B.EAT STREET's latest venture in the Great Northern Warehouse is a variation on a pretty great…read moretheme. Many of the usual suspects were in attendance and that's slightly negative in terms of it being a bit repetitive, especially when those stalls are also restaurants, but actually the food I had was better overall than any of my previous visits: stunning buttermilk chicken burger from Coq o the North which three of us lost our shit over (we claimed it was better than Mumma Schnitzel which was controversial...) and I also was delighted with my chili brisket and sweet potato mess from Red's. No dessert stand which several members of my group found very disappointing. Normally they always have one so I would guess something fell through at the last minute. As with Friday Food Fight, there doesn't seem to be quite enough bar space/staff so you will have to queue but there are some fun cocktails (the Lynchburg Lemonade was particularly lethal) and there is a smaller bar round the corner doing stuff like cider which I'm pretty sure would have no wait at all. Also as with Friday Food Fight, the music was super fun - Shaggy, Skee-Lo etc. Although Upper Campfield Market is a very special place which I am really glad is in use, the Great Northern Warehouse is less draughty, has far better toilets, and in general a very cool and attractive space. I'm sure I'll be back and will be recommending to others.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have endorsed B.EAT STREET and their pop up, foodie adventures…read morearound Manchester all year. This occassion, named Food Fight MCR (rather than the original name of Friday Food Fight) is situalted in Great Northern Warehouse next to the ticket office to the AMC Cinema. The concept is the same as previous events, with street food vendors from in and around Manchester coming together to whip up some of the most imaginative eats around. Some of my favourite vendors have attended most weeks - Viet Shack, Mumma Schnitzel and Piggy Smalls to name a few. You'll have to take a look at the photo's I have posted for me to explain just how good the food is here...! If you want very, VERY casual dining on a Friday or Saturday night and want to be surrounded by other people who also share their love for food, then look no further. There's plenty of seating, plenty of food and the drinks are always flowing. Just a great time to be had by all. I have managed to make my way around most of the food stalls in here - but I will always be a big fan of Food Fight.

I have been wanted to come here long time ago yesterday I finally managed to do that! Why? Because…read moreBurger and lobster is visiting! Last time when they came here I was in London so I missed it, but I wont allow myself miss this again! Brought a friend with me and got there around 6:15, still early, a lot seats were still available and no massive queue there. Which was a good thing. After the friendly staff handed over my lobster roll I couldnt wait to dig in! The brioche bread toasted with butter was delicious, along with some fresh lobster and chive. Bang. I'm in heaven! Well its not as good as what I had in their proper restaurant since this only costs half of their regular menu price. Less lobster was put in, however the quality was good though. Heard they're going to open a venue here wish it will be soon! I really love the atmosphere here in FFF, brings all friends and street food lovers together and creates a chilling surrounding. Will visit again!

First time here with three friends- wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Hadn't even been…read moreinside the Great Northern Warehouse before! If you don't know it's there it wouldn't be easy to spot- you take the escalators up inside and see the sign for Friday Food Fight on the right hand side. Inside its a giant warehouse type building with high ceilings and long wooden benches. Near the entrance is the bar on the left serving beers, wines, cocktails, cider etc. On the far wall you'll find the street food options. Arrived about 9ish and it was in full swing- DJ playing tunes and long lines for all the food. Personally I can't eat that much fast food- it's all very heavy and deep fried, with lots of sauces etc. I queued up for Vietshack because I like Vietnamese food and they had a healthy 'prawn till dusk' option- prawn crackers topped with slaw and king prawns- was really tasty. Had to wait a really long time because this stand is so popular. I'd say if you don't want to wait around, go early or late. Other options that night were Yakumama, Bangers and Bacon, Splendid Kitchen, Burger & Lobster and The Ginger Tart for desserts. It reminded me of my student days at Leeds having drinks in the student union. Full of hipsters/students- dress casual and bring a coat in winter as can be a little chilly venturing outside to the toilets. Also sort of reminded me of a German beer hall- same vibe with the long communal tables. It makes it really easy to get chatting to new people and make some new friends.

