What's on near Unit 3, Regents Trading Estate
Experience the sights, smells and sounds of the engine-driven ideas and industry that started in Manchester and went on to change the world.
Free entry
In 1830, the world’s first fully operational, steam-powered passenger railway opened between Liverpool and Manchester. Take a closer look at this breakthrough moment.
From £20.00
The Science and Industry Museum is brightening the holidays with a season of hands-on science, playful illusions and family-friendly discovery.
Free entry
A sense-sational exhibition returns to Manchester in 2025.
From £10.00
Experience the work of David Hockney like never before in Bigger and Closer (not smaller and further away) at Aviva Studios.
From £11.50
Explore the ways in which Manchester helped shape and reinforce the ideas of the fathers of communism, Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx.
From £20.00
You can get the behind the bar and mix with the best of them in a cocktail making masterclass from The Botanist on Deansgate.
From £39.95Where to go near Unit 3, Regents Trading Estate
Part of Salford Makers, 7 Spot is a 360 square foot ceramics studio offering classes and workshops as well as studio space for members.
Salford Makers are a collective of artists, designers, educators and makers based at Islington Mill in Salford.
Caustic Coastal is a gallery, artist studios and independent art label based in Salford, working as a curatorial platform for artists.
A former cotton spinning mill, Islington Mill in Manchester now houses artists’ studios, galleries, a recording studio, a nightclub, cafe and B&B.
Taste the ultimate in authentic Italian cuisine at Vero Moderno.
Hot Bed Press, based at the Casket Works in Salford, is a not-for-profit printmakers’ studio, is now the largest open-access print workshop in the region.
One of Salford’s finest churches and also, unusually, a live music venue
This Chapel Street gallery and tea room hosts 8-12 week long exhibitions giving emerging artists a chance to showcase their work.
Middlewood Locks is a new 24 acre mixed use opportunity in an attractive waterside setting centred around 3 canal basins.
This lively spot could be considered a jack of all trades – pub, restaurant, events space and live music venue.
A great little cafe where you’ll find good food and excellent Jazz.
Small, perfectly formed, the newly-reopened New Oxford packs a real-ale punch.
Manchester District Guides
Culture Guides
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.
Manchester’s starting the new year with a run of gigs from some of the country’s best underground exports.
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.
Theatre across the North West splits between festive escape and sharp, urgent work exploring politics, power and resistance.
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.