Earlier this month, we asked our Twitter and Facebook followers what hidden gem they would share with a first-time visitor to Manchester. We were overwhelmed by the response: here is just a short selection (with thanks to everyone who contributed).

@tweetsainttweet: The Britons Protection (during a Hallé concert when players pop in for a half in the interval)

@laurahd: John Rylands Library

Ian Jackson (from Facebook): Oklahoma shop and cafe

@TweetsByAlex: One of my friends showed me Winter Hill near Bolton, which has fantastic views across Lancashire and Manchester. Brilliant!

@AdamComstive: Hot & Sour soup and a chicken curry pasty from Ho’s Bakery

@paulcockerton: Fletcher Moss Park in Didsbury, walk around Castlefield then down canal, walk through Ancoats – Anita Street and mills

@Kate_Butler: Come to sunny Levenshulme, birthplace to Sir Norman Foster and Max Beesley! Take your photo on ‘the street with no name‘

Chris Norwood (from Facebook): The Hidden Gem – St. Mary’s Catholic Church on Mulberry Street. Note that it was given the name because of what was inside rather than because of its out-of-sight location

@totmac: The Art of Tea in Didsbury. Lovely

@laurielaptop: The Temple of Convenience can be a lot of fun sometimes, and then check out The Great Kathmandu for some great food

@MissCay: I’d take them on the Manchester Eye so they could see the whole of the city in glorious technicolor, and then onto Bar Fringe. Of course, they’d also have to be taken for Dim Sum at Tai Wu, or a chip naan at Abdul’s on Oxford Road

@PlaceManagement: Peveril of the Peak, preferably for a packet of their own brand pork scratchings!

Image: John Rylands Library, courtesy Susie Stubbs