A brand new, totally free festival will spill into venues in Salford later this year.
The We Invented the Weekend festival will bring together class acts from the worlds of sports, music, comedy, theatre, dance, workshops, talks, food, charity, wellness, crafts and more.
There’ll be everything from water sports on the canal, to community feasts, to workshops, to vintage markets, to live music, right across MediaCity and Salford Quays.
The event has been created in partnership with some cultural heavyweights from the city, including the BBC, The Lowry, the University of Salford, the Royal Horticultural Society, Eat Well MCR, Science and Industry Museum, The Open University’s Business School, HOST, Salford Community Leisure, Salford CVS, Sounds from the Other City and hundreds of community organisations.
The inaugural festival is set to take place across the weekend of 10 and 11 September. It promises to be ‘a festival by the people, for the people’.
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We Invented the Weekend will take over Salford venues – and its waterways. Credit: Supplied
The inspiration for We Invented the Weekend goes all the way back to 1843, when the actual concept of a weekend was invented right here in Greater Manchester.
Robert Lowes (Salford Lyceum director, workers’ rights activist, and also Sir Ian McKellen’s great grandfather) campaigned to win workers the right to leisure time on Saturday afternoons.
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A full programme for We Invented the Weekend will be announced in the coming months, but already confirmed is CBeebies Live Bedtime Stories, the BBC Philharmonic, events at The Lowry, activities at the Science and Industry Museum, and gardening activity from RHS Bridgewater.
We Invented the Weekend will suit all ages. Credit: Supplied
Sounds from the Other city will also pull together a music partnership, expanding from their Chapel Street base to the Quays for the first time.
The Salford Weekend Orchestra with the BBC Philharmonic will invite people across the city to join a mass community performance, with all instruments and abilities welcome. The piece will be composed by Michael Betteridge (artistic director of The Sunday Boys – Manchester’s LBTQ+ low voice choir), and performed in the MediaCity Piazza during the festival.
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Hundreds of community organisations, including cheerleaders, bakers and disco dancers, have been invited to take part.
Key people and organisations involved in developing the festival are Wayne Hemingway MBE who is creative director; Salford’s City Mayor Paul Dennett; Tom Stannard, chief executive of Salford City Council; Julia Fawcett OBE, chief executive of The Lowry; Gwen Oakden, development director at The Lowry; Controller of BBC Radio 5 Live Heidi Dawson; Marketing Manchester’s international marketing director Victoria Braddock and MediaCity place director, Josie Cahill.
Wayne Hemingway MBE said: “The weekend is an intrinsic part of the rhythm of life. It’s hard to imagine life without the weekend, yet less than 180 years ago it didn’t exist. Happily, Sir Ian McKellen’s great grandad put an end to life without it.
“Greater Manchester can rightly claim to have invented the weekend and is a place that knows how to celebrate it. Whatever your bag, be it boxing or box sets, crafts or cricket, dancing or digging, reading or raving, swimming or samba, kicking back or letting loose, whatever free time means to you, MediaCity and Salford Quays is the place to be on September 10th and 11th for what has all the ingredients to become THE national celebration of free time.”
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Paul Dennett added: “The City of Salford’s motto and the name of our strategy for culture, creativity and the arts is ‘Suprema Lex’, which means ‘The Welfare of the People is the Highest Law’. The welfare of the people of Salford is paramount, and as the cost of living rises, We Invented the Weekend is set to deliver a programme of essential free cultural and creative activity that is open to every community across our city.
“We Invented the Weekend will be a great spectacle, reflecting our proud social history, whilst also animating the fantastic public realm at Salford Quays in true Spirit of Salford style.”
Seven Brothers have brought back a beloved British fizzy drink, only now it’s boozy
Danny Jones
Local brewmasters Seven Brothers have brought back one of the UK’s most beloved former fizzy drinks and reimagined it as their latest beer.
The Salford-based brewery, who now boast multiple locations across the North, is no stranger to perfecting creative craft beers, but the latest addition to the 7 Bros lineup is sure to be as firm a favourite as the original soft drink.
If it wasn’t already blatantly obvious, we’ll give you a hint: this tropical twist on pale ale contains hints of pineapple and grapefruit – and it looks an awful lot like an old can of Lilt…
Yes, bringing back the British corner shop staple as an alcoholic version, no less, let us introduce you to Seven Brothers’ new ‘Lilty’ flavour.
