A tip for affordable, consistently good food is Middle Kingdom, just outside Chinatown on Princess Street. It offers the full hot pot experience, where you and your friends order a bunch of ingredients and cook it yourselves at the table. If you get bored with cooking you can stare in awe at the manga-inspired mural covering one wall. Epic.
Voka Gentle return to Manchester with a headline show in YES Basement, bringing new material that pushes their already elastic sound into darker, stranger territory.
From £14.50
The Modernist presents a body of acrylic landscapes by Salford-based artist Peter James Houghton, shaped by themes of societal decline, hiraeth and human isolation.
Free entry
Jonny Greenwood’s love of strings takes centre stage as the Hallé performs his new Violin Concerto, shaped by uncertainty.
From £23.50
English National Opera takes its first ever bow at The Bridgewater Hall with two semi-staged concert performances of a Mozart classic.
From £25.00
Alisa Weilerstein joins Marin Alsop and the Philharmonia for a concert featuring Gabriela Ortiz’s 2026 GRAMMY-winning cello concerto, Dzonot.
From £25.00
The National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine present a programme that pays homage to our nations’ bonds, alongside two Beethoven landmarks.
From £25.00
Manchester’s famous musical legacy comes to life in this walking tour around the city, which will take you from the 1960s to the present day.
From £25.00
The Hallé invites audiences to a year of classical masterpieces, world premieres and appearances by some electrifying artists and composers.
From £17
SEESAW is a co-working space, events venue and café.
Long-established Manchester bar and nightclub, Joshua Brooks is just off student hotspot Oxford Road. Open until 4am on the weekends with regular DJ-led club nights.
The apple in Now Wave’s eye, YES boasts four floors of live music and DJs, and offers food via two outlets. It also has a huge outdoor roof terrace!
A budget hotel in central Manchester
This residency restaurant opened in summer 2019, at Locke Hotels’ Whitworth Locke. The first residency comes courtesy of Mexican specialists El Camino.
Peru Perdu has an all-new food and drink menu, with some of the best-looking dishes in the city.
Glass House is the place to go for floral themed workshops, with expert and innovative florists in an idyllic building.
Refined steakhouse with smart, low-lit decor, boasting some of the finest cuts of meat in the city.
Winsome delivers modern British food, cooked beautifully by chef-owner Shaun Moffat and his team.
Beer, cocktails and Asian street food at one of Manchester’s friendliest bars.
Manchester Wine Tours is a relaxed, fun wine tour, full of the city’s best food and drink, led by an effortlessly engaging host.
This month’s theatre highlights span dystopian classics, political thrillers and bold new opera.
From underground festivals showcasing emerging talent to global icons unveiling new work, here are our latest live music highlights.
Spring is coming, at some point. As for now, it’s cold and grim so take our advice and shelter in a nice warm restaurant, pub or bar.
From monumental to minutiae, this month’s exhibitions trace power, care and community across galleries big and small.
Step away from the usual. Tours and activities that spark curiosity, inspire creativity and offer something refreshingly different.
Whether you’re after storybook theatre, museum wanderings or illusion-bending play spaces, there’s plenty to keep curiosity ticking through winter and beyond.
There's no shortage of great films out at the moment, whether you're looking for the latest blockbuster, that hot arthouse flick fresh from Cannes or a cosy classic.
