Manchester

Understand

The city is in the North West of England, between Liverpool and Leeds. It is seen by many as a young, vibrant and cutting edge city, where there is always something happening. The "Manchester brand" is seen to extend well beyond the city's boundaries (covering all of neighbouring Salford and Trafford, as well as districts of other boroughs) and even beyond those of Greater Manchester. This serves to reflect the influence it has on the wider region as a whole. Manchester is a friendly city as well. Northerners do talk to each other and to strangers. Just compare asking for directions in London and Manchester and the difference is often clear. Locals seem more proud than ever of Manchester and all it offers. Some outsiders may find this fierce pride in their city somewhat "un-British". Positive comments and praise go down a treat with the locals, and with all that has happened, such is often due. The adjective associated with Manchester is Mancunian or simply Manc. The distinctive linguistic accent of the city's indigenous inhabitants is much more closely related to that of Liverpool with its strong north-Waleian (Welsh) roots than it is to the Lancastrian or Cestrian of the neighbouring cotton towns. However, most locals still consider Manchester to be part of Lancashire, and the rivalry with Yorkshire persists. Although it has gained the stereotype of being very wet, it is actually less than the UK average.

Tourist information 1 Manchester Visitor Information Centre, Manchester Central Library, St Peters Square, M2 5PD, ☏ +44 871 222 8223, fax: +44 161 236-9900, [email protected]. M-Sa 9AM-5PM. Has up-to-date lists of places to eat and sleep. The visitor centre has moved close to the town hall. (calls incur a 12p per minute service charge, plus your phone provider's per-minute access charge). (updated Oct 2022)

History Manchester was the site of the Roman fort Mamucium (breast-shaped), founded in AD 79, but a town was not built until the 13th century. The old Roman road that ran to the nearby fort of Coccium (Wigan) is mirrored today by the route through Atherton & Tyldesley. A priests' college and church (now Chetham's School and Library and the Cathedral) were established in Manchester in 1421. Early evidence of its tendency towards political radicalism was its support for Parliament during the Civil War and in 1745 for the Jacobite forces of the Young Pretender.

It was not until the start of the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries that this small mediaeval town would build its fortune. The presence of an ex

Getting there

By plane Main article: Manchester Airport Manchester Airport (MAN IATA) south of the city is Britain's largest airport outside London, with flights to over 200 destinations, including North America, the Gulf and Far East. Most flights use Terminal 1, holiday charters are usually from T2, and T3 has smaller aircraft on domestic and near-European hops. Train is the quickest way downtown: they run frequently to Manchester Piccadilly and Oxford Road stations, taking 20 min, for a fare of £6.20. Many trains continue direct to other cities: via Warrington to Liverpool, via Preston and Carlisle to Edinburgh and Glasgow, via Huddersfield, Leeds and York to Middlesbrough, Durham and Newcastle, and via Sheffield, Doncaster and Scunthorpe to Cleethorpes. Trains are sparse after midnight but you can use Bus 43 which runs all night, taking 50 min to Piccadilly via the university corridor/Oxford Road. The bus is just £2 for a single fare of any distance. There's also a tram, most useful for the southern suburbs.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport(LPL IATA) has mostly budget flights across Europe by Easyjet and Ryanair. There's a coach to the airport from Manchester's central coach station, taking 45 min. There are also several trains hourly between Liverpool South Parkway (the station near John Lennon Airport) and Manchester Oxford Road in city centre.

By train Wikivoyage has a guide to Rail travel in Great Britain Manchester city centre is served by two major railway stations, 1 Piccadilly in the south and 2 Victoria in the north. Piccadilly is the main destination for trains from around the UK, e.g. London, Birmingham, Leeds etc. Victoria has trains from Bradford and local services from elsewhere in North West England. Trains from Liverpool, Leeds, York, Sheffield and Nottingham often also stop at 3 Manchester Oxford Road which is convenient for the University. Other stations in the city centre are 4 Deansgate and 5 Salford Central, but generally only local services stop at these stations. Avanti West Coast operates service between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston. This journey, on the West Coast Mainline, takes just over 2 hours in Pendolino trains that do not need to slow down when going around bends. Prices start from just over £26 each way if booked on-line in advance.

If you are travelling to a major rail station in Greater Manchester from a station outside Greater Manchester you can buy a PlusBus add on ticket which will give you bus (but not Metrolink) travel throughout Greater Manchester for a day. If you have a Railcard, the discount applies to P

Getting around

Transport in Greater Manchester is overseen and co-ordinated by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) who use the branding "Bee Network" (Information: 0161 244 1000). Bee Network operates a multimodal journey planner which is a great help in planning getting around the Greater Manchester area. Bee Network sell a number of tickets which are valid for multiple operators, such as the1-day Bee Bus tickets are £2.50 for children and £5 for adults. If you are planning to do a lot of travelling in one day, these might be your cheapest option. If using Metrolink There are tickets for single people and family tickets. The cheapest off-peak fares are after 9:30AM. For Smartphone users there is a "Bee Network" app available for Android & iPhones which has journey planning tools and the availability to purchase some ticket types.

