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.
Two songs in, Manchester’s MLEKO are already building a cult following, blending beauty and abrasion to devastating effect.
From £11.80
Jonathan Schofield’s new walking tour exploring the treasures and famous landmarks of Manchester’s Oxford road.
From £20.00
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
Electronica producer Rival Consoles, notable for evoking human emotions with digital sounds, is bringing his atmospheric live A/V set to Gorilla.
From £20
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
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
A woman falls in love with a vacuum in this raw, strange and tragi-comic exploration of coercive control and obsession.
From £13.00
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
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.
From manifesto-wielding DJs to bands blurring gigs with performance art, our music guide is newly stocked with artists who see live music as a place for risk.
Theatre’s getting political this spring, with a run of new plays tracing how conflict plays out in individual lives.
It’s the early-May edition of the Food and Drink Guide and here's where to eat and drink while living out your warm-weather dreams.
We’ve got five new Manchester exhibitions this month, from thought-provoking photography to environmental art and community-led projects.
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.
Step away from the usual. Tours and activities that spark curiosity, inspire creativity and offer something refreshingly different.