Author: Michael Dawson

Manchester doesn’t do food trends by accident. When this city decides something matters, it commits properly, opening burger joints in old warehouses, arguing about patty ratios in pub gardens, and forming queues that stretch through Arndale Market at lunchtime. The burger scene here isn’t a passing phase. It’s a civic obsession. I’ve been eating burgers across Manchester for more than a decade, from Arndale Market counters to late nights in the Northern Quarter and sit down meals on Deansgate. This guide reflects where Manchester locals actually spend their money, not where Instagram tells them to go. Anyone can Google a…

On a Friday night, the queues along Lever Street tell their own story. People are no longer waiting for pizza or shuffleboard. They are lining up outside The Salmon of Knowledge, the Irish bar that took over the former PLY site on Stevenson Square and, in doing so, tapped into something deeper than a passing drinks trend. Manchester has seen Irish bars come and go for generations. What makes Salmon of Knowledge Manchester different is not novelty or nostalgia. It is how naturally the idea fits the city. The name, borrowed from Irish mythology, feels less like branding and more…

Manchester weather today is unfolding much as many residents expected damp, breezy and stubbornly grey, with conditions shaping how the city moves through this Sunday. From early morning in the city centre to quieter suburbs like Didsbury, Chorlton and Prestwich, the weather is already influencing travel plans, outdoor activities and the usual weekend rhythm. Walking through central Manchester this morning, the signs were clear umbrellas out, waterproof jackets zipped up, and fewer people lingering outdoors than on a dry winter day. While nothing extreme is forecast, today’s weather demands a bit of planning. A Grey Start Across Greater Manchester The…

There’s a moment on any given Friday evening when the Longfield Centre car park fills up faster than a Metrolink platform at rush hour. Most of those drivers are heading to one place. Walk past the windows on Fairfax Road and you’ll see why tables packed, that warm glow spilling onto the pavement, and enough background noise to suggest people are enjoying themselves rather than dutifully eating out. Croma Prestwich has been part of that picture since 2008. In restaurant terms, that makes it a veteran. Sixteen years of steady trade in North Manchester doesn’t happen by accident, especially in…

You’d have to be living in Trafford Park to miss the fact that Manchester has quietly built itself into one of the UK’s most credible cities for Japanese dining. The signs are everywhere. Sushi Manchester counters inside Withington family run restaurants. Two Michelin star alumni hand rolling otoro on Oxford Road. Scandi-Japanese chains eyeing Spinningfields for northern expansion. Something shifted in this city and the raw fish supply chain followed. It wasn’t always like this. Even ten years ago, the conversation around sushi manchester mostly circled the same question: where could you actually get decent fish? Today, the question has…

A rare red weather warning in the far South West is tonight feeding the same brutal weather system that is now pushing heavy snow, ice and biting winds into Greater Manchester, threatening major disruption to Friday’s rush hour. Here in Manchester, snow showers that began as sleet over the city centre this afternoon are steadily turning heavier and more persistent, particularly across higher ground in Oldham, Rochdale, Tameside and the moors above Bolton and Bury. Road cameras on the M60 and M62 are already showing slushy surfaces and slow-moving traffic, while gritters continue working key routes as temperatures fall. Transport…

A weeknight in central Manchester, and the pavement outside Ban Di Bul is already forming a queue. Not the orderly kind, but the uncertain British cluster where no one’s quite sure who arrived first. Inside, industrial extractor fans hum overhead, pulling smoke from dozens of table grills while twentysomethings in work shirts and students in hoodies cook marinated beef at close quarters. This is korean bbq manchester style: functional, crowded, and completely unpretentious. Korean barbecue has been finding its footing in Greater Manchester for more than a decade, but the format has shifted gears in recent years. What began as…

Walk down Oldham Street on a weekday afternoon and the character of Northern Quarter Manchester reveals itself quickly. Independent record shops trade opposite vintage clothing stores. Coffee roasters operate from Victorian warehouses once tied to the cotton trade. Street art spreads across red-brick facades that have witnessed more than two centuries of reinvention. This is not Manchester’s polished, glass fronted commercial centre. Northern Quarter Manchester represents something increasingly rare in British cities: a neighbourhood shaped gradually by artists, musicians, independent traders and residents rather than dictated by a single masterplan. It is a place where cultural memory, commerce and experimentation…

Greater Manchester is in the grip of a severe snow ice warning as a stubborn cold snap and further wintry weather move across the region. After the first significant snowfall of 2026 earlier this week, residents are now dealing with freezing temperatures, widespread ice, and fresh alerts for more snow and disruption over the coming days. As of midweek, an official yellow warning for ice remains in force for Manchester through the morning, with additional snow warnings expected later in the week as a new weather system approaches from the west. Daytime temperatures are barely climbing above freezing, and “feels…

Saturday mornings at Pollen Bakery Manchester reveal why this sourdough specialist has become woven into the city’s food culture. Before the doors open at Cotton Field Wharf in Ancoats, queues stretch quietly along the marina side pavement. By early afternoon, entire batches have often sold out. What’s happening here is not the churn of a chain café but something closer to routine: locals arriving with tote bags, greeting staff by name, debating which loaves survived the morning rush. What began in 2016 beneath a Piccadilly railway arch has grown into a benchmark for Manchester’s independent food movement. Founded by Hannah…