Costa Coffee is well and truly warming up for winter after unveiling three new limited edition drinks to its festive food and drinks range.
The “countdown to Christmas is on” at Costa.
After over a week of teasing the new editions to this year’s winter menu, the popular coffee shop chain has finally made the announcement this morning that it has “teamed up with all your festive favourites” to bring a trio of indulgent hot drinks to stores nationwide at the start of next month.
The Terry’s Chocolate Orange Hot Chocolate, the After Eight Hot Chocolate, and The Purple One Latte will all be available to try out from next Tuesday, and given this is one of the first times Costa has collaborated with some of the nation’s favourite festive chocolate treats, you can bet people are excited.
The announcement has already racked up thousands of interactions, shares and comments on all social platforms after just a few short hours since posting.
Luckily for fans of Costa’s Christmas drinks from previous years though, these three new indulgent offerings aren’t arriving in replacement of any usual festive favourites.
The chain also confirmed via Twitter this morning that the much-loved Black Forest Hot Chocolate, Gingerbread & Cream Latte, Irish Velvet Latte, Cinnamon Spiced Cappuccino, and Spiced Apple will all be returning to the Christmas menu this year.
The announcement of this new festive hot drink team up comes after Costa unveiled its festive food menu for 2020 a few weeks back, which sees lots of new items introduced and some fan-favourites return.
On the savoury side, this year’s new food range includes the Lobster Toastie, British Pork & Bramley Apple Sausage roll, British Turkey & The Trimmings Toastie, Brie, Maple Bacon & Cranberry Stonebaked Panini, Vegan Turkee, Cranberry & Stuffing Bloomer Toastie, and Pigs under Blankets Stonebaked Panini and Pigs & Blankets Mac and Cheese.
If you’re after something sweet, you can try out the new After Eight Muffin and Terry’s Chocolate Orange Muffin to accompany your hot chocolate.
Or try the new Vegan Lotus Biscoff Cheezecake, Vegan Father Christmas Gingerbread, the gluten-free Vegan Christmas Fruit Cake, the gluten-free Vegan Mince Tart, Rich Chocolate & Hazelnut Shimmer Cake, Jammin’ in the Chimney Cake, a range of Panettones, and so much more.
You can also take your pick of plenty of returning festive indulgences too.
Costa CoffeeCosta Coffee
Speaking on the unveiling of the new food menu, Cathy Port – Head of Food at Costa Coffee – said: “Christmas has always been such a magical time of year at Costa Coffee and we know that this year in particular, our customers are looking to us to make the festive period that extra bit more special.
“We’re incredibly proud to launch our 2020 limited edition Christmas food menu, which we believe is our best yet.
“It features so many iconic products, which we know our customers have raved about, but also brings in some phenomenal new innovations and partnerships to excite and delight returning and new customers. From the decadent Lobster Toastie to the Vegan Turkee, Cranberry & Stuffing Bloomer Toastie and the iconic new muffin collections, there’s something for everyone.”
Costa’s Christmas Food & Drinks menu will be available at branches nationwide from Tuesday 3rd November.
Pep Guardiola hints at when Manchester City fans can expect to see their latest arrival
Danny Jones
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has given supporters a rough timeline as to when they can expect to see their new signing, or at least their latest arrival, make his first appearance.
The Blues wrapped up the January transfer window with four major signings: their new attacking number seven, Omar Marmoush (who has already bagged a hattrick on his home debut) promising defensive duo, Abdukodir Khusanov and Brazilian Vitor Reis, as well as their ‘mini-Rodri’, Nico Gonzalez.
However, the club has had another late arrival who was technically signed back at the start of last year but who has spent for the last 12 months or so loaned back to his previous parent club, River Plate in Argentina, waiting to make the move over to the Etihad Stadium – and now he’s here in Manchester.
Speaking on his touchdown in 0161, Pep said Claudio Echeverri won’t be thrown into first-team action straight away but did give a rough estimate as to when City fans could expect him to get involved. You can see him discussing the integration plan in his post-match press conference following the Spurs win.