I am currently loving the Manchester Jazz Festival. Not that I'm a big jazz listener, though I can…read morebe found frequenting Matt & Phred's from time to time, but the whole atmosphere at this event is just great. The main hub is located on Albert Square, with food and drink a-plenty. Understand why I like it so much now? Working just across the road, I have been for three days in a row - and planning on going for more. We've been just for drinks, but also for food, and every experience has been the same. Laid back, not too damaging on the wallet, and just plain tasty. The bar is a bit slow on service, with some of the bartenders seeming as if they've been drafted in from every role but bartending, but once you're sat in the sun spot of Manchester it's hard to stay annoyed. They take cards behind the bar, which is very handy. Despite serving wine by the bottle, you can't take this out on to the square - wine in a pint glass anyone? Although I understand the need for this rule, they haven't thought it through and provided anything other than an empty Pimm's jug or pint glasses. The food is from Woody's pizza, street wraps, and Chaophraya. I've had the pizza - £6 for plain, £7 for ones with toppings - which totally hit the spot after a slightly heavier night than intended the day before. I'll certainley be trying the thai, reasonably priced at circa £5 for a main portion. Albert Square is the perfect hub for this kind of event, and this is a great taster for the upcoming Food and Drink Festival.

The Manchester Jazz Festival is a great event currently being held in Albert Square. There is a…read morefestival pavilion stage where jazz bands of all genres play for a small ticket price. There are also food stalls selling high quality food including Chaporaya and Woody's pizza. There is a reasonably stocked bar but be aware the service is quite slow and lots of seating in the form of wooden benches. The atmosphere was great when we went down there to watch the Jonathan Silk Big Band. We thoroughly enjoyed the concert and it was well worth the £5 entry fee to watch 20 or so talented jazz musicians play some fabulous music. I hope this event comes back to Manchester next year.

Organised by the Trafford and Hulme branch of CAMRA in the surrounds of St Clement's Church in…read moreChorlton, this proved to be an exceptionally popular and well-organised festival. Though a sizeable queue had formed before the gates opened at 6pm, their fast-track ticket booth (where for £10 you received your hand stamp, glass, programme and £4 worth of beer tokens) meant you could hit the first bar within moments of entry. Additional tokens were available in £5 & £10 denominations from the beer token tent. There were four bars within the venue: the World Beers Bar and Out of Town Bar (both inside the church building), the Manchester Brewers' Bar and Traditional Cider & Perry bar within the grounds. Lots of seating under the cover of marquees (some could have done with a jet-washing it has to be said), but they proved very useful when the few hours of dry mildish summer weather was interrupted by rain. Food offerings were provided by some top street food traders. On the Friday session there were All About Pies, Fire & Salt BBQ and Tampopo. These were payment by cash only. Entertainment came in the form of Twisted Tubes, an excellent local band performing pop and jazz covers with their saxaphone, trumpets, trombone, sousaphone and percussion instruments. There were some minor annoyances - the queues for food were long at times given there were only three stalls for 100s of people; none of the volunteers seemed to be on rubbish duty so food trays were blowing everywhere or being left piled on tables; and there were no refunds on beer glasses (if you didn't want to keep them). Overall it was a really enjoyable night, more so for the fact we bagged a table early on. The beer selection was extensive and it was great to have a bar dedicated to local breweries. Tip: any unused value on your tokens at the end of the night can be returned to the token tent for a refund or you can hand it in as a donation to the church.

A Carefully Planned Festival (#4) is apparently named ironically but it seemed pretty perfectly…read moreplanned to me. The website is excellent (with links to clashfinder so you can figure out how to see everything you want) and there were helpful paper schedules with timetables and act descriptions as well. A day ticket was £10 in advance, £12.15 on the day, weekend was £15/£18 and picking up the wristband from Gullivers was completely painless. Considering I saw about 11 acts in 7 hours, that's great value. There's a huge range of music from metal to electronica to singer songwriters and the website helpful sorts acts by genre, provides links to their music online and highlights some of the organiser's personal favourites. The venues are all very good as well. My personal favourite was The Castle Hotel (Uranium Lake and Sam Brooke, both brilliant) as it's a beautiful space and the sound was excellent. Gullivers (Jo Mango, amazing) was also a good space but a little warm. Soup Kitchen has an even bigger & better space but wtf is that smell? Whiskey Jar and Cord have similar tiled basement rooms but Cord was really a squeeze for what was one of my favourite acts of the evening, Jo Rose. Mint Lounge isn't the most beautiful space but is good for bigger crowds and they have Coke in glass bottles. Kraak likewise doesn't have much atmosphere, it's probably my least favourite of the spaces but was a bit quieter so good for a bit of a breather (math rock notwithstanding). The crowds weren't mega friendly (hipsters...) but there were no dicks either. Overall, highly highly recommended and I already look forward to next year! If you happen to be reading this on Sunday 19 October 2014, stop immediately and head straight to the NQ to experience for yourself!

Great event, however you can find yourself in an ultra long queue waiting for one of the food…read morestalls. For example one of the pizza stand queues we waited 30mins before giving up. Was also good to see the security staff bopping along to some of the music being played by one of the bands.

