It’s Mother’s Day on the 26th March and unless your mum is Rose West, then she will probably deserve being treated by her self-centred, ignorant offspring. Never one to let an opportunity go to waste, the fine establishments of Manchester are offering a plethora of deals and options for you to hopefully ensure your mum has a good day.
Bakerie
Get Mummy down to Bakerie on the 26th and she can get her mitts on a free £5 card to spend on their fantastic wine jukebox. What the chuff is a wine jukebox? Well I didn’t know either – apparently its Manchester’s first wine tasting machine – which holds up to 24 different wines, is climate controlled and sealed with nitrogen to stop the oxidation. It’s self-serving so your mam can keep going back until she’s giggling and falling about like she used to in the 70’s.
Bakerie, 45 Lever St, Manchester M1 1DN
www.bakeriemcr.com
Pho Cafe
Drag your mam down to Pho Cafe on the 26th and she will be given bottomless Prosecco or Buck’s Fizz. All you need to do is buy a glass of bubbly for your mum at the regular price (Buck’s Fizz £4.50 / Prosecco £4.95) and she’ll get as many free refills as you like. As usual there are a few rules – the deal is only available when you order food and you can only have one drink per person at any one time – probably to ensure that she doesn’t get too drunk and start smashing the place up like she did on that cruise that time.
Pho Cafe, 37 Hanging Ditch, Unit 15, The Corn Exchange, Manchester M4 3TR
www.phocafe.co.uk/locations/manchester
Breakout Manchester
Most of the things on offer for Mother’s Day involve her getting a free drink or free food. But if your mum is anything like mine – she’ll be more than happy with a pie and chips and half a bottle of vodka instead. An alternative idea is to head to Breakout, a fantastic activity for the whole family where you’ll have to get your brains working whilst also working together as a team. There is also the added benefit of being locked up in a room with her – so if you have any beef you want to sort out – this would be the perfect time.
Breakout Town Hall: 14a Brazennose Street, Manchester, M2 6LW
Breakout High Street: 36 High Street, Manchester. M4 1QB
www.breakoutmanchester.com
Manchester Gin Festival
Gin was called Mother’s Ruin because in the mid eighteenth century the effects of gin on the family and economy were disastrous. Considered the poor man’s drink due to its affordability, gin drinking had started out as medicinal but due to its easy availability, men became impotent while women became sterile causing the London birth rate to decline drastically. Celebrate this tenuous link with a visit to the Manchester Gin Festival down at Victoria Baths. Tickets are still available for Saturday 25th March and you can hope to sample over 100 different craft gins as well as new and exclusive gins and masterclasses galore.
Victoria Baths, Hathersage Road, Chorlton-on-Medlock, M13
www.ginfestival.com/events/gin-festival-manchester-2017
Scene Indian Street Kitchen
If your mum is a fan of Indian food, or if you’re trying to introduce her to food that isn’t chips and egg, then head on down to Scene Indian Street Kitchen this Mother’s Day. With a menu jam-packed with street food starters and traditional sub-continental dishes – you can’t go wrong. On top of this – mums will also receive a free rose on Mother’s Day – so you won’t have to buy her one yourself off one of them dodgy blokes you see waiting at bus stops – always a plus.
Scene Indian Street Kitchen, 4 Left Bank, Manchester M3 3AN
www.scenedining.com
Frog and Bucket
A great alternative option this – head down to Frog and Bucket for an all-female line up at their Mother’s Day special. Hosted by Laughing Cows Comedy, the night will be MC’d by Kerry Leigh and headlined by Allyson June Smith – who, in the words of Jason Manford, is “simply one of the funniest comedians I’ve ever worked with.” There’s also additional support from Jenny Collier and Alice Frick – so there’s plenty to have a proper good giggle at.
Frog and Bucket, 102 Oldham St, Manchester M4 1LJ
www.frogandbucket.ticketsolve.com/#/shows/873543160
Tattu
Treat your mum to a trip to Tattu this Mother’s Day and she will receive a complementary cocktail of her choice as part of the meal. They have just introduced an exciting new cocktail menu, so there’s plenty to choose from, and with a Dim Sun Lunch or A La Carte menu – your mum better be bloody pleased you’ve treated her so well.
