As I type these words into the mini-keyboard on my Blackberry (I really do love to combine travel and writing), I cannot help but feel amazed that I have not written about the Woodhead Pass before. The reason I am so surprised at myself is…Read More

As I type these words into the mini-keyboard on my Blackberry (I really do love to combine travel and writing), I cannot help but feel amazed that I have not written about the Woodhead Pass before. The reason I am so surprised at myself is that it is a route I have travelled scores of time in my life and which I follow every time I return home to the UK. It crosses the Pennines, the range of hills that run like a spine down the centre of England, and links the cities of Sheffield and Manchester. Not only is it an important way of linking two major British cities, but it also provides some absolutely wonderful scenery and serves to remind me that no matter where I am returning from, there is plenty to appreciate close to home.

Even though Woodhead links two of the largest cities in the North of England, it is no great highway. Unlike the M62, which crosses the Pennines further North and links Liverpool, Leeds and Hull, Woodhead is a one-lane road that winds through the hills. At both ends, it begins in rather mundane style with modern dual- carriageways and motorways. However, in between when the road hits the hills, it is truly beautiful.

As I usually experience Woodhead from the Manchester side first, I will begin my description from that trajectory. After leaving the thick tarmac of the M57, the route begins in the small village of Tintwhistle. This part of the journey is famed for its horrendous traffic congestion and for the cute little houses that make up the village. The majority of the houses are the former cottages of textile workers who used to work in the mills. They are small and made from stone taken from the hills around the village. As cute as Tintwhistle is, there is little reason to linger. The better parts of the journey come when the road leaves humanity and heads into wilderness - or the nearest to wilderness that England has to offer.

After Tintwhistle, Woodhead passes through the foothills of the Pennines. These are dotted with the occasional cottage and plenty of trees. There are also two or three large reservoirs that hold much of the North of England's drinking water. They are very pretty in themselves. They sit at the bottom of rolling valleys and the dark waters contrast beautifully with the green of the hills. However, as nice as they are, I enjoy them more as natural barometers. The water levels and state of the surrounding area show the type of weather the UK has been experiencing. In the summer, the waters are often frighteningly low and the earth is ringed at the levels from which it has receded. This creates a wonderful effect of colours - light at the top grading down to dark just above the water-level. In winter, things are different. The water is often just inches from the level of the road after heavy rainfall. The area also highlights climate change problems as the UK faces increasing problems with both drought and floods, which can be seen in both winter and summer.

Once past the reservoirs, you move onto the Penines themselves. On a basic level, these hills are imposing - though they could not be described as mountains - and roll for miles in all directions. However, their greatest strength is their transformative abilities. In summer, they are lush and green and unbelievably inviting for anyone interested in hiking. In the winter, when the snows descend - I often see this when I return at Christmas - the landscape is harsh and bleak taking an almost minimalist feel with white land and grey skies punctuated by the occasional dark and skeletal tree. In the spring, the whole area takes on a wonderful flush of colour as the heather that covers many of the hills blooms purple. And, finally, in autumn, everything is a wonderful brown/orange as the heather and wild grasses begin to die for the winter.

I many ways, Woodhead is merely a road that takes me home for the holidays. However, it is also a fantastic drive across some beautiful countryside.Close

We'd returned to Salford in the Greater Manchester area after a week in sunny Rome. Back to reality, back to overcast skies and drizzle most of the week but that's ok. We spent some of the week hanging out with friends, seeing a couple of…Read More

We'd returned to Salford in the Greater Manchester area after a week in sunny Rome. Back to reality, back to overcast skies and drizzle most of the week but that's ok. We spent some of the week hanging out with friends, seeing a couple of local museums, shopping, and we did a couple of road trips.

Early in the week was a meal out in a country pub in Cheshire, the Lighthouse.
We visited the Imperial War Museum on another morning and the John Rylands Library in the city center on another afternoon. Shopping at the Trafford Center was on the books for another of the days.

On Thursday we decided to go to York, one of our favourite cities but it turned out to be a disappointing visit. We had in mind a visit to the Yorvik Viking Centre/Exhibition which I'd never seen but heard good things about. Mind you, that was some time ago now. Things had changed.

