Missed out on Glastonbury tickets this year? Don’t worry – one of Manchester’s best-loved venues is showing the festival live on big screens all weekend instead.
As the UK’s biggest festival, and one of the longest-running in the world, there’s absolutely no denying that Glastonbury is an icon of music and contemporary arts culture – but there’s also no denying that tickets to the festival are some of the hardest there is to secure.
Every summer, around 200,000 lucky people make their way to the Somerset countryside for the biggest music event of the year – which takes place over five days at Worthy Farm in June – but every summer, there are hundreds of thousands more who are desperate to attend, but weren’t able to get hold of tickets.
And this is why one popular Manchester city centre venue is offering up “the next best thing” for people still keen to “bask in the festival atmosphere” around dozens of others.
Manchester’s largest street food fair and social events hub, GRUB, is gearing up to host the aptly-named ‘GRUBstonbury’ in just a few weeks time.
Of course running over Glastonbury weekend, not only will there be several big screens set up throughout the hugely-popular venue – which is currently based down at the Red Bank Project in Cheetham Hill – but ‘festivalgoers’ can also expect a whole weekend of street food, live DJ sets, a glitter bar, tap takeovers, and so much more.
There’ll even be a family-friendly party courtesy of ‘Born To Be Wild Child’, a dedicated garden rum bar, a series of different activity workshops, and film screenings inside the venue’s cinema Cultplex.
ADVERTISEMENT
The weekend “packed full of festival fun” kicks off on Friday 23 June with a ‘Glastonbury Bangers’ special edition of GRUB’s ever-popular Disco Bingo event, and continues right through until the festival’s closing day on Sunday.
GRUB promises “fun and games” scattered all throughout the weekend.
Manchester venue to show Glastonbury live on big screens across full festival weekend / Credit: GRUB
And of course, it wouldn’t be a GRUB party without some of the best independent street food traders thd city has to offer serving up a feast fit for any festival – with food coming from the likes of Gatto Pizza, Desert Island Dumplings, Korean Grub Club, Spicy Baby, Tiny Beast, Bakes, and Mary’s Cakery Makery.
ADVERTISEMENT
North Brewing Co are on the lined-up for a tap takeover, while Sparkle Creations will be offering up a festival ‘Glitter Bar’, and Witch Kings are hosting their very-own Rum Garden Bar takeover.
There’ll also be flower crown and macrame workshops to get involved in.
Ashton town centre is hosting one of Greater Manchester’s ‘wildest’ street parties this summer
Emily Sergeant
One of the ‘wildest’ street parties is arriving in a popular Greater Manchester town centre this summer.
From giant Star Wars machines to a full-scale wrestling ring, life-sized dinosaurs roaming around, and everything in between, a bold new community celebration hits Market Avenue in Ashton-under-Lyne early next month… and as you can tell, there’ll be something for visitors of all ages to get involved with on the day.
This is Street Life – a brand new one-day community festival taking over the Tameside town.
Free to attend and open to all ages, event organisers are promising that it’ll be an ‘explosion’ of creativity, culture, and big day-out energy, all to celebrate the very best of what Ashton has to offer.
It may sound like something out of a Comic Con, but it’s all happening in Greater Manchester, and at the centre of the spectacle is a rare appearance from a towering eight-metre Scout Walker, which is a jaw-dropping mechanical build direct from the Star Wars universe.
The build was previously exclusive to private exhibitions, but this is the first time it will be appearing at a community event free for all to see.
That’s only the beginning of all the action happening though, as some of the other things visitors can look forward to include a pop-up cinema screening family classics, a performance from Britain’s Got Talent finalist dance troupe of disco stormtroopers, Boogie Storm, live music and DJ sets from a wide range of genres, and so much more.
There’ll be free face painting, festive hair braiding, and temporary glitter tattoos for kids, as well as local businesses showcasing on market stalls, and loads of pop-up street food by local vendors.
“We want to give Ashton something to be proud of,” says the Street Life team.
“This is about creating joy, spotlighting local talent, and reminding people how fun and vibrant a town centre can be. There’s truly something for everyone.
“Following the huge success of a last-minute VE Day street party last month, which brought the community together in the most brilliant, unexpected way, we saw the opportunity to scale it up, dream bigger, and create something beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.”
Street Life will be taking over Market Avenue in Ashton on Saturday 5 July from 10am until late, and it’s free entry for all.
Featured Image – Supplied
What's On
Huge street food festival to take over Rochdale Town Hall Square this month
Thomas Melia
Rochdale Town Hall Square will be packed with foodies galore later this month as it marks the return of its popular food festival.
Street Eat is one of the biggest days of the year in the Rochdale calendar, welcoming food and drinks stalls from local vendors and restaurants.
A whole host of free activities will be happening throughout the day including live Punch and Judy shows, face painting and even a caricaturist sketching portraits too.
At the food festival, there will be a live music stage with a line-up featuring tribute act fABBAlous, country rockers Between The Vines, pop soloist Saskia Starkie, a pop and rock choir from Rochdale Music Service and more.
Soak up the sun while tucking into some foodie delights.There’s plenty of kids activities taking place at Street Eat in Rochdale.
Street Eat is part of a spectacular line up of festivals, live performances, exhibitions and art during Rochdale’s year as Greater Manchester Town of Culture 2025–26.
The title, awarded by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority celebrates the town’s rich history, creativity, talent and diverse arts scene.
This year, Street Eat is trekking across the globe once more for its flavours with Greek, Indian, Italian, German, American and English cuisines making up the menu for the day.
Tried and tested The Manc favourites are taking part too, with hearty food offerings from The Baum and equally delicious pizzas by Vicolo Del Vino – both of which can be found in our Rochdale guide.
Two much-loved local eateries, home-kitchen-turned-popular-takeaway, Chino’s Kitchen and Indian street food pop-up, Bombay Brew are joining forces for the day as Punjabi Food Corner, yes please.
If you’ve got more of a sweet tooth, there’s Brew Box who’ll be serving up waffles, Cake Loves Cakes, as well as a whole host of dessert stalls, if you don’t get a sugar rush you’ve done it wrong.
There’s a variety of food options at Street Eat in Rochdale.Sip and Sparkle are bringing their array of drinks to this food festival.
Organiser and Business Improvement District (BID) manager, Paul Ambrose said: “Street Eat showcases the vibrant food and drink the town has to offer as well as being a really fun day to share with friends and family.“
“Whether you’re wanting to try something new or just want your favourite food to accompany an ice-cold drink while listening to some live music, Street Eat has you covered.
“It’s going to be another great day in the fabulous setting of the new Rochdale Town Hall Square.”
Street Eat is taking place at Rochdale Town Hall Square on Saturday 28 June from 11am to 7pm and admission is completely free – for more information visit HERE.
Emily Sergeant -
24th May 2023 
