New stats gathered by THEGAYUK, show that outside of London, Birmingham is the randiest place in the UK.
Birmingham’s gay scene is thriving
It seems as though gay and bisexual men in Birmingham can’t get enough of online hookups and chat sites. So much so, it is only second to London for online searches for gay hookups, gay chat and dating sites. Of course, Birmingham has one of the largest gay scenes in the UK, alongside Brighton, Manchester and of course, London.
Analytics show that the Birmingham chat page is one of the most popular entry points to THEGAYUK.com for English cities, whilst Glasgow tops the list for Scottish cities. Cardiff is the number one for Wales, but 13th overall for the UK and Belfast is number one for Northern Ireland, but number 24 overall for the UK.
The top ten list looks like this:
London
Birmingham
Manchester
Leeds
Glasgow
Bristol
Liverpool
Sheffield
Nottingham
Edinburgh
Previously Essex had topped the list, but now doesn’t even register in the top 100 of visitor locations. Instead, Grimsby brings up the bottom of the league table at number 100 randiest place in Britain.
Overall visitors from England make up 77% percent of all searches, Scottish visitors make up six percent of searches, the Welsh make up three percent and guys from Northern Ireland make up 1 percent.
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Step into a place where the decor is sumptuous, the staff very nice and attentive, and the food very good. The place is a restaurant called Baluchi.
Baluchi is a restaurant so unlike any other south of the river (literally right next to the road that becomes Tower Bridge). Inside the gorgeous hotel called The LaLit, Baluchi the restaurant is a one-room affair, with stunning chandeliers and plenty of space in between tables so as not to feel overcrowded and busy. And it’s Indian-style menu has all sorts of food for just about anyone, even those who are not quite familiar with Pan Indian food.
We were delighted to choose two very good, and refreshing, drinks to start out with. My dining companion had the Mad Honey while I had the Mango Mai Tai, which was very sweet, which is the way I like my drinks, as well as beautifully coloured, with a dried lime on top for a nice touch!
Amazing food in an amazing location
These two drinks were just a small sampling of what was on offer in their drinks menu – a stunning multi-page book of every type of cocktail you want. While they don’t come cheap (£10 to £15 each), they are worth every penny!
As for the food, you are really and truly spoiled for choice. Dishes from the menu include all sorts, from seafood (Sea Bass, Peterhead Cod, Tandoori Prawns), to the fantastic Vegetarian dishes (Dal Baluchi – Black Lentils, Grilled Tofu) to an amazing array of meat dishes (Butter Chicken, Murg Adraki – Free-range corn-fed chicken, and venison) to lamb, which is what we ordered. I had the splendid and meaty Lamb Chops. At £21.50, I received three very large and perfectly cooked chops, with smoked aubergine and yummy potato mash and an avocado dollop, in a lovely coriander, mint and garlic chutney. I highly recommend this dish. My dining companion ordered the Lamb Shan K Gush Taba (gluten free), and as expected it was tender, moist and extra good in its not too spicy sauce. She and I loved our lamb – superb!!! Mango and coconut-flavoured naan bread was served with our main course – absolutely delicious, along with the mandatory rice.
We had also ordered starters which were presented very beautifully. We wanted the Kamal Kakdi, but unfortunately, they were out, so we ordered the fantastic Subz Kl Thal, which was an amazing array of edibles that included corn tikki, papad and paneer – and suitable for sharing which is what we did. It was a wow dish, and at £14.50, a good bargain. We also ordered the Bharwan Zucchini – a courgette with various sauces. It was a bit small, but nice taste and flavour nonetheless. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the papadums served with berry and tomato chutney – great starters!
Of course, for those with a sweet tooth, The Baluchi offers quite a few dessert choices. My companion had the Coconut 3 Ways – jelly and espuma, hazelnut mousse and curry leaf smoke – while I had the Carrom Seed Shortbread – an unusual array of a poached guava, guava sorbet, pistachio and caramel popcorn. Both desserts came in at £8 each – respectable because they are different but they did not have the wow factor that we expected.
I almost never write about the coffee but the decaf coffee I was served after the meal was one of the most delicious I have ever had in recent memory, while my dining companion really enjoyed her tea.
Despite a mix up with the bill (the drinks the table next to us had were on our bill), everything about the evening was impeccable, from the presentation of the food to the way it was served to us by the wait staff, from the amazing decor to the gracious chef who paid a visit to our table, and to the extreme care and attentiveness our server was to us. The whole evening was very memorable, and while our bill came to about £150 for the two of us, sometimes it’s worth this kind of money to make the experience memorable and very enjoyable. Baluchi is definitely a one-of-a-kind restaurant that’s practically in its own world right in the heart of the hustle and bustle of London.
Find out more at https://www.thelalit.com/the-lalit-london/eat-and-drink/baluchi/
ORLANDO, Fla. — In the hours after the massacre at Pulse nightclub, FBI Special Agent Ricardo Enriquez transcribed a statement from Noor Salman, the widow of shooter Omar Mateen. As he finished, he asked her to add a passage in her own writing, saying he had treated her fairly, he testified Monday. (more…)
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As her wedding day approaches, Kelly buys her dream wedding dress, even though it is two sizes too small for her.
When Julia Fleshman, the head of a national slimming club chain, comes to town to judge a slimming contest live on TV, Kelly ends up going viral with her body confident comments; and seizing the opportunity for some publicity, Fleshman offers to pay for Kelly’s wedding if she can slim into the dress in time for the big day. But with the wedding only six weeks away, the pressure is on…
Fat Friends is very much a piece of crowd-pleasing theatre. Pulling together multiple stories of the good folk of Headingly, a town near Leeds, the stage is filled with likeable, if slightly caricatured, characters and is a straightforward evening of undemanding fun.
The show boasts a good cast, with Jodie Prenger taking the lead as Kelly, and doing so with a cocky northern confidence and a belting singing voice. Sam Bailey (The X-Factor) is great as Kelly’s Mum and Natasha Hamilton (from Atomic Kitten) is the scheming Julia Fleshman. Thrown into the mix is an affable turn from Kevin Kennedy (Coronation Street) and ex-cricketer Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff, who takes to the stage and fares better than expected with a slightly stilted, if not tongue in cheek, portrayal of Kevin, Kelly’s nice but dim fiancé.
The songs are amiable enough and used to move the story forward, and whilst they were perfectly pleasant to listen to and shoehorned a few laughs into the lyrics, they served their purpose well enough in terms of keeping up the show upbeat and jolly, but were ultimately fairly forgettable. The live orchestra added to the atmosphere within the theatre and the set design was a colourful cartoonish affair which was well lit and effective in its simplicity.
Written and directed by Kay Mellor, who wrote the original TV series that the show is based on; Fat Friends is a rather loud, boisterous and upbeat show, which really resonates with its target audience. It’s a rather clichéd musical by numbers, with a heavy-handed script, fairly trite lyrics and a rather unsubtle approach to its humour, but what it lacks in sophistication, it makes up for with likeable characters, a few good belly laughs and buckets-full of near the knuckle, northern charm.
Fat Friends is at the Opera House Manchester until the 24th March 2018, book tickets click here