We used one of the Park and Ride lots which worked really well. You park for free and buy a return ticket on a shuttle bus that goes into the city centre. We did that and got off at the stop nearest the grand York Minster. But, it was closed because it was being used for a university graduation. We went into the church next to the Minster, St. Michael le Belfry which was a nice little church. It also happens to be the one where Guy Fawkes, he of the Gunpowder Plot, was christened. Some nice stained glass in the church.

We decided to have lunch before the Viking museum and found a nice pub, the Golden Lion and we did enjoy that. We chatted to a couple sitting next to us about Canada as they wanted to go on a vacation there sometime.

When I finished lunch, I went outside to take a photo of the pub but the camera was acting funny. First it displayed a nearly black screen, and then it would not let me take a photo and gave me a "memory card error". I tried turning it off and on, taking the card out, using a different card, resetting the camera, everything I could think of. Very Bad Thing: My camera, just a few months old, seems to be buggered. That's going back to the shop as soon as I get home. Graham had his camera which is one of my old ones so he kindly handed that over so I could use it.

We made our way to the Yorvik Viking centre but in spite of hearing good things about it from people that have been there in the (distant) past, including Graham, it's changed and has been sanitized and we were quite disappointed over all (review to follow). What next? We just walked a bit and decided that was enough, made our way back to the bus stop and then to the Park and Ride to get the car. Basically we went to York for lunch.

The next day we headed to Sunderland for an overnight visit with friends. We took the scenic route through the Yorkshire Dales National Park which was great! It was misty and foggy and it added to the remoteness of much of the countryside. We stopped in the market town of Hawes for a meal at the White Hart Inn which we enjoyed and got to Sunderland about teatime. We had a quick drink at a seaside pub, just around the corner from where our friends live, and then enjoyed a really good meal at Jayelle's cafe next door. (review included).

The next day was sunny, yay! We started off the day with bacon sandwiches and drove down to the North York Moors National Park where we planned to visit the ruins of Rievaulx Abbey. We'd seen it on a tv documentary earlier in the week and Google told us it was not that far from where we would be so that's where we headed. It's in a little valley down a narrow road. The cafe was excellent for lunch and we spent a few happy hours exploring with the aid of an audio guide. Very much worth visiting!

We got home on Saturday evening and on Sunday, took in the Manchester Christmas markets which were crowded but I did enjoy seeing them.

I flew home on Monday but am already planning another quick visit in January to attend an event and see my sweetie once again!Close

We spent a lovely September afternoon cycling from Morecambe to Lancaster and back. The entire route is just over 11 miles and is a great family friendly thing to do.We parked our car on Morecambe Promenade - there were plenty of spaces and it…Read More

We spent a lovely September afternoon cycling from Morecambe to Lancaster and back. The entire route is just over 11 miles and is a great family friendly thing to do.

We parked our car on Morecambe Promenade - there were plenty of spaces and it was free to park. We hired bikes from Sunshine Cycle Hire. It is just inside Coopers Amusements on Marine Road West in Morecambe. It cost us £12.00 for half a day, the bikes were in reasonable condition and we got cycle maps.

We started off cycling along the Promenade at Morecambe. The town itself is a little tired and run down, but the promenade is lovely. It is very popular with cyclists and you get the most wonderful views across Morecambe Bay to the hills of the Lake District beyond. There are some interesting things to watch out for on the Promenade. The first is the beautiful Midland Hotel, a wonderful Art Deco building with a great restaurant overlooking the sea at the back. The statue of Eric Morecambe, the famous UK comedian is next, then right at the end of the promenade, the statue of Venus and Cupid.

At this point, you leave the promenade, cross a road and cycle up a steepish hill on the cycle lane at the side of the main road. The cycling path to Lancaster is well signed here, so just follow the signs which take you through a little cul de sac (Rushley Drive) then down onto the towpath of the Lancaster Canal.

This section of the cycle is lovely and peaceful. The scenery is completely different. As well as the canal, we saw lots of narrowboats and fields and farmland. Eventually you reach the Lancaster Aqueduct. This is interesting because you cycle right over the top of the River Lune on the aqueduct. It was built, intending to link this canal into a wider canal network, but cost so much money, they could not afford to build the next one.

