Year – also known as Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival – may be on a slightly smaller scale this year due to the COVID restrictions in place to allow visitors to safely enjoy the events, there’s still plenty happening across the city centre to help bring in the ‘Year of the Tiger’.

Chinese New Year is officially being celebrated in Manchester this year from Tuesday 1 – Sunday 6 February.

As mentioned, 2022 has been named the ‘Year of the Tiger’, and according to the Chinese zodiac, people born in this year are predicted to be brave, competitive, unpredictable, and confident – just like the animal.

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To honour 2022’s animal namesake, a large-scale tiger art sculpture will take centre stage in St Ann’s Square as just one the events in the calendar.

You may have also seen that thousands of red lanterns have started adorning the city’s streets, and you can also expect the chance to take in some spectacular live performances, feast on authentic street food, and a make the most of a funfair, plus some traditional lion and dragon dances over the course of the week too.

Here’s everything happening for Chinese New Year 2022 in Manchester.

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Chinese New Year is being celebrated in Manchester from Tuesday 1 – Sunday 6 February / Credit: Instagram (@chinesenewyearmcr)

The New Year Tiger

St Ann’s Square

Tuesday 1 – Sunday 6 February 2022

New for 2022, commissioned by Manchester BID, and created by Decordia Events, this jaw-dropping installation will be a structural take on the traditional tiger made from wood and recycled corrugated plastic.

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While we know that the tiger is a symbol of power in Chinese culture and is considered to be brave and forceful, this origami-like tiger sculpture, however, will give the ultimate illusion to those who lay their eyes on it, as it appears to be weak and made of paper, but in fact, it will remain tall and strong for the world to see.

The tiger’s inner structure will also playfully-match the stripes and markings of a real-life tiger, casting stunning shadows at night with surrounding lights.

Chinatown Celebrations

Chinatown

Sunday 6 February 2022

The iconic Chinatown arch in Manchester city centre / Credit: Visit Manchester

While sadly, popular annual events such as the parade and the firework finale will not be taking place in 2022 due to COVID restrictions, there’s still plenty to make the most of in Manchester city centre’s very-own Chinatown.

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Think live performances, workshops, street food, stalls, and a funfair, as well as the illuminated Dragon, and other family-friendly activities such as traditional lion dances, Chinese acrobatics, singing, poem reading, and Kung Fu.

Performances will take place from 11am – 7pm in Chinatown Car Park, and you can see the illuminated dragon on the hour from 4pm – 7pm in Chinatown itself.

It’s asked that you please wear a mask when possible at all Chinatown events.

The Door Opened: 1980s China

Manchester Central Library

26 January – 26 April 2022

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The Door Opened: 1980s China at Manchester Central Library, with photographs by Adrian Bradshaw / Credit: Manchester Central Library

Brought to Manchester Central Library by the Confucius Institute at The University of Manchester, from 26 January – 26 April, English photographer Adrian Bradshaw’s exhibition The Door Opened: 1980s China will feature a blend of candid and posed photographs exploring China in the 1980s.

Bradshaw went to Beijing as a student in 1984 just as everyday life was in flux, and caught up in the ferment of the time, he went on to spend three decades documenting the transformation of China as the vast nation changed and opened up to the world.

Photographs captured document everything from opulent fashion extravaganzas, to sentimental family excursions, as he captures the fleeting beauty and simplicity of everyday life.

It’s described as a vivid record of a pivotal period in modern history.

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Featured Image – Instagram (@chinesenewyearmcr)

What's On

Neighbourhood Festival Manchester 2022 – tickets, line-up, venues and more

Danny Jones Danny Jones Neighbourhood Festival Line-Up 2022

Neighbourhood Festival returns to Manchester this weekend and promises to be bigger than ever.

For those uninitiated, the massive city centre festival is Neighbourhood Weekender‘s sister event and has been running every October since 2016. Well, barring the pandemic, of course.

Springing from a fledgling one-day festival that boasted the likes of Circa Waves, Blossoms, White Lies, Twin Atlantic and Lonely the Brave, it has now become one of the biggest events of the year with over 100 acts spread across multiple venues dotted around the city centre. And just in time for the students.

Since its conception, crowds have seen everyone from Sam Fender, Easy Life and Holly Humberstone, to Mahalia, Declan McKenna, Miles Kane and many, many more of Britain’s biggest names take the Neighbourhood stages on their way to making a splash on the UK music scene.

Credit: Neighbourhood Festival (via Instagram)

Luckily for you, this year’s line-up looks an absolute whopper too.

Neighbourhood Festival Line-Up 2022

As well as those we already knew about such as The Snuts, Sundara Karama and local lads Everything Everything, Wigan-based indie band The Lathums have also confirmed that they will be joining the Neighbourhood headliners at this year’s festival.

You love to see it. You love to see everyone on this list, to be honest.

The special guests don’t stop there either, though, as The K’s will also be making an appearance at Albert Hall and the organisers promise even more surprises around the corner.

As you can see, there are big names everywhere – punters can also look forward to seeing the likes of Alfie Templeman and Baby Queen; Lauran Hibberd and Ten Tonnes, as well as Far Caspian and Brooke Combe, just to name a few.

There’s plenty of Mancunian music being represented as well, with Corella, Afflecks Palace, The Covasettes and The Stanleys all repping 0161.

