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There’s a beer garden at abandoned theme park Camelot – but you might share your table with a zombie

A beer garden has been added to abandoned theme park Camelot, as part of drive-in zombie cinema event Camelot Rises.

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson - 22nd March 2022

A beer garden has been installed at abandoned theme park Camelot – but your leisurely pint might get interrupted by a zombie.

The outdoor drinking area is definitely one of the most unusual in the world, surrounded by the remains of the Lancashire attraction, including its recognisable castle-shaped entrance.

The space has been added to the medieval-themed former theme park as part of Camelot Rises, a new interactive event series.

The drive-in immersive cinematic experience has seen the Lancashire theme park, which closed a decade ago, taken over by a zombie apocalypse.

As well as horror film screenings and scene-setting lights and sounds, brave visitors can wind down with food and drink in the new outdoor seating area.

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Food on offer at Camelot’s beer garden includes pizzas. Credit: Supplied

It’s a sun trap for those who visit in nice weather, but there are also sheltered cabins for when the rain inevitably returns.

As well as an in-house bar serving drinks like Guinness and Zombie Pilsner, there are a range of food operators.

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You can grab pizza, burgers, loaded fries, Greek and Mexican street food, fresh doughnuts and Nutella crepes.

Camelot Rises ticket-holders pass through several zones on their way to the drive-in cinema, including the Military Compound, the Valley of the Dead, and the Decontamination Station.

Organisers say: “Something deadly has destroyed the legendary world of Camelot…now
overrun by zombies hungry for human flesh.

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“As the army struggle to keep control of the area, it’s time to see if you can survive this gruesome night of post-apocalyptic horror.”

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Camelot Rises comes from the same team behind the Park N Party series of drive-in cinemas in Manchester.

Films on the schedule will include the 28 Days Later series, Night of the Living Dead, I Am Legend and A Quiet Place.

Camelot Rises is currently scheduled to take place until 10 April.

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Tickets are on sale now, priced at £50 per vehicle, with screenings for the little ones available for £25 per vehicle. You can get yours with Skiddle here.

Featured image: Supplied

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Three Little Words and Seven Brothers Brewery are moving into Kampus this summer

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

This week, Manchester’s waterside neighbourhood Kampus has revealed that two of Manchester’s best-loved indie drinks producers will be moving in over the summer.

Manchester Gin’s bar and distillery Three Little Words will be taking over the infamous bungalow, whilst Ancoats’ favourite Seven Brothers Brewery will temporarily move into the neighbourhood’s red-brick Minshull Warehouse – previously tipped to house a new taproom from Cloudwater.

This summer, the brewery – first founded in Salford nine years ago by the McAvoy brothers – will open the doors to the warehouse serving up their popular family beers alongside a few Kampus specials.

With seating inside and out, once the warmer nights arrive drinkers can once again enjoy the Manchester neighbourhood’s canalside beer garden.

Image: Three Little Words
Image: Seven Brothers

Set to open officially from the long Easter weekend, for the first time tables and chairs will be nestled throughout the giant tree ferns and palms, with visitors able to sample the delights of the impressive foodie community – including Nell’s, Pollen, Great North Pie, The Beeswing wine bar and Yum Cha.

Elsewhere, in the Bungalow popular local gin distillers and cocktail pros Three Little Words will serve up a sleek cocktail menu – all made up from their portfolio of multi-award-winning spirits from The Spirit of Manchester Distillery.

First opened in 2019 by Seb & Jen Heeley-Wiggins, the founders of Manchester Gin, luxurious cocktail bar Three Little Words has since won awards for its signature menu of innovative cocktails.

Both will kick-start on Friday 7 April, with an Easter Weekender of booze, beats and eats in store – with Nell’s Pizza also joined by guest DJs throughout the weekend.

The season is a major moment for Kampus, the first year when the neighbourhood will have a full force of eclectic independent operators fully trading.

More names are set to join too. Red Light will lift the curtain on the insta-friendly Little David Street LGTBQ+ cocktail den, with the opening date to be revealed in the coming weeks, whilst taqueria and mezcaleria Madre is currently fitting out its space ready to bring its take on Mexican goodness to Manchester.

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Seb Heeley-Wiggins, Master Distiller & Co-Owner The Spirit of Manchester Distillery & Three Little Words, said: “We’ve got such a loyal following and we’ve been on the hunt for a spot where people could enjoy our cocktails in a beautiful outdoor setting … spritzes in the sunshine. 

“Kampus absolutely fits that bill and will be an incredible summer posting for our team. We’ll be bringing our signature menu as well as some seasonal creations unique to Kampus.

“There’s so much going at the neighbourhood that we’ll be in good company. We’ve already got celebrations planned throughout the summer months, where we’ll be collaborating with incredible brands and creatives, and we’ve got a big surprise in store for next month. We just need a long, hot summer now.”

