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There’s a Brexit Escape Room in Manchester and it’s scarily realistic
Leave or Remain?
Whichever side of the Brexit debate you’re on, the one thing I think we can all be united in is the fact that the whole process has been a complete unremitting disaster, which has not only divided the country, but also made us an international laughing stock. Merry Christmas!
With much of the debate just seeming to centre around people on both sides trying to shout or condescend their opinion into the brains of people with a differing view, a bit of a light-hearted escape from the whole thing sounded fun to me. An escape room, to be more precise.
Alternate Escapes, one of the residents at the new Pollard Yard, located on Pollard Street next to Wellington Mill – a hub for creative independent businesses housed in repurposed shipping containers, run by a company called Meanwhile Creative – offers themed escape room challenges. The current theme is The Battle of Brexit and there are new themes in the pipeline for 2020.
Ben Fowler, the man behind Alternate Escapes, explains: “The escape room is about giving people the chance to take a fairly exhausting, serious topic, and enjoy it in a far more light-hearted and satirical way”.
Before you start you have to pick a side: Remain or Leave. We picked Remain, and you have a quick introduction in a separate cabin to go over the rules.
The set up being that our host is our campaign manager, and he has surreptitiously gained access to our rivals HQ for a short time and in the true spirit of real life Brexit, our objective is to try and gather sensitive, confidential information to besmirch our rivals by seeding their grubby secrets out to the press.
It’s not really a case of escaping per se, but if you get all the secret documents, you succeed in destroying your rivals credibility, and ultimately win your chosen Brexit outcome. Or you fail, and they win.
It was at this moment I made a decision. When I was younger, if there was a big football game approaching, I’d often play the game virtually on Fifa beforehand, deciding that whatever the outcome on Fifa would be the outcome in real life in some sort of inexplicable cosmic quirk, with myself at the centre of the universe.
That’s what I decided would happen with Brexit, 100%, without question. Whatever happened in our Battle of Brexit escape room would manifest in real life.
Naturally, being an escape room, they haven’t made it easy. In order to get our hands on confidential documents we have to work out access to various cupboards, drawers, cabinets, lockers and rooms by following a series of cryptic clues dotted around, with our campaign manager watching over from our HQ and able to provide clues on a screen occasionally, for which you’re notified by a little gong sound.
One such gong during our session was to dissuade one of our team Danny from trying to hack into a tablet, which we weren’t quite ready to use at that stage as we hadn’t discovered the clue to do so yet.
While Danny didn’t quite manage to hack into the rival’s profile, he did somehow manage to log out of it completely and, impressively, hack in to the Alternate Escapes chap’s girlfriend’s personal profile, which we quickly were notified wasn’t part of our game, leaving us having to un-hack and re-hack back in when we were ready. It was some serious espionage.
I’ve done a couple of escape rooms before, with mixed success and experiences, and this one was well put together, good fun, and actually quite tough. It’s a simple-looking layout at first, but the complexity of it builds out as the game progresses.
We had waves of being pretty prolific, then hitting a roadblock, with each new discovery greeted with a collective cheer. With actual seconds to spare, we managed to get the last clue and succeed in getting all documents, meaning that we won.
Therefore, the cosmos has spoken, the outcome of Brexit will be Remain.
Then again, if the universe was as aligned around me as I like to think, England would have won every major football tournament since about 1998 based purely on my Fifa endeavours, so I won’t hold my breath.
To find out more info visit the website here.
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The new FREE Christmas night market with over 40 traders from across our region
Get in the festive spirit!
Get in the festive spirit with a brand new FREE Christmas makers night market, with over 40 traders and small businesses from across the region.
Brought to you by Renaker, the Manchester Made Christmas night market is coming to New Jackson, Deansgate Square from Friday December 6th to Sunday December 8th.
Following on from a successful summer market in May, the Manchester Made Market is returning bigger and better than before but with a Christmassy twist.
