I’ve lived in Manchester my whole life, but I still find there’s always loads of new stuff to discover! So last week, I decided to take a few hours off and head into the city for a mooch round with my other half. We headed for the area around King Street as there’s a mix of shops, bars and restaurants plus a few places I’d not visited before and wanted to see. If you’re a tourist, there are some really nice hotels in Manchester, and especially in this part of town you won’t be short for choice.
There’s a lot of grand architecture with several listed buildings and it is considered the more upmarket shopping area of Manchester. Here I’m standing in front of the restaurant ‘Grand Pacific’ which is located in one of those impressive buildings around King Street and has a beautifully appointed interior – if you love the glamour of the 20s and 30s era, you’ll probably want to visit.
First off though, we stopped off at King Street Town House, a hotel I hadn’t visited before. We popped into their Town House Tavern restaurant for a morning coffee. The hotel’s style is very cosy, chic and inviting with lots of nostalgic charm.
I’d been thinking about what I’d do as a tourist visiting Manchester and staying in this vicinity, perhaps for a day or two. A pamper treat is something I always enjoy when on a mini-break, so I thought I’d book myself in for a treatment nearby and got my nails done at Nailista along nearby Police Street, a light and airy nail salon with plenty of nail colours to choose from! It took about 45 minutes to get my stylish ‘2 week on shoot’ manicure.
There are some really nice high end stores around the King Street area and also familiar names such as The White Company, Mint Velvet, Fat Face, Space NK etc. It’s only a short stroll to more shops, department stores and the Arndale Centre, if retail therapy is your thing. I couldn’t resist a little browse.
We decided to go to a tapas place on King Street for lunch – it’s somewhere we’ve been meaning to check out for ages, as I’d heard really good reports about the food. Elgato Negro Tapas didn’t disappoint. There was a great value lunch menu, with 3 delicious dishes for £15 which we both went for, so the 6 dishes between us really hit the spot. So tasty and filling.
I wanted to check out nearby Hotel Gotham, having never been inside. From the photos I’ve seen the interior looks amazing and very Art Deco and instagrammable. I thought we would be able to grab a cocktail in the bar, but unfortunately it is for the use of hotel guests only. Guess I’ll have to book a room there sometime to see it in person! They do deals from time to time so I’ll keep my eye out.
So instead, we walked a short way towards Spinningfields where I knew we’d get some fab views of the city from the terrace at 20 Stories. At least that’s what I hoped; it has been pretty misty in Manchester over recent days, but fortunately it was just clear enough to get a good perspective of the streets below, if things were a little on the grey side.
Another landmark building near here is the new Ivy Manchester. This brand new restaurant, set over three floors, recently had an unfortunate fire where the roof terrace restaurant is located. Such a shame – it has only been open a few weeks and I was lucky enough to visit the roof space the first week it opened, before the fire. The lower floors are still open for business, though, and the brasserie on the ground floor, where we called in for a coffee, was absolutely buzzing. It’s glitzy and glam on the inside and very green and verdant on the outside – so another great venue if you’re ‘doing it for the ‘gram’. Delicious coffee, too.
Our day was soon at an end, but if you have more than a day in Manchester, you’d have time to check out some of the many other attractions and venues. Take your pick from places like the National Football Museum, catch a show from the larger theatres like the Opera House and Palace, or call into a smaller space such as the fantastic 53Two for entertainment. There’s fun to be had at Junkyard Golf, things to learn at the Science & Industry Museum, beautiful Art Galleries such as the Whitworth, the stunning central library – and a trip to the cool Northern Quarter is highly recommended, too. In fact, I think I need to do another one of these posts on a different part of the city soon!
Disclaimer: The spending money was gifted by Hotels.com, but all views are my own
© Copyright 2019 Antonia, All rights Reserved. Written For: Tidylife
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