Manchester's Finest

Manchester's Finest Discover Manchester and everything that makes this place remarkable // food, culture and more

Manchester’s Finest is an independent news platform, delivering creative content and experiences to Manchester and a wider audience. We aim to provide a service for the betterment of the Manchester ecology. Keep up to date with our latest articles and features with our weekly Newsletter... http://www.manchestersfinest.com/sign-up/

24/12/2025

ARABIC COFFEE, ‘A NATTER’ AND SOME OF GREATER MANCHESTER’S BEST SYRIAN AND LEBANESE FOOD

Sometimes food will take you off somewhere. Maybe it’s a spice that triggers a memory, or - and just stick with us for a minute here - maybe it’s something more than that, something a bit spiritual. Some direct connection to the source.

It might be nonsense. It probably is. But for whatever reason, we got it at Falafels And More, in Bury Market.

Owned and run by Seham and Ghassan, originally from Syria but who also spent many years in Lebanon, they bring family recipes to life at the tiny stall they’ve cooked in for seven years.

We’ve eaten a lot of falafel. But this was sensational.

To say it took us off somewhere else would be to understate it. Make a special journey. It’s worth it.

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⏰ Wed, Fri and Sat 9am-4.30pm
📍 Bury Market, Bury BL9 0QD
💰 Falafel wrap £5, kebabs from £6

23/12/2025

AN ALTERNATIVE CHRISTMAS WALK TAKING IN ROCHDALE’S STUNNING STREET ART AND MURAL TRAIL

If you're looking to blow away the cobwebs over Christmas, how about an alternative festive walk taking in some genuinely world class street art (and maybe a pub or two, too).

Paris, Berlin, London, Lisbon… and now Rochdale, which, thanks to this year's Common Walls Festival, has a wealth of stunning graffiti and street art, and it's all on our doorstep.

Rochdale-born artist AYLO curated the work from a host of renowned street artists from all around the world - including Insane 51, Smug One, ONUR, EPOD and Seca One, their work adorning walls across the town centre.

You can head out on the trail from the tram stop, taking in the 10 sites, with work around themes of climate change, music, immigration, the textile industry, suffrage and even Rochdale’s most famous daughter - the singer Gracie Fields.

It’s stunning - and just 20 minutes on the train from Victoria.

If you need a few ideas for pub and restaurant stops before, during or after, head to the LINK IN COMMENTS for our Rochdale recommendations.

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📍 Various locations, Rochdale Town Centre
💰 Free

The best things to do in Manchester for the next TWO weeks.Full list in comments 🔗
22/12/2025

The best things to do in Manchester for the next TWO weeks.

Full list in comments 🔗

21/12/2025

THE ECCLES COMMUNITY CHESS CLUB WITH TWO GRANDMASTERS AND PLAYERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Eccles isn’t perhaps the first place you think of when it comes to chess mastery. But in this pocket of Salford, there’s a club that’s seriously punching.

We met up with Barbara, one of the club’s founders, who’s helped grow this group of chess lovers from three people to more than 70, competing with and boasting players from all over the world.

They even have two grandmasters.

Whether you’re a seasoned player, or just keen to learn and meet some likeminded folk, the Eccles Community Chess Club is a joy.

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⏰ Open Wed 7pm-11.30pm, Ladies and Learners night on Mon from 6.30pm
📍 21 Church St, Eccles, Manchester M30 0DF

Here it is, the one you've been waiting for.Banish the New Year blues, support Manchester’s hospitality heroes and enjoy...
20/12/2025

Here it is, the one you've been waiting for.

Banish the New Year blues, support Manchester’s hospitality heroes and enjoy a mountain of offers at the best dining spots in the city.

These are just a few of the deals happening in January - to see the full list of 100 deals and venues, head to the link in our comments...

Manchester City Council has given planning approval to major regeneration plans for the long-vacant Chorlton Cross Shopp...
18/12/2025

Manchester City Council has given planning approval to major regeneration plans for the long-vacant Chorlton Cross Shopping Centre.

Developer PJ Livesey, working in partnership with the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, will deliver 262 apartments designed to include one, two and three-bedroom homes, each with access to outdoor space through balconies and gardens.

The scheme includes around 20 per cent affordable housing, with 18.5 per cent of these allocated for social rent, and approximately 3,500 sq metres of new public open space, including a fully walkable route along Manchester Road and outdoor seating areas aimed at 'encouraging people to stop and dwell'.

LINK IN COMMENTS for the full story...

The best January gigs and club nights in Manchester.Full list in comments 🔗
18/12/2025

The best January gigs and club nights in Manchester.

Full list in comments 🔗

17/12/2025

IS THIS THE MOST LUXURIOUS CURRY IN MANCHESTER?

Lobster tawa masala, marinated in exotic spices and served in the shell, with a bottle of chilled Dom Perignon?

If there’s a more opulent curry in Manchester, we’d like to hear about it.

And guess what. It’s not served in a swanky spot in Spinningfields, but at the much-loved neighbourhood curry house Chef Platters in Burnage.

Give Chef Akbar Singh 24 hours notice, and he’ll prepare you a range of luxury platters (serving up to four people) that you simply won’t find anywhere else, but might well be seeking out for this special time of the year.

