Manchester 2007

Manchester Airport has had a few trifling difficulties in the last week – first a dusting of snow on the runway, then a dog. Of course, it’s always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to planes, but that never stops people moaning!

Manchester Airport is the UK’s fourth busiest – behind London airports Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted – so it’s no wonder situations tend to snowball (haha) if there’s a hold-up from time to time.

On Friday morning (16 December), 3mm of snow fell on the airport’s runways, meaning that passengers were left sitting in planes for as long as three hours waiting for clearance to take off.

I’ve been delayed at airports before, but never actually sitting on the plane. When you’ve got a three-hour-plus flight to Spain ahead of you, it must get very frustrating… not to mention uncomfortable, if you’ve gone for cheap seats!

Apparently, planes don’t have very good grips on their tyres, so it simply isn’t safe until de-icing has taken place.

One day later – and this is one of my favourite news stories of this month – a whippet got on to the runway and went tearing around the airfield, meaning that once again, planes couldn’t take off or land. The dog was spotted at 10:40am and it took 40 minutes for airport staff to catch it!

People were less annoyed by that than by the snow, though.

DJ Clint Boon, who was among the delayed passengers, summed up the mood via Twitter: “Delayed flying from Paris because of industrial action. Delayed landing at Manchester due to ‘dogs on the runway’. I love this city.”

There’s so much going on in Manchester this Christmas – and it’s not all on the streets, with Christmas shopping and the markets in full flow. There are some big events on at the city’s entertainment venues, too, with the MEN Arena, The Lowry, The Palace Theatre, The Opera House, The Apollo and The Bridgewater all showing off an array of headliners.

MEN Arena
It’s quite a mixed bag at the Arena, with comedian Russell Howard doing his stand-up show Right Here Right Now on Thursday 15 December, 1980s pop band Duran Duran on Friday 16 December and music legend Paul McCartney appearing with his regular band on Monday 19 December. That’s quite a few decades and demographics they’re covering, there!

The Lowry
Definitely family-focused for Christmas, this Salford Quays venue, with a version of The Wind In The Willows by Alan Bennett (2 December to 14 January); enduring musical Scrooge, starring legendary entertainer Tommy Steele (12 December to 7 January); and Snow Play (27 December to 3 January), featuring Patrick Lynch from Cbeebies.

The Palace Theatre
The stage version of hit 1987 film Dirty Dancing has been at The Palace Theatre since 22 November and continues until 7 January, telling the love story of Baby and Johnny and featuring songs such as Hungry Eyes, Hey Baby, Do You Love Me? and I’ve Had The Time Of My Life.

Plus…
Other shows flexing their offline and online PR muscles to drum up Christmas crowds include pantomime Cinderella at The Opera House (3 to 31 December), starring Louie Spence and Suzanne Shaw; the diverse programme of White Lies, Roy Chubby Brown, The Saw Doctors and One Direction at Manchester Apollo; and The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, The Bootleg Beatles and Only Men Aloud at The Bridgewater Hall. 

It’s a funny time of year for businesses to make changes and start new offerings, what with the chaos of Christmas and hospitality gloom of January being so near – but apparently no one’s told Manchester’s food and drink purveyors.

Not that I’m complaining. I’m a foodie through-and-through and I always get excited when there are new developments to appreciate.

In the openings stakes, there’s Aubaine at Selfridges in Exchange Square, Leckenby’s just off Deansgate and Peppermint Bay in Spinningfields.

Meanwhile, moves and updates include a change of hands at Livebait, a departing head chef at Harvey Nichols Second Floor and Paul Heaton (of The Beautiful South and The Housemartins fame) is the new landlord of Chapel Street’s The Kings Arms.

Aubaine is Manchester’s latest high-end French eaterie, following hot on the heels of 63 Degrees – and certainly appears to have the right tools to become one of the top Manchester restaurants.

