Social impact developer CAPITAL&CENTRIC is inviting locals to an exciting ‘Sunday Social’ this weekend ahead of the site’s upcoming £60m restoration.
The boutique food and music event, held in conjunction with Stockport stalwart Foodie Friday, will take place underneath the iconic arches of Stockport Viaduct.
CAPITAL&CENTRIC are planning to create 250 new homes at the historic Weir Mill – as well as a shiny new river frontage with café-bars, delis and independent shops.
The surrounding courtyard and green space will all be open to both residents and wider public.
Foodie Friday regulars I Knead Pizza, ArtiSam and Somtam Street will be plating up the food alongside a fully-stocked bar.
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The afternoon will also be packed with live music performances from local band Fuzzy Sun, DJ Clint Boon, Duncan Wallis from Dutch Uncles, Neil Summers from Manchester’s Proper Magazine and The Vinyl Frontier.
Tim Heatley, co-founder of CAPITAL&CENTRIC who recently appeared in BBC documentary Manctopia, said: “The site’s been neglected for years but we’re bringing it back to life. This is a great chance to get people down to Weir Mill so they can get a feel for the community we’re looking to create.
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“With the viaduct in the background and sat alongside the River Mersey, it really is an incredible location. We want this to be the first of many events we host as we transform the site into a thriving new neighbourhood with homes, bars and restaurants.
“The Sunday Social is exactly the sort of vibe we’re going to be creating at Weir Mill with independent food and drink and a chilled place for families and friends to hang out.”
Under current local lockdown rules in Stockport, people are permitted meet in groups of up to six from multiple households providing they are outside.
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The event will take place in two sessions from 12pm-3pm and 3pm-6pm; with table bookings required in advance.
Visitors will be provided with a free drink on arrival and table service throughout – with the option to order grub directly via the Dines app.
Joe Barratt, Foodie Friday founder and organiser, added: “As many people will be aware, we can’t currently run Foodie Friday at Stockport Market due to the restrictions in place as a result of the coronavirus crisis, so we’re delighted that we’re able to partner with Capital & Centric on the delivery of a smaller, more controlled street food event at Weir Mill.
“We hope this will provide the people of Stockport with a taste of the much-missed Foodie Friday experience and give people an opportunity to see how the area around Weir Mill could be creatively animated with street food and live music in the future.”
Tickets are £5 each person and sold in table bundles and include a free arrival drink. All ticket proceeds will go to the Greater Manchester Mayor’s homelessness charity.
For more information and tickets, visit Eventbrite.
What's On
Club de Padel to close current Manchester location to make way for more Deansgate Square skyscrapers
Daisy Jackson
Club de Padel, the first padel club to open in Manchester, will be relocating from its Deansgate Square home.
The wildly popular sports club will close next week, as landowners Renaker begin the next phase of development of the skyscraper district.
Club de Padel is keeping its new location under wraps for now – but will be going out from its current Manchester home with a bang.
The club, which welcomed more than 100,000 people in the first year alone, will be offering free padel for all before it closes at Deansgate Square.
Club de Padel launched back in 2023, with four competition-grade courts, and has since added a Finnish sauna experience with Good Sauna, launched a best-selling clothing range with UN:IK, plus become the home for Manchester’s most popular run club with MADE Running.
As well as that, the club has been donating free courts and coaching during the school holidays to local children’s charity Wood Street Mission, and hosting events with the likes of adidas, REFY and Blank Street Coffee.
It’s been one of the city’s top sporting success stories, attracting attention from the likes of The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Hypebae and the BBC.
But now Club de Padel will be leaving its current home ahead of Renaker’s expansion of its luxury skyscraper district.
Club de Padel ManchesterClub de Padel is at the foot of the Deansgate Square towers
As for that new top-secret location opening later this year – they’re promising an ‘indoor and outdoor space in an incredible location, featuring an expanded padel experience, high-end wellness and social spaces, and a year-round programme of events’.
Club de Padel founders said in a statement today: “We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve built here in Manchester — bringing padel to the city centre for the first time and introducing tens of thousands of people to the sport during our time on Deansgate.
“But this site was never meant to be permanent, and we’ve been limited in what we can build here, so the time is right to move on, grow and improve.
“We’ve learned a huge amount from our time in Manchester and from opening our second club in Sheffield last year, and we’re excited to reveal the locations of our new sites — including the new Manchester club — and begin the next phase.
“In the meantime, we want to thank everyone who has made this club so special, and invite them to enjoy a free game of padel on us.”
Club de Padel will close to begin its Manchester relocation on 14 January.
You can book a free hour of padel between 9 and 14 January, through the usual Playtomic system – you’ll be refunded for your booking in full on arrival.
‘Big John’ is bringing his ‘BOSH’ bingo to Manchester
Danny Jones
Attention, all you ‘Big John’ lovers, the man himself is coming to Manchester this year for his very own ‘BOSH Bingo’ show.
Excessively large takeaway order not included*
That’s right, ‘Big John’ Fisher has gone from being a viral sensation famous for eating shedloads of Chinese and saying that one catchphrase to hosting his very own live bingo tour.
Even by his standards, his announcement video was an eye-catching one, to say the least – and we expect the event itself to be equally hilarious.
— big john the boshfather (@Johnfis08605918) January 7, 2026
For anyone somehow unfamiliar with ‘The Boshfather’, there isn’t a single sentence that isn’t completely accurate, and that doesn’t sum up pretty much everything you need to know about the man, the myth, the legend.
Besides his son, Johnny Fisher Jr., being an aspiring boxer and fellow influencer on the side, as well as having appeared on Newsnight to talk about the UK’s multiculturalism being what makes this ‘Great Britain’ (legend), his legacy will very much be written online and on the back of a take-out menu.
Or will it?…
Riding the back of his growing popularity and being quite literally the physical representation of a British bulldog, he’s now preparing to do live shows all over the country.
Set up at the start of the New Year, the 51-year-old will be heading to Manchester city centre and more throughout 2026 for his debut BOSH Bingo tour.
Visiting 12 locations in total, he is promising “rave intervals, on stage competitions, ‘bosh’ prizes and, of course, a sprinkle of chicken balls for good measure.”
Put simply, not only the chaos of everyone’s favourite Bongo’s, “This is not your average bingo night, it’s BOSH BINGO!”
Sounds ridiculous… We’re SO there.
Coming to The Grosvenor on Oxford Road on 21 February, before heading to the likes of Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield, just to name a few, you can grab your tickets right HERE.
Let’s just say there’s some very silly but nevertheless fun and fantastic stuff happening in town this year.