Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.
RSPCA Charity Shop Oak Street is a boutique charity shop in the heart of the Northern Quarter.
Create stunning pottery, jewellery, sketches, watercolours and more with the vast array of craft workshops at MCDC.
From £45.00
Marcos Kueh explores labour diasporas and Manchester’s industrial history at his first institutional solo show.
Free entry
After a sold-out night earlier this year, Me Gusta Collective is back at Band on the Wall for the big one: New Year’s Eve.
From £10
Band on the Wall bring people together to make, as well as watch, music. Join them to learn folk tunes from all over the world.
Fusing West African funk and disco with modern post-punk and electro, Ibibio Sound Machine inject some much-needed energy into January.
From £29
This walking tour explores the neighbourhood’s streets, stories and hidden corners, offering a closer look at the places and people that have made Manchester.
From £12.00
Explore the fascinating history of Brutalism in Manchester, while also exploring the movement’s wider intentions and ideals.
From £20.00
Join Craft Beer Tour Manchester for a journey through some of the cities best local breweries and artisanal beer serving bars. Discover the personality of Manchester’s beer through a diverse
From £45
Home Sweet Home in Manchester’s Northern Quarter is a cafe and milk bar that does a mean line in cake, puddings and all things sweet – but its savoury menu isn’t half bad either.
Housed in a former Victorian fish market, Manchester Craft and Design Centre has for 30 years been home to an array of artist-run studios.
Handmade crafts and gifts in this Craft Centre studio.
Oak Street Café at Manchester Craft & Design Centre does fresh, healthy salads, soups, sandwiches, quiches and, best of all, cakes.
Northern Quarter stalwart Common Bar in Manchester serves excellent pub food, fine cocktails and decent coffee. It’s a firm Creative Tourist team favourite.
This small shop has a well-curated range of stock that focuses on vintage homeware and gifts. From Japanese hemp socks to botanical paperweights and HAWS plant misters, each object is beautiful, practical and well made.
The sister store to NOTE’s original Tib Street branch, here you’ll find footware, clothes and brands inspired by the skateboard scene. If it’s a new board you’re after, head to Tib Street.
There’s no better place in the country to find and buy examples of music-oriented illustration and photography than the Richard Goodall Gallery
Manchester’s newest destination for denimheads, Rivet and Hide stocks a collection of quality, Americana-inspired men’s casual wear and raw selvedge denim – including prized Japanese brands like Momotaro, The Flat Head, and Pure Blue Japan.
Highly-rated bar based in Manchester’s bustling Northern Quarter, seconds away from Common.
57 Thomas Street is the third outlet belonging to Manchester’s best-known microbrewery, Marble Beers. Unlike the lavish decoration of the Grade II-listed Marble Arch (which also doubles up as a brewery) or the traditional pub layout of the Marble Beer House in Chorlton, this tiny Thomas Street digs has room for just two things: beer and food.
Essentially three bars under one roof, Cane & Grain encompasses a rib joint and tap room, hidden speakeasy, and Tiki-themed Liar’s Lounge.
Whether you’re after storybook theatre, museum wanderings or illusion-bending play spaces, there’s plenty to keep curiosity ticking through winter and beyond.
Step away from the usual. Tours and activities that spark curiosity, inspire creativity and offer something refreshingly different.
Winter brings a huge haul of seasonal shows, as well as productions that resolutely veer away from the fairy lights.
Manchester’s closing out the year – and looking to the new one – with a run of gigs from some of the country’s best underground exports.
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.
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.
Hear ye, hear ye. Take some eating-out tips from our wintertime guide to food and drink in Manchester and the North.
