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A day in Manchester - museums, pubs, things to do?

There are three free bus routes that run round the city centre. It probably takes 20-30 minutes to walk from one side of the city centre to another, but if you're going from, say, Piccadilly train station to the science museum (and Castlefield roman ruin, Castlefield canal basin with bars and restaurants), on the other side of the city centre, you might want to hop on one of the free buses, as it'll be quicker, leaving you more time to enjoy the exhibits, etc.

They run regularly during the day, iirc they stop running around 7pm.

tfgm.com

free bus

free bus – free travel around Manchester city centre
tfgm.com tfgm.com
 
just another thought on the transport front that has just occurred to me in case you're thinking of going anywhere by tram in manchester -

think you've said you're in sheffield (ish) now so may be worth mentioning that the trams in manchester don't have conductors like the ones in sheffield do - you need to buy a ticket at the tram stop before you get on or do something contactless (more here)

it must be 20 years since i last set paw in manchester. really must try and do it again when circumstances permit...
 
killer b said:
Salford is walkable from the centre too - just in the opposite direction...

TBH where I'd suggest to eat really depends on your museum itinerary. If you go down to The Whitworth the restaurant in the gallery itself is good, or there's my favourite chinese the Red Chilli over the road, or there's a load of streetfood places in one of those boxpark places under the mancunian way inbetween the city centre and the university area.

If you're staying close to the centre I'd take a short stroll into Ancoats and have brunch at Trove, which is Manchester's best sourdough bakery, or at Pollen, which is Manchester's second best sourdough bakery (there isn't much in it tbh, both are pretty lush and Pollen probably has the most pleasing location to eat), or I'd go into chinatown and get pork buns at Mr Wongs Bakery.
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The boxpark place is Hatch on Oxford Road. It did have a few independent bars, but landlord Bruntwood evicted several of them recently because they decided to run them in-house to reap the profits from the bars.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Five bars at 'independent village' Hatch to close for good

'How much money have they lost that they had to get rid of five peoples' livelihoods?'
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

And I'll have to find and check out Mr Wong's bakery. I've only been to Ho's bakery before, I'm partial to their chicken curry bun and sweet melon cake.

And Red Chilli was my favourite Chinese restaurant too - and I tried lots of them after returning to Manchester after two years living in Beijing! I haven't eaten there for a while, must remedy that.
 
lazythursday said:
Meh. Tom's ChopHouse is overpriced and underwhelming.

I must admit that despite having lived in Manchester and worked there for most of my adult life I've never been inside John Ryland's Library which is very remiss of me.

Ancoats was a lot more interesting when it was derelict, but still worth visiting, but wouldn't be on my list for a first time day trip.
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John Ryland's Library is definitely worth a visit.
 
hitmouse said:
Oh, and the Jewish Museum was closed for refurbishment for ages but is meant to be reopening in July, while they were closed they had some of their collection on display in the central library but not sure if that's still happening. That's also in Cheetham Hill, so if you visited from July onwards and wanted a day of like buses and Judaica you could do that I suppose?
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That's easily walking distance from the centre. I've not been to it so will aim to do so in the next year.
 
farmerbarleymow said:
That's easily walking distance from the centre. I've not been to it so will aim to do so in the next year.
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Yes, Google maps reckons it's 33 mins walk, about 19-20 mins by bus, 9 mins by car, from eg Piccadilly train station to Manchester Jewish Museum.

I suppose it depends how much time you have, and what else you want to see and do. If someone's just in Manchester for the day, taking over an hour just to walk there and back might take too much of a chunk out of their day, especially considering... iirc, it's not as if the walk is through a pleasant and/or interesting area, although it's a while since I've been through that end of town, so I'll happily stand corrected on that if I'm wrong.
 
Which bus stop should I get off at? Which one of these is the city centre?

Manchester, Chorlton Street
Oxford Road, All Saints
University of Manchester, Students Union
 
I don't know! When I've taken the train to the Peaks, the windows have always been filthy so couldn't see out of them! I like a nice double decker bus and would like to try out the bus.
 
miss direct said:
I don't know! When I've taken the train to the Peaks, the windows have always been filthy so couldn't see out of them! I like a nice double decker bus and would like to try out the bus.
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I've not been on that route for a while but in the last couple of years a lot of the rolling stock has improved in the north, I doubt very much you will be on a dirty Pacer these days. But if you like buses, go for it - I'd always much rather get the train, can't cope with long journeys on a bus.
 
miss direct said:
Which bus stop should I get off at? Which one of these is the city centre?

Manchester, Chorlton Street
Oxford Road, All Saints
University of Manchester, Students Union
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Manchester Chorlton Street is the coach station in the city centre.