Tattu, 3 Hardman Square, Gartside St, Manchester M3 3EB
www.tattu.co.uk
The Jungle Book @ Home
When little Mowgli was born, his mum and dad abandoned him in the Jungle and left him to be raised by a bunch of vicious, drooling wolves. His new mum, although a dog, treated him like one of her own and he grew up in the Jungle surrounded by talking panthers, bears and the occasional homicidal upper-class tiger. Once he sees that girl wiggling her arse as she fetches a pail of water however, he instantly forgets his old life and heads back to the man village to hopefully get his end away. Watch the brilliant story of his life at Home when they show The Jungle Book on Mother’s Day at 11am. Great for a sing-song – it’s only bested by Beauty and the Beast as the best Disney movie – but your mum will probably remember this one from when she was a little nipper.
Home, 2, Tony Wilson Place, First St, Manchester M15 4FN
www.homemcr.org
Neighbourhood
If you are a woman, who once gave birth to a human child, then you are entitled to dine for free at Neighbourhood this Mother’s Day. You can be treated to a wide range of dishes from brunch, lunch or afternoon tea menus – and then enjoy some live music performances from 3pm. If you are also a woman who enjoys a boogie, there’s DJ entertainment from 9pm too.
The Avenue North, Spinningfields, Manchester M3 3BT
www.neighbourhoodrestaurant.co.uk
Grafene
With a quality and unique British menu, Grafene is the perfect place to take a mother who likes good quality, honest food. The restaurant will be offering a special Mother’s Day menu of 2 courses for £19, or 3 courses for £24 – which also includes a complementary glass of prosecco for all mums. In addition to this, they are also running a competition to win an afternoon tea for two, some champers and tickets to go watch the new Beauty and the Beast at the Odeon in the Printworks. To enter, head to their Facebook page.
Grafene, 55 King St, Manchester M2 4LQ
www.grafene.co.uk
The Lowry Hotel
The Lowry Hotel have understandably gone all-out for mother’s day this year, with afternoon tea, spa treatments and a special dining menu all on offer. If your mum likes the finer things in life, or you’ve borrowed loads of money off her this year and want to keep her sweet – the 5-star Lowry Hotel is the perfect place to take her. Their fantastic afternoon tea includes the standard sandwiches, scones and pastries washed down with tea and prosecco. Team this up with a relaxing QMS Spa Mother’s Day pamper package, which includes a facial, a back neck and shoulder massage finishing with a file and polish. Finally their special Mother’s Day Menu at double-AA rosette River Restaurant features a 3 course menu including such beauties as British sirloin, Skrei cod and some truly fantastic sounding desserts. It’s available between 12 noon and 5pm for £49.00 per person and each mother will leave with a gift from the hotel, as the perfect end to the day.
The Lowry Hotel, 50 Dearmans Pl, Chapel Wharf, Salford, Manchester M3 5LH
www.thelowryhotel.com
Manchester House
For a truly sumptuous and classy Mother’s Day, you can’t go far wrong with Manchester House who are offering a Champagne Afternoon Tea for £35 per person. For that price you’ll get to relax in their lovely Lounge on 12 whilst stuffing your face with an assortment of sandwiches, scones, cakes and pastries all washed down with a class of Veuve or LP Rose champagne. Your mum is definitely going to be impressed and overlook the dirty hickey on your neck.
Manchester House, 18-22 Bridge St, Manchester M3 3BZ
www.manchesterhouse.uk.com
Vapiano
Get your mamma-mia (sorry!) down to Vapiano on Mother’s Day and she can take advantage of a fantastic Italian menu, some great wine and some scrumptious Italian waiter’s bottoms to stare at. On the day, Vapiano will be offering two fabulous wines on the cheap with one of the most regal Italian red wines around – Amarone for only £28.95 and the exceptional, chilled white ‘The Cloud Factory’ from New Zealand for only £25.95.
Vapiano, Corn Exchange, 98 Corporation St, Manchester M4 3TR
www.uk.vapiano.com/en/restaurants/vapiano-manchester-unit-13-the-corn-exchange
Infamous Diner
If your mum was around in the 50s, and to be honest she’s starting to look like she was, then she will be very comfortable at Infamous Diner, the retro American place down near Shudehill. The food here is massive, so her Swimming World meeting that week will be rather embarrassing – but who cares when you’ve got burgers, pancakes and milkshakes coming at you from all angles. Infamous are letting your mum eat for free when you book a table in advance so there’s no excuse for not being shamefully stuffed by 2pm and suitably tipsy.
