The award-winning Whitaker Gallery & Museum is a multi-purpose venue which celebrates the area’s varied and amazing heritage whilst providing a dynamic, challenging and diverse programme of events, exhibitions and education-based activities. And the cafe’s pretty good too!
Shilpa Gupta weaves together stories and voices of local communities for a brand new MIF25 sound installation ‘You are the place’.
Free entry
Thirteen movies to get to know the United States of America. Cultplex presents a season of film exploring America through its own lens.
From £7.50
Following its acclaimed debut in 2024, Star Nhà Ease, the UK’s only curated season celebrating Vietnamese cinema, arrives at Manchester’s Cultplex.
From £7.50
Runaway Brewery Tour & Tasting is a chance to enjoy one of Stockport’s breweries in the flesh and, of course, sample the end product.
From £18.00
Join an access-all-areas guided tour of Chetham’s Library and the surrounding school – among the most venerable buildings in the North West.
From £20.00
Transforming Cathedral Gardens into Little Italy, Festa Italiana Manchester is back for the eighth year in a row.
Free entry
Greater Manchester Fringe Festival 2025 offers a fascinating and diverse programme of performance with ticket prices that won’t break the bank.
From £5.00
Marking the anniversary of the Christmas Blitz, this walking tour explores Manchester’s history of conflict, from the English Civil Wars to the World Wars and beyond.
From £20.00
The Eagle and Child in Ramsbottom does what good pubs do best, and more.
Now ten years old, this double market combines a farmers’ market and a craft fair and provides the perfect excuse to visit the picturesque town of Ramsbottom, which nestles in the Lancashire foothills to the north of Manchester.
Helmed by chef-owners Fiona and Joe Botham, this tapas restaurant in Ramsbottom serves exclusively Spanish drinks and some of the best small plates going.
Colleen’s is a casual dining neighbourhood restaurant in the heart of Ramsbottom serving seasonal dishes.
Sports venue in Ramsbottom and home to the annual Ramsbottom Festival.
Burnley’s Panopticon, ‘Singing Ringing Tree’, is a unique musical sculpture which overlooks Burnley from its position high above the town on Crown Point. Constructed from pipes of galvanised steel stacked in layers, this Panopticon takes the form of a tree bending to the winds and harnesses the energy of those winds to produce a low, tuneful song.
Historic house, art gallery and museum. Museum houses a variety of displays, encompassing natural history, Egyptology, local history, textiles, decorative art and regional furniture. Art gallery is focused on Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite art, “with some earlier paintings as well”.
Burrs Country Park lies on the River Irwell covering an area of 36 hectares of scenic countryside, one mile northwest of Bury town centre.
The Weavers Triangle is a modern name for an area on the banks of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal that was once at the heart of Burnley’s textile industry. The name was first used in the 1970s, as interest developed in preserving Burnley’s industrial heritage, and refers to the roughly triangular shape of the region.
Burnley Mechanics Theatre showcases an array of talent; touring shows and local theatre also.
Glassmonkey Studio is the largest glass fusing studio in the area. The studio is home to a gallery selling handmade fused glassware jewellery, art and greeting cards. They also host regular workshops for fused glass, soap making, enamelling, and silver clay jewellery making.
Affectionately referred to as the ‘Downton of the North’, Gawthorpe Hall was redesigned in the 1850s by Sir Charles Barry, designer of the Houses of Parliament and the ‘real’ Downton Abbey, Highclere Castle.
Summer signals theatre festivals, world premieres and open-air spectacle - from MIF25 to comedy, outdoor circus and beyond, here’s what we’re looking forward to.
The sun is shining in the North, so use our guide to get out there and eat, drink and be merry in it.
Go forth with wild abandon to dance the pavements, dabble with the paint and down the pints in this month's tours and activities guide.
July's cinema highlights include spotlights on international cinema, a new cult classic, plus a visit from one of our favourite directors.
From environmental to experimental, our poetry and prose picks from around the North are focused on the unusual and the fun.
Captivating, urgent and intimate - we bring you our top exhibition picks, with even more art festivals, artist-led shows and new venues.
Shape-shifting bands, scorched-earth techno, and off-grid festivals. Our latest music picks catch the live scene at its most urgent, inventive and alive.
This month's guide is truly eclectic - from free family festivals, to food events, circus school and more!
