From Britain’s greatest living sculptor to a potter with a political agenda, from the best coffee in to Latin American arthouse flicks, and from Soviet mementoes to a hidden after-hours drinking den: this is your indispensable guide to a springtime creative weekend in Manchester.

Creativetourist.com is a monthly online magazine and series of city guides that have been put together by Manchester Museums Consortium, and this guide could not be produced without the support, help and vision of , Imperial War Museum North, , , The , MOSI, the Museum of Science & Industry, People’s History Museum and The .

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2facebook.com/creativetourist 3 01 “Art for the VISITING dogs and for the swans! MANCHESTER? Art for all.” THERE’S AN 02 ’s APP FOR THAT. 03 Art in rude health 04 Coffee and Culture 05 More sinned Against than sinning Find your way through Manchester with Creative Tourist . Whether you’re looking for inspiration about which of Manchester’s cultural treats to try first, tips from locals on the best cafés and bars, fancy taking a walking tour with a mobile guide, or want to discover more about the city’s fascinating past, Creative Tourist’s free Manchester iPhone app will lead you there.

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4 Matthew Hull. Design: Modern Designers. Feld, Susie Stubbs, Kate Words: 1 It can’t be easy being This spring, Anish Kapoor Anish Kapoor. Arguably the comes to Manchester. The first greatest British sculptor since survey of Kapoor’s work to be Henry Moore, he won the Turner held in the UK outside London, Prize twenty years ago, and his Flashback takes early works from 01 last major UK show – at the Royal the Arts Council’s collection and Academy in 2009 – pulled in shows them alongside recent more than 260,000 visitors, making pieces borrowed from the artist. it the most successful exhibition Although the monumental won’t “Art for ever held in London by a living be in evidence here the show artist. In between the Turner gives visitors a rare chance to and the Academy, the artist has get up close and personal to the unveiled artworks from Newcastle work of an artist whose reputation the dogs to New Delhi, all of them met with continues to grow unabated. critical acclaim. So where does Which brings us back to the an artist such as Anish Kapoor question of where Kapoor goes go from here? from here. Although some would and for the Kapoor’s colour-drenched, be daunted by such a meteoric occasionally violent artworks rise, Kapoor isn’t among them. (such as Shooting into the The artist has been commissioned Corner, a kinetic sculpture to create the (admittedly swans! Art that fires enormous blocks of controversial) 115-metre high blood-red wax into the corner Orbit for the 2012 Olympics, of a gallery) are mesmerizing. while the first of five enormous Perhaps it’s the fact that he sculptures planned in Teeside, for all.” uses such ordinary materials – a 110-metre long ‘butterfly net’ tottering piles of pigment, stone, called Temenos, was unveiled wax, polished steel – and from last summer. Kapoor’s place in the Anish Kapoor: Flashback, them creates such sublime canon of British contemporary art sculpture. Or perhaps it’s the seems assured, then, thanks to an from the Arts Council Collection outsized scale of his work, ability to beguile critics and public Manchester Art Gallery which literally bursts out of alike. In fact, on seeing Kapoor’s galleries or makes the aircraft lake-side sculpture unveiled one M2 3JL hangar-like space of Tate misty morning in Kensington Telephone 0161 235 8888 Modern’s turbine hall look a Gardens, curator Hans Ulrich manchestergalleries.org bit, well, cramped. Whatever Obrist declared that this was ‘art the reason, there is something for the dogs and for the swans! 5 March-5 June 2011. about Kapoor’s artwork that Art for all.’ Does Kapoor make work Open: 10am-5pm Tues-Sun gets under the skin. that appeals to everyone? Make & Bank Holiday Mondays up your own mind in Manchester. (closed Mondays, Good Friday and Friday 29 April). Free. , 2005, Anish Kapoor, photo: Dave Morgan. Courtesy the artist © the artist 2011. Below: People’s History Museum. People’s Below: Courtesy the artist © the artist 2011. Morgan. Dave photo: Anish Kapoor, 2005, , Shadow Box Negative Image:

