Manchester Music Tours

Carmel Smickersgill, Tours & Activities Editor

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Manchester Music Tours

Vinyl Revival, Manchester
7 May-25 June 2022

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Manchester music tours
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Manchester is famous for many things but by far one of its biggest influences on the world, has been its music. From the background of a working city, bands such as New Order, The Smiths, Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, Oasis, The Courteeners and Everything Everything (to name just a few) have found creative inspiration and a place that provides fertile ground for electric collaborations and international fame. Join Manchester Music Tours to explore the marks these great artists have left on the city.

For the die hard fans, we recommend one of the band specific tours. Choose between The Smiths, Joy Division, Oasis and The Stone Roses and spend 3 hours visiting the places each band hung out in, drew inspiration from or have influenced in ways that can still be seen today. On The Smiths tour you’ll visit the infamous Salford Lads Club, Strangeways Prison – which was the inspiration for the album title “Strangeways here we come”.

On the Joy division tour you’ll call by the Hacienda, Manchester’s most notorious night club as well as recreating Kevin Cummings’ iconic photography on the Epping Walk Bridge. While venturing into Oasis’ past, you’ll visit the venue where the band rehearsed and performed their first gig. Alternatively you can visit the site of Granada Studios, the place where The Stone Roses performed their TV debut with Tony Wilson.

If you’re after a more general overview of how this city has shaped so much great music, try Manchester Music Tour’s Special Tour. This is a four hour bumper edition that lets you fully immerse yourself in a city which breeds creativity and has helped generate iconic songs that will capture a particular moment and place in time forever.

The tours are the legacy of Inspiral Carpets drummer Craig Gill, his passion for the history and musical culture of Manchester is what’s lead to them being the successful and insightful experiences they are today. Tours take place every Saturday starting at Vinyl Revival in the Northern Quarter, you can arrive from 10:45 onwards for an 11am start. Check the Manchester Music Tours website to find out which specific tour is running on each Saturday.

Where to go near Manchester Music Tours

Manchester
Bar or Pub
Affleck & Brown

Affleck & Brown is a bar in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Housed in the Smithfield building which was once the location of the Victorian department store of the same name. Enjoy cocktails, beers, wines and coffee.

Manchester
Shop
Northern Flower

This small shop has “Northern Quarter” stamped all over it, from its “potting shed”-feel to its bunting for sale and unusual selection of potted-up plants.

Sugar Junction, Northern Quarter Manchester.
Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Sugar Junction

A Northern Quarter tea room with a vintage flavour. Dining out in Manchester? One of our fave places for afternoon tea is the retro-styled Sugar Junction

Evuna in Manchester's Northern Quarter
Manchester
Restaurant
Evuna Northern Quarter

Somehow the only tapas bar in the Northern Quarter, Evuna is where it’s at for traditional Spanish grub and damn fine drinks.

Manchester
Selina NQ1

Selina NQ1 is a creative and charming yet sophisticated hotel in the heart of Manchester’s Northern Quarter.

Manchester
Restaurant
Nibble

Independent cafe in Manchester’s bustling Northern Quarter. Perfect if you’re looking for high-quality homemade produce.

Image of Pop Boutique's shop front on Oldham Street in Manchester
Manchester
Shop
Pop Boutique Manchester

One of the oldest vintage shops in the Northern Quarter (opened here in 1994), Pop is set out across two floors and racks up a cafe, barber’s and basement furniture section, as well as its own label and good-as-new originals – all for very reasonable prices.

Manchester
Shop
Barbarella

Barbarella is a barber shop and part of the long-standing Pop Boutique vintage shop.

Beermoth shop in Manchester's Northern Quarter.
Manchester
Shop
Beermoth

Beermoth on Manchester’s Tib Street stocks specialist beers, chosen with a quietly confident knowledge.

What's on: Activity

Salford Lads Club Exterior
TourManchester
Salford Lads Club Tour

Salford Lads Club shot to global fame as the iconic backdrop on The Smiths’ album The Queen is Dead, but its significance goes far beyond its musical ties.

From £20.00
Horse and Jockey Chorlton
Walking TourManchester
The Secrets of Chorlton

From a hamlet on a road to nowhere to one of Manchester’s most desirable suburbs. What’s the story behind Chorlton-cum-Hardy?

From £20.00

Culture Guides

Three men sit next to each other. One's head is bandaged, one holds a torch and one wears a sleepmask.
Cinema in the North

Live scores, midnight movies and the latest from Wes Anderson are just some of our upcoming film highlights.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

Experimental performance, thought-provoking new writing and our picks of Manchester International Festival - here’s what’s taking centre stage this summer.

Isabel Galleymore in conversation
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There's a lot of experimentation going on in our Literature guide, from poets playing with form to short story writers looking long.

Music in the North

Gigs are coming in hot this spring – from long-awaited returns to one-off happenings you’ll blink and miss if you're not careful.

Experience a unique deep listening art installation inviting audiences to lay down and be bathed in sound and light.
Exhibitions in the North

From city-wide art festivals to open-air sculptural installations, we have exhibitions from all around the North, both indoors and out.