A winter wonderland with urban attitude, a place where the surreal meets the sublime, Christmas cheer meets nano-brewed beer, and the darkest of spaces are given the brightest of touches all under the moody Mancunian Way…welcome to Urban Narnia at Hatch.
Food, drink and retail concept Hatch are staging a bespoke Christmas pop up experience that will see Hatch more than double in size and create a brand new and extraordinary festive destination for Manchester. “Urban Narnia” will be launching on 15th November with the last event taking place on 20th December.
The existing Hatch site will expand to engulf a much larger area of its location beneath the Mancunian Way. It will be transformed into an urban winter escape complete with festive trees, twinkling Christmas lights, heaters, blankets and a whole programme of magnificent events and entertainment.
Brand new shops will be joining Nordic Muse for alternative seasonal shopping, and winter warmers will be on hand from new food and drink pop-ups and bars. It’s a bold and bespoke Winter Festival of its own and it’s all landing at Hatch.
Incredible, independent food, drink and retail brands who will be popping up in extra shipping containers, especially for Christmas, include Cottonopolis with a special yuletide version of their street food brand ‘Japanese Junk’.
They’ll be serving up a range of Christmas drinks with an Asian-inspired twist including a hot, mulled, spiced plum Sake. Hot Toddy and Hot Buttered Rum will provide more traditional festive cockle warmers. Japanese Junk’s famous Bao Buns will make for fabulous festive feasting.
Their Pork Belly Bao with peanuts, mustard and pickles, Katsu Chicken Burgers, Wagyu Kuro Burger as well as super snacks like vegetable gyozas and prawn cracker nachos will all be on the menu at Urban Narnia. Plus there’ll be wine, beers and G&Ts served with a range of homemade festive cordials.
Electrik, the gang that successfully brought Yadda Yadda to Hatch, will be transforming a double stacked shipping container into an all-new Urban Narnia Bar…the details of this festive drinks extravaganza are being kept under wraps until the big opening night event on the 15th November when all will be revealed!
Retail brands who’ll be bringing something extra special to Urban Narnia include pop-up partners Betty and Butch. Famed as the UK’s best dog store (and winner of Pet Store of the Year) Betty and Butch are a bespoke boutique for pooches and purveyors of everything your doggie dreamed of including their own brand natural dog food, organic dog shampoo, toys, leads, harnesses and lots of other fun things to help doggies live their best life!
They’ll be hosting Manchester’s only dedicated Doggie Christmas Shop at Urban Narnia – bringing an array of festive gift ideas for pooches to Hatch and ensuring that the furry friend in your house has a bulging stocking too.
They’ll also be hosting their famous Santa Paws on site – bring your hound along to see Santa Paws and they’ll get their own Christmas present and that all important pic of them sat upon his knee!
The addition of a new stage at Urban Narnia will mean even more scope for fabulous performances, and extra seating and blankets will create plenty of perfectly cosy festive hang out space.
A magical urban Christmas venue wouldn’t be complete without Christmas trees. And the ones at Hatch are not just to admire but to buy too-so make way for the Urban Narnia Christmas Tree Shop. It will be the city’s new one-stop festive horticultural stop, hosting mini-masterclasses from Christmas tree decorating to wreath making workshops, as well as selling festive fir trees to complete your Christmas at home.
An immersive and diverse programme of events is scheduled throughout Urban Narnia as the site will be brought to life with music, performances, parties (for kids and grown-ups alike) and a whole family of characters to meet including Mr Tumnus and the Fabulous Fauns.
The 15th November will see the Launch Night kick Urban Narnia off in fantastical style from 6pm with DJ sets from Danielle Moore (Crazy P) and Jenna & The G’s alongside an extraordinary AV performance by The Ice Queen and other Urban Narnia personalities.
Takk, Öl and a new street food trader line up will remain in the outdoor courtyard as they welcome their new Hatch neighbours for the celebrations, whilst festive performances from the Cosmo Singers and a reappearance from ‘Mr Tumnus and the Fabulous Fauns’ will be a magical finale at the Mince Pie and Mulled Wine Mingle on the 20th December.
It all makes for a fantastically cool yule at Hatch.
Urban Narnia opens at 6pm on 15th November and is open until 20th December. Opening times vary – please check the Hatch website for details.
Hatch, Oxford Road, Manchester, M1 7ED
www.hatchmcr.com