How do I nearly miss this every year (now in its 10th). Great live music and performance and great…read morefood in a safe festival atmosphere. Global feel in the heart of the city.

Amazing music, Alcohol, Tents, Adrenalin pumping Rides, 60,000 people from all over the country,…read morewomen in tiny shorts and floral prints, shirtless men and gorgeous sunshine --- These ingredients definitely make up for a FANTASTIC festival! What more could one possibly ask for? This was my first ever festival in this country and I must say Parklife you were incredible! I have always been more of a rock & roll girl but after this I have started to love hip hop and EDM! Incredible dj's playing all over and some of the best bands ever! Jurassic 5 reminded me of my teenage days and I danced like a mentalist like everyone else there; Rudimental was absolutely insane as well and the crowd was singing aloud every song (woof what a feeling to be in that crowd); Disclosure was equally crazy getting the crowd all excited even though the heat was scorching! Besides the big names there were so many independent artists from all over the country who blew my mind, there was this one reggae band who covered some really popular rock numbers in reggae style -- Ama-zing! I am gutted that I cant recall their name, blame the heat and alcohol for that! The downsides like every festival included no signal, 3G and long queues --- but hey! that is expected. Verdict : I had a fabulous time and I can't wait to go back next year again!

The UK's largest Gin Festival returned to Manchester at the beautiful Victoria Baths. The last time…read moreI was here was coincidentally for another booze-related festival, IndyManBeerCon (http://www.indymanbeercon.co.uk/) so I knew the setting was going to be an impressive one. Tickets are sold through Eventbrite and sell out incredibly quickly so don't delay when they become available for purchase. On arrival you're handed your festival glass (which you can keep as a memento) and a small brochure full of information on the 80 different gins you can try. You need drinks tokens to buy the gin (the bars don't accept cash) and you can get these at the desk inside the main hall. These worked out at £5 per drink and included Fever Tree tonic and a garnish. As we did, most people opted to buy a card of four drinks for £20, but you can buy fewer tokens if you like. There are four bars down both sides of the main hall (labelled A to D) and they mirror each other so two of every bottle is available to ease queuing times. I'd never tried a fruit gin before but the Rhubarb & Ginger from Edinburgh Gin Distillery was the best of all the gins I tried that evening. Gorgeous served neat and delicate with tonic added. I'm definitely buying a bottle! There's live entertainment in the food hall and a series of talks from gin industry experts in some of the smaller side rooms but we didn't attend any of those. One of the highlights was the Meet the Distillers area inside another of the pool rooms. Here about ten or so different gin makers had stalls where you could chat to them about their wares, try some samples and learn about where you could purchase a bottle or get a drink of their product in Manchester. It was a fantastic event to attend; we learned a lot more about one of our favourite tipples and we'll absolutely be back here next year with our gin-loving friends.

What an amazing event. I really enjoyed my afternoon at the Manchester Gin Festival yesterday…read more Tickets for this event sold out in days so we felt lucky to be there. We were greeted by a friendly gin enthusiast who advised us on which gins to try, we also received a stylish gin festival glass as a keepsake. The event was organised over 3 rooms. The first being made up of 4 bars serving loads of different gins. You had to peruse the extensive programme to decide what to try and buy their token cards at £20 for 4 tokens so you could get a drink. A particularly good find for me was the rhubarb and ginger gin which I could happily drink by the bucket load it was that good. The next room was the tasting room where for free you could try a selection of different gins and listen to talks by their makers. I loved the sloe gin and the blackcurrant gin and it was good to taste a wide sample of high quality gins. The final room was the master class room where you could listen to in-depth talks about how gin is made and its history. There were also gin based cocktails on offer too. All this amongst the truly stunning and historic setting of Victoria Baths which couldn't be beaten as a venue.

Such a good event, lots of different food stalls and a live band playing! Go and visit before it…read moregoes

Beech Road is great, but more often than not I will wander down it gazing at the gorgeously…read moretempting window displays of the small independent shops, without actually setting foot in a single store or café. Some of the shops are so small that I would actually be a little scared about stepping into the owner's little space for fear that I would do something embarrassing (I have previously been described as a bull in a china shop!). This is why Beech Road Festival is great. The big street party encourages all the local traders to come out and showcase their products, and many of them will put on special deals for the event. Last year I had a delicious Caribbean veggie patty and salad for a couple of quid, perfect with a can of Red Square. The festival itself has a relaxed and family-friendly atmosphere. Many people choose to make up a picnic to eat whilst watching the local bands and entertainers on the stage in Beech Road Park (get there early to find a patch of grass!) At the moment the beginning of July certainly feels too far away, but the 13th Beech Road Festival will come round in no time... see you down there.