Leckenby’s Champagne & Tea Rooms and Peppermint Bay both cater more for light bites and have received rather good reports, so far. I can’t wait to visit… though I might ask the wife to test out Leckenby’s with her lady friends before venturing in myself. I like a good cake, but it looks a bit girly. Though, having said that, they do morning fry-ups too!

It’s heartening to see that dreary fish place Livebait will have a new lease of life, with a new menu and refurbishment planned under successful restaurant businessman Richard Muir. He’s done great things in Scotland, apparently.

As for Paul Heaton at The King’s Arms in Salford… well, I just hope I like his pub strategy more than I liked his music.

As much as I enjoy going out in Manchester – especially to the pub, or having a nice meal somewhere – now and again it’s great to have a Saturday night in with a takeaway and a few drinks. We have a bit of a rota system to make sure we enjoy different cuisines! Indian and Chinese are my favourites, but we sometimes get a pizza.

One thing that’s never on a rota, though, is the wife’s love of particularly silly television programmes – mostly talent contests. We always have to watch them, either live or recorded. I’m not really too keen, but I’ll watch them for the sake of peace. There’s been some added excitement this year, though, with northern lasses on both of the most popular shows – Chelsee Healey on Strictly Come Dancing and Misha B on The X Factor.

Silly names aside (Chelsee? Chelsea is bad enough when it’s spelled properly), it’s been interesting to see the kind of support they’ve had. The Healey girl was apparently born in Eccles and starred in that Waterloo Road drama on BBC1 (another thing the wife likes), so she’s already got plenty of fans, despite a wardrobe malfunction (and between you and me, I think that probably helped in some quarters). Seems like a pleasant girl, too.

But Misha B’s situation seems a little less straightforward. She’s from Longsight – and from what I hear, there are posters up all over the place. But the rest of Manchester doesn’t seem too bothered. She hasn’t been getting very many votes and keeps ending up in the ‘bottom two’. The question is why, as whatever you may think about TV talent shows, there’s no doubt she’s one of the more talented performers they’ve had.

There seem to be two main theories. One of them, the more recent one, is that Manchester is too ‘cool’ and proud of its independent musical heritage to get behind a contestant on such a contrived behemoth of a programme. That didn’t seem to be a problem a few years ago for Shayne Ward, who still has local fans, the wife tells me… but I suppose people were generally less cynical about The X Factor format then.

The other argument is this ‘likeability’ problem – which is a shame, as at first Misha was really striking and seemed the obvious frontrunner. But then someone else on the programme said that she was sometimes arrogant towards other contestants – and someone else said she was a bully. They’ve both retracted the severity of their comments since, but in the meantime, Misha admitted that in the past, she’d behaved in a way she wasn’t proud of. Unfortunately for Misha, I think it’s hard for people to support someone’s roots if they have nagging doubts about what those roots were really like. Bullying is one of those things that everyone feels deeply uncomfortable about, no matter how much a person might change. Singing other people’s songs every Saturday night isn’t going to fix that.

I think I’d like it if one of the main television channels would create a contest for real local bands to enter, as I think Manchester would do really well. There’s so much music talent in this city. Perhaps if bands had to prove they’d been together for a year or more, and had to do songs they’d written themselves – that might make it a bit more credible. Might!

Hold on to your Santa hats, everybody – the Manchester Christmas Markets are back this week (Thursday, 17 November, 2011).

I can’t believe it’s come around so fast again. Everything seems to go pretty quickly at my age, I have to admit, but nothing makes you aware of it like Christmas time. The decorations and lights are already up all over the place, including that bizarre giant Father Christmas thing on top of the entrance to Manchester town hall. It’s environmentally friendly, apparently, despite being made of 100,000 light bulbs.

I do like the markets, especially the mulled wine stalls and sausage traders – though it seems to get more and more difficult to walk around them every year! I can’t believe how many thousands of people show up. They say there are traders coming from all over the north west, as well as Europe – and even Lapland. There’s an extra area opening on King Street at weekends, selling work by local artists. Might go along and see if there are any presents worth buying – or maybe even something for my own walls.

