Manchester Craft & Design Centre

Sara Jaspan, Exhibitions Editor

Visit now

Manchester Craft & Design Centre

17 Oak St, Northern Quarter, Manchester, M4 5JD
0161 832 4274
  • Monday10:00am - 5:30pm
  • Tuesday10:00am - 5:30pm
  • Wednesday10:00am - 5:30pm
  • Thursday10:00am - 5:30pm
  • Friday10:00am - 5:30pm
  • Saturday10:00am - 5:30pm

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

Manchester Craft and Design Centre by Joel C Fildes.
Manchester Craft and Design Centre by Joel C Fildes.
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One of our favourite places in Manchester, Manchester Craft & Design Centre is hands down the most reliable one-stop-shop for unique, but not over-priced, gifts in the city. Welcome to the mecca of all things beautiful, handmade and one-of-a-kind.

For those who are unfamiliar, MCDC is housed in a former Victorian fish and poultry market in the heart of the Northern Quarter. It has been going strong for over 40 years, providing a home to some of the region’s most talented independent artists, designers and makers, selling textiles, jewellery, ceramics, prints, fine art, sculpture and more.

More than just a shopping experience however, a visit to MCDC is also an opportunity to browse the units of this beautiful building and enter into conversation with the various resident artists and makers at work. Running alongside, its regular programme of exhibitions, events and workshops offers plenty of guidance and inspiration for those looking to get creative themselves, while the artisan café & bar BQ Bitesize is a great spot to relax and refuel.

What's on near Manchester Craft & Design Centre

Blondshell by Hannah Bon.
MusicManchester
Blondshell at New Century

With sardonic wit, towering hooks and distortion dialled high, Blondshell lands at New Century this September, armed with album number two.

From £24.00
LiteratureManchester
Nikita Gill at Feel Good Club

Enter the Underworld with internationally bestselling poet Nikita Gill as she discusses her “propulsive, electrifying and enraging” new book Hekate.

From £18.99
Bloom Chameleon Dancers
Ancoats
Bloom at Hallé St Peter’s

Bloom fuses Manchester and Japan’s creative energies in music, dance and fashion, imagining bold futures for shared histories.

Free entry
Craft Beer Tour Around Manchester
Until
ActivityManchester
Craft Beer Tour Manchester

Join Craft Beer Tour Manchester for a journey through some of the cities best local breweries and artisanal beer serving bars. Discover the personality of Manchester’s beer through a diverse

From £45

Where to go near Manchester Craft & Design Centre

The exterior of Manchester Craft & Design Centre.
Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Oak Street Café

Oak Street Café at Manchester Craft & Design Centre does fresh, healthy salads, soups, sandwiches, quiches and, best of all, cakes.

Common Bar in Manchester's Northern Quarter
Manchester
Bar or Pub
Common Bar

Northern Quarter stalwart Common Bar in Manchester serves excellent pub food, fine cocktails and decent coffee. It’s a firm Creative Tourist team favourite.

Manchester
Restaurant
Home Sweet Home, Manchester

Home Sweet Home in Manchester’s Northern Quarter is a cafe and milk bar that does a mean line in cake, puddings and all things sweet – but its savoury menu isn’t half bad either.

Deadstock General Store
Northern Quarter
Deadstock General Store

This small shop has a well-curated range of stock that focuses on vintage homeware and gifts. From Japanese hemp socks to botanical paperweights and HAWS plant misters, each object is beautiful, practical and well made.

Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Ziferblat Manchester

Ziferblat is a pay as you stay café in the northern quarter, where everything is free – except the time you spend.

Manchester
Restaurant
Sweet Mandarin

Gordon Ramsay-approved Northern Quarter restaurant run by three sisters, featuring some of the city’s finest Chinese cuisine.

Manchester
Bar or Pub
Cane & Grain

Essentially three bars under one roof, Cane & Grain encompasses a rib joint and tap room, hidden speakeasy, and Tiki-themed Liar’s Lounge.

Manchester
Shop
NOTE Thomas Street

The sister store to NOTE’s original Tib Street branch, here you’ll find footware, clothes and brands inspired by the skateboard scene. If it’s a new board you’re after, head to Tib Street.

57 Thomas Street, Manchester. Courtesy 57 Thomas Street
Manchester
Bar or Pub
57 Thomas Street

57 Thomas Street is the third outlet belonging to Manchester’s best-known microbrewery, Marble Beers. Unlike the lavish decoration of the Grade II-listed Marble Arch (which also doubles up as a brewery) or the traditional pub layout of the Marble Beer House in Chorlton, this tiny Thomas Street digs has room for just two things: beer and food.

Fierce Bar
Manchester
Bar or Pub
Fierce Bar

Highly-rated bar based in Manchester’s bustling Northern Quarter, seconds away from Common.

Culture Guides

Detail of an abstract sculpture, with burned materials and rusty chicken wire at the centre, with rusted metal bars bent around it.
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Theatre in Manchester and the North
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