2 3 Spinningfields Close by spinningfieldsonline.com The Mark Addy Spinningfields Stanley Street, Salford M3 5EJ 0161 832 4080 / markaddy.co.uk People’s History Museum Close by, you’ll find Spinningfields. Manchester’s new business Left Bank, Spinningfields M3 3ER district, Spinningfields has more to it than glass-and-steel office blocks. 0161 838 9190 / phm.org.uk For starters, it has a waterfront. Manchester has three well-hidden rivers, with Spinningfields the only place in the city centre where the river, in this John Rylands Library case the Irwell, is celebrated (or even acknowledged). The Mark Addy pub, Deansgate M3 3EH whose chef Robert Owen Brown turns out the sort of traditional British 0161 306 0555 / library.manchester.ac.uk grub that Observer critic Jay Rayner described as ‘an old-fashioned House of Fraser treat’, is a former landing station that’s as good for real ale as it is hearty Deansgate M3 2QG food. Opposite, you’ll find the ‘sunniest riverside bar in Manchester’ at the 0844 800 3744 / houseoffraser.co.uk People’s History Museum, (a claim made by its Deputy Director so feel free to take it with a pinch of salt). The recently refurbished museum, San Carlo Cicchetti scrubbed up to the tune of £12.5 million, is well worth a visit, if simply to King Street West M3 2WY sample the staggering array of cakes in its café. The only national museum 0161 834 6226 / sancarlocicchetti.co.uk in Manchester (until the opens later this year), it tells the tale of British democracy, and at a time when furious political debate is being conducted at every pub, radio station phone-in and kitchen table, it’s a story that has never felt more relevant. Spinningfields is also to the high-end shopping street The Avenue, where you’ll find the budget busting likes of Armani, DKNY and Mulberry and, at its Deansgate edge, the John Rylands Library. This fabulous neo-Gothic confection, a red sandstone building studded with intricate wrought-iron and stained glass, was built in 1900 in memory of cotton magnate John Rylands. With four million texts spanning five millennia, it’s still a working library but welcomes visitors – and surely just standing in the middle of its wood-panelled reading room and breathing deeply will lend your visit to Manchester a cerebral air. Nearby, just off Deansgate, you’ll find our favourite department store, Kendal’s. Although its official name is the rather more prosaic House of Fraser, the store, 175 years old in 2011, is better known to locals by its original name – look above the entrances and you’ll see ‘Kendal, Milne and Co’ inscribed into the stonework, the names of the original owners. A new Italian tapas-style bar on the ground floor, San Carlo Cicchetti, is particularly recommended. People’s History Museum People’s

4 5 The feminist artist Mary testimony of soldiers who served Kelly is best known for Post- in Iraq, interrogating our ideas Partum Document (1973-9), a of war and masculinity. Or The sprawling narrative installation Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi, which that documents the mother- employs ordinary dryer lint and child relationship from her extraordinary music (composed son’s birth to age five. Informed by Michael Nyman of The Piano by sociology and psychology, fame) to tell the story of a child the six-part magnum opus lost and found during the war in included painstakingly detailed Kosovo. The South Gallery will host observations, incorporating Habitus, a newly commissioned everything from recorded babbling work that embeds a prefabricated to feeding diaries. Upon exhibition bomb shelter with the memories 02 at the ICA in 1976, however, it was of people born in Britain during the ‘shocking’ inclusion of her or immediately following the son’s stained nappies that made Second World War. And, of course, headlines (my, how things have Post-Partum Document, still Woman’s changed). Those radical nappies considered the definitive artwork will be hanging in the Whitworth on motherhood, will be displayed Art Gallery this spring as the here in its entirety for the first time gallery stages one of the most in more than 30 years. work comprehensive exhibitions of With its reputation for Kelly’s work ever held, Mary Kelly: staging edgy, intelligent Projects 1973-2010. A key figure exhibitions that walk the fine Mary Kelly: Projects 1973-2010 in the development of feminist art, line between historic and and an artist who continues to contemporary, the Whitworth feels Whitworth Art Gallery break new ground, Kelly employs a fitting place for the first large- Oxford Road M15 6ER multilayered narratives, text and scale international retrospective spatial elements to create work of Kelly’s work. Recent shows here Telephone 0161 275 7450 that is both political and highly have demonstrated the subversive manchester.ac.uk/whitworth personal, often breathtaking in its nature of wallpaper (Walls Are emotional force. Talking: Wallpaper, Art and Culture) 19 February-12 June. If the phrase ‘feminist art’ and turned a gallery into a forest Open: 10am-5pm Mon-Sat; brings to mind quilted tents and (Olafur Eliasson’s installation in 12-4pm Sun. ironic needlepoint, come to the The Land Between Us) to explore Free. Whitworth and school yourself. landscape and British identity. Take Gloria Patri, for instance, Expect your consciousness to in which aluminum shields and be raised, if it isn’t already. trophies are etched with the 2005, black and white transparency in light box 1 of 3 units. © courtesy of the artist. 1 of 3 units. transparency in light box and white black 2005, Flashing Nipple Remix, Image: Image:

6 7 The Close by Nelson Street, Chorlton-on-Medlock M13 9WP 0161 273 5673 CITY CENTRE City Library Deansgate M3 3WD 0161 234 1983 / manchester.gov.uk You see before you a city with impeccable feminist credentials: Manchester International Anthony Burgess Foundation has long championed the achievements and causes of its daughters. Cambridge Street M1 5BY And we’ve reason enough to be proud – after all, the movement 0161 235 0776 / anthonyburgess.org began here. A little out of the city centre, Suffragette ’s former home (where the Women’s Social and Political Union The Manchester Museum was founded in October 1903) is now a museum; alongside a history of the Oxford Road M13 9PL campaign for votes for women, the Pankhurst Centre continues to provide 0161 275 2634 / manchester.ac.uk/museum resources for women, viewing itself as a ‘living memorial’. Meanwhile, back Kro Bar on Oxford Road, bibliophiles should know that Manchester’s historic Central Oxford Road M13 9PG Library is closed for a grand-scale refurbishment until 2013, but many of 0161 274 3100 / kro.co.uk its services are on offer at City Library. A new addition to this literary neighbourhood is the home of the International Anthony Burgess Cornerhouse Foundation with a library, a research centre, performance space and an Oxford Street M1 5NH especially good café (run by the same team as at the Whitworth’s award- 0161 200 1500 / cornerhouse.org winning café). Seoul Kimchi And there are more than a few of those about. When the need to re-fuel Upper Brook St M13 OHR hits, Oxford Road is packed with options. The natural history-focused 0161 273 5556 Manchester Museum has an excellent cafe, making it easy to combine Red Chilli your cultural feast with a more literal one. Just across the street, Kro Bar Oxford Road M13 9WL is a good bet for cask ales, Danish-inspired grub and a chilled atmosphere. 0161 273 1288 / redchillirestaurant.co.uk Closer to the city centre stands the ever-popular Cornerhouse, a gallery, arthouse cinema and café-bar rolled into one. It gets busy, especially at The Deaf Institute weekends, so be sure to leave plenty of time to eat before your film. If your Grosvenor Street M1 7HE palate runs to spicier tastes, check out Korean supermarket-turned-restaurant 0161 276 9350 / thedeafinstitute.co.uk Seoul Kimchi or sample blistering Szechuan food at Red Chilli. By night, The Deaf Institute is the place to catch cutting edge bands and DJs in a Johnny Roadhouse beautifully gothic music hall. And if you’re a musician yourself, you’ll want Oxford Road M1 7DU to make a pilgrimage to Johnny Roadhouse, the venerable new-and-used 0161 273 1000 / johnnyroadhouse.co.uk music shop that has outfitted just about every Manchester band you’ve ever heard of (and a whole lot more you haven’t).