The next part of the cycle takes you along the River Lune Millennium Park and into Lancaster. You get some great views of the city skyline and the Millennium Bridge. This was opened in February 2001 and was the first new crossing point over the River Lune since 1846. Its design pays homage to the maritime past of Lancaster.

There are a couple of bars/restaurants along the side of the Millennium Bridge which do not take you much out of your way. We stopped at one of these for some much needed refreshments.

The last part of the cycle back to Morecambe takes you along the Lancaster Morecambe Greenway. This is probably the least scenic section and least interesting. It is a flat track which goes mostly between housing estates so there is very little to see. It does get you back quickly to Morecambe though.

This is a great cycle ride and very suitable for families. There is a lot of variety with seaside views, canals, fields and farmlands as well as historic Lancaster. It is almost all on traffic free cycle tracks and apart from one climb is entirely flat. We did not find it difficult and our 9 year old loved the whole afternoon.Close

I was planning ahead a long time for the latest of my ‘Firsts for 2012’ – in fact I booked the tickets last year. In the bizarre lottery of buying Olympic tickets, we only managed to get football tickets. Of course we didn’t realize at…Read More

I was planning ahead a long time for the latest of my ‘Firsts for 2012’ – in fact I booked the tickets last year. In the bizarre lottery of buying Olympic tickets, we only managed to get football tickets. Of course we didn’t realize at the time that everyone who wanted them got football tickets and indeed I think they were still available just a few days before the games started. This classifies as a ‘first’ on two counts – the first time in our lives that the UK has hosted the Olympics and, in my husband’s case, the first time he’d been to a ‘proper’ football match. I say ‘proper’ since you can’t live in the UK and not see football all around you. A ‘proper’ match means one in a big stadium and not in the park with kit bags for goal posts.

We got three sets of tickets – all for Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United. I’ve been before to Old Trafford as well as to a couple of other UK or international stadiums but for Tony this was an absolute first. He was more excited than a kid at Christmas. Sadly we missed our first game – USA versus North Korea in the women’s tournament due to a family medical emergency. With the emergency looking a little less critical, we made it to our second match, a men’s match between Spain and Morocco.

The most important thing to know about the Olympic football tournament is that you won’t see the same national teams who take part in the World Cup or European Cup tournaments. Olympic football is an age-restricted game with the squads comprising players under 23 years old. Just three ‘over aged’ players are allowed though to call them such when they’re only a few years older rather implies they’re sending pensioners onto the pitch. The Spanish senior team is widely considered one of the best teams of all time and has won two European and one World Cup in succession. This should have been a great game. Their Moroccan opponents could be expected to want a good game, and to enjoy a bit of a fight with their neighbours. Unfortunately for us, by the time they came to play for us, it was clear that neither team was progressing beyond the group stages so there was nothing to play for.

We arrived very early. We’re novices and we didn’t want to risk missing the beginning and we’d heard lots of stories about extreme security. We didn’t want to be standing in a line whilst the fun was going on somewhere else. The company I work for has a factory about 20 minutes walk from the stadium so I arranged to leave the car there and walk to the ground. I asked one of the guys in the office how to get there and he told me – quite correctly – to just follow everyone else. He also added that there would be lots of volunteers standing around waving us in the right direction.

The closer you get the more intense the wave of human traffic becomes. We said hello and smiled at all the police that we passed. I figure not many people do and my husband likes to be nice to the police because they keep him in work (he’s a prison officer). As we got close to the stadium people were distributing plastic bags for us to put our belongings into. Anyone with a bag – I had my camera case – had to go to a table for a security check. I emptied the bag, showed the security guy what was in it, and he then sealed it in a big transparent plastic bag. This is not standard behaviour at a football match, but for the Olympics we are all too well aware that there are people who’d love to make a point with an attack, just as happened in Munich 40 years ago.
By the time we’d found our entrance, been given a rub-down search, and had my bag returned to me, we were still nearly an hour before the game was due to start. My husband didn’t care – he was so over-awed by being in Old Trafford and was looking around to take everything in. Large screens in the corners of the ground were showing Olympic news from earlier in the day and an enormous cheer went up for the medal ceremony for Bradley Wiggins who had just won UK’s second gold medal.