Read more: Police are working to bring ‘murder mastermind’ John Belfield back to Manchester after drugs arrest abroad

Keith McAvoy, CEO for Seven Brothers, said: “We’ve been big fans of Kampus for a while so we jumped at the chance to put on a summer-long party and create a new beerhouse here. The historic setting is stunning and we know we’ll create, hands down, the best beer garden in Manchester.

“We’re a family run business, born here in Greater Manchester. Our Kampus run is a fitting celebration for how far the brewery has come with the incredible support of every person who’s ever enjoyed a SEVEN BRO7HERS pint.

“We’ll be in good company with our brilliant independent neighbours and encourage everyone to come spend summer with us.”

Seven Brothers will be open Thursday to Sunday every week all summer, whilst Three Little Words will open Wednesday to Sunday.

Featured image – Kampus

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The team behind Gooey has launched a new pasta concept on Peter Street

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant

This week, the team behind Gooey has launched its new pasta concept Onda inside Manchester’s newest bar and food hall Exhibition.

Onda pasta bar – translating to ‘wave’ from the Italian – sees the team collaborate with Michelin-trained chef Sam Astley Dean to cook up some gorgeous fresh pasta dishes over on Peter Street, taking over what was formerly Caroline Martin’s Sao Paulo Bistro unit.

Serving up a core menu of pasta small plates from £6 alongside starters of arancini, mixed vegetable fritti, and proper crunchy garlic bread with parsley butter, you’ll also find some giant family-style sharers on the menu here – not least, a huge plate of lumache alla vodka.

Putting a spin on the viral TikTok pasta trend (and the classic Italian recipe that precedes it), the dish combines organic tomato with ‘nduja and parmesan to create the ultimate cheesy crowd-pleaser.

Elsewhere, you’ll find a second giant sharer dish of gnocchi gratinati combining spinach, mozzarella and pangrattato, plus some seriously plump raviolo stuffed with scallop, crab and fennel atop a rich seafood bisque.

Spaghetti Carbonara at Onda. / Image; The Manc Eats
Raviolo with scallop, crab and fennel at Onda. / Image: The Manc Eats

Pasta small plate must-tries include the spaghetti casrbonara with pecorino, pancetta and a whole egg yolk that you mixed into your pasta at the table yourself, the aforementioned ravioli, and a pici cacio e pepe that nods to one of chef Sam Astley-Dean’s earliest Rise pizza creations.

Read more: The Michelin-trained chef running Manchester’s one-man pizza pop-up

Starters of note, meanwhile, include a mouthwatering saffron risotto short rib arancini atop lemon aioli, and the most indulgent Caesar salad we’ve encountered in some time – we’re talking whole leaves of baby gem drenched in sauce and wearing a veritable wig of parmesan on top.

Lumache alla vodka. / Image: The Manc Eats
Caesar salad at Onda. / Image: The Manc Eats

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Add to that dreamy slices of tiramisu and a plan to make their own gelato in house very soon (a fior di latte mainstay will always be on, so we’re told, plus blood orange and rhubarb flavours to start with), and it’s fair to say that – between the big flavours and the affordability – Onda is well worth a look in.

Speaking on the new menu, chef Sam Astley-Dean told The Manc as we watched him hand-roll his pasta: “Our whole menu rests on flour and water, like our focaccia, our bread and all our pastas, and the only way to get good at it is to just do it over and over and get the feel.

“It’s very therapeutic, it’s good, like, it’s the only way to get to know something. “

Asked what his favourite dish is, he jokes: “I don’t actually like pasta” before going on to enthusiastically list almost every pasta plate on Onda’s menu.

He gushed: “It’s probably the lumache, but the vongole is like, that’s a bit of me that, like shellfish, chilli, garlic.

“I genuinely love it all, every single dish, it’s all our favourite pastas. The cacio e pepe, pesto with anything, the cavatelli’s great, erm, the vongole, the shellfish raviolo, the pappardelle, oh no the carbonara, I love the carbonara.”

Mixed vegetable fritti at Onda. / Image: The Manc Eats
Garlic bread with parsley butter. / Image: The Manc Eats

“Honestly all of them, every single one of them, like, we want it to be super approachable, that’s why we’ve not banged on about ingredients too much. It’s for everyone, if you’re in with your mates or a date or your family.

“I want to bring my daughter and my dog, but I’d also like to come on a date night with my wife, so it’s got that vibe of it’s affordable. Yes, it’s got good ingredients but we’re not being preachy about it, it’s just good food.”

Read more: Lizzo raves about Manchester bakery Gooey whilst visiting on UK tour

The menu features classic pasta dishes alongside innovative specials. Onda will also serve a ten layered fresh pasta lasagne on Sundays, available in two flavours: classic ragu and bianca.

Open now inside Exhibition, food at Onda is served seven days a week until 9pm in the evening with the bar open later for more drinks.

Featured image – The Manc Eats

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