A forum for discussion of Social Activities
#834071 by buns
06 Jan 2013, 20:01
Pete wrote:Just booked my train up to Manchester for the Saturday. Virgin Trains wanted a ridiculous amount of money, but by splitting the journey in Stoke, I've managed to bag first class for £25.50, saving nearly £200.

So, will be at the Manchester Airport Hilton just before 7pm. What's the plan?


I am giving it a little time in the hope there might be some advance purchase fares - but as it is Easter weekend, might have to think again :#

buns
#834072 by slinky09
06 Jan 2013, 20:05
Pete wrote:Just booked my train up to Manchester for the Saturday. Virgin Trains wanted a ridiculous amount of money, but by splitting the journey in Stoke, I've managed to bag first class for £25.50, saving nearly £200.

So, will be at the Manchester Airport Hilton just before 7pm. What's the plan?


Can you PM me how you did this please?
#834083 by cooperman
06 Jan 2013, 22:03
Pete wrote:Just booked my train up to Manchester for the Saturday. Virgin Trains wanted a ridiculous amount of money, but by splitting the journey in Stoke, I've managed to bag first class for £25.50, saving nearly £200.

So, will be at the Manchester Airport Hilton just before 7pm. What's the plan?


I had ideas for a plan..

The Hilton has a bar and restaurant and meeting rooms.
Now, depending on everyone's preference,and, as the majority of the V-Flyer Inaugural Travel Party (V-FIT Party :) ) are staying at the Hilton, we can stay at the hotel and use these facilities. The V-FIT party members staying at the Radisson will only have a short walk between hotels.

The Hilton restaurant closes at 22:00, the bar at 23:00...but will probably stay open for residents. ):

I can travel to the Hilton to see if they can do anything for us as a group and report back. I'm only 25 minutes away by car and probably driving past anyway during my travels for work.

If we do this, we need to decide...do we want to eat in the restaurant or, have our own function room and invade the bar afterwards?.


Or,

We can book up taxis and head into Manchester itself...about a £20 taxi ride one way...."splittable" between the riders in each cab and enjoy the great delights of Manchester's Deansgate bars and restaurants. ii)

Either way,numbers need to be confirmed so that any research can be done efficiently.

So, that's me offering to help on this bash.

I suppose we need to have a vote on who wants to do what.
Although my gut feeling is that we stay at the Hilton (or the Radisson) as we all need to be up at the crack o'sparrow fart to catch the plane. ii)

That's only my starter for 10 on this. if anyone has anything better in mind, then please dive in.

Paul
#834086 by Pete
06 Jan 2013, 22:29
I think we'll probably want to stay at the airport to keep it sane and simple. The delights of Manchester's city centre may be tempting, but our flight is at 06:50 remember ;-)

Giving the varying arrival times and tastes, previous experience suggests it's probably easier to let people make their own dinner arrangements. What might be worth scoping out is which of the hotels (or even local pubs, if there are any) would be best suited for most of us to decamp to. I suspect our wish list will include somewhere with a lot of seating; distractions like pool tables have proved popular in the past and, of course, a well stocked bar. I'm guessing the airport hotels aren't known for live entertainment, but if there's a classy lounge act to be had, all the better!
#834090 by mitchja
06 Jan 2013, 23:17
Staying around the airport area is probably a better idea.

There is the Airport Pub that's next to the runway close to T3 not too far from where the hotels are. I've never been in though sorry. I think you could probably walk from the Hilton to it, I'd say a 15-20 minute walk.

The restaurant at the Hilton is Italian style serving pizzas and pasta etc. It's pretty pricey as you would expect being an airport hotel. I paid ~£17 for a pizza and diet coke when I was there last week. Nice food and pleasant staff though.
#834093 by Sealink
07 Jan 2013, 00:53
Pete wrote:Just booked my train up to Manchester for the Saturday. Virgin Trains wanted a ridiculous amount of money, but by splitting the journey in Stoke, I've managed to bag first class for £25.50, saving nearly £200.

So, will be at the Manchester Airport Hilton just before 7pm. What's the plan?


London Midland?

Can't believe VT are charging £221 for First Class!

It appears that there are no advance fares loaded, which is either 1. Because they haven't been loaded yet or 2. They are fully booked or 3. They expect engineering work to take place and don't want the hassle of arranging people on cheap fares.
#834100 by slinky09
07 Jan 2013, 08:50
I was a student in Manchester, so the lure of the city centre restaurants and bars is strong. That said, I'm not 20 any more and it is an early start :0 .

I like the idea of the runway pub, but then it'll be dark ... still my preference is not hotel restaurant food, so a pub sounds grand!
#834133 by slinky09
07 Jan 2013, 14:21
Pete wrote:Checked some of the reviews for the Airport Pub, and it doesn't fair well...

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/ ... er_Airport
http://www.barcrawl.co.uk/pubreview.aspx?PubID=4864


Indeed n( .

A little research shows up the Phileas Fogg restaurant at the Radisson as a good place - apparently with views (although it'll be dark).
#834135 by cooperman
07 Jan 2013, 14:44
Pete wrote:Checked some of the reviews for the Airport Pub, and it doesn't fair well...

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/ ... er_Airport
http://www.barcrawl.co.uk/pubreview.aspx?PubID=4864


That's why I thought I'd post the info first!
I too have read the reviews...also on the DIBB. OK for families with kids to play but questionable for us big kids!.

I'm going down later in the week and will report further, along with a recce of the area a bit further afield.

Paul
#834169 by buns
07 Jan 2013, 19:31
Sealink wrote:It appears that there are no advance fares loaded, which is either 1. Because they haven't been loaded yet or 2. They are fully booked or 3. They expect engineering work to take place and don't want the hassle of arranging people on cheap fares.


Good point Sealink y) y)

I have therefore booked on the BA1372 from Heathrow at Midday on the 30th

buns
#834255 by plane340
08 Jan 2013, 17:46
slinky09 wrote:
Pete wrote:Just booked my train up to Manchester for the Saturday. Virgin Trains wanted a ridiculous amount of money, but by splitting the journey in Stoke, I've managed to bag first class for £25.50, saving nearly £200.

So, will be at the Manchester Airport Hilton just before 7pm. What's the plan?


Can you PM me how you did this please?


Hi, please could you pm me too as I am traveling up with my 6 year old on the 30th and staying at the Radisson Blue

Many thanks
Paul
#834263 by cooperman
08 Jan 2013, 19:48
Evenin All,

I called in at the Airport hotel pub earlier......

It's certainly not a place I would take a girl on a first date.
It's more a daily boozer for the locals, a taxi drivers rest area and a few plane spotters (it's a bad rainy day up here, so not many of them). Bar well stocked. £2.90 for a pint.

Plenty of seating areas. A separate games/TV room with pool table.

Looks like the kitchen is open until 17:00 on Saturdays. I asked regarding our impending Easter Saturday visit and it was suggested that if there was enough of our party interested in eating, they could arrange for food to be available until a later time. I have the cell phone number for the cook (the boss wasn't in) and he suggested that if I called back he could give me a better idea.
NOTE:....this is no gastro pub..its chips with every thing and all basic stuff. I didn't notice if a veggie options were available, sorry.
its about a 15 minute walk from the Hilton.
It might just work if we go with no great expectations.

Google Maps:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&new ... CAsQ_AUoAA


Another 10 minute walk down the road is the Tatton Arms...a much better quality pub. only a dart board. Lots of locals going in for meals.
A better option for those who prefer a more traditional country style pub.

Kitchen open till 21:00

Google Maps: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&new ... CAgQ_AUoAA

That's my homework so far.
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