Christmas dos will be in full swing soon too – and I’m sure all the top Manchester restaurants are gearing up for them. The wife and I love eating out with our friends during the festive season, but it can be difficult to get a table with all the office parties. I expect places like Australasia in Spinningfields will be absolutely packed, this year – and that French place on the edge of the Northern Quarter, 63 Degrees. Certainly no harm trying, though.

The wife will also be wanting to get her shopping done soon – and I know what that means. She’ll be in and out of shops all over the Arndale Centre, The Triangle and King Street while I trudge behind carrying bags. If I’m really lucky, I might get a seat outside the changing rooms in Marks & Spencer while she tries on dresses for Christmas Day. We’re having family round at ours. Just thinking about the food is making me hungry…

When one thinks of the PR industry it is not uncommon to envisage smartly dressed women holding lunchoen meetings in top London cafes and restaurants. But following a rise in creative companies based in the North, PR should no longer be solely associated with the capital.

Manchester is slowly building for itself a reputation for being a hub of creative talent, with many local companies becoming top players in media services. Manchester’s superiority within the creative media industry can be seen through its extensive range of PR agencies. Many of which specialise in different types of PR.

City Press is one of many well known agencies in the area, which also operates from London, promising to offer strategic consultancy whilst specialising in reputation management and media relations. Brazen PR is another of Manchester’s large agencies, its expertise lies within consumer PR and it has lots of large name clients on its books. Tangerine PR seems to be Manchester’s fastest growing agency, a home-grown company, winning the 2011 CIPR Excellence award.

But, it’s not just large companies that are doing well in the city. The city also houses much smaller, or ’boutique’, agencies that claim to offer the same quality service as their larger counterparts. Ethos Public Relations is one of these smaller agencies, based in Manchester. Their focus is very much on crisis communications and corporate social responsibility, and have been known to work with some top local celebrities. Another smaller agency that is flourishing in the North West is JAMpr. Also a design consultancy, JAM has won many awards in the comparatively short time its been around, and has also worked on many national accounts.

When searching for a PR agency, whatever the requirement, it is no longer essential to look to London, as Manchester has it all.

Either if you’re a Manchester resident or simply a visitor, Manchester has many cinemas to offer. Regardless of your preference in films, Manchester is sure to have something on offer.

Everyone has a favourite common cinema brand, be it Odeon, Vue or Cineworld – each with their individual style of seating, confectionary and pricing. This city, however, has more on offer than just the usual three. There’s AMC, one of just two in the country (the other being in Birmingham), or the Cornerhouse cinema, the independent Manchester cinema, offering original and foreign films that other cinemas would not usually screen.

For standard, reliable cinematic entertainment there’s Odeon in the Printworks with an adult ticket at £8.85, Cineworld Parrs Wood at £8.00 a ticket, or the slightly more reasonably priced AMC in the Great Northern building at £6.80 per adult. AMC also offer a good range of discounts for students and members of the armed forces. Vue cinema at the Lowry, Salford is also less dear with adult tickets from £6.40.

Manchester’s Cornerhouse offers adult tickets at £7.50 for an evening performance, but again there are discounts for students and concessions with a membership option that also reduces the cost. The Corner House is a change from the regular evening out at the cinema. This week its film choices include The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, a documentary telling the story of the US Black Power movement from the perspective of Swedish journalists at the time and Paisa, an Italian neo-realism film depicting the Italy’s World War two experiences. If it is mainstream cinema that you are after, Manchester has much on offer, although not at a bargin price. But, if you would rather spend the money on something original and different, then the Cornerhouse on Oxford Road is the perfect place.

Gorton Monastery was designed by Edward Welby Pugin during the Victorian era and is a fine example of Victorian Gothic Architecture. The purpose built building was originally a friary for a group of Franciscan Monks who settled in Manchester in 1861. However, it ceased to be used for worship in 1989 and has since had many different uses. The Monastery still acts as a sacred space for people to visit and learn about its history and architecture.

