As Ian Brown of The Stone Roses put it, Manchester has everything but a beach. Famed for its cultural output, year upon year students flock to Manchester to explore the ‘heart of the North’.
The city centre is home to a host of cheap and cheerful clubs – be that FAC251, where now-infamous ‘Factory Thursdays’ take place, or indie club 42nd Street, where Oasis tracks are washed down with 90p jägerbombs.
Venturing out of the city centre, the intrepid clubber may come across The White Hotel, a repurposed warehouse on an industrial estate in Salford. Since its opening a few years ago, The White Hotel has shown itself to be one of the UK’s most exciting new venues, hosting a plethora of up and coming DJ’s, in addition to headline nights by electronic music heavyweights.
As goes without saying, dancing to 140bpm techno is not everybody’s cup of tea, but fear not, as Manchester has something for everyone. For the more culinary-inclined, Mackie Mayor is a food hall based in a grade II listed building on the outskirts of the city’s vibrant Northern Quarter, where you can eat everything from wood-fired pizza to Taiwanese steamed buns.
Also situated in the Northern Quarter is Afflecks Palace, a self-titled ‘emporium of eclecticism’, where independent traders sell customised clothing, vintage furnishings and much more. With four floors of one-off treasures, if you need an excuse to neglect university work, spending an afternoon supporting local business in Afflecks is a good one.
Another Manchester student haunt that must be mentioned is YES, a multi-purpose venue on Charles Street which has a basement club, a stage for gigs, roof terrace and street food kitchen all in one building. With half priced pizza slices until 7pm, and pints for under £3, it’s hard to say no.
Throughout Manchester, prices are catered towards students, and nowhere is this more apparent than at HOME, a centre of contemporary theatre, art and film, located near Deansgate Locks. Students receive discounted tickets on all events, giving all the more reason to immerse oneself in local and international art – be it listening to an oral history of Joy Division, or attending a Spanish and Latin American festival hosted under its rafters.
In addition to these wonderful distractions, Manchester is home to some great places to get your head down and do some work. Aside from the university facilities, the city centre is home to two public libraries – Manchester Central Library, and John Rylands library, both located in beautiful period buildings.
With five universities in Manchester, every year thousands of students choose to make this bustling cosmopolitan their home. And with all this on their doorstep, rightly so!
Written By: Ollie J
