A new loyalty scheme has launched at some of Greater Manchester’s top restaurants which promises to ditch the ‘tired points system’ in favour of much better discounts and offers.
Club IR comes from Individual Restaurants, the group behind Piccolino, Riva Blu, and Restaurant Bar & Grill, with 32 restaurants across the UK.
And with the new loyalty scheme, they’re offering members exclusive deals and experiences, such as a round of drinks on your birthday and special discounts running throughout the week.
For a limited time only, anyone who signs up to Club IR (which is completely free, by the way) will be in with a chance to win a £250 voucher to dine, along with a bottle of Champagne.
Club IR discounts that are available at its beautiful, newly-refurbished Piccolino restaurant and across all venues include 15% off dining on Mondays and Tuesdays, 50% off all wine and champagne on Wednesdays, and sharing roasts on Sundays with a complimentary dessert for members.
Newly-launched is Club Friday, where Club IR members can get two courses and a drink for £25 every week at Piccolino.
Dishes on the exclusive menu include arancina and calamari fritti for your primi course, and a huge list of pizzas and pastas for secondi, like salami and nduja pizza or tagliatelle alla bolognese.
There are also steak and Malbec evenings for just £35 on Thursdays at Restaurant Bar & Grill locations (the nearest to Manchester is the stunning Opera in Chester).
Club IR actually has three tiers of membership available, from Club to Black to Diamond, with different benefits and money-can’t-buy experiences for each tier.
There are VIP events aplenty, like parties, top sporting events, and once-in-a-lifetime trips to top culinary destinations.
Club IR’s bespoke approach has been created following research into customer appetites, which has found that we all much prefer a variety of offers and discounts instead of a points-based loyalty programme.
It has an easy-to-use app that gets members easy access to offers, updates and perks.
If you sign up for Club IR now, you’ll be entered into a competition to win a £250 voucher to dine at the restaurant, plus a bottle of champagne.
Hit theatre production set at a house party to visit Manchester on UK tour
Daisy Jackson
Alright then, 24 hour party people, we’ve found a theatre production you might like the sound of – it’s called The House Party, and it’s set in (you guessed it) a house party.
This smash hit production by pioneering theatre company Headlong is set to land at HOME in March as part of the arts venue’s 2025 theatre season.
It tells the tale of a wild 18th birthday party, where Christine is trying to pick up the pieces of her best friend, a newly-dumped Julie (who happens to be the birthday girl).
Themes of class, power and privilege are all explored with a raw intensity as the cast on stage plough through shots and dive head-first into a night that will change everything they know.
The House Party, which has received glowing reviews from previous showings, is filled with ‘privilege, desire and destruction’.
When it stops off in Manchester, its cast will include Bridgerton’s Sesley Hope as Christine, Synnøve Karlsen (Miss Austen, Last Night in Soho) as Julie, and Tom Lewis (Gentleman Jack, Patience) as Jon.
The ensemble of Frantic Assembly performers includes Ines Aresti, Oliver Baines, Cal Connor, Micah Corbin-Powell, Rachael Leonce, Jaheem Pinder and Jamie Randall.
The House Party is written by Laura Lomas and is a reimagining of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie for today’s generation.
It’s directed by Headlong’s artistic director Holly Race Roughan, who directed the Royal Shakespeare Company’s world premiere of David Edgar’s major new political play The New Real.
The House Party. Credit: Ikin YumThe production will be at HOME. Credit: Supplied
Movement direction will come from Frantic Assembly’s Scott Graham.
Prior to the UK tour of The House Party, Headlong celebrated its 50 year anniversary, including the hit production of A Raisin in the Sun which played nationwide.
The House Party will be at HOME in Manchester between 25 and 29 March, 2025 – you can get your tickets HERE.
Greater Manchester’s annual Repair Week is back to make you fall back in love with your stuff
Daisy Jackson
If you’re not a handy person, when something breaks, the temptation is often to abandon or bin it straight away.
But that’s just not how we’re gonna do it here in Greater Manchester any more, with the return of the annual Repair Week to help you learn valuable repair skills and save money at the same time.
Whether it’s tinkering with your bicycle, fixing up your small tech items, or having your furniture re-varnished and upcycled, there are so many places and people who are on a mission to help you fall back in love with your belongings.
There are even workshops to help you put flat-pack furniture together.
Taking place between 3 and 9 March, Repair Week will be the chance to learn skills, fix your stuff, gain repair confidence and find local fixers.
Events throughout the week (and beyond) will be hosted by community groups, businesses and plenty more.
You can sharpen knives, fix zips, and un-wobble chairs with a little hand from local repair heroes.
JillyGDesign Jewellery in Heaton Moor will fix up your sentimental and special jewellery items, while Rag Revival will help you turn unusable textiles into new creations with basic sewing skills.
There are repair cafes popping up all over Greater Manchester where you can take your belongings.
Greater Manchester’s annual Repair Week is back to make you fall back in love with your stuff. Credit: Supplied
Repair Week will highlight schemes like the Manchester Library of Things, where you can borrow the tools and equipment you need for those repair jobs at home.
During the week you’ll also be able to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the incredible Renew Hub, the UK’s biggest reuse hub, where donated items are brought back to life.
Similarly, you’ll be able to get inside the textile recycling centre run by homelessness charity Emmaus Bolton, where you can choose your own fabric from the scrap store and turn it into a very handy draught excluder to keep costs down and your heat in.
Recycle for Greater Manchester’s Repair Week will take place between 3 and 9 March, with workshops, events and resources to help you revive your belongings.
Daisy Jackson -
21st June 2024 