Maps Dotted around the city centre on main streets including Deansgate, Oxford Road, and Market Street, are the pedestrian-level street maps. They are usually placed in normal advertising hoardings, which can make them difficult to spot from a distance. The maps have been updated with different colours for each district area of the city centre. Your position is marked by a dark circle. They cover the whole centre down to the university district and also central Salford up to Salford University. You can obtain a similar map from the tourist information centre or download one from here. Most smartphone owners use Google or Apple Maps but if you are more "Old School" A-Z maps are still available. These street maps, in book form, are available from newsagents or bookshops and, depending on size, cover everything from the city centre to the whole Greater Manchester conurbation.

On foot in the city centre Manchester city centre's many attractions are easily reached on foot, and walking provides the perfect opportunity to take in the architecture of the city. There are various pedestrianised streets across the city centre such as Thomas Street, Market Street.

By bicycle Manchester contains a wide network of segregated cycle lanes which make crossing the city easy and quick by bike. The most notable cycle lane is on Deansgate Road and provides a safe way to travel across the city. Starling Bikes is the official provider of bike share across the city centre and has multiple bike sharing docking stations across the city centre and Oxford Road corridor. You can hire the new bikes through the Starling Bank Bike app. Some of the bikes include e-bikes. The app also lets you check availability of bikes at each docking station. Pay attention t

Buy

Manchester's shopping district is one of the most diverse shopping districts in the UK and the majority of city centre shops are within reasonable walking distance of each other (15 minutes at most) and most are served by a metroshuttle service. Even in the most upmarket stores you are treated in a friendly manner. The Arndale Centre is a large 1970s city-centre shopping precinct with 280 stores. Although renovated, the place retains some of its 1970s concrete charms and still some of the infamous yellow tiles that are a testament to the urban planning of that era. It is connected via link bridge to the Marks and Spencer and Selfridges department stores adjacent in Exchange Square. There are large shops aimed at bargain hunters, including the largest Primark in the country, which is great for a bargain and much loved by visiting cabin crews, and an Aldi food hall on Market Street (just off Piccadilly Gardens). The Millennium Quarter (at the back of the Arndale Centre) is now quite smart and good for shopping. There's The Corn Exchange, an upmarket shopping centre based in the beautiful old Corn Exchange, worth a visit for the building alone and Selfridges, spread across 5 floors with its large Louis Vuitton concession and fantastic food hall in the basement. You will find everything from sushi to fine chocolates, kosher foods, to a juice bar, etc. Harvey Nichols, opposite the Triangle, offers luxury fashions and produce to Manchester's rich and famous. The centre of Manchester's shopping area has traditionally been St. Ann's Square, and there are many shops nearby. King Street and Spring Gardens to the immediate north of the city centre offer a Vivienne Westwood store (a local girl, from the nearby Peak District), Joseph, DKNY, Emporio Armani and Collezione; these catering for, amongst others, the city's Premiership footballers, soap stars (Coronation Street has been produced in the city since the early 1960s), and the many media types who can also be found in the area. Deansgate has a fair number upmarket stores, as do some of the roads off it. The House of Fraser store, considered by many to be the top people's shop, (still known as "Kendals" to most Manchester people and "Kendal Milne's" to an even older generation) is on Deansgate and has been on roughly the same site since the mid-19th century. It is somewhat old school and the eating places are worth a visit. There is a champagne bar, on the third floor. One of central Manchester's few quiet green squares is just behind the store. This is Parsonage Gardens. Deansgate is also home to Ed Hardy, the G

Eat

As you would expect from such a cosmopolitan city, Manchester has a huge selection of restaurants and eateries that serve a vast array of cuisines. Look hard enough and you will be able to find any type of international and British food. It is also worth exploring some of the suburbs for superb, small independent bistros and restaurants. West Didsbury and Chorlton are noted for their large number of great eateries. If you can get there, the quaintly named and somewhat trendy village of Ramsbottom, just north of Bury, directly north of Manchester, is said to be "the new Chorlton", in regards to restaurants, and the place to eat. The usual, well-established UK chains like Café Rouge, Pizza Express, and Nando's are all to be found in Manchester city centre and out of town too. There are hundreds of kebab and pizza shops on Oxford Road and in Fallowfield and Rusholme. In Rusholme, in particular, locals speak of the £10 curry, where if you bring your own drinks into the curry house, you should leave with change from a ten-pound note.Some of the cheapest, long-established curry cafés, though, are still to be found in the back streets of the Northern Quarter and Central Deansgate offering a novel twist on the traditional British café.

