Retro by name, retro by nature, Barbarella has been tucked away at the back of the city’s leading vintage emporium, Pop Boutique, for longer than anyone can remember. Hairstyles might change but this place has remained admirably resistant to change, right down to the Jane Fonda prints from the sixties sci-fi film it took its name from.
Join in the celebration of creative communities in the heart of Manchester with MCDC’s new exhibition ‘Connecting Spaces’.
Free entry
Enter the Underworld with internationally bestselling poet Nikita Gill as she discusses her “propulsive, electrifying and enraging” new book Hekate.
From £18.99
Band on the Wall bring people together to make, as well as watch, music. Join them to learn folk tunes from all over the world.
esea contemporary presents the first UK institutional solo show by Slavs and Tatars with ‘The Contest of the Fruits’.
Free entry
Award-winning writer and broadcaster Damian Barr will be chatting with former Makar Jackie Kay about his much-anticipated new novel The Two Roberts.
From £5.00
Juno Dawson brings her wit and charm to queer lit as she discusses the themes in her new book Human Rites.
From £5.00
Join Joe Feeley a Mancunian through and through, who guides you into Manchester’s two pillars of cultural excellence with his Rock and Goal tour.
From £9.99
Bloom fuses Manchester and Japan’s creative energies in music, dance and fashion, imagining bold futures for shared histories.
Free entry
Independent cafe in Manchester’s bustling Northern Quarter. Perfect if you’re looking for high-quality homemade produce.
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.
Comic book and pop culture superstore in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
Primely located on Oldham Street in the Northern Quarter, Cass Art Manchester offers a vast selection of high-quality art materials at affordable prices.
Opened in 1991, Night & Day Cafe on Oldham Street plays host to an exhausting array of gigs throughout the year.
Selina NQ1 is a creative and charming yet sophisticated hotel in the heart of Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
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.
Piccadilly Records is the real deal, a record shop so good that it probably deserves some credit for the regeneration of its surrounding neighbourhood.
Shop selling clothing, accessories, and gifts.
Coffee bar and shop selling gifts and homeware from local designers.
Vinyl Exchange is the largest seller and buyer of rare and second-hand records, CDs and DVDs in the North West.
Vintage clothes shop on Manchester’s Tib street, specialising in current and retro trends.
Our latest round-up features plenty of one-off live literature events to wrap your ears about, so get those diaries ticking over...
This month we recommend a season of Film noir, cult Australian movies and a huge celebration of DIY community cinema.
This season’s theatre is gloriously eclectic: from radical cabaret and reinvented classics to new musicals and boundary-pushing performance.
"Tours, tours, tours!" If this month's Tours and Activities guide were a sentient speaking person, this is what it would say.
August and beyond brings all sorts of family joy - with a huge amount of science, creativity and more.
10 fresh shows across Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, threading together noise, ritual, euphoria and release in all their messy, beautiful forms.
Chocolate fountains, beautiful batiks and medieval marginalia - this month's supersized Exhibitions Guide has it all.