Manchester Made Market
Expect a ‘cosy and magical’ Christmas night market experience, with food, drink, live music and even a grotto for visits to Father Christmas.
There’ll be Christmas trees galore, glittering with lighting, with one huge show-stopping tree taking centre stage.
Bringing together over 40 artisanal traders and small businesses from across the region, the three-day event will showcase a plethora of food produce, homewares, crafts and creations.
Manchester Made Market
Visitors will be sure to find unique Christmas gifts that support local businesses, including from The Cole Men and their award winning sauces, Moon & Sixpence’s handmade jewellery, and fine art photography by Craig Barker.
There’ll be live music from a 20-piece choir, playing Christmas classics, cocktails from Manchester Gin and Gooey’s sweet treats.
The experts from Millington Hall Farm in Altrincham will be bringing a taste of their Wild Grill experience, including live sausage making demonstrations and an array of German sausages served from a festive BBQ trailer.
Manchester Made Market
Families with children can visit the Christmas grotto, where Father Christmas himself will be waiting in a cosy tipi – kids will get a gift from Santa, and bookings can be made online for £8.50 per child.
Manchester Made Market will be open from 4pm to 9pm on Friday December 6th, and 1pm to 9pm on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th – pre-register for a free guest list ticket and 50% off a hot chocolate HERE, or book the Christmas grotto HERE.
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Free one-day Christmas festival returning to Stockport to kick off festive season
Get in the festive spirit in Stockport!
Stockport’s free, one-day Christmas festival is returning this festive season, with 200 performers and more than 50 shows.
Spectacular Sunday will return to the town on November 17th at various sites and venues.
Following the success of last year’s event, hundreds of performers will take over Stockport, with everything from giant roller-skating presents to a living snow globe and roaming Christmas dolls.
There will also be street theatre, including grumpy Christmas grandads, a gigantic balloon man and water show.
Matthew Nichol Photography
Produced by carnival arts organisation Global Grooves and organised by Stockport Council, Totally Stockport, Merseyway and Stockport Market, the town centre will be buzzing with Christmas excitement.
Events will be happening in iconic Stockport locations like Market Place, Underbanks, Merseyway, Redrock and Suffragette Square.
A grand finale in Merseyway will bring together the brass bands of Stockport, ending the day with a huge flash mob and rendition of All You Need Is Love.
Cirq Delight
Cllr Singleton, Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture and Sport, said: “We’re so excited to bring this event back after last year’s amazing success.
“It’s such a fun way to get everyone in the festive spirit and really shows off what makes Stockport special – our sense of community and joy.
“With loads of free performances and activities, plus a chance to enjoy the newly improved areas of Merseyway, it’s a perfect day out for families.
“Stockport’s Spectacular Sunday is all about having fun, making memories, and starting the holiday season in style.”
Spectacular Sunday is happening from 11am to 5pm on Sunday November 17th – find out more HERE.
The prestigious Manchester Art Fair is back in town for its 16th year next month, bringing with it a vibrant gallery space showcasing thousands of works from over 500 artists.
One of the biggest and most significant events in the UK art world calendar, it’ll take over Manchester Central for three days, from Friday November 15th to 17th.
The city will be flooded with art from all corners of the world, championing everything from local heroes to new emerging talent, as well as international artists with worldwide acclaim.
Manchester Art Fair
A wide range of artistic disciplines will be represented at the event, from painters, illustrators, and sculptors to graffiti artists and everything in between.
Expect exhibitions, workshops, Q&A sessions, demos, book signings and parties happening across the event.
Tickets include free access to art workshops and talks from leading artists and cultural experts, and are on sale now.
You can grab them HERE.
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The VR gaming experience at airport where you can escape reality
The new FREE Christmas night market with over 40 traders from across our region
Free one-day Christmas festival returning to Stockport to kick off festive season
Simmons Bar opens first Northern site in Manchester with free drinks at launch party
The prestigious Manchester Art Fair is back in town for its 16th year