The teams came on to warm up for a long while before heading off and getting ready for their entrance. Children carrying the two flags of the competing nations led them in and the teams lined up for the national anthems. Perhaps it says a lot about my ignorance but more likely about the rarity of gold medals for Spain but I didn’t recognise their national anthem at all. I hadn’t expected to recognise Morocco’s but it was certainly the more appealing of the two tunes.

The teams kicked off at 5 pm and the crowd was soon less than impressed with the standards. There were pods of Moroccan or Spanish fans but most of us had bought the tickets without knowing who we would see so there was no great sense of excitement about the game. About 15 minutes in a Mexican wave started and managed to get round the stadium 6 times before dying out to loud boos from those who’s found it more interesting than the game. Neither side seemed to be particularly committed to the game and the standard – considering they were national teams – was pretty pitiful. Each team had one or two outstanding players and rather a lot of distinctly second rate men doing little more than running around trying to look busy.

Shortly before half time it started to rain and in Manchester when it rains it REALLY rains. We were already very happy with our seats but realised just how good they were when most of the people below us started heading up the stand to try to escape the rain. We’d bought seats in the second price band and didn’t get wet, whilst those in the expensive seats were soaked. At one point a powerful jet of water started to spurt from the corner of the stadium where the guttering was presumably blocked or just unable to deal with the volume of water.

The sodden pitch meant things were a bit tricky for the players in the second half but did enable us all to enjoy watching them get absolutely sodden which felt like partial payback for their lack of effort. The game eventually ended as a goalless draw, the worst and most frustrating of possible scores.

The attendance for the game was over thirty five thousand people or roughly half the capacity of the stadium. Since I grew up in a city with a population around that size, I found it incredible that so many people could be squeezed into such a small space. Football pitches always look smaller in real life than on television and crowds somehow seem smaller. We let the first wave of departing attendees clear before we headed out of the stadium and back to our car. The game had been nothing special but we’d enjoyed the atmosphere and the chance in our own small way to be a part of the Olympic experience. We’ll be back on Saturday for another match between Japan and Egypt – I’m just wondering how many Japanese and Egyptian fans they can drum up and if the teams will try a bit harder.
Close

We lived in Manchester in the late 1990s for close to a year and although I wouldn't say I was actively miserable most of the time, it certainly was one of least favourite periods in my life. Hey, I really didn't like Manchester. Yes,…Read More

We lived in Manchester in the late 1990s for close to a year and although I wouldn't say I was actively miserable most of the time, it certainly was one of least favourite periods in my life. Hey, I really didn't like Manchester.

Yes, it had the big-city buzz, a thriving Gay Village, clubs, restaurants and high culture of quality at prices much lower than London's, but in all honesty, none of it made up for the fact that the place was grim and grey in more than one way. If you are a local with a Mancunian connection, or if you develop one through your university years (Manchester has a huge student population), you will likely grow to like it, as the social factor is pretty good. As a married incomer in my late 20s I found that the minuses outweighed the pluses by miles.

Manchester shares the weather conditions with much of the west coast of Britain - which means it rains a lot and it's cloudy even more - without any of the redeeming features coastal or rural locations have. It is a little like that city in Blade Runner - or maybe we were unlucky - but I felt that as you pass Leeds on M62 driving west you enter a permanent cloud that is simply always there, Manchester sitting under it like a soggy puffball. One of the reasons cotton industry took off in Manchester is the moisture levels in the air!

Now, I cannot comment on the massive urban regeneration project in Salford (technically a separate city north of Manchester but for all purposes part of the same place, with a continuing urban fabric in between) which resulted in the Salford Quays development, notable for its modern architecture, the Lowry centre and Imperial War Museum North as I have not visited that complex. From what I can gather this alone makes Manchester (or Salford, rather) a place that should be placed on any itinerary that covers the North of England. My (not particularly ancient) memories of Salford are of depopulated streets of redbrick terraces, going to seed, and rows of newer council houses, burned out and boarded up, as seen from the bus I took daily to work from where we lived towards Bury to the centre of Manchester.

The huge urban regeneration project that followed the IRA bombing of the Arandale centre in 1997 has been universally hailed as a success, but I don't really like ''urban regeneration projects'' (unless grand public buildings are created, then it doesn't matter) and often find such areas soulless and rather fake. And thus with the re-glazed an re-built Exchange Square and, by extension, Mancunian celebrated ''Northern Quarter'' (originally a rag-trade district). But as time progresses, reality tends to colonise such spaces and I have a feeling that twenty-thirty years hence it will be what it was envisaged as: a post-industrial, urban area full of varied human life (but with perhaps less hype).

