What's On North 11-18 Aug: Beer garden time!

It may be feeling particularly Baltic today, but apparently there's warm weather on the way - as are sunny vibes at Manchester Caribbean Carnival, Modular Open Air party at Constellations and the best beer gardens in Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds.

Feature by Jess Hardiman | 11 Aug 2016

Each week The Skinny team hand-pick a selection of the best events from the North's cultural calendar to provide you with this here top ten guide to the most exciting goings-on for the week ahead. From gigs, plays and exhibitions to spoken word, pop-up foodie events and one-off film screenings, we give you the insider's guide to things to do in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds every Thursday morning. 

Here comes the sun...

Rumour has it that there might actually be some summer heading our way! And because such semi-tropical spells are somewhat fleeting here in the UK, we suggest you get prepared so that you can fully maximise on that sunsheeeyine.

Nowt better for that than a beer garden, of course. And luckily for you we've compiled a guide to the best al fresco drinking spots in Manchester and Liverpool (Botanical Garden pictured above, btw), while over in Leeds we're huge fans of Headrow House and Northern Monk. Happy beering!

Manchester Caribbean Carnival
Alexandra Park, Manchester, Sat 13-Sun 14 Aug

Time for a big ol' party as Manchester Caribbean Carnival stomps back into town for another summery shindig, promising 10 stages of live calypso, soca and reggae alongside lots of Caribbean food and drink, dancing, DJs and all-round good times.

Modular Open Air closing party
Constellations, Liverpool. Sat 13 Aug, 2pm

The Modular Open Air series draws to a close this weekend, reaching a suitably spectacular climax with a line-up of Onur Ozer, Francesco Del Garda, Andrew James Gustav and a whole host of support acts. They'll be going strong 'til 6am, if you've got it in you...

The Deaf Institute's 8th birthday
The Deaf Institute, Manchester, Fri 12 Aug, 6.30pm

One of Manchester's favourite venues throws itself a birthday party this weekend, with an evening of live music from Everything Everything, Dutch Uncles and more – the gig sold out long ago, but you can still get involved with the club event afterwards; find out more info here. Photo: Sam Brill

Advertisement | Picasso Linocuts
Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool, free, open daily from 10am to 5pm (excluding 24, 25, 26, 31 December and 1 January)

Picasso Linocuts from the British Museum is displayed for the first time outside London at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight until 8 January 2017. This wonderfully bold and colourful exhibition highlights a period in the artist’s life when he rejected the established method of cutting a separate block of linoleum for each colour and instead, impatient to see the results, progressively cut and printed from a single block, resulting in masterpieces in linocut which required him to foresee the final result.

For the latest events visit: liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/picasso


Sign up to our Zap! newsletter to get our top ten events guide in your inbox every week


Faber Social: Tim Burgess in conversation
The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge. Sun 14 Aug, 3pm

Join The Charlatans' Tim Burgess in conversation as he discusses his new book, Tim Book Two: Vinyl Adventures from Istanbul to San Francisco. He'll be joined by Spacemen 3's Will Carruthers, who'll be premiering material from his forthcoming memoir. Photo: Tom Sheehan

DR.ME book launch
Magma / Common, Manchester. Thu 11 Aug, 6pm

And speaking of new books, over in Manchester top-notch design studio DR.ME (aka Ryan Doyle and Mark Edwards) launch theirs, Cut That Out: Contemporary Collage in Graphic Design, with a party at Magma Books complete with free Cloudwater beers. Things then move on to Common from 8pm for DJs, dancing and more beer.

Pharoahe Monch
24 Kitchen Street, Liverpool. Sat 13 Aug, 7.30pm

Known for his intelligent underground hip hop, New Yorker Pharoahe Monch returns to Liverpool to give us another hit of his masterful, intricate wordplay, famed for touching on politics and social justice as well as its sharp delivery. Photo: Stuart Moulding

Gigging in the Name of
Milo / Bad Apples, Leeds. Sat 13 Aug, 5pm

Deformed Cactus presents Gigging in the Name of, a mini-festival of live music raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support. The Real Junk Food Project will be on food duties with a pay-as-you-feel pop-up at Milo bar, and you can check out the line-up here. Image: Alice Tobia

Looking ahead: Design Manchester 2016

Creative festival Design Manchester has just announced its programme ahead of October, and once again it's set to be a cultural corker. Find out what to expect here.

Manchester's best hangover food

Whether it's a greasy fry-off, stodgy cheese, vegan indulgence or an all-out meat feast, you'll find Manchester has something has to soothe even the sorest of heads...


Read more news from across the Northwest cultural scene at theskinny.co.uk/news
Find out how you could win some lovely prizes at theskinny.co.uk/competitions