Historic house in Stockport with original Jacobean staircase now open as a museum.

Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery aims to give emerging artists the space to showcase their work. It has a varied programme, though its exhibitions often return to themes linked to…

Housed in the oldest synagogue in the city, Manchester Jewish Museum is the only museum of its type outside London.

The ‘biggest bookshop in the North’ right here in Manchester.

Elizabeth Gaskell’s House has been lovingly restored; you can now sit at her desk, see where Charlotte Brontë hid behind the curtains, and have tea in the downstairs café. The Pankhurst Centre is also nearby.

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.

Started by artisan baker Russell Goodwin, Companio Bakery sells freshly-baked bread from a small unit in Manchester’s Ancoats.

Oak Street Café at Manchester Craft & Design Centre does fresh, healthy salads, soups, sandwiches, quiches and, best of all, cakes.

Sitting in a Grade II-listed former Mill on Pollard Street, Hope Mill brings exciting fringe theatre productions to Manchester’s thriving live theatre scene.

Re-opened in 2010 after a £1.3m renovation, the Gallery of Costume in Manchester’s Rusholme houses one of the most important costume collections in Britain

This café in Ancoats is locally famed for its lunchtime deals and sandwiches

Manchester Central Convention Centre is the city’s main conferences and events centre, housed in the former Manchester Central railway station.