The old centre of the city has some interest, and a little beauty. Manchester's cathedral is nothing spectacular but not bad either, while the massive edifice of the Victorian Town Hall is a true testament to the mindset of the Victorian capitalists, the same ones who owned mills described so devastatingly in Engels' ''Conditions of the Working Classes in England''. Call me a spoilsport, but for me the Mancunian pavements, alleyways and walls still oozed the sweat, tears and misery of those who toiled here at the height of the Empire, the powerhouse of the world which barely gave its own people crumbs from the table. The Library is an expression of a more edifying Victorian sentiment, and still a handsome building, with a domed reading room and round galleries.

Castlefield is another gentrified-by-design location with fake cobbles and fake cast iron, but the Museum of Science and Industry there located is a definite must see for anybody with even a smidgen of interest in the social history or industrial development.

Overall, Manchester is a city for doing things ore than for just ''being in' and its in its entertainment (and to some extent food) options that its attraction lies.Close

Overall, Manchester is a city for doing things ore than for just ''being in' and its in its entertainment (and to some extent food) options that its attraction lies.The Bridgewater Hall, home of the Halle, the North's best orchestra, and if you have…Read More

Overall, Manchester is a city for doing things ore than for just ''being in' and its in its entertainment (and to some extent food) options that its attraction lies.


The Bridgewater Hall, home of the Halle, the North's best orchestra, and if you have a chance and inclination, do go and see them at their home ground.

And of course the clubbing/pop scene in Manchester, even if lacking the heady qualities of the Hacienda days, is still second to only London's.

Football fans will want to see the hallowed ground of Old Trafford (to either worship or sneer depending on their attitude to the biggest of the football brands, Manchester United). This is a tram ride away, and has a museum and tours (but no chance to see a game).

Mancunians themselves are inordinately proud of the monstrous, shopping mall called Trafford Centre, located on the outskirts of the city. You can even marry there - and some people apparently do!

Manchester's Chinatown is the biggest in the UK, and very central, with some good affordable oriental food on offer (not just Chinese but Malaysian, Thai and Indonesian too).

The ethnic food to eat in Manchester is curry - although not as famous and fabled for its Indian restaurants as Bradford, Manchester easily stand its own ground here. Rusholme is the curry Mecca (out in the southern area of the city) though there are curry options all over the city.

The cafes and pubs of the Gay Village by the Rochdale canal are perhaps the best place for a lunch/brunch in self-consciously funky but enjoyable location. Northern Quarter is big on pubs and cafes too.

Local foods of note include the famous Bury black puddings (go to Bury market for this - and pop into a fantastic sausage shop there if it's still operational) as well as the Eccles cake, a delectable round flaky pastry filled with spicy currant and raisin mixture. Harry Ramsden, now the UK-wide chain of fish and chip shops, originated in Manchester and still has its flagship store there (??? check). Close

Whatever one feels about Manchester as a place to live or even visit, it's undoubtedly a great base for visiting quite a few other attractive - or at least interesting - destinations in the region. Road links are plentiful and public transport - including rail…Read More

Whatever one feels about Manchester as a place to live or even visit, it's undoubtedly a great base for visiting quite a few other attractive - or at least interesting - destinations in the region. Road links are plentiful and public transport - including rail - quite surprisingly good in this populated and industrialised region of England.

Among the most obvious destinations for day trips from Manchester are:

-- Liverpool. This is the other great city of the North West and although it has as much of a dark side as Manchester does, it has, perhaps, more redeeming features of which the greatest is it's location nearer to the sea. Even if you don't want to partake in the Beatles heritage industry, Liverpool's maritime heritage and handsomely regenerated areas are worth a look.

-- Chester. An ancient town (technically a city, I think, but not a big one) on the Welsh border going back to Roman times, it has a charming if twee centre full of half-timbered buildings, a fantastic circle of medieval walls surrounding the city centre - the best walk in town, Roman remains including a hypocaust (central heating system), one of those brilliantly impressive English cathedrals, a hymn soaring into the sky and an ornate, ugly and very popular Victorian Jubilee clock to take a picture of yourself under.

