In Pictures: The Skinny Northwest Turns Two! 

Two years ago, when we pitched up in Liverpool and Manchester, we thought 'pulled pork' was a pig suffering from a hamstring strain and that the Kazimier was some kind of mythical mind-bending time machine (though that's certainly true on some occasions).

But oh, how we've grown, and after 25 issues' worth of immersing and investing ourselves in the rich tapestry that is the region's arts and cultural community, we felt like celebrating with our contributors and supporters who've helped us immeasurably along the way.

So it was that on 9 April we descended on one of our favourite new bars in Manchester, The Hold Fast, to mark two years of The Skinny in the Northwest with good friends, good cake and plenty of booze. A big thank you to Jameson for ensuring our glasses were never empty and to Bake-O-Rama for taking similar care with our bellies (what cakes!). Big thanks, too, to DJs Night Fantasy and Banana Hill, some of Manchester's most reliable residents, who kept minds and bodies moving with some eclectically-minded crate digging.

And a final – but most important – big thank you to everyone who reads us online and in print. We've never felt more at home. Here’s what our photographer, Sam Huddleston, caught of the night.