6 Shopping Areas in Manchester the Gays will LOVE

The Arndale (as it’s more commonly known) is a huge shopping centre located smack bang in the middle of Manchester City Centre. It officially opened fully in 1979 but had a phased opening in 1975. Spread over 3 floors and covering 1.3 million square feet, with just over 210 stores, making it one of the largest shopping centres by retail square feet in the UK.

There is something for everyone, from top retail names to more luxurious goods and services. The shopping centre also offers a food court and a market. Most visitors could easily spend 2-3 hours walking around and browsing a few of the shops and drink/food stands. As well as its food court you will also find restaurants around the 3 levels, pop up food and drink outlets and plenty of juice bars.

Being smack bang in the centre of Manchester, it has excellent transport links from bus, train, tram and road. However, we would not recommend driving as costs can quickly add up in the NCP/ council car parks. Public transport is so quick and cheap to the centre, it just makes it easier.

Locally nicknames as the “Traffic Centre”, due to its popularity and the amount of traffic that is always present on the M60 motorway outside during rush hours. It is one of the most popular and most recognised shopping centres in the UK and part of the INTU brand, like Lakeside in Essex.

You could easily spend half a day looking at all the shops and dining at the restaurants. The Trafford Centre also has one of the largest food courts in the UK with a huge selection of restaurants and fast-food outlets.

If driving, then parking is not an issue as The Trafford Centre offers 12,500 free parking spaces, but if you arrive without a car they also offer good transport links with buses and more recently the trams.

Apart from shopping The Trafford Centre also offers a range of leisure facilities from a cinema, crazy golf, Legoland adventure and laser tag to name a few. A short walk away you will also find skydiving and indoor skiing.

The Northern Quarter offers some charming independent and boutiques stores. If you are looking for more than your big brand retail stores then the Northern Quarter is the place to head. Not far from Manchester Piccadilly & Victoria train stations.

In this trendy area of Manchester, you will find a range of vintage fashion, vinyl records and some amazing art galleys and pieces of artwork. The Northern Quarter is a fantastic place to grab a coffee from the many independent coffee shops and people watch on a nice summer’s morning. The area also has some tasty food outlets for eating in or taking away.  

One of our favourite places to visit outside of Manchester’s gay village, to sum it up, it’s good food, good drinks and quirky shopping.   

Located in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, Afflecks is an indoor market full of over 70 independent stalls all in a single building, covering 4 floors. If retro shopping is your thing or vintage clothing, then this is a must-visit place for you.

Items including homemade crafts, vintage fashion and retro favourites. The indoor shopping area also has its own tattoo studio, hair salon, cafes and ice-cream shops.

You could easily get lost among all the fantastic alternative products on offer spread across the 4 floors. Most people spend 2 hours browsing the small shops on offer, but you could easily make this an afternoon.

Located in St Ann’s Square, Barton Arcade is a Grade II-listed building and a Victorian arcade. It was built in 1871 and after being restored in the 1980s is now home to a selection of retail outlets, coffee shops, cafes and restaurants. Its upper levels even have luxurious apartments with private roof terraces.

Its location is sometimes hard to find with the entrance from one direction being down a narrow single lane, set back from St Ann’s Square itself. But when found the pastel-coloured floor tiles and the 1870 décor will wow you. If you’re lucky enough to visit Manchester at Christmas, the decorations also look fantastic.

As well as its permanent shops the Arcade also has pop-up shops with local indie businesses. Whilst in Manchester’s City Centre, like many of the shopping areas mentioned, use public transport as parking can be a bitch! And the trams, buses and trains are relatively cheap and quick.  

On the banks of the Manchester Shipping Canal, located in Salford Quays is Quayside MediaCityUK. Their website explains how they are designed around the needs of the media and creative industries, and home to the BBC and ITV.

It’s more than just a media centre, it’s packed with restaurants, shops, a cinema and one of the main attractions is its designer outlets, giving you up to 70% discount from high street brands. You could spend the whole day here, visiting the outlet shops, eating, drinking and why not catch a show at the Lowry Theatre whilst there too.

The site does have parking, but it is chargeable, so why not jump on the tram from the city centre for £1.90 per trip, they run every 12 minutes from Piccadilly Gardens or Exchange Square.