Arcade games, cocktails and classic pub atmospheres are all on offer for University of Sunderland students and freshers exploring Sunderland’s nightlife.

Whether you’re craving a quirky cocktail bar, traditional pub, or somewhere to belt out karaoke with friends, Sunderland has something for everyone.

SpaceBar Cocktails & Arcades

SpaceBar is a standout option for those who enjoy a bit of friendly competition with their drinks, and is around a ten-minute walk from the city centre campus.

Customers on Tripadvisor say the venue has the “best cocktails” and “biggest arcade and pinball collection”.

The bar also hosts karaoke, live music, quizzes, pinball tournaments and comedy nights, making it a lively option for groups looking for more than just a drink.

The Dun Cow

For those who prefer a more classic pub atmosphere, The Dun Cow offers historic Edwardian surroundings, real ales and a welcoming vibe.

At just a five-minute walk from the city centre campus, or 20 minutes across the river from the St Peter’s campus, customers often praise the venue as a “fantastic back bar” with “great real ales”.

The pub also serves food and features live music.

The Ship Isis

Another character-filled venue is The Ship Isis, known for its old-fashioned charm.

Tripadvisor reviewers call it a proper “old-fashioned pub” with “great décor” and “excellent pizza”.

The Ship Isis is a five-minute stroll from the city centre campus, often hosting live music and other performances, making it a great spot for a longer evening out with a bit of everything.

Diego’s Joint

Around 20 minutes on foot from both campuses, and for something more modern, Diego’s Joint in Sunniside offers cocktails, beer, food and a packed events calendar.

The bar regularly hosts live music, comedy nights and quizzes, making it an all-rounder for students making a night of it.

The Manor Bar

The Manor Bar adds to the city’s nightlife mix with cocktails, wine, beer, live music and a cosy, trendy setting.

The venue, which is around 15 minutes from the city centre campus, is popular with groups and also features decent outdoor seating.

With such a variety of venues on the doorstep, freshers can make the most of their time in Sunderland by exploring everything the city has to offer.

From arcade games and karaoke to traditional ales and comedy nights, there’s plenty to help students settle in, make new friends and start university life with a bit of fun.

Are you going out tonight? Comment below.

The UK “cannot simply turn AI off”, the Cabinet Office said on Friday, signalling opposition to calls for the creation of a new “last-resort power” for the state to shut down an autonomous model in an emergency.

Peers have sought to make the case for a “kill switch” in Parliament in recent weeks amid growing fears of the risks posed by the technology, including warnings from experts that it could wipe out humanity within the decade.

Earlier in September, Liberal Democrat Lord Clement-Jones tabled an amendment to the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill that would introduce a legal mechanism for the state to intervene if a model malfunctions.

He said this would allow for “a necessary emergency kill switch” where the Government “currently lack clear statutory power to direct an emergency shutdown”.

But in a statement on Friday, a Government spokesperson said: “Britain cannot simply turn AI off and blocking access to models in the UK would not prevent them being developed or misused elsewhere.

“Companies have a clear responsibility to develop their products safely and to invest in the security infrastructure this technology requires.

“We will continue to take a long-term, science-led approach to understand and prepare for emerging risks from AI – including through the work of our world-leading AI Security Institute.

“Our Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will boost UK cyber defences and improve the cyber security of our essential public and digital services that we all rely on, including data centres.”

Officials said the Government is exploring whether further targeted interventions may be needed to address the most significant risks linked to the technology, but that any measures would need to be proportionate.

Earlier this week, the Prime Minister acknowledged “risks to national security” posed by AI after a top safety researcher at Anthropic said he believed the technology could “kill all humans” in the next decade.

Mr Burnham has boosted the role of AI safety minister Kanishka Narayan by giving him a seat at the Cabinet table, a move which he said on Wednesday had “lifted the level of the conversation about artificial intelligence within Government”.

“The offer is open to colleagues on all sides of the House to be part of that crucial discussion,” he told the Commons at Prime Minister’s Questions.

It came after Evan Hubinger, alignment science lead at Anthropic, laid out his concerns about the potential advancement of AI in a post on social media.

“We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade,” he wrote on X.

“I believe Anthropic is trying its best, but we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and are not clearly on track to.”

His post came in response to another Anthropic researcher, Jacob Coxon, warning that a race between companies towards self-improving superintelligence was “gambling with our lives”, as he resigned from his role at the firm.

Announcing his departure, Mr Coxon said that Anthropic and OpenAI, its main competitor, were not “acting responsibly” and that people outside of AI labs were underestimating the power of the technology.

“The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt,” he said.

“No other human activity poses this level of danger.”

