At The Firehouse, the door opened and I was met with waft of warm air and a friendly welcome. Shown to my table, the interior was larger than I’d imagined – spacious and open with a DJ spinning ...

Northern Soul’s Steve Slack headed to the British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) as it returned to Stoke-on-Trent, the home of British ceramics, for its fifth edition. The six week international ceramics ...

Win two family tickets (for up to five people) at Big Fish Little Fish. Award-wining Big Fish Little Fish is back at The Birdcage in Manchester for family raving with rave legend Mark Archer (Altern-8 ...

In the build-up to CBBC’s inaugural three-day Summer Social at Croxteth Country Park, much of the chatter on the local parental grapevine was about one subject: cost. At £30.80 for a day ticket, ...

When it comes to album sales in 2016, you can forget Beyoncé, Rag’n’Bone Man and Justin Bieber. Last year belonged to Ball and Boe. Michael Ball and Fleetwood’s Alfie Boe enjoyed the biggest ...

There seems to be a glut of Red Riding Hood productions this Christmas. For the life of me, I can’t understand why. Perhaps it’s the time to tell traditional fairy tales? Or maybe theatre producers ...

Never one for a grandiose entrance, Ray LaMontagne quietly wanders onto the Apollo stage before a hushed crowd, his face half-concealed under a brimmed hat.

It’s been a weird summer over here at Fleedneedles Forage. In my last blog, I mused over how hawthorn blossom heralded the beginning of warmer days, little realising that the next two months were ...

If I said the words ‘municipal catering’, you would probably recoil in horror. So what I am about ...

On December 15, 2015, Major Tim Peake embarked on the Principia mission to the International Space Station, where he spent six months orbiting Earth. Northern Soul’s North Yorkshire photographer, Paul ...

From the symbolic solidarity of black and white youths to the punk power of local heroes, Buzzcocks, the vibrant resistance to the rise of 1970s racism by 40,000 people in Manchester on July 15, 1978 ...