Top Picks
Guides
What’s on
Where to go
See all

Progress Centre

Johnny James, Managing Editor

Visit now

Progress Centre

Progress Centre, Charlton Place, Manchester, M12 6HS
Website
Visit now
PROGRESS
Progress Centre
Book now

After serving two summers of temporary parties, Progress Centre was reinvented into a new permanent outdoor club in 2024, before adding two new permanent spaces – Square One and Cakebread Street – in 2025.

Tucked on Charlton Place in Ardwick, Manchester’s coolest new club is an open-air but covered venue, created with “the sole intent of making you dance”.

Run by the well-respected heads behind The Loft, Animal Crossing and Summer of Love festival, the venue features a top quality Funktion-One soundsystem, a custom lighting rig as well as segmented areas away from the dance floor, for revellers to chill, chat, and grab some food.

The additions of Square One and Cakebread Street have turned the Ardwick site into a 5,000 capacity, multi-stage venue, and all this summer it will be filled with forward-thinking electronic music and grassroots culture. Think Maceo Plex, Shy FX, Chaos in the CBD, Rossi., Ross From Friends, Kolter, Conducta, Call Super, Amaliah, Dr Rubinstein, East End Dubs, MK, Sicaria and many more.

Featured in

nightclubs in manchester clubs in manchester
Clubs in Manchester

From gritty rave spots hidden in industrial estates to late-night sanctuaries, these are the places where Manchester’s real nightlife pulses loudest.

What's on near Progress Centre

Overmono at The Warehouse Project
MusicManchester
WHP25: Overmono at Depot Mayfield

Electronic powerhouse duo Overmono return to The Warehouse Project to curate a show featuring a huge line-up of pals at the top of their game.

From £49.50
Wisp Press Image
MusicManchester
Wisp at The Deaf Institute

Shoegaze’s unlikely resurgence has catapulted 20-year-old Wisp from iPhone demos to Coachella. In support of her debut album, she headlines The Deaf Institute.

From £19.25
jonathan schofield giving tour
Until
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 £20
Until
ExhibitionsStockport
Four-Fold Reverie at PINK

Four-Fold Reverie at PINK in Stockport is a solo exhibition by artist Pippa Eason, and encompasses sculpture, sound, scent and film.

Free entry
See all events

Where to go near Progress Centre

Manchester
Spirit Studios

Spirit Studios now houses 10 unique studios, an on-site live venue, DJ booths, editing suites and more. Recently, kitting out many of its studios with new state-of-the-art Audient desks and it soon will welcome its very own radio station.

Manchester
Restaurant
Mayfield

Mayfield is about to be reborn. Innovation, audacity and imagination are in the air, as energy, ideas and life return to this neglected part of Manchester city centre.

One Star Doner Bar
Manchester
Bar or Pub
One Star Doner Bar

One Star Döner Bar is the latest addition to the fast-growing Escape To Freight Island, the exciting urban market located at Depot Mayfield.

Manchester
Event venue
Freight Island

Freight Island is back for its fifth season, with a sparkling new line-up of events and happenings.

Mayfield Park (Map location 13) - Manchester Bloomtown Map photos
Manchester
Mayfield Park

Manchester has a new green heart: The 6.5 acre Mayfield Park, complete with the largest public playground in the city.

Manchester
Restaurant
GRUB Manchester

Manchester’s original vegan street food festival returns at the end of this month to celebrate Veganuary.

Manchester
Music venue
The Star & Garter

The Star and Garter is a legendary Manchester pub and music venue located in a grade II listed building on Fairfield Street.

See all places

Manchester District Guides

The front of Didsbury restaurant Volta.
Didsbury, Manchester

Didsbury has the perfect split between big brands and independent businesses, welcoming all from far and wide.
Ancoats, Manchester
Ancoats & New Islington

Ancoats, just off the Northern Quarter in Manchester, is one of the city’s most increasingly desirable neighbourhoods. Find out why.
People enjoying drinking in Altrincham
Things to Do in Altrincham

Plan a day out down Altrincham way, and you’ll soon find that one day isn’t nearly enough. Getting there is easy on the tram, or how about cycling along the…
Salford museum and art gallery exterior
Salford, Greater Manchester

Cross over the River Irwell, and you’ll find yourself in another city entirely – Salford, which is enjoying something of a regeneration.
chinatown, manchester in sun by ben williams
Chinatown, Manchester

Chinatown is a network of back streets dotted with Chinese restaurants – go to Ho’s Bakery for perfect honey buns, Hunan for spice and Middle Kingdom for a very affordable menu.
The Quays, Greater Manchester

The Quays is home to MediaCityUK (the largest media hub in Europe) and studios purpose-built for the BBC’s move up North in 2011.
Chorlton, Manchester

Chorlton is a left-leaning suburb a few miles south of Manchester’s city centre (and only 10-odd minutes away by tram). A sprawling hive of artisan coffee shops, boutique clothing stores,…

Culture Guides

Exhibitions in the North

Galleries around the North are gearing up for a new season of exhibitions - from iconic art prizes to smaller, artist-led gems.

Cinema in the North

This month we recommend a season of Film noir, cult Australian movies and a huge celebration of DIY community cinema.

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

This season’s theatre is gloriously eclectic: from radical cabaret and reinvented classics to new musicals and boundary-pushing performance.

Wisp Press Image
Music in the North

From corrupted shoegaze to experimental electronica, post-hardcore to Indian classical, these are the shows that should be on your radar.