8 9 Much has been written a celebrity artist. He does not about Grayson Perry, the Turner operate within an artistic bubble. Prize winning sculptor sometimes His recent textile-based work, better known for his couture- The Walthamstow Tapestry, for dressing transvestite alter ego, example, a vast 15 metre by three Claire. This is the artist who has metre tapestry, includes a scene been described as the ‘Tracey in which a ship is surrounded Emin of ceramics’ and who critic by the names of several financial Adrian Searle noted was similar firms: RBS, HSBC, Northern to Warhol, Joseph Beuys and the Rock, Enron. The point being, of flamboyant Quentin Crisp in that course, that it was these financial ‘all are self-invented figures … and institutions (among others) that 03 self-invention is their best creative made catastrophic mistakes in act’. But there is far more to Perry the lead-up to the 2008 financial than frocks and eyeliner, as an crisis. The ship is, according to exhibition in Manchester this Perry, a ‘ship of fools.’ Elsewhere, Art in rude spring ably demonstrates. the artist comments on the state At the end of last year, of arts funding in the UK. “We’ve got Manchester Art Gallery became a Conservative government to fight the proud owner of two new against, and we’ve got no money,” health works by the artist. Thanks to he wrote in the Guardian recently. the Art Fund and two Mancunian “It might not feel it if you are a donors, the gallery purchased one young artist leaving college, but, Grayson Perry: Visual Dialogues of Perry’s most recent ceramic aesthetically and conceptually, vases, Jane Austen in E17, and this is a really healthy moment Manchester Art Gallery one of his first etchings, Print for a for art.” Mosley Street M2 3JL Politician. The vase in particular is Here’s hoping. The Telephone 0161 235 8888 a Perry classic, combining images two works are on display at manchestergalleries.org of genteel Georgian ladies with Manchester Art Gallery as part of sinister photographic transfers an exhibition curated by 30 such Until 12 February 2012. that hint at urban street crime. It is young artists; alongside Perry’s Open: 10am-5pm Tues-Sun this deft combination of the historic works are a series of historic and the ‘now’ in Perry’s work, the costumes, prints and ceramics, & Bank Holiday Mondays use of traditional techniques to all of which not only show off the (closed Mondays, Good Friday create work that reflects a very gallery’s impressive collection but and Friday 29 April). particular political and economic give us the chance to question Free. moment in British culture, that contemporary art and craft now – make him so much more than and where we go from here. , 2009. © Grayson Perry. Courtesy Victoria Miro Gallery, London. London. Victoria Miro Gallery, Courtesy Perry. © Grayson 2009. Austen in E17 , Jane Image: Image:

10 11 Manchester Buddhist Centre Close by Turner Street M4 1DZ 0161 834 9232 / manchesterbuddhistcentre.org.uk Northern Quarter Chinese Arts Centre Thomas Street M4 1EU 0161 832 7271 / chinese-arts-centre.org Manchester has long been a city with an independent streak, and nowhere Craft & Design Centre is more independent than the Northern Quarter, a district whose mix Oak Street M4 5JD of vintage and boutique shops, bars and curry houses clustered along 0161 832 4274 / craftanddesign.com narrow streets give Manchester its urban edge. The Northern Quarter is Manchester’s creative district and it’s here that many design agencies, artists Pop Boutique and musicians reside. Defiantly chain-free, part of its charm comes from its Oldham Street M1 1JN architecture, a ramshackle collection of 18th and 19th century warehouses. 0161 236 5797 / pop-boutique.com Some have been beautifully restored, such as the Buddhist Centre, Retro Rehab while others still sag into dilapidation. Oldham Street M4 1LW At its heart is the impressive Romanesque façade of the former Smithfield 0161 839 2050 Market – now surrounded by modern new-builds – which fronts onto Oklahoma a small public square. In the same block sits the Chinese Arts Centre, High Street M4 1ES while the Market’s sister building can be found on Oak Street, now converted 0161 834 1136 into the Craft & Design Centre. This little gem is home to an array of artist-run studios offering the best in local design, jewellery, bags and Magma accessories (there’s also a café that serves sandwiches and homemade cakes). Oldham Street M1 1JN Pop Boutique and Retro Rehab, both on Oldham Street, are our top 0161 236 8777 / magmabooks.com places for vintage threads (Pop also houses a cute ‘cup cakery’ at street level), Teacup while kitsch emporium-cum-cafe Oklahoma offers an endearing mix of toys, Thomas Street M4 1NA gifts and homeware. Nearby, Magma is the graphic designer’s newsagent 0161 832 3233 / teacupandcakes.com of choice, stocking a range of design, interiors, art and film magazines, books and limited edition posters, tees and stationery. North Tea Power Tib Street M4 1LA It’s the Northern Quarter you should head for if you fancy a one-off night northteapower.co.uk out or bite to eat. Teacup on Thomas Street serves up (as the name suggests) fabulous tea, cake and hangover-beating breakfasts – check out the organic Centro infusions that come with an egg timer to guarantee the perfect brew, and their Tib Street M4 1LG new evening menu. Close by, North Tea Power on Tib Street vies for the 0161 832 1325 top position as the purveyor of the finest tea and cake in the city. The array of bars and drinking dens in the Northern Quarter can be bewildering, Apotheca but Odd, Centro, and Apotheca are all safe bets, while the historic Band Thomas Street M4 1FS on the Wall is one of the city’s best venues for live music and club nights. 0161 834 9411 / apothecabar.co.uk Band on the Wall Swan Street M4 5JZ 0161 834 1786 / bandonthewall.org

