Flight Club is back in town next weekend and Mancunians are invited to “schedule some much-needed ridiculous joy back into their lives”.
As staff prepare to reopen doors to the King Street bar on Saturday 1st August, the ever-popular social darts hangout has offered Mancunians an insight into what they can expect their first night to look like post-lockdown.
Bookings for the Manchester city centre location have officially gone live, and given the venue’s enormous popularity pre-COVID, the team are already anticipating high demand for early slots.
Flight Club is excited to show the public what “delights we’ve got on offer”, but what can we expect once we dart back into action?
In an email sent around to fans today, Flight Club explained a little more.
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Private Playing Booths
If you’re ready to step up to the throw line, then your own “semi-private space” awaits.
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You’ll be able to play all of the best games that Flight Club has to offer, whilst ensuring you are socially distanced from other groups, and all without missing out on the amazing atmosphere.
Flight Club MCR
Table Bookings
Flight Club Manchester is the “perfect setting to soak up the atmosphere whilst catching up with friends”, but if you fancy popping down for a drink or two, a bite to eat, or you want to celebrate your victory after topping the darts leaderboard, you’ll now need to book your table.
All bookings can be done via the Flight Club Manchester website here.
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Pre-Order Food & Drink
In order to “minimise contact and ensure the best service possible”, you now have the opportunity to pre-order your food and drinks, which will be ready and waiting for you upon your arrival.
You can add on any top-ups using the Flight Club app in venue, or signal your server with the ‘push for service’ buttons.
?As of 1st August our doors in Birmingham, London & Manchester will officially be open. We’ve been working incredibly hard behind the scenes to make sure we can keep everyone safe, and we wanted to remind you of the delights we'll have on offer.?
— Flight Club Darts (@flightclubdarts) June 26, 2020
Speaking ahead of reopening next week, Flight Club Manchester said: “We’re so excited to open our doors again,”
“We’ve been working behind the scenes to ensure that we can still give you the best experience possible”.
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Steve Moore, co-founder of Flight Club, added: “We were founded on the idea of bringing joy to as many people as possible, which we all need now more than ever, so we are so excited to be opening our doors again and show you what we have on offer.”
“We want to help people make up for those missed moments… and can’t wait to delight and surprise every customer that joins us from August”.
If you’re ready to plan your next night out in the city, then you can book a booth at Flight Club Manchester online here.
For more information, visit the Flight Club website here.
Eats
Huge bakery chain Gail’s confirms move to Prestwich – but spells village’s name wrong in signs
Daisy Jackson
After months of swirling rumours, bakery group Gail’s has finally confirmed it’s moving to Prestwich – but locals have spotted a glaring error at the first hurdle.
The popular artisan bakery will be moving onto Bury New Road, right in the heart of the suburb and directly opposite the new Rudy’s pizzeria.
Prestwich locals have been hearing whispers of a Gail’s arriving for a few months, and finally the London-founded cafe has stuck up signs to confirm it’s on the way.
But the sign contains one crucial mistake – it’s spelled Prestwich wrong.
The red window displays now read ‘Hello Preswich. We’ll be baking here soon’.
One local messaged Gail’s to point out the error and to say it’s ‘not a great first impression for the locals…’.
Gail’s has since confirmed it’s in the process of fixing the signs.
The arrival of both Gail’s and Rudy’s has already caused a stir in Prestwich, which has always been fiercely independent and has only a handful of chains within it (Greggs and Costa are perched by the tram stop).
In fact, one local business-owner shared a moving statement about his concerns for the future of local businesses just a few weeks ago.
Gail’s has confirmed it’s opening a bakery in Prestwich. Credit: The Manc Group
First formed in the early 1990s as a wholesale-only operation, Gail’s opened its first cafe on Hampstead High Street in 2005.
Today the brand has more than 100 sites spread across London, Oxford, Brighton and further afield, and is known more as a customer-facing cafe and bakery.
It’s famed for its freshly-baked loaves, cinnamon buns, ham and cheese croissants and coffees, and is likely to go down a storm in Prestwich.
But the signs have been causing a bit of a stir in the wrong way this weekend – in a local Facebook group, one person commented: “Not locals who own it then.”
Another described it as an ‘epic fail’.
And one person said: “Oh the DRAMA of it all.”
Someone else joked: “I cannot wait for Gais to come to Preswich.”
Hot Blobs – Retro drink makes return to Manchester Christmas Markets, but what is it?
Daisy Jackson
It’s funny how we all turn a blind eye to the temperature outside when it comes to the Christmas Markets.
At a time of year where should probably all be hibernating inside, droves of us instead head out to brave the elements all in the name of the festivities.
Of course, the Manchester Christmas Markets sell all sorts of wares to take the edge off, and we’re not just talking about the stalls selling woollen mittens everywhere.
Our favourite winter warmers tend to take the form of a tray of piping hot garlic potatoes, or a mug of hot chocolate, or another boozy beverage that’s massively underrated.
The drink in question is a Hot Blob, which is listed on the menu at the Piccadilly Gardens markets as ‘legendary’.
A bold claim, but a lot of long-time Manc residents will understand why.
The Hot Blob is a jaw-clenchingly sweet concoction served piping hot at the Manchester Christmas Market, similar to a hot toddy.
It’s made with Australian fortified white wine, lemon, sugar, and boiling water.
Hot Blobs – Retro drink makes return to Manchester Christmas Markets, but what is it? Credit: The Manc Group
The drink was first invented by Yates, that well-known pub chain, which started life as Yates’s Wine Lodge up the road in Oldham.
According to Pubs of Manchester, the Hot Blob has a tendency to ‘speed up drunkenness to a young drinker’.
These days, it’s pretty rare to come across one on a menu, but back in 1990s it was a staple in a few pubs around town.
There even used to be a ‘Blob Shop’ on High Street, run by local legend Ged Ford (now in charge of the equally legendary Millstone pub), which found itself in a state of utter carnage when the IRA bomb went off.
The long-lost institution specialised in ‘cheap wine, cheap beer, and plenty of blobs’.
The old Yates Blob Shop on High Street, Manchester. Credit: deltrems@flickr
Ged sold 6,000 a week.
And while the drink may have fallen out of favour since then, there are still healthy numbers being sold at this time of year, even if they are a damn sight more expensive than they were in the 1990s (£6 a pop, plus a glass deposit).
Anyway. If you’re sick to the back teeth of the endless gluhwein being peddled across the markets, make a beeline for Manchester Winter Ale House at Piccadilly Gardens, where you can find Hot Blobs as well as boozy Vimto and cask ales.
The Manchester Christmas Markets officially end on 22 December.
Emily Sergeant -
22nd July 2020 