Although University of Manchester Students Union is a three minute walk to Manchester Museum, which is situated within the university campus area.
 
I shall be spending an afternoon/night in Manchester next Wednesday, apart from going to the Hacienda a cpl of times 30 years ago I've never been.

I know there's thread about a day in Manchester miss direct posted, some good stuff on there. However I'm not interested in museums or anything.

But I do fancy spending the afternoon/early evening sitting somewhere with a drink or 2 and something to eat and to people watch, then somewhere to maybe consider for a drink that night too. I'm staying on Auburn St so know it's close to Canal St, Gay Village and Chinatown etc. are they good places to just roam about and take Manchester in?

No intention of drinking or eating indoors, but obvs have no idea of where may be good to hang out.

Can anyone recommend anything for Comrade Numbers?
 
The gay village or the northern quarter have a decent amount of outside seating, but guess there are lots of places with tables on the pavement and stuff. There's Mr Thomas's Chop House on Cross Street with a tables at the back looking over towards St Annes Square. They'll be some places down in Castlefield too I guess.
 
My friend's in Manchester took me to the gay village and I loved it. Obviously not all gay people and some excellent people watching :cool: they did suggest I use the women's toilets :D but I am not that bothered.

Can't recall pub names (likely a lot have changed) but loads of choice.
 
Badgers said:
My friend's in Manchester took me to the gay village and I loved it. Obviously not all gay people and some excellent people watching :cool: they did suggest I use the women's toilets :D but I am not that bothered.

Can't recall pub names (likely a lot have changed) but loads of choice.
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I went up to Manchester years ago to visit a mate - he took us to the gay village which was ace, it was hilarious watching the uptight lads gripping their girlfriend's hands as they were worried about the gays losing control :D
 
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One of the boys in work said to check out The Liars Club because I'll likely hear Reggae and will most certainly be able to drink Rum or is this tiki a bit tacky?

I'll be on me own so am easy.
 
My favourite bar for sitting and people watching in is The Refuge on Oxford Road which is a glorious old hotel bar which was beautifully refurbished a few years ago. It is indoors, but has very high ceilings and plenty of space. Drinks and food are both very nice, a bit more expensive than average but not eye-watering.

If you need to be outdoors, half the northern quarter has been closed off to traffic, and there's loads of outdoor seating shared between all the bars. There's a load around Eastern Bloc, and a load more on Thomas Street. All the bars round there have a decent range, and the atmosphere has always been chilled & buzzing whenever I've been there.

I'll give it some thought and see if anything else occurs...
 
marty21 said:
I went up to Manchester years ago to visit a mate - he took us to the gay village which was ace, it was hilarious watching the uptight lads gripping their girlfriend's hands as they were worried about the gays losing control :D
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:D
 
killer b said:
My favourite bar for sitting and people watching in is The Refuge on Oxford Road which is a glorious old hotel bar which was beautifully refurbished a few years ago. It is indoors, but has very high ceilings and plenty of space. Drinks and food are both very nice, a bit more expensive than average but not eye-watering.

If you need to be outdoors, half the northern quarter has been closed off to traffic, and there's loads of outdoor seating shared between all the bars. There's a load around Eastern Bloc, and a load more on Thomas Street. All the bars round there have a decent range, and the atmosphere has always been chilled & buzzing whenever I've been there.

I'll give it some thought and see if anything else occurs...
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The Refuge looks glorious definitely, some lovely food but more the kind of place I'd prefer to go to with Mrs Numbers rather than on my own.
 
Numbers said:
The Refuge looks glorious definitely, some lovely food but more the kind of place I'd prefer to go to with Mrs Numbers rather than on my own.
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Its a favourite rainy Saturday afternoon haunt for me and Mrs b (or was in the before times anyway) - we'd settle in with newspapers and watch the people come and go. She'd have cocktails, I'd have tea. Sometimes they have a dj too. Really nice.
 
killer b said:
Its a favourite rainy Saturday afternoon haunt for me and Mrs b (or was in the before times anyway) - we'd settle in with newspapers and watch the people come and go. She'd have cocktails, I'd have tea. Sometimes they have a dj too. Really nice.
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That sounds lovely mate, the kind of thing we love doing.

Don’t worry about thinking about places, I’ll just mozy about, I have about 4 hours in the afternoon + then free all night from about 10 so have plenty of time to just meander.
 
if you're looking for something to do in manc and have free time in the day, I strongly recommend you go to the Derek Jarman exhibition at the City Gallery btw - it's the best exhibition I've been to in years: the work is exceptional, but the story it weaves of the late 20th century punk/queer counterculture is totally fascinating too. reckon you'll be right into it.
 
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