Boutique hotels
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Velvet
- Style
- Fringed with frivolity
- Setting
- Buzzing by the canal
Self-catering properties
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Staying Cool Manchester
- Style
- Urban style
- Setting
- Central Manchester
Manchester Overview
United Kingdom
- Cityscape
- Red-brick Victoriana
- City life
- Music, football, fashion
Mancunians may be too down-to-earth to say it themselves, but the capital of the northwest has come over all Manhattanchester.
You’re now as likely to come across loft-dwellers quaffing mojitos as you are flat-capped tradesmen nursing pints of Newton & Ridley ale in the Rover's. For the cosmopolitan weekender – wanting to cheer on the Reds at Old Trafford, shop for denim on Tib Street, dine in a converted cotton warehouse and bar-hop in the Northern Quarter – Manchester is as vibrant and immediate as any European capital. The Industrial Revolution has been succeeded by a Residential Revolution, with grand old mills and factories now housing apartments, restaurants and bars, and elegant new glass and steel inventions transforming the landscape by the week. From the waterfront bars of Castlefield to the energy of the Gay Village and the boho chic of the Northern Quarter, the city centre is as neat and tight as a pass from Ryan Giggs. And the superb shopping goes some way to explaining why northwestern lads and lasses look as fine as they do.
Marvellously Manchester
The holy trinity of Manchester is – in order of importance – the Haçienda, Old Trafford and some place called Manchester Cathedral. The infamous nightclub is no more, but if your religion is football, a visit to Old Trafford is a must. If you can’t get tickets for a game, take the guided tour (+44 (0)870 442 1994; www.manutd.com).
Photos: Alan Bellwood
Local knowledge
- Taxis
- Black hackney cabs can be hailed from the street; for a dependable private firm, try Radio Cars (+44 (0)161 236 8033).
- Tipping culture
- A discretionary 12.5 per cent is usual in UK restaurants.
- Packing tips
- A red scarf to wave from your seat in the Stretford End at Old Trafford; an umbrella, perhaps. The soundtrack to 24-Hour Party People.
- Recommended reads
- Dave Haslam’s fantastic overview of Manchester pop culture Manchester, England (Fourth Estate).
- Cuisine
- From trad (try a Lancashire hotpot washed down with Boddingtons) to world-class.
- Currency
- Pound sterling.
- Dialling codes
- The code for the UK: 44. Manchester: 0161.
- Do go/don't go
- Summer means long, laidback evenings on bar terraces. There’s fun to be had all year round, though.