It comes after the Financial Times reported the US tech giant had withheld its latest model from the UK’s AI Safety Institute, one of the world’s leading bodies for testing the risks of the technology.

Claude Mythos 5.1 was only made available to vetted American organisations, according to the paper.

Anthropic and OpenAI have been contacted for comment.

By WILL GRIFFEE

Published: 20:24 BST, 11 September 2026 | Updated: 22:32 BST, 11 September 2026

England: B Duckett, E Gay, J Cox, J Root (captain), H Brook, D Lawrence, J Smith (wicketkeeper), G Atkinson, O Robinson, J Archer, J Tongue.

Pakistan Imam-ul-Haq, A Awais, S Masood, A Shafique, B Azam (captain), S Shakeel, M Rizwan (wicketkeeper), A Usman, K Shahzad, M Abbas, M Ali.

An airline ticket agent who checked in two of the 9/11 hijackers admits he ‘didn’t listen to his gut’ despite their suspicious behavior ahead of the attacks. 

Michael Tuohey was working at Portland International Jetport in Maine on the morning of September 11, 2001, when he helped al-Qaeda terrorists Mohamed Atta and Abdul Aziz al Omari get to their connecting flight in Boston. 

The terrorists made their flight to Boston in the nick of time, Tuohey said, before they hijacked the next aircraft and flew the jet into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. 

Tuohey said he has been left haunted by the thought that he could have prevented the attacks, as he believed the men were suspicious but he did not stop them.

‘If anyone looked like a terrorist, he was a terrorist,’ he said of Atta.  

‘My gut instinct was good, but there were laws, there were laws against profiling people,’ the ticket agent, 80, told RTE. 

‘It’s just that it could have changed something. Not that it would have, but it could have. Who knows?… I didn’t listen to my gut. And it turned out to be an awful thing.’ 

Tuohey said he encountered the two men struggling to find their way through the Maine airport, as they had arrived just half an hour before their flight. 

‘They looked confused,’ he recalled, saying he helped the men through their check-in procedure to make the connecting flight. 

Tuohey recalled a rude interaction with chief hijacker Mohamed Atta (left) and Abdul Aziz al Omari (right), but he helped them make their connecting flight before the hijackings 

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The ticket agent said he was surprised to see the two men had purchased first class seats, and said Atta became frustrated with him when he was slowly checking his flight credentials. 

He recalled Atta barking at him, ‘They told me it would be a one-step check in’, so Tuohey gave him his boarding pass and sent him on his way. 

Tuohey said he told Atta that because he had a first class ticket, he should head to the Admiral Lounge when he got to Boston, where they would ‘set him up’ with a more comfortable experience.

He said Atta responded to his friendly suggestion by bluntly repeating, ‘They told me it would be one-step check in.’

This rude remark caught Tuohey off-guard, he said, and he then warned the terrorist: ‘Mr Atta, if you don’t get upstairs real quick, you’re going to miss your flight altogether.’

He said Atta then gave an ‘order’ to al Omari, and the two men hastily picked up their belongings and headed for their flight. 

Tuohey said he was glad to see the men walk away because of their rude encounter, as he ‘didn’t want to deal with this guy anymore.’

Tuohey, seen during his time working at Portland International Jetport in Maine, said he has been left haunted by the thought that he could have prevented the attacks

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When Tuohey saw the 9/11 attacks unfolding on the news, he said it quickly dawned on him that he may have encountered the hijackers that day 

Some time later, Tuohey said he saw the 9/11 attacks unfolding on the news, and a colleague reminded him that he had helped passengers get onto the flight to Boston.

‘Oh my god, the poor guys, they’re dead,’ Tuohey recalled thinking, unaware at the time that the Atta and al Omari could have been responsible.

‘And then it dawned on me, wait a minute… if anyone looked like a terrorist, he is a terrorist,’ he said.

‘That passed through my mind earlier that day.’ 

Tuohey said even though he had his suspicions about Atta, he understood ‘there are laws against profiling people’, and he believed at the time he would have been accused of racial profiling.

‘I don’t want to get into a pissing contest about that,’ he said. ‘My opinion is, I didn’t listen to my gut, and it turned out to be an awful thing. 

‘It wasn’t that I was right, it’s just that it could have changed something… I followed all the guidelines, I did my job, and 3,000 people ended up paying with their lives.’

Need to know

A massive security operation is underway as the US President lands in Dublin tomorrow.