The mention was only brief but there’s still plenty of reason for Man City fans to be excited by the late January signing.
“Yeah, he [Claudio Echeverri] is going to start to train and mainly will be for the end of the season, maybe the [Club] World Cup and as soon as possible [that] he arrives he can adapt quick for the future.”
As mentioned, the 19-year-old Argentinian attacking midfielder from Resistencia officially put pen to paper with CFG back in January 2024 and was quickly dubbed ‘the next Messi’.
Now, although the football world is often quick to jump the gun with these things and he isn’t the first and certainly won’t be last to be slapped with this premature title, he’s done more to back up these claims since then than he has rubbish them.
Starring at the 2025 Under-20 South American Championships, netting six goals in nine games to finish the tournament as the second highest scorer thanks to notable braces against Brazil and Uruguay as the young Argentine’s finished as runners up.
He also notched 48 senior appearances for River Plate thus far, netting four goals and grabbing eight assists in that time, not to mention having already captained his national team at the 2023 Under 17s World Cup, where he scored another five.
Safe to say there’s plenty of talent to be tapped in this lad.
Once again, Echeverri won’t go straight into the senior set-up for a little while yet, barring a major injury crisis, but he’ll be a more than exciting addition to the City Football Academy and for future first-team lineups for years to come.
Who knows, maybe he’ll be included in an FA Cup matchday squad? Nevertheless, you can expect him to not just come of the bench but hopefully show what he can do at the Club World Cup this summer.
City‘s first fixture as reigning champions of the competition will be against Moroccan side Wydad AC on 18 June 2025.
You can watch Echeverri’s first full interview as a Man City player down below:
The new Man City signing is excited to be finally be part of the club 13 months on from agreeing his contract.
Rochdale has been named Greater Manchester’s ‘Town of Culture’ for 2025
Emily Sergeant
Rochdale has officially been named Greater Manchester’s Town of Culture for 2025.
Taking over the reins from Bolton – which held the title in 2024 – and following in the footsteps of Stockport before that, which held the title in 2023, and even hosted a massive ‘Town of Culture Weekender’ festival with 50+ free events to celebrate and bring its title year to a close, it’s now the turn of the north-eastern Greater Manchester borough of Rochdale.
Rochdale’s year will build on the town’s already-rich cultural history and international reputation as the home of the co-operative movement.
More than 35 arts organisations will be bringing together an ambitious programme of festivals, exhibitions, events, and performances throughout the year.
Unfamiliar with what the ‘Greater Manchester Town of Culture’ title is all about? It’s an accolade that’s handed out every year to different boroughs across the region.
Bury was the inaugural title-holder 2020 and held onto it in 2021 too due to the COVID pandemic, before being followed by Stalybridge in 2022, Stockport in 2023, and of course, Bolton in the year just gone.
The title celebrates Greater Manchester’s culture and heritage.
As well as getting a new title to shout about, it also sees the towns given a grant from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) culture fund to help develop a programme of cultural events and activities throughout the year.
Rochdale has been named Greater Manchester’s ‘Town of Culture’ for 2025 / Credit: The Manc Group | Rochdale Council
In Rochdale’s case, you can expect the ‘very best local talent’, as this year is promising to put ‘people power’ centre stage, with residents helping to plan, develop, and deliver a lineup of creative activities, alongside a number of major events.
This includes the popular free days out for families, an exciting new urban arts festival, two different food and drink festivals, a lantern parade, the Ignite Fire Festival, a Pride parade, and so much more.
You can also expect live music performances, a new people’s gallery, and even some major international collaborations that are yet to be announced.
Rochdale is taking over the reins from Bolton, which held the title in 2024 / Credit: Rochdale Council
“Rochdale is a place with a rich cultural history, so it is great to name it Greater Manchester’s town of culture as it’s town hall and town centre enter a new era,” commented Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham as the borough was crowned this week.
“Rochdale submitted a fantastic bid for this which, was incredibly exciting and ambitious, while being firmly rooted in its local talent and deep history.
Emily Sergeant -
27th October 2020 
