The Modernist

Creative Tourist

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The Modernist

58 Port Street, Manchester, M1 2EQ
0161 235 8469
  • Tuesday11:00am - 5:00pm
  • Wednesday11:00am - 5:00pm
  • Thursday11:00am - 5:00pm
  • Friday11:00am - 5:00pm
  • Saturday11:00am - 5:00pm

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

The Modernist shop
The Modernist
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The Modernist is a creative project dedicated to celebrating and engaging with 20th-century architecture and design, through publishing, events, exhibitions and creative collaborations. Their bricks and mortar shop opened in May 2019 in the Northern Quarter and is the only bookshop in Manchester specialising in architecture and design. With a focus on modernist architecture, graphics, typography, transport, furniture and product design, if you can’t make it in real life, you can always shop online. Alongside the books there’s also a specially selected range of modernist products from cushions to mugs and from chocolate to shiny spoons. It’s also #modernistHQ with the office upstairs, where the magazine is put together, plus there’s a library and a gallery and event space where regular exhibitions are held.

What's on at The Modernist

Brettel Blue
Until
ExhibitionsManchester
Black Country Type II at The Modernist

The Black Country. Not always the first place people associate with colour, design and typography – but Tom Hicks has spent years looking closely enough to challenge that.

Free entry

What's on near The Modernist

Brettel Blue
Until
ExhibitionsManchester
Black Country Type II at The Modernist

The Black Country. Not always the first place people associate with colour, design and typography – but Tom Hicks has spent years looking closely enough to challenge that.

Free entry
deathcrash Press Image
MusicManchester
deathcrash at YES

Quiet introspection and cathartic eruptions – the mysterious kids in the corner of the Brixton Windmill scene bring their new album Somersaults to YES.

From £17.45
TheatreManchester
Nation at HOME

Arriving from an acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe run, Nation is a dark, unsettling fable about nationhood and identity.

From £19.20
jonathan schofield giving tour
Manchester
The Kimpton Clocktower Tour

Explore the incredible history behind one of Britain’s grandest and most storied commercial buildings: Manchester’s Grade II listed Kimpton Clocktower Hotel.

From £25.00
Abel Selaocoe_Spring 2026_credit Phil Sharp_sq
Until
MusicManchester
Inspirational Artists at RNCM

The RNCM launches its second Inspirational Artists series, spotlighting a huge range of touring musicians and ensembles, each bringing something unique to the stage.

From £12.50

Where to go near The Modernist

Manchester
Restaurant
Zouk

Manchester has more than one top-tier Indian restaurant, but Zouk is right up there with the best, and counts Drake as a fan.

Bakchich
Manchester
Restaurant
Bakchich Manchester

Bakchich does excellent, reasonably priced Lebanese food – including sharwarma, pickles, meshawi grills and baklawa – in a beautifully tiled, high-ceilinged space.

Manchester
Bar or Pub
The Thirsty Scholar

Friendly pub under a railway arch serving vegetarian and vegan pub food, as well as hosting regular live music.

Manchester
Theatre
The Dancehouse

From its charming Art Deco interiors to a quirky, highly original creative arts output, our theatre is firmly established within the city’s famously vibrant cultural scene.

Manchester
Café or Coffee Shop
Burgess Cafe Bar
at IABF

Small but perfectly-formed café – which also serves as the in-house bookstore, stocking all manner of Burgess-related works, along with recordings of his music. It’s a welcoming space, with huge glass windows making for a bright, welcoming atmosphere.

Manchester
Restaurant
Firebird Hope

They claim to sell the ‘best chicken and vegan chicken sandwich in Manchester’ and they’re absolutely right.

Manchester
Restaurant
Ol Brewery Bar

A nano brewery and keg bar, Ol is a meeting of minds between Takk and Byrne The Cake brewery.

Culture Guides

Food and Drink in the North

Spring is here, so sign yourself up for some much-missed al fresco dining at these highly recommended (and mostly new) Manchester restaurants.

Emily Lloyd-Saini as Grace in Space and Harrie Hayes as Lieutenant Strong in Horrible Science
Family things to do in the North

Whether you’re after storybook theatre, museum wanderings or illusion-bending play spaces, there’s plenty to keep curiosity ticking through winter and beyond.

A busy image created using generative AI. The image depicts a man at the centre with grey hair and rosy cheeks, surrounding him are fairies that appear to be created in his own image with multiple limbs and unique bodily proportions. Around them are hundreds of vials, microscopes and dated scientific equipment.
Exhibitions

Spring has sprung a wealth of great exhibitions in the North West, from intimate photographic shows to huge installations.

Theatre

Closer, riskier, more immediate. Our small-scale theatre picks stretch from unsettling fables about nationhood to the inner workings of a mind trying to hold itself together.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Cinema in the North

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.

Fatoumata Diawara by Alun Be.
Music

This month’s live music picks move between ambitious new work, grassroots celebrations and a few memorable settings.