Good morning, Warrington. Mike here. This is The Warrington Scoop.

Just when we think it’s getting a bit warmer (our heating wasn’t on as much), it’s going to drop to -1 tomorrow. Anyway….. enough about the weather. There’s quite a bit going on in this email. New shops and bars opening, and some other bits and bobs you might want to know about.

In today’s Scoop:

• The Nutcracker is coming to the Parr Hall 🩰 

• Warrington Wolves’ first game is a sell-out 🏉 

• Lunar New Year in town 🌙

• Warrington Wordle 🧠 

Grab your favourite brew, and let's start. ☕️ 

From The Papers 📰 

Here are some stories from around the town over the past few days that are not crime or politics that you might want to know about.

🏉 Warrington Wolves’ season opener against St Helens has officially sold out. A record crowd of 15,064 will fill the Halliwell Jones Stadium, marking the club’s biggest home attendance in decades. Fans can arrive early for drink offers, live music, and pre-match games. (Warrington Worldwide)

🐕️ Local joiner Allan Mason found a border terrier cross tied to a post at Bold Colliery Forest Park and took him home to avoid kennels. After no owner came forward, Bosco became part of the family. A Facebook post then sparked thousands of messages, gifts, and support. (Warrington Guardian)

🍽️ Piccolino in Stockton Heath has won approval for a covered, ‘winterised’ first-floor terrace. The new retractable roof and glazed structure will protect diners from the weather and allow the restaurant to use the space year-round. Earlier plans were refused, but the updated design has now been given the green light. (Warrington Guardian)

Lunar New Year

On Sunday, February 15th, we’ll be marking the Lunar New Year and welcoming in the year of the horse from 10am until 4pm, with an opening ceremony at 10.30am.

The programme of cultural activities, performances and family-friendly experiences will include things like:

• 🀄️ Warrington Hongkongers will be hosting a range of traditional games, including One Stick, Endless Fortune, Mahjong Flip - Lucky Streak and Lucky Pick Challenge.

• 🛍️ A range of traders, selling traditional artwork, Chinese New Year gifts and toys, crafts, authentic food and much more.

• 🪾 A wishing tree, allowing visitors to display their hopes and messages for the year ahead.

• ✒️ Warrington Museum & Art Gallery is holding a calligraphy workshop with Hong Kong-born artist Johanna Leung, where you can learn the sequence of strokes needed to create Chinese characters.

Please note: This Lunar New Year market is organised by the Warrington HongKongers CIC and is a self-funded, not-for-profit community event. The event itself is not funded by the Council.

**Information above taken from We Are Warrington

Crown Ballet: The Nutcracker at The Parr Hall

Crown Ballet are back in Warrington with The Nutcracker after bringing Swan Lake to Parr Hall last year. It’s the well-known Tchaikovsky ballet set on Christmas Eve, with the Nutcracker, the Sugar Plum Fairy, snow scenes, and the Kingdom of Sweets. You don’t need to know ballet to enjoy it, and it’s suitable for all ages.

Date: Wednesday 11 November
Time: 7.30pm
Location: Parr Hall, Palmyra Square South, Warrington, WA1 1BL
Tickets: From £24
Box Office: 01925 442345
Website: parrhall.culturewarrington.org/whats-on/the-nutcracker

Warrington Shout Outs 📣 

Here a few things that we thought you might to know about…. quite a lot of it is food and drink…. but who doesn’t like food and drink? 😃 

🍺 Do you follow the Great British Pub Crawl account on YouTube? He is doing amazing things for the pub trade, and each video highlights a different area. Last week he was in Lymm and went round all the pubs in the area. It was a great little video, and you can check it out here.

🎦 Another local YouTube account worth checking out is Grumpy Northern Foodie. He recently went down to check out Toast in Latchford, which recently reopened.

⚽️ There’s a new sports bar opening in town. You might remember it as The Firkin, then it became Smokie Mo’s, but it’s now opening as Owen’s Bar. This is owned by the same people behind Tank Bar and McCoy’s. You can find it down at the bottom of Buttermarket Street, opposite The Friar Penketh.

🍜 Luckee, the new asian supermarket, is opening in Golden Square Shopping Centre. You may have seen the signs up for quite a while, but it's opening on Sunday, the 15th of February.

⛪️ If you’re in town on a Saturday, WACIDOM is running free lunchtime concerts at Holy Trinity Church. They run 1:45pm–2:30pm and feature piano, strings, wind players, and young performers.

Warrington Wordle 🧠 

Last week's was too easy, wasn’t it? A few people got it in one. Hopefully, this one makes you think a bit harder. As always, let me know how you got on by replying to this email; I love hearing how you did.

Click here to play

From the Scoop Socials 📲 

Here are a few things that have been popular on social media this week and have gotten people talking.

🛑 Theres a camera opposite the Golden Gates, at the junction where you can only turn right onto Sankey Street (people aren't fans of this), and the debate was: does this camera issue fines?

We popped down to see Rob from Warrington Fruit and Veg. He was recently on the podcast, but in this video, he shows you around his stall.

🍩 If you missed it, yesterday was Fat Thursday in Poland (It’s similar to our pancake day, but they eat donuts). We popped in to see Mario, who runs Monia’s Cakes. These donuts were only one for one day, but he also has amazing cakes you should check out.

Thanks 👍️ 

Thanks for reading The Warrington Scoop today.

If you found this useful, please share it with someone who ran through the massive puddle (Lake Victoria) at the start of Park Run last week!

Catch you on Monday.

Mike

✅ Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up

📢 Want to advertise your business to thousands of The Warrington Scoop readers? Reply to this email.

📧 Did I miss something? Got an event or gig listing? Let me know

👉 Sometimes things change, so please always check the details for events and activities directly with the organiser to avoid disappointment.