Manchester has a diverse nightlife and can offer a wide range of night-time activities. It has a vibrant and varied nightlife scene, including numerous clubs as well as a huge range of drinking establishments from traditional pubs to ultra-chic concept bars. Very high-profile, of late, is the Cloud 23 bar on the 23rd floor of The Hilton, Deansgate. A bit pricey, but with attentive table service, and worth it for the views alone. By the way the personnel is very friendly and won't kick you out if you just want to have a look - you can go up for free. To avoid the sometimes 2 hour long queues, try it during the week. The bars in The SAS Radisson and The Aurora Hotel are also upmarket. For other upmarket venues (there are some very discrete ones catering for the most privileged in town ), your hotel concierge should be of help in pointing you in the right direction.
For a slightly more querky place to have a drink, The Temple of Convenience is aptly named as it is a converted underground public toilet in the city centre. The bar receives many high reviews although it's quite small and may be crowded.
Famed for its musical past, the University of Manchester Student's Union on Oxford Road hosts almost nightly gigs in its three venues on Oxford road ranging from local unsigned bands to international superstars. The Manchester Apollo in Ardwick is a slightly bigger venue having boasted appearances from Blondie to new-comers like Kasabian. Smaller bands can also be seen at a range of excellent venues in the city including the Roadhouse, Night and Day, both in the Northern Quarter, and Jabez Clegg, a pub/club off Oxford Road.
The club scene in Manchester is varied with the dance-orientated clubs you'd expect from a city setting alongside indie, rock, and gay clubs. For the commercial dance music fan, the "place to be" would be Deansgate Locks (four bars and a comedy club in a converted railway complex) in Peter's Fields where the clubs and bars can be expensive, but are always full of fashionable types and members of the local student population. More eclectic dance music styles are played at the Music Box and The Phoenix, both on Oxford Road.
For fans of rock music, Jillys on Oxford Road is something of an institution. On a Thursday, it costs just £1 to get in, while Fridays see them open until 6 or 7AM. It has three rooms incorporating punk, ska, metal, goth, and everything in between. Next door to Jilly's is Music Box, home to the very good (and increasingly famous) Mr. Scruff. Come here once a month to have a good dance and a cup of tea! Also check out Rock Kitchen on a Saturday night for cheap drinks at the Manchester Metropolitan University Student's Union, again on Oxford Road. If you are interested in Rock and Metal paired with cage dancers and a lapdancing lounge, try the monthly Caged Asylum night at the Ruby Lounge, the self proclaimed craziest place to be in Manchester at 28-34 High Street.
For fans of indie and alternative music, there are a whole host of new exciting clubs opening. Any late evening walk up Oxford Road should enable you to collect a variety of fliers for club nights. The Friday edition of The Manchester Evening News has a good listings section, which is handy for the weekend. Papers are handed out free of charge Mon-Fri, at various points in the centre and at some newsagents.
The Retro Bar on Sackville Street, hosts live acts upstairs and a club downstairs with play lists that include Blondie, The Ramones, and Le Tigre. Joshua Brooks on Charles Street is also another club where you can expect a mix of indie, electro, punk, and rock in a budget-friendly, student atmosphere. Weekly, Smile at the Star and Garter in East Manchester is something of a local indie institution with a great playlist. Be warned, it sells out very early and can often be unbearably busy as a result of this. Saturdays also play host to Tiger Lounge near the Town Hall. This plays more in the way of lounge alongside experimental and indie sounds.
If you want to hear music by Manchester bands like The Stone Roses, visit Fifth Avenue on Princess Street, often brimming with students — unsurprising when you see the cheap drinks prices! They also feature themes such as toga and foam parties. The other, rival centre club for indie music is 42nd Street, just off Deansgate. It plays a mixture of classic and modern indie, 60's pop, and 70's funk and soul.
To enjoy Gay Manchester, it is probably best to visit Canal Street with its concentration of bars and clubs and visit places that appeal along the way. Just off Canal Street, the most popular gay clubs are Essential, a multi-floor super-club open until the early hours (sometimes as late as 8AM), Cruz 101 (Manchester's longest running gay club) and Poptastic, a two-room pop and indie club held at Alter Ego every Tuesday and Saturday night. Although entry can be expensive, this is usually reflected in a reduced price bar inside the club.
For bars, try the cocktail lounge Socio Rehab in the Northern Quarter (ask a taxi driver where it is) and Tribeca on Sackville Street (in the popular Gay Village). Trof, a funky student bar in Fallowfield, has recently opened a second venture, Trof North, on Thomas Street in the Northern Quarter.
Although there are still plenty of cafes and traditional pubs in Manchester, bars and restaurants with much more bohemian and cosmopolitan feels to them are now dominating. The better traditional pubs include:
Peveril of the Peak. Behind The Bridgewater Hall at 27 Great Bridgewater Street.
Britons Protection. 50 Bridgewater Street, behind the stage door entrance of the Bridgewater Hall. It is here where many a poor mug "took The King's Shilling" and found himself pressganged into the army.
Sinclairs. This is just by Harvey Nichols store at 2 Cathedral Gates.
Grey Horse Inn at 80 Portland Street.
The Old Wellington Inn, the oldest pub in Manchester. It was opened in 1552. Along with Sinclair's the whole place was moved, a couple of hundred yards down the road at number 4, as part of the development of New Cathedral Street, after the IRA bomb of 1996.
The Marble Arch Inn, 76 Rochdale Road. Real ale brewed on the premises and cask ale from micro-breweries nationwide.
Comedy wise, Manchester has a fair number of offerings: The Frog and Bucket at 96 Oldham Street offers student friendly prices and The Comedy Store at 1a-3 Deansgate Locks is the largest comedy venue in town. XS Malarkey at 341-343 Wilmslow Road in Fallowfield is cheap but good.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Manchester
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Manchester - updated May 2024
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Manchester Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
