On a flying visit to Manchester

I always tend to take on too much. For the half-day trip from Liverpool to Manchester, I had some to-do’s on the list. I wanted to see the hip Northern Quarter, make a detour to City Hall and the Central Library, marvel at the John Rylands Library and visit the Museum of Science & Industry.

Well, I can guarantee you one thing – you can’t do it in an afternoon. At least not if, like me, you first visit the Northern Quarter and neglect the tight schedule there because of all the pretty cafés. The district is located north of Piccadilly and is characterized by an alternative, bohemian scene. Street art, small shops and of course – various stylish coffee shops, where I wasted the time with all kinds of delicacies.

At5:00 p.m. I was finally able to pull myself together and rushed past City Hall to the John Rylands Library, only to find out that I was exactly two minutes late. It was enough for a snapshot from the inside of the impressive library. Unfortunately, they didn’t want to let me into the reading room. For this, I can recommend two absolutely great places in the Northern Quarter. So it was worth it after all.

Fig & Sparrow

A mix of homeware store and café with cosy wooden tables, excellent lemonades, delicious soup and wifi. What more could you want?

Adresse: 20 Oldham Street / Northern Quarter

Thanks

Apparently a popular meeting place for Manchester’s digital nomad scene. The tables were well filled with young people and their laptops. With the good coffee, I would have stayed here longer.

Adresse: 6 Tariff Street / Northern Quarter

Since I generally google in complete sentences – for example “where are the best coffee shops in Manchester” – Google always spits out quite suitable results for me. Among other things, this excellent Manchester Café Guide from TimeOut. Now all you can hope for is English rainy weather, so that you can spend the whole day rotting in the cafés during your visit to Manchester with a clear conscience.