Native Manchester

Worth getting out of bed for

Innumerable bars, restaurants, galleries and museums make up Manchester’s streets. Step straight out into the Northern Quarter: a jumble of vintage shops, indie record stores, cafés and bars. Rummage for old-school wares at Pop Boutique, shop for denim on Tib Street, or pick up discs in Piccadilly Records and Eastern Bloc. St John’s Gardens is a pretty green spot, or head to Old Trafford to cheer on Manchester United. Five listed buildings make up the Museum of Science and Industry – filled with exhibits that tell the story of British industry in a way that only Manchester can. The Royal Exchange Theatre has had many uses: as the Royal Exchange, a World War Two casualty room, now a hub of Mancunian theatre. Catch a classic – Oscar Wilde or Bill Shakespeare – or explore some of the excellent new writing that the Exchange embraces. Make sure to check out the original trading board, showing the closing figures from the day the Exchange shut for good in 1968. At sunset, set up shop at one of Castlefield’s waterfront bars, and round off your day dancing til the early hours in Canal Street’s Gay Village.

Local restaurants

Try Taiwanese bao or mozzarella-laden pizza slices at indoor food market Mackie Mayor (on proper plates, too). Head to the Northern Quarter’s Koffee Pot for hearty breakfasts hailing from all corners of the UK, or to Moose for US-style brunch (eight styles of pancakes, eggs every way, burritos, hot dogs and even a doughnut burger). Enter Australasia via a sci-fi-esque glass prism, and descend into a cream-hued subterranean space with bleached brick walls and bare-limbed trees. Artfully plated fare hails from Australia and the Pacific Rim – choose from sushi, steaks or sizzling fish cooked on the Robata grill. For more interior flora, try Tattu, where beef-and-foie-gras gyoza, soy-glazed wagyu and lobster prawn toasts are served under a flowering cherry blossom.

Local cafés

There are plenty of trendsetting caffeine spots in the Northern Quarter. Find quality brews ground and roasted in Manchester at friendly Ezra and Gil; or finely-tuned craft coffee at Ancoats Coffee Co. – a caffeine-lovers sanctuary in an industrial red-brick warehouse. Trove’s breakfasts (and sourdough slices) are legendary, and made with organic, locally sourced ingredients. Evelyn’s Café Bar on Tib Street branches out on brunches: try North African shakshuka and Korean chicken-and-egg rolls. Takk MCR is an Icelandic-inspired coffee shop (we love the single-origin coffee from the Barn in Berlin). If you like your leaves a little looser, North Tea Power serves an aromatic array of blends in a rustic communal setting with hefty timber furnishings and exposed grinders.  

Local bars

The spirited nightlife of Manchester is world-renowned, and for good reason. Oast House’s ale inventory includes everything from IPA and lager to Trappist. The pints are served in an offbeat pub amid the gleaming towers of Spinningfields. Then there’s Marble Arch – an attractive city pub with original Victorian tiling and a chequerboard floor, with house-brew taps lining the bar. Groups will love Escape to Freight Island: a former freight depot rebuilt as a food market with a unique selection of bars – including an intimate wine bar, neighbourhood cocktail spot, and craft beer tap room. As the night progresses, take your pick from Gorilla (niche music acts, comedy nights and a gin parlour), Deaf Institute (rock and indie gigs), or Native’s own ground-floor DJ sets.