House Music in Manchester Friday Night

Superb return of Comic Con Manchester on Saturday. Blog post coming. 

Commonwealth Games are in full swing. We get to see parts on Channel 5, and a little more on BBC Alba. England are in 2nd place on the medals table behind Australia. I’m working through this Commonwealth Games Fit project I set for myself. 

Manchester Day Parade took place yesterday, a celebration of the city by a consortium of different local social groups. More on each of these soon. 

Greater Manchester elects a new mayor on Thursday. Looks like I’ll be going for Greens, with Geraldine Goggins on the ballot. I’m disgusted in Labour’s Zionism, their refusal to accept the ICC’s ruling that Israel is conducting a genocide in Gaza, and their apparent lack of understanding of their own rules on Personal Independence Payment. It’s not an out-of-work benefit. Labour seem unaware of this. Greens, on the other hand, want to properly tax the billionaires, fund the NHS and social care system, build more affordable homes, fund proper mental health support, increase the minimum wage, stop the gig economy and stop corporations from dumping literal shit in our rivers, to name a few reforms. So they’ve got my vote. 

Friday night: Manchester club Joshua Brooks welcomes house music producer Miguel Campbell for Full Circle, a night of deep house. His 2011 hit Something Special is still a banger. 

 

 

Manchester Nightlife are headed there. 3 of us have signed up so far. Be 4th! New Batman spinoff Clayface has finally released their trailer. 

 

 

Clayface was partly filmed in Castlefield Manchester, and also Stockport Centre. Look carefully and you’ll notice Stockport Plaza. Back in September last year, the production of the movie used Castlefield Manchester as a filming location. I took a look. 

Sunday night: The Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony takes place, around 6pm (the exact details aren’t readily available). I’m working through this absurd Commonwealth Games Fit project, with an unrealistic goal of losing nearly 13 kilos. I wouldn’t count on it happening at present. 

That’s this week. Quiet week next week.

Cocktails, Chancers and Saunas

Great afternoon in Ancoats Marina, in Finders Keepers bar yesterday.

Scenes at Finders Keepers Ancoats Marina Saturday. Cheong orange mai tai. And a Canada Goose eyeing it up.

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— Matt Tuckey 🇬🇧 (@matttuckey.bsky.social) 5 July 2026 at 21:21

Sat outside in the sun with the Meetup group. I say great, but in actuality, someone turned up without having actually RSVPd on the page. He ordered a drink, drank it, then left the bar without paying. I shouldn’t have done this, but I made a split decision to pay for him just to keep the peace with the bar. 

Found Track, a brewery come serving bar, on an estate just off Oldham Road. I’m not a beer drinker so there wasn’t much for me to slake my thirst, but their pizzas were great. 2 left to Wetherspoons to my crushing disappointment. Remember COVID and Tim Martin, people. He was a twat. 

The rest of us walked to Freight Island behind Piccadilly approach. PBR Streetgang were on the decks, which is a name I recognise from somewhere. I thought it might be Radio 1… Turns out it’s the 1979 ‘Nam movie Apocalypse Now.

 

Didn’t stay out late. 

Today I visited FIX in the Northern Quarter. I got in on a friend’s membership as a +1. Very serene, calming venue with a sauna room, much larger than Oldham Sports Centre’s (which I was in Saturday). Not as hot, but much more organised. 90 minutes allocated instead of 50. Staff applied different oils with orange and other scents. FIX also have 2 on-site plunge baths of cold and very cold. I tried them both for a few seconds. Very quiet venue. No talking allowed. Good to have a sauna experience that doesn't include yonners arguing about Hamas and vaccines, and telling dull stories of their younger glory days. A calming and cleansing experience, physically and mentally. 

Then we got lunch in My Thai, eastern restaurant I’ve had my eye on for ages. Good spicy food.

Finders Keepers - Summer Drinks This Saturday

Put your arms all around it

Take it now that you've found it

It don't need to be no deeper

It's finders keepers

-Mabel 

Sister’s wedding this weekend just gone. A magical time in the woodlands of Swillington Leeds. Great fun. I prefer to leave my family out of this blog as much as is possible, but I have mentioned it was going to happen: this Wedding Fit project is done. More on Saturday. 

Passed 2.8 million hits on the blog. Thanks, readers and bots! 

Also on Saturday: an early doors meetup with Manchester Nightlife. Come join me and (at present) 3 others in sunny Ancoats Marina for a few afternoon drinks, starting in the new Finders Keepers bar. I’ve not been yet but Ancoats seems to be the new up and coming area. Let’s find out at 4pm.

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Summer Solstice Morning Rave

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Up early on a Sunday for a rave. What in the world. Hinterland ran their first prober club event, as I understand it, with their Summer Solstice Morning Rave. This morning welcomed the longest day of the year, so the vegan alcohol free bar welcomed DJ Taurud for some chilled beats and matchas. 

The 9am start was no problem for the dedicated, who included flower-in-hair hippies, barefoot ravers and of course meetup members – some new, some not, all Manchester Nightlife attendees. 