12 13 For over a quarter of a Identity is also central century Cornerhouse has been to Carey Young’s new exhibition not only the home of arthouse at the Cornerhouse, Memento cinema in Manchester but also Park. Young uses photography of trailblazing visual art and to comment on the shifting great coffee. Easily as much a character of the enormous part of the Manchester cultural Soviet-era statues that still loom 04 landscape as the Haçienda ever large over a post-iron curtain and was, this is the place where hesitantly consumerist Budapest. enigmatic football icon Eric Surrounded by lush greenery and Cantona came for his culture fix indifferent modern development, Coffee while serving at and these once imposing ogres now where perennially contentious film feel more like docile giants. critic Mark Kermode was given There is a frightening a smack for badmouthing Blue golem of a different kind on 17 and Velvet. So Cornerhouse is not only March as, hot on the heels of the somewhere to see art and film Oscar-tipped 127 Hours, director but also a place to sit and discuss Danny Boyle, himself a patron them, over a drink of course. of Cornerhouse, presents his culture The ¡Viva! Spanish and own production of proto-creature Latin American Film Festival feature Frankenstein. The play, returns for its 17th year on 5 March which marks Boyle’s return to Cornerhouse with an electrifying programme theatre (where he cut his teeth), 70 Oxford Street M1 5NH that takes in challenging will be broadcast simultaneously independent documentaries such from the National Theatre in Telephone 0161 200 1500 as Los Pecados de mi Padre, London to Cornerhouse and cornerhouse.org the staggering video memoir of more than 100 other cinemas the son of notorious drug baron nationwide as part of National ¡Viva! Spanish and Latin American Pablo Escobar, and the toast of Theatre Live. Surely there can Film Festival the Spanish box office, Gordos, a be no-one better suited to bring 5-20 March. warmly absurdist satire set in a to life Mary Shelley’s seminal tale Madrid weight-loss group.Running of the monstrous and the human Memento Park, alongside the season of films is a than the man who shot 28 Days Galleries 2 & 3. solo show from Colombian artist Later and Slumdog Millionaire. 5-20 March. Oscar Munoz, whose mesmerizing With it already shaping up to be work consists of innovative water- another incredible year for films Free. borne portraits which warp and and exhibitions, we’ll meet you Frankenstein collapse over time, prompting on the corner. * the visitor to reflect on the themes 17 March 2011. of memory, identity and loss. 6.45pm. £15/£13.50. , Carey Young, 2010. 2010. Young, Carey , Video still from Memento Park Images: returns. for venue check this performance for had sold out; tickets * At time of press,

14 15 MOSI Close by Liverpool Road, M3 4FP 0161 832 2244 / mosi.org.uk Castlefield 10am-5pm daily. Free. Dukes 92 Castle Street M3 4LZ Cut through by the Bridgewater Canal, studded with red brick warehouses 0161 839 8646 / dukes92.com and built on the partially excavated site of a roman fort, Castlefield is an area that wears its past proudly. The much loved MOSI (Manchester’s own Museum Hewitt Street, Knott Mill M15 4GB of Science & Industry) is largely housed in the historic Liverpool Road railway 0161 832 8034 / castlefieldgallery.co.uk station but, thanks to a recent £9 million development, an annex has been added 1-6pm Wed-Sun. Free. to provide space for one refurbished and one new gallery – the interactive science playground Experiment, and the Revolution Manchester gallery, which showcases The Knott the city’s scientific and industrial achievements. See your photo on the digital Deansgate, M3 4LY chandelier, email a love letter in the language of the world’s first computer and 0161 839 9229 finish up by sampling an authentic Eccles cake in MOSI’s bright new coffee shop. Merzman: Kurt Schwitters in the Northwest The redeveloped MOSI manages to pleasingly combine sheets of plate glass and runs through May in venues across the city steel girders with the existing Georgian station building. This melding of historic merzman.co.uk and modern architecture is not uncommon in Castlefield. The spectacular winged Merchant’s Bridge spans the same water as a 19th century viaduct, while disused buildings are often reconditioned and repurposed; arguably the best restaurant in the area, Dukes 92, can be found in former stable blocks. Here you can sit by the canal, enjoy a delicious platter of artisan cheeses and watch Mancunians in their natural habitat. No day in Castlefield would be complete without a visit to the Castlefield Gallery, a small and deceptively unassuming art space only a short walk from Deansgate railway station that’s a sure bet for engaging and thought-provoking contemporary visual art. The next show, on until 10 April, is Born After 1924; here, the German artist Ingo Gerken examines and rearranges the contexts between Dadaism and Constructivism as part of the Merzman city-wide series of exhibitions and events celebrating the legacy of German refugee artist Kurt Schwitters in the UK. If you want to round out your day with a drink or three then it’s best to avoid the neon signage and wipe-clean seating of the chain bars along Deansgate Locks. Instead, opt for The Knott, a fantastic pub nestled under the iron railway bridge where you can choose from a range of ales from local brewing heroes Marble Beers. Or if you’re feeling particularly flush then Cloud 23, the Hilton’s self-proclaimed ‘sky bar’, serves cocktails named after Stone Roses singles and boasts unparalleled views across the city. MOSI

