Culture Guides
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Stretching all the way from the Curry Mile – with its glittering sari emporiums, Indian sweet shops and mixed reputation for actual curry – up toward the city centre, Oxford Road is not only home to two Universities, the Royal Northern College of Music, an Olympic-sized pool and a good number of the city’s best music venues, it’s also the busiest bus route in Europe. Yes, this is student land, but cultural institutions such as The Whitworth art gallery, Manchester Museum and International Anthony Burgess Centre also make the area a real draw for locals and tourists alike. There are also two parks: Whitworth Park, which dates back to 1890, and Grosvenor Square, a small patch of green that was once a church and where now, on sunny days, the locals come out to bask in bookish style.
The Oxford Road Corridor is the site of serious scientific innovation; here, you can visit the place where the atom was split, and doff your cap to the building dedicated to pioneering computer scientist and code breaker Alan Turing. Once home to philosopher Friedrich Engels and writer Elizabeth Gaskell, the area can boast its fair share of artistic prestige, too. Here, history and innovation still exist side by side.
RNCM Lunchtime Concerts at Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), Manchester, Until 30 March 2023, from £2.50 - Book now
This biweekly concert series is one of the most accessible ways to see incredible live classical music in Manchester.
Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, 84 Plymouth Grove, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M13 9LW - Visit now
Elizabeth Gaskell’s House has been lovingly restored; you can now sit at her desk, see where Charlotte Brontë hid behind the curtains, and have tea in the downstairs café. The Pankhurst Centre is also nearby.
RNCM Opera: Mansfield Park at Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), Manchester, 26 March 2023, from £12.50 - Book now
Behind the striking black, red and white exterior of the RNCM is a state of the art opera house which this spring will be showing Johnathan Dove’s Mansfield Park.
Contact Theatre, Oxford Road, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M15 6JA - Visit now
Contact has to be the go-to place for emerging theatre in the city, with commissioned work here going on to high acclaim. Set back from the road but recognizable by its H-shaped turrets. Currently closed for renovation, Contact’s In The City programme has put their rivals in the shade.
The Whitworth, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M15 6ER - Visit now
It’s been a few years now since The Whitworth underwent a £15m redevelopment; it almost feels like the gallery has always jutted out into Whitworth park, seamlessly transitioning from old to new. The exhibitions here are excellent.
Through a fantastic collection of classical and contemporary artists’ work, ‘(Un)Defining Queer’ examines the use of language, histories and narratives to explore what ‘queer’ really means today.
Manchester Collective bring a brand new staged world premiere of Alice Zawadski’s Bag of Bones to the RNCM as part of their spring season.
The ultimate celebration of art and creativity in the LGBTQ+ community, Queer Contact Festival returns to the Contact Theatre for 2023.
Fabulous and fierce – with a dazzling disco theme – House of Suarez are back to stage the ultimate battle for dance supremacy.
Curated by Travis Alabanza and happening as part of Queer Contact 2023 – sit back and listen to five short plays, penned by five Black trans people, delivered over the phone.
A celebration of the North West’s creative talents, PUSH Festival at HOME Manchester is always a highlight of the theatre calendar.
The sun may have set over our Manchester theatres during the pandemic – but now “it’s rolling high through the sapphire sky” once again. Hit musical The Lion King has added even more dates to its previously postponed run.
A debut play by Billie Collins – supported by the ever-brilliant Box of Tricks – exploring home, connection and what happens when it all begins to fall.
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, HOME present William Wyler’s classic romantic comedy starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck.
Jonathan Schofield Is well known for his expertly informed, charismatic and intriguing guided tours, join him on one to find out why.
The Medieval Quarter, or Cathedral Quarter as it is sometimes known, is one of the oldest parts of Manchester and home to some historic gems and cultural must-sees.
Burton Road is the heart of West Didsbury, a beautifully maintained leafy hubbub of shops,…
A laid-back mix of gift shops, independent outfitters, restaurants, pubs and parks, on a sunny weekend afternoon it’s heaving.
Follow Oxford Road South through the Curry Mile, along Wilmslow Road, past Platt Fields Park…
Chorlton is a left-leaning suburb a few miles south of Manchester’s city centre (and only…
As an area, Cheetham Hill gets a pretty bad rep. The foreboding architecture of Strangeways…