Neighbourhood Festival 22 Venues

One of the best parts about Neighbourhood Fest is that aside from the acts themselves, there are some seriously mint venues on the list every year, from gig-going favourites to some locations you may have never seen live music before or even been full-stop.

Here is the full list of Neighbourhood venues we know of so far:

  • Manchester Academy 1 and 2 (14+)
  • Albert Hall (14+)
  • The Deaf Institute (14+)
  • Gorilla (14+)
  • O2 Ritz Manchester (14+)
  • Revolution – Oxford Road (14+ until 9pm, then 18+)
  • Canvas (14+)
  • Bunny Jacksons (14+ until 9pm, then 18+)
  • YES – The Basement and The Pink Room (18+)
  • The Bread Shed (14+)
  • The Zombie Shack (18+)

That being said, it’s still worth keeping your eye out on social for any updates as more special guests and surprise appearances are expected, and who knows where they could pop up?

For instance, we already know that Hard-Fi will be playing their first gig in eight whole years at the brand-spanking New Century which we peeped not long ago. It’s quite an impressive space, guys.

Who’s playing where?

Ah, the dreaded stage splits. They cause us inevitable headaches every year but they’re a necessary evil.

Want to know who’ll you manage to see and who’ll you have to prepare yourself for potentially missing? We do the dirty work so you don’t have to:

Are there any Neighbourhood tickets still left?

Put simply, yes, but you better get moving if you wanna snap the remaining few up.

Tickets for Neighbourhood Festival 2022 will set you back £39.50 face value (£43.45 all told with your booking fee) from their official retailer, Gigs and Tours. Wheelchair access tickets are also available.

Not only is that a much more affordable option for those who didn’t want to fork out more than £115 for the two-day pass at Neighbourhood Weekender back in May, but the wristband grants you access to every single venue on the list.

Even a one-day ticket at Weekender cost £59.50 + booking fee, whereas with Neighbourhood Fest you still get the chance to see some serious box office names at Neighbourhood Fest for less money. More spare pennies for food and pints, init.

It’s also worth noting that you can grab tickets on the day as a last resort, but we’d obviously advise getting yourself sorted before then.

Read more:

Where to collect Neighbourhood wristbands

As announced on Wednesday, this year’s box office and wristband exchange will be located at the University of Manchester Students Union building (M13 9PR) – the Lime Grove entrance, to be specific.

This will be open from 9.30am and will close promptly at 7.30pm, meaning there will be no wristbands issued after this time, so we would obviously recommend arriving as early as possible to avoid the large queues.

Organisers also had some important top tips to share with you:

Last but not least, make sure to keep a lookout on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest updates and, most importantly, grab your tickets HERE while you still can.

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We hope to see you there!

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

What's On

City-wide celebration of beer – including a beer festival in an old swimming pool – to take over Manchester this weekend

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson

One of Manchester’s biggest and best-loved food and drink events is making its big comeback this week, celebrating all things beer right across the city.

Indy Man Beer Con (or IMBC)’s cornerstone event is the beer festival at the historic Victoria Baths, where the old Edwardian swimming pool is filled with bunting and bars.

IMBC was founded by Jonny Heyes of Common & Co fame back in 2012, and now brings together more than 60 brilliant breweries, including Bristol’s Lost and Found and Cheltenham’s Deya.

But the celebrating won’t be confined to Victoria Baths, with a city-wide IMBC Fringe festival also taking over other venues around Manchester.

Takeovers, events and collaborations will seep into bars right through until Sunday evening.

IMBC will be back at Victoria Baths. Credit: Jody Hartley

One of the big ones will be Runaway to Kampus, with Runaway Brewery Tap Room upping sticks and moving into the Bungalow at Kampus for the whole weekend.

The building-on-stilts at the canal-side neighbourhood will host the four-day residency, in conjunction with Nell’s Pizza and other friends of the brewery.

There’ll be fresh beer on tap plus a full selection of bottles (including a few rarities from the cellar).

Elsewhere, the award-winning Salford brewery will land at Chorlton’s beloved The Beagle all weekend, taking over the taps with keg and cask offerings.

IMBC will be back at Victoria Baths. Credit: Jody Hartley
IMBC will be back at Victoria Baths. Credit: Jody Hartley

On Saturday and Sunday, the Drop Project Den will pitch up at Common with a six-tap takeover and a Shifty special pizza from Nell’s.

London’s Drop Project are known for creating fresh, premium beers that push creative boundaries.

Back at IMBC at Victoria Baths, there’ll be tasting areas, snug bars in the Turkish Baths, street food and – obviously – plenty of beer.

Traders on site will include Bundobust, Siop Shop, Tikka Chance on Me, Great North Pie, Dim Sum Su, Wholesome Junkies, Honest Crust, and Triple B.

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Ticket-holders for the main event are advised to download the IMBC app, which will act as a total guide to all the beers on offer and where to find them, and will also send out alerts for pop-ups and more surprises.

Tickets get you access to the festival and a festival class, with tokens inside priced at £25 for 10 or £2.70 each, with each token entitling you to one third of beer at any Indy Man bar.

It’s a completely cashless event, and you’re encouraged to take your own vessel for water as, to minimise waste, there won’t be bottles on sale.

Final tickets are available now at indymanbeercon.co.uk/tickets.

Featured image: Jody Hartley

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