The Aperol Spritz Social: New Spinningfields Pop-Up Brings Some Italian Sunshine to Manchester for Wimbledon Fortnight

Regular readers of this blog will by now have surmised that I am not an elite sportswoman. True, I walk to the fridge on a regular basis, and once ran for a bus when it looked likely I might miss out on valuable eating and drinking time, but otherwise my sporting life revolves entirely around watching other people do it, usually on the tellybox. Hurrah, then, for the arrival of Wimbledon fortnight, when we might cheer on the plucky British girl as she labours her way through to round two, and hope against hope that Andy Murray might actually win this year, and thank our lucky stars that the Centre Court roof will forever spare us from Cliff Richard conducting a singalong during a rain break.

This year's Wimbledon fortnight looks set to be even better than usual though, with the arrival of the Aperol Spritz Social in Spinningfields. Manchester is of course already most partial to a glass or two of the orange stuff - SoLIta in the Northern Quarter made it their (and our) drink of the summer last year, and now this new two week pop-up bar looks set to convert any laggers to the cause. Just in case you are yourself a lagger but are too shy to say, Aperol is a bitter sweet Italian liqueur which is best mixed two parts Aperol to three parts Prosecco and one part soda water to make the hideously addictive Aperol Spritz (and if I'm being brutally honest here, I do not always have soda water to hand and find it not entirely indispensable - as long as you've got Aperol and Prosecco, you'll probably get by).

The new bar was launched last week at Rosso restaurant but has opened at Spinningfields today, where it will remain until Sunday 7th July. Tennis fans (and those who simply enjoy seeing Rafael Nadal in shorts) will be able to watch all the action on a giant TV screen, in a deckchair, whilst enjoying an Aperol Spritz or ten; the evenings promise live music on the Aperol Spritz Stage from 6.30pm on Fridays and Saturdays, as well as a game or two of that increasingly fashionable pursuit, ping pong - although as my hand-eye co-ordination is poor at the best of times I can hardly think that a few glasses of Aperol is likely to improve this any.

The pictures you see here are from the launch party at Rosso and are therefore of a more indoor nature than the Aperol Spritz Social, but I promise the drinks will look just as pretty wherever you are. The pop-up will be open Sunday to Thursday from 12pm - 12am and Friday and Sunday 12pm -1am, so get yourself down there a/ while it's still open and b/ while there are still some Brits left in Wimbledon - hurry!