{"id":643090,"date":"2025-12-19T23:06:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T23:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/643090\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T23:06:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T23:06:26","slug":"is-mad-friday-over-a-tale-of-two-manchesters-shows-it-depends-on-who-you-ask","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/643090\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Mad Friday over? A tale of two Manchesters shows it depends on who you ask"},"content":{"rendered":"

“People work from home now and Friday drinks are less usual – it\u2019s harder to get people to come out”Revellers in the Millstone pub in the Northern Quarter. (Image: Ryan Jenkinson | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Whether Mad Friday still exists in 2025 seems to depend on where you are, and who you ask. And also the weather<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Frequent one of the ‘bar’ areas of the Christmas<\/a> markets in Piccadilly Gardens<\/a> and you’ll be met with a desolate wasteland of damp astroturf and booming dance music echoing dismally off a semi-circle of plyboard huts. Here, Mad Friday is dead on arrival.<\/p>\n

Round the corner though, in the Millstone pub on Thomas Street, there is barely room to stand – let alone hear yourself think over the din of karaoke. “Come on Manchester, have a dance, it’s Christmas,” shouts one man during his rendition of 500 Miles by the Pretenders, and half the crowd – who look like they\u2019ve been there for hours – obey his command.<\/p>\n

The last Friday before Christmas, when much of the population are downing tools and sacking off work until the New Year, has something of a reputation. Think crowds spilling out of offices and into the nearest bar, a frisson of recklessness in the air as you end up elbow to elbow with the colleague you fancy, or getting together with friends for one last drink before they are swallowed up by their families and turned into children again by rounds of Scrabble and Christmas jumpers.<\/p>\n

But does this rosy image of one last hurrah really exist in reality? It didn\u2019t seem to come true last year, when the Manchester Evening News walked street after street full of empty tables – though admittedly the fine drizzle won\u2019t have helped.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s sojourn around town painted a slightly more optimistic picture – though still, it depended on who you asked.<\/p>\n

Staff at the bars dotted around the markets on Piccadilly Gardens were somewhat pessimistic. \u201cMad Friday? What\u2019s mad is how quiet it is,\u201d says Gary Beaumont.<\/p>\n

After five years at the markets, Gary Beaumont says this year was one of the quietest he has seen (Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

The 57-year-old is behind the pumps at the Off-Piste Bar. He\u2019s been working the markets for five years and says this is the quietest he has ever seen it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally you\u2019d be standing in a queue that\u2019s ten-person deep, and all the staff would be running around like headless chickens. Now we\u2019re all standing around chatting – it shouldn\u2019t be like that,\u201d he reflected ruefully.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely quieter than normal. People have gone away for the weekend or home for Christmas, so there\u2019s not so many tourists. It\u2019s just Manchester people left now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staff at the Tipsy Wheels bar opposite agree with Gary. \u201cIt\u2019s not been as mentally busy as we expected,\u201d said Daisy. \u201cWe have little waves where it\u2019s busy for half an hour or so but it\u2019s been inconsistent.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is her first year working at the markets, as it is for her colleague Aria. Both 22, they said their manager said it had been a lot busier last year.<\/p>\n

Aria and Daisy, both 22, manning the Tipsy Wheels bar. (Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

\u201cI think no-one has any money anymore – everyone\u2019s broke, and everything\u2019s really expensive,\u201d said Daisy. \u201cIt\u2019s getting to the middle of the month, people haven\u2019t been paid for a while.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople save things up for weekends now, Saturdays are our busiest days. But it depends on a lot of factors – if it\u2019s raining, I might be told not to come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite this, on a dry and cold evening, the markets were genuinely busy, and the bar area close to Boots and McDonalds was thronged with people drinking, dining, and looking festive. One group had come straight from work and were sipping G&Ts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ll have a few, and maybe go to the Northern Quarter<\/a>,\u201d said Grace. \u201cI think Mad Friday\u2019s still a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

