Shop 'til you drop: Manchester

Combine Christmas shopping with a fun weekend in a fabulous city, and you could save the cost of your travel in bargain buys

Merry Manchester

Allaboutyou's deputy editor Adrienne Wyper shopped her way around Manchester with her partner Bob, who works in healthcare

 

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For a long seasonal shopping list, Manchester's the ideal venue: the city centre is walkably compact, and brings together every shopping style: independent boutiques, high-street staples, high-end fashion, plus no less than five Christmas markets.

 

Hitting the shops

The recently regenerated Northern Quarter, around Oldham Street, is lined with one-off, quirky independent shops, including vintage fashion palaces, bokshops, and artists' showcases.

 

Up the road, the Craft and Design Centre (17 Oak Street, www.craftanddesign.com; 0161 832 4274) is home to 18 independent studio spaces for leatherworkers, ceramicists and jewellers.

Hit the Arndale Centre for high-street favourites all under one roof (including the world's biggest Next) then head for the high-end fashion around St Ann's Square, with retailers including Barbour and Aquascutum. around the corner in King Street there's Armani, Joseph and DKNY.

And you can enjoy the simpler side of Christmas shopping with the little wooden huts of no fewer than five Christmas markets.

 

What we bought

A furry bonnet with pompoms for £6 in Pop (34-36 Oldham Street, www.pop-boutique.com), a vintage Levi's denim jacket for just £30 in Rockers (20a Dale Street, www.rockersengland.co.uk), and some paper-sculpture Christmas cards and a popular culture photographic book in Magma (24 Oldham Street, www.magmabooks.com).

 

Beat the credit crunch

Unexpectedly situated among the designer fashion shops is the Office Sale Shop (3 St Ann's Place, www.office.co.uk), with last season's shoes on sale from a fiver upwards. Among the espadrilles and trainers were spangly high heels for £20 or so. Oxfam Originals (8-10 Oldham Street, www.oxfam.org.uk) has glamorous swirly print dresses, chic tailoring and a bargain bin of scarves.

 

Escaping the tills

Take a 15-minute tram ride (£2 return, great city views) to Salford Quays. Here The Lowry (www.thelowry.com) offers shows, ballet, opera, theatre, music and events for all the family. We took in the standing exhibitions of work by local artist L S Lowry, plus images by staff photographers from The Guardian - formerly based around the corner in Deansgate.

 

Set in a stunning silver slab of a building by Daniel Libeskind, symbolising a world torn apart by conflict is the Imperial War Museum North (north.iwm.org.uk), which shows the human side of war.

 

Where to refuel

Take a break from pounding the pavements in the Craft and Design Centre's Aromat café - excellent coffee and exquisite chocolate muffins. Mulled wine, hot cherry wine and roast chestnuts from the German Christmas market in St Ann's Square made a suitably seasonal snack.

 

In the evening, feeling a little footsore, we opted to dine 'at home'. On my early dining menu (£19.95) at the Michael Caines restaurant in our hotel (which won Manchester Restaurant of the Year) was pumpkin soup with kirsch cream and pumpkin seed oil, mushroom risotto with a whiff of truffles and shaved Parmesan, then a delectably bitter coffee parfait with vanilla cappuccino and ganache cubes. Bob enjoyed duck, then beef with celeriac mash, and a selection of local cheeses.

 

We stayed...

The Abode Hotel is an easy walk with a wheeled suitcase from Manchester Piccadilly station. Housed in an 18th-century former textiles factory, with chic industrial styling in the massive rooms - and the biggest bed I've ever slept in. Doubles from £79, B&B (107 Piccadilly, www.abodehotels.co.uk; 0161 247 7744). 

 

 

Getting there...

Return train fares from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly start from £26 (www.virgintrains.co.uk; 08457 222 333). For more information on Manchester see www.visitmanchester.com, and www.visitenglandsnorthwest.com.

 

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