If Dom Perignon isn’t your thing, you could also order a bottle of Japanese Yamazaki 12 Year single malt whisky, Hennessy X.O cognac, Johnnie Walker Blue Label, or even a Puligny-Montrachet 2019 burgundy to go with it.

Though you don’t have to go fancy.

You can just head over, order their viral naanwich and a pint of Kingfisher.

….

⏰ Mon-Thu 4pm-10.30pm, Fri-Sat 12pm-11pm, Sun 12pm-9pm
📍 199a Fog Lane, Manchester M20 6FJ
💰 Lobster Tawa masala £95, luxury platters starting at £45

From sultry masquerade balls to sober ice bath socials, via vast warehouse raves and fine dining feasts, here’s the very...
17/12/2025

From sultry masquerade balls to sober ice bath socials, via vast warehouse raves and fine dining feasts, here’s the very best of what’s happening across the city this New Year’s Eve.

Full list in the comments 🔗

16/12/2025

CONNI’S OPENS NEW BAKERY AND PIZZERIA IN SALFORD

Salfordians and Mancunians who know pizza know Conni's

Previously set up with a pizzeria and a bakery around the corner on Blackfriar’s Road, Francesco and his mum - Conni herself - and now his dad too have opened a new place, combining the bakery at the pizzeria in one of the smashing new units at Collier’s Yard.

There’s probably nowhere more Italian in the whole of Greater Manchester.

Oh, and the pizza, the cannoli, the focaccia, panuozzo sandwiches, the maritozzi, the Italian breakfasts? Buonissimo!

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⏰ 8am-3pm, 5pm-11pm daily
📍 Unit 4, 12 Bankside Blvd, Salford M3 7HW
💰 Pizza from £8.50, panuozzo from £10.90, breakfasts from £10.90

A new ‘island district’ is set to be developed in Manchester on the site of Pomona Island, after regeneration specialist...
16/12/2025

A new ‘island district’ is set to be developed in Manchester on the site of Pomona Island, after regeneration specialist Peel Waters submitted outline plans in an application to Trafford Council.

The proposal sets out a long-term vision to transform the under-used land between the Bridgewater Canal and the Manchester Ship Canal into ‘Manchester Waters’, a mixed-use waterfront neighbourhood featuring around 2,600 new homes and extensive green space.

Peel Waters, the development arm behind several major waterfront regeneration projects across the UK, says the plans will revitalise 25 acres of brownfield land, delivering a mix of affordable homes, build-to-rent properties, open-market apartments and housing designed for students, older residents and those requiring care.

The developer is part of a national programme of waterfront regeneration, with the Peel Waters portfolio comprising Chatham Waters, Glasgow Waters, Liverpool Waters, Manchester Waters, Trafford Waters and Wirral Waters. Together, these projects aim to deliver new homes, public realm, commercial space and economic growth across former industrial and dockland sites.

The Manchester Waters plan incorporates a hotel, an aparthotel, flexible workspace, retail units, leisure and event facilities, and ground-floor spaces suited to cafés, bars and restaurants.

More than half the site is allocated for landscaped public realm, including a five-acre waterside park, sports and play areas, and new walking and cycling routes linking the area with central Manchester, MediaCity and Trafford Wharfside.

A public consultation held prior to the application received around 100 responses, with 78% of participants supporting the creation of a new neighbourhood.

Feedback on green spaces, active travel and ground-floor uses has helped shape the revised proposals. Peel Waters is also working with local residents and community groups on naming ideas for the new park and public areas.

LINK IN COMMENTS for more 🔗

16/12/2025

FIRST LOOK: MOLLIE’S OPENS INSIDE THE OLD GRANADA STUDIOS

This is your first look at Mollie's – the ‘value-luxe’ hotel and diner brand that’s just taken over one of the most iconic buildings in British television history.

What was once the old Granada Studios has been revived, reimagined and given an entirely new role as the front door to Mollie’s most ambitious project yet: its first ever city-centre site, and its largest to date.

Across five floors, the hotel offers 106 rooms spanning doubles, twins, playful bunk rooms for groups, and studios and suites with freestanding tubs, walk-in wardrobes, Dyson Airwraps, GHD straighteners, Cowshed products and even Peloton bikes.

Downstairs, Mollie’s Diner makes its Manchester debut in full Americana mode: Cadillac-inspired leather banquettes, terrazzo flooring, brass detailing and counter seating that feels lifted from a late-50s film set.

Rather than trading purely on nostalgia, the redesign keeps things light and witty – blue plaques for Betty Turpin and Michael Parkinson, a tapestry riffing on the classic Granada logo, and a new cocktail bar, Studio IV, that wears its broadcasting heritage proudly. It’s a contemporary, open-plan space built for live music, new talent and Manchester’s ongoing creative pulse.

With the St John’s neighbourhood quickly becoming its own cultural engine, Mollie’s steps into the old Quay Street postcode (‘Manchester M60 9EA’, as some folks will remember off by heart) with a new sense of purpose – and bags of character.

Bookings for the diner and bar can be made from today until the end of January, with 50% off in the diner and 25% off in the Studio IV bar. Room bookings will be bookable from January.

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📍 Old Granada TV Studios, 4 Atherton Street, Manchester, M3 3GS
💰 Rooms from £109

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Manchester’s Finest

Manchester’s Finest is an independent news platform, delivering creative content and experiences to Manchester and a wider audience. We aim to provide a service for the betterment of the Manchester ecology.