Great music, friendly crowd. I’d do it again. Hinterland keep offering up surprising, diverse events. They’re worth keeping an eye on.

Summer Solstice Morning Rave this Sunday

2 weeks away from my sister’s wedding and the weight is just not coming off, no matter how much bland soup I make and begrudgingly eat. So I’m hammering through this remaining veg, and then fasting. The suit fits me as it is, so that’s a start. If I succeed, it’ll be a bit big. Hugely failing this Wedding Fit challenge. 

Fittingly, the next meetup is in a venue with no alcohol and healthy vegan food. Hinterland bar hosts the Summer Solstice Rave, featuring ‘matcha, coffee and vibes.’ Come join Manchester Nightlife for some daytime partying. The only downside: it starts at 9am on a Sunday. So no Saturday night out. 

 

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Rudy's and Katie's

Last night I went to new Irish bar Katie O’Brien’s on Peter St with the Manchester Nightlife Meetup group. Some new, some regulars. Went for food first with a mate. Were queues everywhere except Rudy’s Pizza on Peter St. 

 

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Met the meetup group in Dirty Martini. Mixed group. Guys, girls, new, regular. 

Went over to Katie O’Brien’s. The Irish bar opened a few weeks ago in the old Peaky Blinders unit with live music, traditional décor and heaving with people. Absolutely roasting upstairs. I couldn’t stay long. The heat was killing me. Surprisingly, we all got in even with members wearing trainers and baseball caps.

Decor from Katie O'Brien's last night

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— Matt Tuckey 🇬🇧 (@matttuckey.bsky.social) 14 June 2026 at 16:04

Come to the new Katie O'Brien's Saturday

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I booked today off to write up a Comic Con that I actually ended up not going to. The guests were interesting but not really my thing this time. 

But this has meant I can get on with other things. Including this one, I have 3 blog posts to write. Also, expect a recipe review on the blog this Saturday. 

But what’s happening in the city? Saturday night: new bar Katie O’Brien’s has opened and is already hugely popular. Manchester Nightlife are headed there Saturday night, first starting on the corner of Peter St in Dirty Martini. 

New Meetup group Manchester Whisky Tasting Events opens with a tasting event on the 13th. I’m dieting for an upcoming wedding, but I’ll be all over some whisky tasting after that, depending on their events. I’m a big single malt fan. I went to a couple of tastings in Oldham about 15 years ago, then again in ‘12 and ‘23 in Scotland. 

My friend Fay has set up Manchester Woman and Guys Having Fun meetup group (sic). It’s got a bit of everything: coffee meets, fitness, food, drink, movies. Keep an eye on it. 

A heads-up for anyone visiting rooftop bar 20 Stories this summer: there’s a £10 door charge which ‘will apply from Saturday 23rd May until Monday 31st August (Bank Holiday) from 5pm onwards.’ I guess if you were the manager and it’s busy season, you may as well make the money.

Views from Sora Sky Bar

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Last night Meetup group Manchester Nightlife met in the lobby of Malmaison near the Town Hall and headed up to their second floor observatory bar Sora for some cocktails and mocktails. Good group. 4 of 9 showed up, plus 1 member who didn’t RSVP, but he’s a regular. Incredible décor, chilled house music, majestic views of the city and fine company from new and regular members. 

After this a few of us took a look at the new Katie O’Brien’s on Peter St, formerly the Peaky Blinders bar. Good atmos, heaving with people, shame about the generic indie and pop music but a popular spot. I’ll be back there next week.

Scenes from Manchester's new Katie O'Brien's bar in Manchester

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— Matt Tuckey 🇬🇧 (@matttuckey.bsky.social) 7 June 2026 at 20:43

 

In other news, Brian O’Halloran – Dante off Clerks – liked my comment about the best films of ‘77, ‘87 and ‘94. Not sure why I picked Dumb and Dumber over Pulp Fiction. (As it happens, both directors – Tarantino and Farrelly – are Zionists anyway.)

Sora Sky Bar Saturday

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More and more sky bars are opening in Manchester, offering cocktails and views of the city. You know me. I love a good cityscape. Come take a look at one of the latest views at Sora Sky Bar, inside the Malmaison, opposite Piccadilly Station. Manchester Nightlife are headed there Saturday. 

A month to my sister’s wedding. Steadily getting fitter.

Kodo

Hmm. Perhaps I wasn’t 100% honest with last week’s post on Castlefield: there was, in fact, a bristling of drama. But to describe it properly, I’ve got to go way back to early 2020. 

It’s March. Our idiot then-PM Boris Johnson shuns the COBRA meetings and locks the country down late, writes ‘bollocks’ across the COVID medical info and allows Cheltenham Festival to go ahead. COVID rips through the community and, as the months go on, 200,000 people die, including a load of my work clients (in the public sector tied to healthcare) and my mate’s dad. 