-- The Peak District. Astonishingly close to the sprawl of Manchester, the expanses of the Peaks (there are two, the Dark one and the White one, and quite different they are too) give a fantastic opportunity for some good hill walking, taking in the landscapes of ancient hills, moody moors and weathered rock formations. The popular long-distance path of the Pennine Way starts in the small hamlet of Edale (which can be reached from Manchester by train) but there are plenty other attractive walks in the area.

Further out, but doable if you have a car at your disposal, are the Welsh mountains of Snowdonia (we did Snowdon from Manchester as a day trip), the Forest of Bowland and even the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales.

Close

I am fortunate enough to have a well above average income in the UK, but even I balk at the price of attending some music festival tickets these days. So when I spotted a full day's entertainment in nearby Manchester with over 60 bands playing…Read More

I am fortunate enough to have a well above average income in the UK, but even I balk at the price of attending some music festival tickets these days. So when I spotted a full day's entertainment in nearby Manchester with over 60 bands playing at 5 venues for just £20, I jumped at the chance.

Obviously at this kind of price you aren't going to see the real top acts of the moment, but you do get a chance to spot the next up and coming artist a year or two before the masses. The headline acts this year were The Drums, Pulled Apart By Horses, and the wonderful Willy Mason. Previous Dot to Dot festivals have showcased the talents of the likes of Mumford and Sons and Florence and the Machine. You also occasionally get chance to see what happened to some of the "next big things" of yesteryear assuming they didn't make it big; still plugging away hoping for that break.

Dot to Dot Music Festival has been going for seven years, and has now extended to a weekend of events jumping from UK city to city each day. This year saw the action in Bristol, Nottingham and the third day in Manchester. Wall to wall music is available from around 2 pm until past 3 am the following morning.

I first went to music gigs over 30 years ago, and you might think that someone of my advanced years might look and feel uncomfortable in such a throng. Fortunately it helps that I've never dressed particularly "old" having never moved much beyond that student scruffy Goth look of the early 1980’s – all of a sudden it's back in fashion yey!

It also helps that a significant minority of Dot to Dot fans are in their 30's, 40's and beyond. It seems the days of "acting your age" are behind us.

There are disadvantages to being an older Dot to Dot attendee however. First, we laughed long and loud at the thought of being on our feet wandering from venue to venue for 13 hours solid. We chopped a couple of hours off the beginning and end, missing some of the smaller bands.

Second, we had the grace to realise that 5 young skinny people could watch the band in place of 2 people my size in the Sound Control Basement Club (even assuming we could squeeze through the throng of folks at the entrance without causing a life threatening crush). Instead we rested our legs at the other side of the bar and listened.

Third, it seems that the "bombs" of plastic glasses of water, beer or urine thrown across a crowded hall of revellers upset older folk than it does the kids. Mind you, the pair of stunningly clean cut and fresh faced teenage lads didn't look too happy as they took the full force of a "bomb" of urine, helpfully deflecting the flow entirely from yours truly in the HMV Ritz.

I just try to remember that urine is a sterile liquid and most teenagers probably haven't been up to the naughty activities that might lead to hepatitis. If you want to avoid the risk of leaving the venue smelling of someone else's urine you can obviously just stay at the back of the hall. However, where's the fun in that?

It's also worth mentioning the diversity of the music; I tend to like a mix of music, so appreciate that the experience of others might be different. If your musical choice tends towards the metal end, then bands like Turbowolf were there for you; if you like rock folk then the likes of Lucy Rose and Willy Mason would also keep you happy.

So that's Dot to Dot in a nutshell; enough to keep the most demanding musio happy, price keen enough for a miser, and enough variety for the oldest hipster to enjoy. Look out for Dot to Dot 2013 early next summer.
Close

Manchester's Northern Quarter is well worth a look round even if you don't have any particular objective; you will find something to interest you before too long. No wonder the area is on UNESCO’s World Heritage Site long list. Coming from a town of grand…Read More

Manchester's Northern Quarter is well worth a look round even if you don't have any particular objective; you will find something to interest you before too long. No wonder the area is on UNESCO’s World Heritage Site long list.