In 1997 the building was included in the 100 most Endangered Sites in the World list by the World Monuments Fund. This subsequently led to a £6 million restoration programme and in 2007 The Monastery reopened its doors as a venue for various events and performances.

The stunning building boasts a bespoke in-house catering and events service who can theme an event for up to 600 guests. The Monastery’s natural acoustics mean that it’s the perfect venue for any musical performance – particularly choral music. Songs of Praise has broadcast from the chapel along with Aled Jones’ Choir of the Year competition.

It is also a beautiful venue to hold a wedding, as both service and reception can be offered as a package. With the Archangel Garden and Cloister Space, there are plenty of superb photograph opportunities.

Although the building was helped substantially by grants donated from the Heritage Lottery Fund and The North West Development Agency amongst others, its own trust has been set up. The Monastery of St Francis and Gorton Trust seeks to gain more money from both public funding and the events that are held on the premises. There are regular tours and talks held at Gorton Monastery detailing the Franciscan’s journey to Gorton from Assisi and the ’sacred geometry’ codes that E. W. Pugin allegedly included in his architecture.

Amid an array of successful food establishments, Manchester sees regular restaurant openings with new offerings for the city. Abundantly filled with various establishments offering every kind of cuisine, Manchester is renowned for offering good grub.

One of the city’s newest contributions to the restaurant scene is Australasia. Situated just off Deansgate, it is set to be one of the best restaurants manchester has seen.

This restaurant is unique to the city in that it offers a fusion of Australian, and Asian foods with a European influence. It also holds a late license, with a bar that stays open until the early morning giving Manchester’s trendy residents a late night venue to converse in.

The selling point on the menu is sushi, but it also has a lot of other stunning dishes to choose from. All presented in a modern way, placing this restaurant at the higher end of Manchester’s market.

A sample menu includes:

Soft Shell Crab Californian Roll (£7.50)
Sashimi (£18.50)
Blackened Cod Roasted in Banana Leaf (£15.50)
Beef Fillet with Sesame, Sweet Soy and Red Chilli (£22.50)
Passion Fruit Marshmallow, roast pineapple parcels and pineapple sorbet (£7)

The prices are higher than some in Manchester, but it is good value for money and still far from London prices. For a nice meal as a celebration or for a few cocktails before a night out – or even after – Australasia is proving to be a popular venue in the city already. Although Manchester does cater for many tastes, Australasia does offer its customers something new.

Xtrax, the entertainment and festival organisers, are hosting a weekend of outdoor performances in Manchester. The company will be bringing together a wide array of street theatre, live music and dances for their upcoming event, Platform 4.

The Manchester festival is set to be even bigger than before as Xtrax have been able to book a large volume of acts from around the UK and Europe. The great amount of performances this year means that Platform 4 will be taking place in all the central area within Manchester. Piccadilly Gardens, St Ann’s Square and New Cathedral Street are going to be filled with street theatre and dance during Saturday and Sunday daytime.

Contact Young Actors Company, the Manchester theatrical troupe, will be putting on an outdoor performance during the weekend. The group will be showing their modern audience an old-fashioned medicine show full of mystical machines and visual treats. Another top attraction is ‘Chutney on the Street!’ where the cast of London’s successful Bombay Dreams will be singing and dancing to soca guitars and percussion.

Platform 4 continues into the night time hours at the Castlefield Arena. Friday and Saturday nights are going to have a real party atmosphere as live music and dancing will fill the arena. You can also watch top acrobats perform breathtaking circus skills and aerial shows around the streets of Castlefield. One of the main evening attractions is As the World Tipped by the Wired Aerial Theatre. Nigel Jamieson, the company director, has composed a piece where aerial performers tell the tale of the current ecological crisis.

Platform 4 will be taking place between Friday 19th and Sunday 21st August and all the performances are free of charge. You can learn more about Platform 4’s times and performances at the Xtrax Facebook page.