16 17 His name might be over atmosphere of the time in the the door but there’s more to The figures he photographed. Even Lowry than the great man’s art. the squeaky-clean Cliff Richard, The centre, a landmark feature of combing his coiffed hair in the the Salford Quays waterfront since mirror, looks as if he’s about to its opening in 2000, is a multi- get up to no good. faceted arts and entertainment Another icon appearing at venue committed to showcasing The Lowry this spring, although the best theatre and dance, as well this time in the flesh, is actor 05 as exhibiting thought-provoking Derek Jacobi, who plays the lead visual art from a diverse array of in a new production of King Lear. artists (L.S. Lowry among them.) There has been a rash of famous Until 10 April, The Lowry’s Lears lately, with great actors More sinned gallery features an unmissable becoming sufficiently white-haired exhibition of pictures from the and gnarled-looking to play the archives of rock photographer embattled monarch, from Ian Harry Hammond. Taken from McKellen’s raw-throated, trouser- against than the V&A’s collection, The Birth dropping turn to the late Pete of British Rock includes era- Postlethwaite, whose king was all defining images of Buddy Holly, mad-eyed quietness, occasionally, Dusty Springfield and the Beatles, and inexplicably, wrapped up in sinning all accompanied by a period a house dress. Jacobi’s masterful soundtrack. As lead photographer performance, though, which for the NME from 1952 until the captures the crumbling mind The Lowry early 60s Hammond had access of the character, might be the to the biggest names in music finest for some time. Although Pier 8, Salford Quays M50 3AZ at a time when there was a a theatrical veteran Jacobi says Telephone 0843 208 6000 monumental shift in what this that he has been waiting until thelowry.com meant. The official line is that now to play the role ‘to feel older, this was an age of hoop skirts, to feel closer to the man’. It seems The Birth of British Rock: slicked back hair and wide-eyed to be a decision that has paid Photographs by Harry Hammond. innocence but don’t buy into it. off; Jacobi’s performance, along Until 10 April 2011. This was the dawn of the teenager with atmospheric staging and after all; everyone knows what direction from the acclaimed Open: 11am-5pm Sun-Fri; Please Please Me is really about. Michael Grandage, has already 10am-5pm Sat. Though Hammond was careful ensured that the production Free. ‘to always catch stars looking has been a hit, something that their best and most glamorous’, promises to continue when it King Lear* you can sense the electric arrives at The Lowry. 22-26 March 2011. At time of press, tickets for this performance had sold out; check venue for returns. Image: King Lear . Image: returns. for venue check this performance for had sold out; tickets * At time of press,

