The Best Things About Manchester

Since moving to Manchester 9 months ago, we’ve taken the time to explore the city we now call home and we thought we’d share our favourite places and things to do. While we’ve lived here, we’ve experienced many of the good and bad places.

Media City is a lovely place. It’s where our campus is and we get to see it at all times of the day, from our 9ams to the late evenings we stay there. It’s never too crowded and when the sun is shining it’s one of the finer places that Manchester has to offer. At Media City, there is a restaurant called The Alchemist, it’s a little bit pricey but the food and drinks are amazing and if you have family coming to visit it’s a really nice place to take them. It looks out across the Quays and has a really relaxed vibe. As a cheaper alternative, there’s a Nando’s across the road which is where we’ve spent a lot of time after lectures.

1. 
   

Also at Media City, the Booths car park is one of our favourite places to go and look across the city. Our favourite time to go is at night as you can see Manchester illuminated and it’s the perfect place to destress. It’s something cheap to do but definitely shouldn’t be overlooked.

Living in a big city as students, we’re constantly on a budget which means we’ve done a tour of all the local Wetherspoons. If you’re socially awkward and the big men sitting at the bar scare you, you can always order off the app. It’s always a good place to go for a few casual drinks without having to dress up to the nines. On Fridays, there’s a dance floor if you’ve had a few too many drinks and are confident enough to believe you can dance.

“My favourite place in Manchester is Blackdog Ballroom, it’s full of pool tables and they make the best loaded chips. NQ64 is also really good, it’s a bar full of arcade games so you can relive your childhood whilst drinking with your friends.” – Emmie Norton

The Trafford Centre doesn’t look like a shopping centre if you’re not used to it or not from the area. It’s got every shop you could ever think of, a huge food court which has expensive and cheaper alternatives (but good luck if you want to go to the Nando’s there, the queue is always miles long).

1. 
   

Good bars in Manchester aren’t hard to come by, there’s some fun ones too. Junkyard Golf and Treetop Adventure Golf both mix mini golf and alcohol, which may seem like an odd combination but it’s one of the best things to do. There’s also ping-pong bars called Roxy’s Ballroom and Twenty Twenty Two. One of the things on our to-do list for next year is go to All Star Lanes, which is a bowling alley/bar. Classy bars aren’t hard to come by either, Slug and Lettuce is a classic choice with 2-for-1 cocktails and easily accessible in the city centre and Revolucion de Cuba has music and a place to dance and all the classic drinks you could want, but it is a bit more pricey.

“I would say my favourite places include Factory, because it always leads to funny stories, spoons and the main shopping area.” – Natasha Downing

There’s a wide range of clubs in Manchester, depending on what kind of night out you want. For an indie and cheap student night out, 42’s is your best bet and they offer student discount on entry. Another good alternative for a cheap night out is Factory, it has three different floors with all different kinds of music, so there’s something for everyone and you can switch it up during the night if you want to. For a more dressy night out or good student nights out in the week, you can find yourself in Deansgate at Revolution or Ark.

1. 
   

Manchester always commits to seasonal events. At Halloween, they put ‘monsters’ on the roofs of buildings to really get you in the spirit. Whereas at Christmas, the famous Christmas markets come out. They serve plenty of hot food and drinks, and it tends to follow Bavarian tradition in terms to aesthetics as well as food.