Early 2021: Pfizer announce a new, fully approved, fully tested and fully safe vaccine. It’ rolled out, and immediately COVID cases start to plummet. We’re heading back to normality. Sadly, a good number of my friends reveal themselves to be anti-vaxxers, and to believe a load of horseshit conspiracies. I try to talk some sense into them, but one thing anyone knows about me: I have no power of persuasion. The only thing I can do is block them and move on. 

Summer 2024: I’ve blocked loads of people. I’ve moved on from entire groups. The few friends I still have are busy with kids and careers. I bite the bullet and shell out to be a Meetup organiser. I set up Manchester Nightlife, a group for nights out in the city with a plan to see some DJs, try some cocktail bars and be the first to visit the new places. As the weeks go on, the group grows as more people join. 

May 2026. I now have 900 members, with more joining all the time. Last week’s Castlefield meetup takes place. I haven’t checked every member that joins, and unbeknown to me, one of the new members, AA, is someone I’d had to block on Facebook – not even that long ago – for spamming my profile with some crank far right website with batshit COVID conspiracies. I didn’t even notice he’d signed up to the event until he rocked up at Barca. He went to the bar. I mentioned this to one of the other group members, and then AA himself brought it up. I explained I just can’t have anti-vaxxers in my social media. 

And that was that. No big argument. We were civil. Then he seemed to leave early. 

Fast forward a week. Last night a few of us met in Roxy Ballroom near the Printworks for this week’s meetup. a new guy mentions that he’d been reading the reviews on the site, and someone had properly gone off at me. The Meetup website hadn’t notified me about this, so it’s news to me. I take a look, and it’s AA. 

‘Gossiping host allowed members to be rude and disrespectful towards me. I had a polite demeanour throughtout. Made to feel unwelcome. Very poor.’ (sic) 

Jesus fucking Christ. Like I've not known him for years. Whatever. The question remains: why would you go to a meetup ran by a guy who you gave some shit to online, and who then blocked you? Did you not think that they would have something to say? 

Whatever. We moved on from Roxy’s to Kodo, a new hidden bar with a Japanese theme.

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All I had to do was find the venue and show them the pic from the website to get in, and then find the actual bar. It’d be good to go back once an upcoming wedding is out of the way and I’m not avoiding alcohol. Good little joint if you can track it down. 

Aside from all that, Magali Gorre liked my pic of us on Facebook. I am out of cereal, so my weight should start to drop soon, and I did a rare Parkrun with the family, getting 36:04. Watergrove in Rochdale is a tough, hilly course. And that’s the week.

Discover Hidden Bar Kodo on Saturday

Well. That IDRA meetup didn’t take off, for whatever reason. Too niche, perhaps. Anyway, I ended up staying in last night. Hence, I accidentally woke up at 5am, when I’d like to have been coming home. 

Also, actor William Forsythe liked my Insta comment about another actor Mike Starr.

I’m off work until Friday. I have a ton to do. Saturday night: Join Manchester Nightlife Meetup as we head to hidden bar Kodo Their location requires a bit of legwork to find, but I’ve figured it out. There’s a door. There’s a code to get in. (I’ve found all of this for you.) Think moody red lights, Japanese décor… and that’s all that’s available online. All you have to do is meet me and the group in Roxy Ballroom, Withy Grove, first. 9pm, Saturday. 

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Castlefield in the Sun

Bank Holiday week is going well. With some annual leave thrown in I’m not back until the 29th. 

 

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Went out to Castlefield last night with Manchester Nightlife. Good group of people. The area is popular when the sun comes out thanks to a few different bars having outdoor areas next to each other, on the banks of a canal. Have a cocktail and a pint, and watch the Canada Geese strut by. My plan was to meet in Dukes 92, but sadly the entirety of Manchester seemingly had the same idea and the queue was horrendous. Weirdly, Barca next door was spacious with a few customers and lots of free benches, and minimal bar queues. Toilets needed checking though. Good group of people again. No drama. Moved on to Blues Kitchen, Alchemist, Lawn Club. Great afternoon. Also, look who I met: Magali Gorre off Real Housewives of Cheshire!

 

Bank Holiday Incoming

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Stay tuned for a psychology book review on the blog. 

Saturday Afternoon: join Manchester Nightlife in Castlefield for some hopefully outdoor drinks in the sun. Dukes 92 from 3pm. The sun should just about be coming out, as are 6 people at the time of writing. It’s the perfect time of year for that area. 

Sunday Afternoon: Manchester Nightlife are out again, this time to new club venue IDRA on store St. Veteran house music DJ John Digweed, from the Kiss 102 days if you’re in your 40s and 50s, shares the set with headliner Sasha. Second release tickets are £37. They will increase! I haven’t bought yet. At the time of writing I’m still waiting for attendees. 

There isn’t a great deal else happening on Meetup this weekend, particularly not on the bank holiday Sunday. I’ve noticed this a lot on Meetup, that when it comes to those Mondays off, nobody seems to want to do anything on the Sunday night. Either I put something up (I ran a Northern Quarter bar crawl on a bank holiday Sunday a few months ago) or nobody does.