18 19 Imperial War Museum North Close by The Quays, Trafford Wharf, Trafford Park M17 1TZ 0161 836 000 / iwm.org.uk/north Salford & The Quays Open: 10am-6pm daily. Free. MediaCityUK Pier 9, The Quays Forget London or even Liverpool, Salford Quays has one of the most mediacityuk.co.uk awe-inspiring waterfronts you are likely to encounter – and it’s not even Lowry Outlet Mall along a river. Lining the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal, and alongside The Quays, Salford Quays, M50 3AH The Lowry, The Quays features the arresting, Daniel Libeskind-designed lowryoutletmall.com Imperial War Museum North, several apartment buildings (including the triple towers of the NV Buildings), and two footbridges that connect Islington Mill Studios IWM North to The Lowry. James Street, Salford M3 One key newcomer to The Quays is MediaCityUK, a development that islingtonmill.com will serve largely as the BBC’s new up-north base of operations (it’ll house Corridor five BBC departments and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra). With ITV 6-8 Barlow’s Croft, Salford M2 5DY announcing that Coronation Street will be moved to the same site, lock, stock 0161 832 6699 / corridorbar.co.uk and Rover’s Return, the complex is fast attracting other film and television production to create the largest TV, film and digital production hub in the UK, one that comes complete with its own enormous plaza (where public performances are likely to be held; check local press for details), tram stop, waterside park and hotels. The nearby Lowry Outlet Mall might currently be a little lacking, but it has been boosted by a new Gap store and hosts a number of chain eateries and a multiplex cinema. With both The Lowry and now Media City on its doorstep, though, it surely won’t be long before more new stores and restaurants spring up here. For the time being, plump for the decent contemporary cuisine at Lime. While The Quays might have bagged the new and eye-catching, it’s Salford proper that holds the hidden treasures and it’s here you should head if you prefer your art and culture to be cutting edge. Islington Mill Studios is, as the name suggests, a set of artists’ studios built into an original mill building. The mill incorporates a gallery, gardens and a bar - all open to the public every Thursday and Friday (and for specific events). It’s Islington Mill’s club space that is most exciting, though, having fast become the venue for underground gigs with bands from US indie-punksters The Thermals to local heroes Elbow squeezing onto the tiny stage. Finally, if you have an after-hours thirst and you can keep a secret, head to Corridor, a modern-day speakeasy. Tucked down a darkened back alley, the only clue that you’ve reached the bar is that this rusty door has a bouncer placed strategically outside it. Be sure to try one of the bar’s award-winning cocktails. After all, if you’ve managed to locate the place then you definitely deserve a drink. Imperial War Museum North War Imperial

20 21 TRAVEL CHECKLIST

Hotels Getting there

There are so many hotels – and different (to the South of kinds of hotels at that – in Manchester the city centre) is served by a regular rail that it can be hard to pick the best one. connection to Piccadilly Station (every To make life easy, here is our top three 15 minutes or so; journeys take around (you can catch the latest deals and 20 minutes). www.manchesterairport.co.uk offers on these and many more from www.visitmanchester.com): Piccadilly Station is the main railway station; the Metroshuttle (www.gmpte.com) The Radisson Edwardian: The former operates a free bus service connecting this, has been sumptuously and the other city railway stations, to the and sympathetically converted into city centre. Buses run every 5-10 minutes. one of the city’s finest hotels: deluxe Oxford Road, Deansgate and Victoria bedrooms, marble bathrooms, pool are the other city centre rail stations. and great restaurant. Free Trade Hall, Peter Street M2 5GP (0161 835 9929/ The Metrolink (tram) connects the www.radissonedwardian.com). city centre to many parts of - lines run from the The Midland Hotel: Another historic centre to Altrincham, Bury and Eccles. great (this is where Rolls met Royce), www.metrolink.co.uk the Midland has been subject to a £15m overhaul that’s restored its Grade Trains to Manchester: First TransPennine II-listed glory. Peter Street, M60 2DS Express offers reliable and comfortable (0845 0345 777/www.qhotels.co.uk). rail travel throughout the North of . www.tpexpress.co.uk Mint Hotel: A stone’s throw from Piccadilly Station with WiFi, Sky, flexible check-in Tourist information and 24-hour room service. Piccadilly Place, 1 Auburn Street M1 3DG (0161 242 1000/ For all travel, hotels and tourist information www.minthotel.com). (and the best source of information on great offers and deals on accommodation and more), visit www.visitmanchester.com. Once you’re in Manchester, check out the Visitor Information Centre on Lloyd Street, M60 2LA (0871 222 8223/www.manchester. gov.uk). Open 10am-5.30pm Mon-Sat; 10.30am-4.30pm Sun & Bank Hols.

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