Coming from a town of grand Victorian stone buildings, the red brick splendour of Manchester's back streets are always interesting to me, and I particularly like spotting some formerly grand building now being used as a tattooist parlour and sleazy Thai Massage emporium or such like. The Northern Quarter is an area of old factory and shop buildings, with a mix of traditional terraced housing.

The Northern quarter isn't a gentrified place although it has a certain cool buzz. In and amongst the stylish bars and restaurants you will find grubby sex shops, down at heel clothes shops and the clients for each rubbing shoulders with some cool handsome young dude (like me lol).

The area particularly comes to life in the evening and weekend, so a morning trip may leave you scratching your head and wondering what the fuss is as you wander amongst the graffiti strewn shuttered shops and bars. It is this mix of life, styles and wealth that particularly attracts me to the place.

The Northern Quarter is also the place for shopping for alternative or cheap items; in particular there seems to be a glut of wholesale hair product stores; perfect if you want to nip in for a bargain tub of hair wax or vat of nice shampoo at around half price you might pay for it in your own hair salon. I always focus on the book and comic shops and fairly often come back with some kind of wacky read to entertain me for a few hours; the Encyclopaedia of Russian Criminal Tattoos found its way to my home via this route.

Likewise, there is a good supply of record stores selling both obscure new music and a good range of second hand stuff. While there are few bargains to be had, at least you might well find something to interest you. I also like some of the boutique clothes shops selling great modern style clothes and shoes, albeit at a price. I always think life is so unfair; when I had the face and figure for such items I never had the money; I now live in the opposite dimension.

So, wander round the Northern Quarter with an open mind; it may not be your place, but if you are like me, you will find yourself going back on monthly trips just to explore a few more back streets or revisit some former discovery.
Close

After a hard days shopping at the Trafford Centre in Manchester, you’ll probably want to treat yourself to something to eat. Whether you want a quick bite, some home cooking or a more formal sit down meal, there is so much to choose from that…Read More

After a hard days shopping at the Trafford Centre in Manchester, you’ll probably want to treat yourself to something to eat. Whether you want a quick bite, some home cooking or a more formal sit down meal, there is so much to choose from that it’s hard to decide!

The main place to go is The Orient which is in the centre of the shopping mall at the front. The Orient is designed like the deck of ship with lots of features like a swimming pool in the middle and ropes around the edges. It also has a ceiling that is designed to reflect the sky outside; it is light blue with clouds during the day and it turns to a darker blue with glittering stars as it gets dark outside. It is quite a pleasant place to eat on the hole. On the ground floor, the edges are lined with fast food shops, including McDonalds, KFC, Harry Ramsden’s (fish and chips), Subway, a pizza place, a Chinese and an Indian. The centre of the ground floor is filled with tables. There are hundreds of places to sit although it does get very busy at lunch and dinner time, so it is worth eating outside of these times if you can.

Upstairs there are a number of restaurants where you can eat in. There is a lovely Thai buffet restaurant called Chaobaby where you can get very good food and friendly service for £15.85 per person. There are a lot of chain restaurants up here including Exchange Bar and Grill, TGI Fridays, La Tasca, Pizza Express and Cafe Rouge. With pretty much all nationalities of food covered there is something for everybody. The busiest tends to be Pizza Express which almost always has a long queue to sit down. All budgets are covered as well and you can get some good deals if you eat a little bit earlier –Exchange Bar and Grill does a good two course set menu for £9.95 if you dine before 6pm.

Throughout the shopping halls of the Trafford Centre, there are lots of coffee bars to take a break in. I find that they are conveniently spaced so you are never too far away from a nice break. There are also a number of department stores that have cafes inside them. At either end of the centre is Debenhams and John Lewis, both of which have restaurants offering traditional English meals. In the centre of the mall is Selfridges, which has a couple of dining options. You can choose something from their fresh food counters to take away or you can sit down at Yo Sushi!, which is a very popular choice and generally has a queue.

Just outside the entrance to The Orient is Frankie and Benny’s, where you can get a breakfast before the Trafford Centre opens, or you can get lunch and dinner later on. Again they have some good deals if you dine earlier on.

So, like I said, there is no shortage of choice at the Trafford Centre, whatever your taste or budget – the only problem is deciding which option you are going to go for!
Close