Here’s everything you need to know about the US President’s trip to Ireland:

• US President Donald Trump is due to fly into Dublin Airport at around 8am on Air Force One.
• It’s expected the US President will have a massive entourage with him, up to 1,000 people including US secret service personnel.
• Over 20 US military aircraft have touched down in Ireland over the past week, bringing personnel and equipment for what will be one of the state’s biggest security operations.
• After landing in Dublin Airport Trump will be ferried straight to the Phoenix Park, where all of his events in the capital will take place.
• He will first meet President Catherine Connolly at Áras an Uachtaráin, with sources close to preparations saying it will be a “brief” courtesy call.
• Here, Trump will be greeted by a guard of honour outside before meeting the President.
• A bilateral meeting between the US President and Taoiseach Micheál Martin will then be held at Farmleigh House.
• President Trump will then meet industry leaders and give a speech at the US Ambassador’s Deerfield Residence.
• Early plans for Trump’s trip included turning the sod at the new US Embassy in Ballsbridge, however, it was decided to keep all Dublin events in the Phoenix Park for security purposes.
• The Phoenix Park is currently on lock-down and will be until 6pm on Saturday.
• After the Phoenix Park President Trump will be brought back to Dublin Airport and will fly on Air Force One to Shannon Airport.
• He will then travel on a Marine One helicopter to his golf course in Doonbeg, arriving at around 3pm to attend the Irish Open.
• Security in Doonbeg is expected to be extremely tight. It will be a massive logistical challenge for gardaí and US secret service personnel, with the event drawing in 75,000 spectators over the week.
• After gracing the golf course on Saturday, Trump will sleep in his five-star luxurious resort.
• He is then expected to present the Irish Open cup on Sunday before flying back to the White House from Shannon Airport that evening.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

Pata is the name of the brand new Indian restaurant taking over the former Mangrove on Manchester Road, which closed its doors earlier this year.

Work has been going on behind the scenes to completely transform the restaurant, and after keeping its new identity under wraps, the family behind it have now revealed the name for the first time.

Owner Mohammed Naeem Khan says Pata is getting “very close” to opening – and he believes customers are going to love what they find inside.

He said: “I’m very excited, I’m over the moon. I just can’t wait to open.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s stressful, but it’s going to be worth it at the end of the day.

“The support from the locals has been incredible and I can’t wait to get people down.

“They’re going to love it.”

The Bolton News previously revealed that Mohammed, 24, from Rochdale, was taking over the restaurant alongside his brothers, with the family promising to bring a new style of Indian dining to Westhoughton.

Inside the brand new restaurant (Image: Pata)

The site was previously home to the popular Mangrove Indian Restaurant and Takeaway, which closed earlier this year after serving diners in the town for years.

Since then, Mohammed and his family have been busy carrying out an extensive refurbishment as they prepare to breathe new life into the restaurant.

One thing they had not revealed, however, was its name.

That can now be confirmed as Pata, a name chosen after extensive research by the family.

Mohammed said: “We’re thrilled to share that we have a final name.

“We wanted something that would fit with what we’re doing and the unique experience we want to create.

“We did a lot of research into the name because we wanted something that nobody else had got and something that went well with our logo.”

The brand new name and logo (Image: Pata)

Mohammed said the name was inspired by leaves and the coriander, herbs and spices which play such an important part in Indian cooking.

He said: “Pata means leaf and we use a lot of leaves, coriander, herbs and spices in Indian food.

“Nobody else had got that name around here and we did a lot of research into it.

“It also goes really well with our logo.”

Mohammed previously told The Bolton News that former Mangrove owner Abdul Atique was a long-standing family friend who had grown up with his father.

The brothers had been keen to take over the restaurant for some time before eventually getting their chance when Mangrove closed.

Now months of planning and refurbishment are approaching their end, with Mohammed saying the restaurant is preparing to open “very soon”.

He said: “It’s going to be a great, unique experience that everyone loves.

“We just can’t wait to get people through the doors.”

An exact opening date for Pata has yet to be announced.

Coronation Street fans are worried that Shona Platt will be killed off after a series of “weird” scenes involving her long-lost sister and her estranged dad aired on Friday night

Coronation Street fans are worried that Shona Platt will be killed off after “weird” scenes that aired on Friday night’s episode of the ITV soap.

The café waitress, who has been played by Julia Goulding since 2016, is married to David Platt (Jack P Shepherd) and the couple have already been through a lot this year following the premature birth of their daughter Harper. In February, Shona’s long-lost sister Jodie (Olivia Frances-Brown) turned up as part of the programme’s crossover with Emmerdale.

Despite having never been mentioned before she arrived, it has been established that Jodie and Shona had a frosty relationship in the years before they reunited. Viewers are still none the wiser as to what Jodie’s story is, but there is something mysterious about her.