Chinese There are plenty of all-you-can-eat buffets in Chinatown for less than £10. Prices tend to change with the time of day and likely demand. If you eat earlier in the day, you can have a full all-you-can-eat meal, including soup, starter, and dessert for around £5. Salford is also a good option to look for Chinese food, as a particularly high concentration Hongkongers have settled there.

Mid-range

British Sam's Chop House on Chapel Walks is popular with visitors looking for a British dining experience (not an easy feat in the UK's big cities), as well as Sinclair's Oyster Bar at Cathedral Gates. Many hotels offer menus that tend towards national dishes.

Chinese Amongst the enormous range of Cantonese restaurants in Chinatown, the Great Wall at 52 Faulkner St offers authentic, reasonably priced food, including many one bowl/plate dishes (Roast pork and roast duck in soup noodle is particularly popular). The only downside is that the service charge increases the bill.

Indian Rusholme's Curry Mile is, as the name suggests, home to a lot of Indian restaurants! Due to the high concentration of curry houses, and all the competition, you should be able to get a really good curry in just about any restaurant. Also upmarket is a new venture by the side of the Museum of Science and Industry. This is Akbar's on Liverpool

Sleep

Hotels Individual listings can be found in Manchester's district articles

There are thousands of hotel beds in Manchester, ranging from 5-star establishments to bed and breakfast, via youth hostels and serviced apartments. Most accommodation is focussed in the east of the city centre with easy access to the InterCity Piccadilly Station. If in doubt, consult the tourist office, in Piccadilly Gardens. See City Information section for contact details and address. Despite its obvious industrial heritage, Manchester is home to a great number of very fine hotels, including the grand old Midland Hotel, where Rolls met Royce and the Hilton Manchester Deansgate, housed in the 47 story Beetham Tower (both in Castlefield - Petersfield). Manchester Airport is also home to several hotels, which offer easy access to both the airport itself and Manchester City Centre. For those on smaller budgets, there exists a great number of smaller, chain hotels, throughout the city, including the seemingly ubiquitous Premier Inn and others of its ilk, offering clean, pleasant accommodation for lower tariffs. Self-catering apartments in Manchester are now becoming popular alternatives to 'traditional' hotel stays. There are thousands of self-catering apartments available throughout the city centre and outskirts - providing accommodation for up to 8 people at a time, for stays of anything from one night to 1 year. You can expect noisy neighbours at weekends. Take care of the place you are staying in as, according to the local press, there have been some horror stories of people being charged for breakages, etc., for which they were not responsible. There are various serviced apartment options for business travellers around the city:

La Reserve Aparthotel, Ducie St

Go next

Manchester is well placed at the heart of Northern England. Everything is within an hour or so of Manchester's Piccadilly and Victoria stations; major cities, National Parks, picturesque scenery, seaside resorts and swanky suburbs can all be reached by train.

Seaside Blackpool — Around 1 hour by train. Previously known as 'The Playground of England'. Famed for a wild night out and favoured by Stag and Hen parties. An education, with some fantastic gay clubs to rival those anywhere! Blackpool's attractions including Britain's busiest theme park Pleasure Beach, Blackpool and the famous "Lights" from end of August to the first weekend in November. If you want a quiet day by the seaside try Southport. Shopping and tea rooms combine with the beach to make Southport a nice relaxing day out. Accessible by train from Manchester in around one hour. The North Wales seaside resorts of Rhyl, Prestatyn and Llandudno are around an hour and a half to two hours away from Manchester. Formby near Southport is a nice day out. Some picturesque sand-dunes, red squirrel preservation area, an ice-cream van and a lovely beach, without the usual British seaside resort junk (arcade games, amusements etc.). A change of train is required, so journey times are over an hour away. You can access the northern end from Southport quite easily.

City Liverpool — The two cities do not really have any fierce rivalry as they are both part of the greater north west and the massive urban sprawl of northern England. The River Mersey and Liverpool's Albert Dock, along with the city's breath-taking skyline, make it definitely worth a visit, with museums of national importance, a wealth of fine Victorian and Georgian buildings as well as two very contrasting cathedrals. Leeds — Less than an hour from Manchester, the largest city in Yorkshire is home to the Royal Armouries Collection, good museums and galleries and the much-praised West Yorkshire Playhouse Theatre. There is great shopping to be had, some of which is housed in elegant Victorian arcades, and many excellent restaurants & bars too. Bradford. This city is next door to Leeds, so close their suburbs merge into one, and boasts the fabulous Alhambra Theatre, The National Media Museum, with a giant IMAX screen, and the German Merchants' Quarter, which is also well worth a visit. Chester — Take a direct train from Piccadilly or Oxford Road stations to this compact Roman city in Cheshire on the edge of North Wales. Old buildings and cobbled streets will greet you as well as the unique shopping streets with two storeys. You can also wal