Retro Bar Manchester
Ian Jones, Food and Drink EditorVisit now
Retro Bar Manchester
Longstanding alternative venue in the centre of Manchester with a basement space for live music, clubnights and comedy events.
Longstanding alternative venue in the centre of Manchester with a basement space for live music, clubnights and comedy events.
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
Fans of the world-famous and still-anonymous street artist Banksy, gather round. Spring 2026 sees The Mystery of Banksy – A Genius Mind take over Depot Mayfield.
From £22.00
Sorry return to Manchester with a new album that finally captures the full strangeness and clarity of a band who’ve spent years ducking easy categorisation.
From £23.25
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
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
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
Manchester Art Gallery presents: ‘Holly Graham: The Warp / The Weft / The Wake’, a show that takes a closer look at the the exploitative legacy of the cotton industry.
Free entry
Visit key locations associated with a moment that helped shape the future of the nation, tracing the footsteps of those who stood for change.
From £20.00
The Crepe & Waffle House serves up a huge range of high quality sweet and savoury crepes and waffles.
Authentic Southern Spanish tapas available in an artisan gift box.
A budget hotel in central Manchester
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.
Long-lasting organisation with regular meetings and telescope sessions in the 1902 Godlee Observatory.
SEESAW is a co-working space, events venue and café.
Long-standing Japanese restaurant on Whitworth Street in Manchester with a pleasingly affordable menu.
Large bar/music venue on Sackville Street in Manchester city centre.
An eccentrically decorated place that cunningly offers homemade breakfasts, lunches and high teas alongside some stronger stuff for cocktail hour.
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!
Beer, cocktails and Asian street food at one of Manchester’s friendliest bars.
Manchester’s starting the new year with a run of gigs from some of the country’s best underground exports.
Theatre across the North West splits between festive escape and sharp, urgent work exploring politics, power and resistance.
Hear ye, hear ye. Take some eating-out tips from our wintertime guide to food and drink in Manchester and the North.
Step away from the usual. Tours and activities that spark curiosity, inspire creativity and offer something refreshingly different.
This season, exhibitions across the North West feel attuned to the world beneath the world – the forces and stories shaping how we see, feel and imagine.
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.