Over the last six months, she has stolen various items from neighbours, pretended to he Harper’s mum and in the latest episode of the world’s longest-running TV soap, things took yet another turn. When her dad Doug turned up in the café, she bumped into a mum she had been talking to on a parenting website and it became clear that she has been pretending to be Shona.

In emotional scenes, Shona’s estranged dad spoke to her he revealed he had been diagnosed with bipolar, but conversation quickly turned to his lack of parenting skills.

Shona told him: “I wasn’t the only victim of your bad parenting. Our Jodie is certainly damaged too.” He was about address the topic but then Jodie burst in and said: “How you getting on? Has she forgiven you yet?” Jodie then convinced Shona to let their dad stay for the day.

Shona then pressed her dad on what he was going to say earlier, but he claimed it was nothing. Jodie then told him: “We’ve both got what we want, so… let’s not rock the boat.” Doug then left the house and made plans to see his daughters again. As he drove off, Jodie said: “I hope you’re right about letting him back into our lives.”

Just towards the end of the episode, Jodie sat in the living room alone, plucked David and Shona’s wedding photo out of an album and scribbled out her sister’s face.

Reacting to the bizarre scenes, one fan wrote on X: “Is Shona and Jodie’s dad finally going to give us the backstory we’ve all been waiting for to understand why the hell Jodie behaves the way she does??”

Another said: “Jodie pretending to be Shona is so f*****g weird A third predicted that this could ultimately end in Shona’s death if Jodie is not stopped soon. They wrote: “Jodie needs to be stopped. Her vendetta against Shona is so stupid – I hope Shona isn’t going to die or get seriously hurt because of this psycho.”

Coronation Street airs Monday to Friday at 8:30pm on ITV1 and is available to stream from 7am on ITV X.

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Families in Selby who sign up will receive a free book through the post once a month until their child turns five, as part of a Dolly Parton Imagination Library project approved by David Skaith, the elected Mayor of York and North Yorkshire.

The scheme is part of a ‘Cradle to Career’ campaign to support young people across the region and to offer them the best start in life. The £400,000 scheme will fund two pilot projects: a baby box pilot in Scarborough, based on a Finnish model, and the children’s literacy scheme in Selby.​

Speaking at a meeting on Friday, September 11, Mr Skaith said: “The Dolly Parton Imagination Library aims to improve early literacy and school readiness and encourage a love of reading and stronger family bonds.

David Skaith At Selby Library

“I know the opportunity and enjoyment I take from reading to my two young children and the opportunity it has to give children the best start in life.

“The timing of this follows the death of Dolly Parton, who knew what it was like to grow up in abject poverty and the importance that reading and literacy had on her to build a better life for her and her family.

“The Dolly Parton Imagination Library has donated more than 330 million books worldwide, and we are incredibly proud that Selby will be the next home of the chapter of her legacy.”

The country singer from Tennessee died last month after a seven-decade career spanning 10 Grammy awards, the sale of more than 100 million records worldwide, and the writing of over 3,000 songs.

Founded by Ms Parton in 1995, the Imagination Library has become one of the world’s best-known early literacy programmes, helping millions of children develop a lifelong love of reading.

Cabinet, York And North Yorkshire Combined Authority 11.09.26.

The Cradle to Career ambition reflects Mayor David Skaith’s commitment to ensuring children and young people across the region have the support, opportunities and skills they need at every stage of their journey.

Since launching in the UK in 2007, the Imagination Library has provided more than seven million books to over 60,000 children.

Speaking at a meeting of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (YNYCA) on Friday, Cllr Mark Crane, the deputy leader of North Yorkshire Council, said: “Of course this project was started before she died and I think she leaves a fantastic legacy in the work she has done.

“We are all indebted to her for the fantastic things she did, and she would have been a billionaire if she hadn’t done all the charity projects she did.”

Cllr Bob Webb.

Cllr Bob Webb, a member of the YNYCA cabinet, highlighted the importance of “fostering a love of reading for children and, importantly, for their families as well”.

He said: “That practice of reading together and for a child to see their parents reading makes such a difference to their lives in terms of developing cognition, speech and language.

“I read recently, following Parton’s death, that it was really close to her heart because she felt her father didn’t reach his full potential because he couldn’t read because they came from an incredibly impoverished background.

“We know that if we can get comprehension right, so the ability to understand the world around them, then young people can access that world around them much more easily because they have that capital and can learn and engage whether in school, their lives, or in their careers.”

The ambition for Cradle to Career will also cover primary, secondary and post-16 education ages, including careers days, career hubs, apprenticeships and internships in areas such as teaching, construction and STEM-based subjects.

The initiative supports the Mayor’s priority of creating Healthy and Resilient Communities by improving outcomes for children and young people, helping them to thrive throughout education and into employment.