But her colleague Liam disagreed. \u201cI think people are struggling a bit financially in the run up to Christmas,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the start of December it was busier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grace (23), Bella (28) and Liam (30) out for post-work drinks at the markets (Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve talked about going out later, but I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ll go,\u201d said Mia, who was there with family friends. \u201cI\u2019m a student and everything\u2019s expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the younger generation are keeping things going,\u201d said Julie, the matriarch of the group in a Christmas Tree hat and reindeer glasses. \u201cIt\u2019s a tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

A group from Wigan enjoying the festivities (Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

But some in the Northern Quarter told a different tale. Emma Stevenson and her friend Georgina were sitting outside the Bay Horse Tavern on Thomas Street, on one of the few occupied tables.<\/p>\n

The long-distance pals were out for a \u2018quick drink\u2019 as a rare gap in their schedules had opened up. \u201cWe\u2019re not out, out,\u201d said Georgina.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think demographically, Mad Friday is an older generation thing,\u201d the pair, both 31, agreed. \u201cIt\u2019s something for the 40 plus group.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think younger people are more sober-curious. They just don\u2019t drink as much, and probably wouldn\u2019t sit in a pub.\u201d<\/p>\n

Georgina and Emma, both 31, were having a quick catchup on Thomas Street (Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

This theory was borne out by several pubs the M.E.N visited. The Bay Horse Tavern had a healthy number of people inside, but most looked 35+ and appeared to have come straight from work and were sporting office gear. \u201cThis is standard for Mad Friday – it\u2019s quite quiet, really,\u201d said the barman.<\/p>\n

The same was true of the Castle Hotel on Oldham<\/a> Street. A cosy watering hole with wooden floors and a beautifully tiled bar, this too was comfortably busy, drinkers\u2019 faces lit up by glowing strings of red fairy lights.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely not mad yet,\u201d said the barman. \u201cBut it\u2019s getting busier – people will come out later, from ten onwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natalie, 37, and Andrea, 58, were out with colleagues for work drinks and agreed that Mad Friday was \u2018a generational thing\u2019. \u201cPeople work from home now and Friday drinks are less and less usual – it\u2019s harder to get people to come out,\u201d said Natalie.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son is 19 and he\u2019s much more chilled and stays in. I look back at what I was doing when I was 19, we were going out.\u201d<\/p>\n

A group out for work drinks at the Castle Hotel on Oldham Street. (Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

From this mixed picture, it seems that Mad Friday does live on, but in fits and starts, in pockets of the city where the older ones are still doing it like they did in the coalition years: an in-the-office-five-days-a-week approach to working that young people just starting their careers in a post-COVID world, will likely not recognise at all.<\/p>\n

Socialising at work must have felt easy, even natural, when you were all forced together, day in, day out. Today, asking someone to turn their camera on during a Teams call feels like effrontery, so it\u2019s no wonder if we\u2019re struggling to form these connections that facilitate even the quiet after-work pint – never mind a hours-long blowout at the bar.<\/p>\n

But there was one place the M.E.N visited where the phenomenon is alive and kicking. Step inside the Millstone and you\u2019ll be hit with a wall of heat and noise. Good luck getting to the bar as revellers are packed in like sardines – all the seats went hours ago.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a rugby scrum around the bar, and people are singing and swaying to the deafening karaoke coming from a tiny stage in the corner. There are pints and Christmas jumpers in practically every direction.<\/p>\n

Again, the crowd skews older, but younger people are starting to arrive, irresistibly pulled in by the revelry visible through steamed-up windows. \u201cIt\u2019s popping off in here,\u201d says one young man striding in with his friends.<\/p>\n

Nicole Clancy and her friend have been in the Millstone since 2pm (Image: Ryan Jenkinson | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Nicole Clancy and her friend have been in situ for more than five hours. \u201cWe got here at 2,\u201d shouted the 59-year-old over the din. \u201cI don\u2019t think Mad Friday\u2019s going anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“People work from home now and Friday drinks are less usual – it\u2019s harder to get people to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,8086,21150,9158,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-643090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-manchester-city-centre","13":"tag-manchester-nightlife","14":"tag-northern-quarter","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115748745748523458","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}