Eat your art out
THE birthplace of the Industrial Revolution had a torrid time in the 20th century, first as bombs dropped and then as economic woes started to bite. Today Manchester is going from strength to strength, carving out a 21st century identity with new digital enterprises, new hotels, new restaurants and new self-confidence.
City of patches The tour
Not even Mancunians claim that Manchester is a pretty place. Threaded with canals and ringed by railway arches, it has no particular central hub or gathering place. Instead it is composed of various quarters – the Medieval Quarter for history, the retail district for shopping, the Civic Quarter for official buildings, the Northern Quarter for trendy independents, Piccadilly for transport connections.
Its architecture too is a jumble of styles, each telling its own story and now with new skyscrapers looming over the centre.
Back in the early 20th century a staggering 70 per cent of the world’s cotton was milled here. The best way of learning about Manchester facts such as that is to sign up for the daily Discover Manchester walking tour. It leaves from outside the Central Library – itself an interesting building. Two hours, £10pp. See visitmanchester.com.
Brick beginnings Science and art
If your schedule can’t accommodate the walking tour, then try to get to the Science and Industry Museum, scienceandindustrymuseum. org.uk, which is not nearly as dry as it sounds.
Entry is free and it’s spread through former brick warehouses and a historic covered market. At its core is a collection of the, still working, spinning and weaving machines that made up the whole industrial revolution.
Also worth seeing is the world’s first railway station, 1830, from Stephenson’s line that connected Manchester to Liverpool. And while you’re in the area, take note of the contrast between the repurposed LNER Great Northern railway depot on Deansgate and the new skyscrapers of Deansgate Square. That’s Manchester’s past and future in one snapshot.
If you have an appetite for more culture, then head off down the Oxford Road corridor, lined by faculties from the massive
Manchester University to the Whitworth Art Gallery. Fronted by a red brick mansion, the various exhibition areas ensure a rich diversity of visual arts, from antique tapestries to Cezanne drawings to mystifyingly modern video art. Free. See whitworth.manchester.ac.uk.
NY lookalike The Northern Quarter
Film directors have long been fans of Manchester’s Northern Quarter, particularly because its brownstone buildings with their external fire escapes make an inexpensive stand-in for New York. The next Marvel adventure, Morbius, out next July, was partly filmed here.
On its western edge, this trendy district rubs up against the massive Arndale shopping centre. But the Northern Quarter itself couldn’t be more different with its murals and its hipster living. Here shops need to be ferreted out – outlets such as Oklahoma, full of witty ideas and the place to come if you can’t think what to buy someone for Christmas, and Afflecks, a multi-storey “HQ for esoteric goods” with 60 traders selling everything from vinyl to vintage and body piercing jewellery. Plus, have a 30-minute Thai massage for just £20.
The Northern Quarter is also an in place to dine, with single-named “kitchens” such as Shack, Tusk and Trof, but the stand-out is Wolf at the Door, watd.co.uk, with food deserving of stars and choirs of angels. Dishes are creative and different – the likes of lamb belly skewers topped with roasted yeast flakes, accompanied by a ricebowl of ancient grains and pumpkin seeds rimmed with ricotta.
Curry mile Eating out
Of course the Northern Quarter doesn’t have a monopoly on good food. Just around the corner from the Royal Exchange is the new bistro-style restaurant Kala. Here a short and simple menu concentrates on the good things, such as featherblade of beef and potato gnocchi. See
kalabistro.co.uk. The
Royal Exchange is a fabulous building epitomising
Manchester’s reinvention
The theatre of the same name has been inserted into a grand institution where 70 billion tons of cotton were traded.
By contrast, further out of town along Oxford Road beyond the university and the Whitworth Gallery is the Curry Mile, so called because of its procession of ethnic restaurants.
Among them Mughli is a particular favourite – a cheerful, buzzy Indian charcoal-pit restaurant with enthusiastic endorsements from the likes of Andrew Flintoff. There is a good chance of spotting a Manchester footballer.
Food here is intensely flavoured and relatively inexpensive. The menu is far more interesting than usual run-of-the-mill vindaloos. See mughli.com.
Still life Where to drink
It’s typical of Manchester’s irreverence that one of its biggest drinking places, the Bohemian beer palace that is Albert’s Schloss, is located in the former Grade Ii-listed Methodist’s Hall. Today the reverence is reserved for the beer itself, which is brought over from the Czech Republic every week. See albertsschloss.co.uk.
However, some of Manchester’s best refreshments are still home grown, notably under the arches of the former Central Station which is now home to the ambitious new distillery and restaurant of Manchester Gin.
There’s a local success story at work here, starting with the chance meeting of the founders,
Seb and Jen. Their first gin still was in their living room, but that didn’t stop them selling 25,000 bottles in their first year. A tutored tasting in the distillery, with five different gins and a G&T to start, costs £20. See manchestergin.co.uk.
Going native Where to stay
Loft apartment living is all the rage these days, and the mammoth new aparthotel Native is handily located on Ducie street just around the corner from Piccadilly station. A grade Ii-listed warehouse has been divided three ways: into the apartment hotel, surrounding a huge atrium; into the Cultureplex bar/restaurant on the ground floor, and into the trendy Blok gym, where there is no equipment, just classes. Doubles from £86. See nativeplaces.com.