Still part of Coca-Cola, who also own the likes of Fanta, Powerade, Minute Maid, Schweppes and many more, Lilt has since been rebranded as ‘Fanta Pineapple & Grapefruit’.
However, it doesn’t have quite the same bright white, green and yellow scheme, and maybe it is just the packaging, but it does feel like it hasn’t quite tasted the same since.
Fortunately, we now have an alternative that not only captures all of those Caribbean and citrusy notes but that packs plenty of punch at 6% per tin.
The originalThe upgradeLilt didn’t walk so ‘Fanta Pineapple & Grapefruit’ could run; it was so ‘Lilty’ could get you well on your way to tipsy. (Credit: Press shots)
Now available in 440ml cans, this is actually the latest iteration of the first attempt at the drink launched back in July 2024, only now they’ve fine-tuned the recipe, and we can’t wait to drink by the gallon-full, or at least by the pint.
The description reads as follows: “This lilty little pale ale is a tongue-tingling throwback to fruity pop days gone by. Packed with pineapple and grapefruit flavours for a proper tropical punch.
“Immerse yourself in a wave of vibrant, tropical flavours with a generous double-hit of Amarillo and Mosaic hops taking centre stage. Juicy, fruity, fresh and fun with no bitter goodbyes, it’s basically sunshine in a tin.” It also happens to be vegan, which is a nice little bonus, isn’t it?
Seven Brothers’ brand new flavour is being rolled out as we speak, and we suspect it won’t be long before you see plenty of people asking for a ‘totally tropical taste’ at the taproom, their Ancoats Beerhouse or over in Media City (rest in peace, the Middlewood Locks site).
Section of major Salford road to close for six months while ‘essential works’ are carried out
Emily Sergeant
A section of major Salford city centre road is set to close for six months while ‘essential works’ are carried out.
As part of Salford Rise – which is a key element of the wider £2.5bn 240-acre Crescent Salford masterplan being delivered by the Crescent Partnership, comprising ECF, Salford City Council, and the University of Salford – Frederick Road is set to close from next month to enable essential construction across the carriageway.
The new 220-metre elevated walkway is aiming to provide a traffic-free route over the road for pedestrians and cyclists, all while continuing to improve community connectivity.
The Salford road will be closed to both vehicles and pedestrians between Lissadel Street and Leslie Hough Way while the walkway is built.
A section of a major Salford road will be closing for six months while ‘essential works’ are carried out / Credit: Crescent Partnership
Vehicle diversions will be in place via Lissadel Street, Cromwell Road, Gerald Road, and Seaford Road during the six-month period, and pedestrians will be able to walk up Broughton Road East to get around the closure.
Access to the North of England Robotics Innovation Centre (NERIC), however, will be maintained according to the Council.
Salford Rise is described as being ‘the backbone’ of the Crescent Innovation and a ‘transformational element’ of the wider masterplan.
Frederick Road will be closed for six months starting from 12 July for essential #SalfordRise construction works. The road will be closed between Lissadel Street and Leslie Hough Way to both vehicles and pedestrians as the 220m elevated footway gets built above it 🏍️ 🛻 🚙 pic.twitter.com/6gWXKeNZBG
— Salford City Council (@SalfordCouncil) June 17, 2025
The 29-acre area – which received planning permission last year, and is set to complete in the summer of 2026 – is made up of dozens of new homes and 1.7m sq ft of commercial, academic, and research floorspace built on existing state-of-the-art research and development facilities to drive further economic growth in the city and wider region.
While the work on the walkway is ongoing, there will also be parking restrictions in place on Lissadel Street and Broughton Road East for ‘pedestrian safety’.
“Salford Rise is a key regeneration project that will unlock the potential of the Crescent Innovation zone and better connect our communities with the wider Crescent area,” commented Councillor Mike McCusker, who is the Lead Member for Planning, Transport, and Sustainable Development at Salford City Council.
“These essential works will enable us to continue towards our goal of developing a green walkway and high-quality public spaces, improving accessibility and encouraging active travel as well as creating employment and education opportunities across the Crescent area.”
Daisy Jackson -
18th May 2022 