Infamous Diner, Basil Chambers, 3-5 Basil Chambers Nicholas Croft, Manchester M4 1EY
www.infamousdiner.co.uk
Walrus & Tusk
If you head on down to Walrus or Tusk on Mothering Sunday you can all take advantage of Prosecco priced at £3 a glass or £15 a bottle. So start saving your pennies, sell some blood, partake in some credit card fraud and you might just have enough to blast through 4 bottles of the stuff whilst listening to some chilled out old-school tunes all afternoon. Should be good.
Walrus & Tusk, 78-88 High St, Manchester M4 1ES
www.walrusmanchester.com
The Fitzgerald
Mums are usually pretty good with their music tastes; whether it’s a love of Motown like mine, or buzzing off some cool classics from the 60’s and 70’s. If your mum has terrible music taste however, and enjoys Jazz, then The Fitzgerald is the best place to take her on Mother’s Day. In both their City Centre & Heaton Moor locations, The Fitzgerald will be offering an afternoon and evening of free jazz with selected cocktails at 2 for £10. There’s plenty on their new cocktail menu, and I suppose if you have enough of them – having to listen to Jazz won’t be too bad.
The Fitzgerald, 11 Stevenson Square, Manchester M1 1DB
The Fitzgerald, 110 Heaton Moor Rd, Stockport SK4 4NZ
www.thefitzgeraldnq.co.uk
Hallé @ Bridgewater Hall
As an uneducated savage from the mean streets of Oldham, I know absolutely nothing about Classical music. All I know about is them two fat girls that sing that song in Shawshank Redemption and that mental song sung by that purple alien in Fifth Element. For everyone else who likes culture – the Bridgewater Hall will be allowing the young Israeli conductor Lahav Shani make his Hallé debut alongside Sofya Gulyak on piano with some Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Stravinsky. If your mum is middle-class – she’ll love it. Tickets start from £18.80.
The Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley St, Manchester M2 3WS
www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk
Menagerie
Those lovely people over at Menagerie are letting mummies dine for free on Mother’s Day, which is awfully nice of them. So your mam can have a choice of something from their fantastic A La Carte Menu, a Menagerie Sunday Roast or even their brilliant ‘Breakfast All Day’ Bottomless Brunch – all while surrounded by the kind of decadence your mum came to expect in the 20’s when she was young.
Menagerie, One New Bailey, New Bailey St, Salford M3 5JL
www.menagerierestaurant.co.uk
Spa Satori
If you want your mum to relax, and chill out and stop going on about Audrey next door who is cutting her hedges too close to her petunias – then Spa Satori are offering a fantastic deal (that you can take advantage of as well). Their Fizz and Fabulous deal for two will provide you each with a glass of prosecco on arrival, a preen and polish on hands or feet, a full make-up make over and a free mii make-up product each – all for the low, low price of £49. It’s usually £120 so you’re saving yourself a load of money there – and you don’t have to tell your mum – you can just lie to her like you always do and convince her you paid full price.
Spa Satori, 112 High St, Manchester M4 1HQ
www.spasatori.co.uk
Selfridges Exchange Square
Try your best to get a few extra roast potatoes on your Sunday lunch by taking your mum down to Selfridges on Exchange Square for their celebration of Mother’s Day. They are putting on plenty of events, including complimentary leather embossing and fragrance personalisation from 16th to 26th March. On top of this, head on down to the store on the 25th and enjoy a spectacular day of drinks, live entertainment and special beauty workshops with your favourite make-up artists at their Beauty Afternoon. Tickets cost a tenner and are redeemable against a purchase within the Beauty Hall on the day.
Selfridges, Exchange Square Central, Corporation St, Manchester M3 1BD
www.selfridges.com/GB/en/content/store/manchester-exchange-square
Zouk
Although Zouk won’t be offering anything for free this Mother’s Day, they will be offering a rather delicious selection of their unique Sunday Roasts – which considering your mum doesn’t have to cook or wash up after – she’s sure to love. In addition to their new Spring Menu, the Roasts are an innovative change to the traditional roast with a choice of spicy marinated leg of lamb or Balochi marinated whole chicken. With lashes of veg and potatoes, and Zouk’s own special spicy gravy – you’ve got something a bit different to treat your old mum.
Zouk, Unit 5, The Quadrangle, Chester St, Manchester M1 5QS
www.zoukteabar.co.uk