The Hallé Orchestra opened its new season last week with a moving and magnificent performance at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. Although the orchestra has played a handful of concerts over the summer, ...

Here at OperaWatch offices in Northern Soul Towers, the staff are giddy with excitement. After a surreal visitation by the spirits of past, present and future, I have granted them a few extra days off ...

Miracle on 34 th Street was always going to be a commercial banker for the Liverpool Playhouse. Artistically though, for a theatre which made an exciting choice with its Christmas offering from ...

Since publication in 1952, when it won the Carnegie Medal for outstanding children’s book by a British author, Mary Norton’s The Borrowers has been constantly in print. Its popularity has spawned ...

Talking to Anna Appleby, the creative force behind Norrisette, is a giddy delight. Arguably Manchester’s most distinctive electronic pop artist, her conversational synapses trigger firework ...

The problem with Manchester is that, in its rush to define itself, it can be quick to paper over its cracks, over the contradictions which lend the city its character. This pride in its contrarian ...

Here’s the thing. I’ve never seen either of the Miracle on 34th Street films, not the 1947 original nor the 1994 remake. But that didn’t stop me from loving this adaptation, now showing at HOME in ...

In a new series, Northern Soul writers share their food memories. From culinary trips to cherished family recipes and hidden restaurants, takeaways and cafés, we take a tasty trip down memory lane.

When chatting to Frank Skinner, it’s impossible to resist the topic of football. I skirt the issue of whether it will ever come home for England, turning instead to his beloved West Bromwich Albion ...