Night out in Manchester
stuart60677
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Me and my friends spotted a couple of weeks ago very cheap train tickets from Nottingham to Manchester, getting to Manchester 8pm Friday evening, and leaving Manchester 7.30am the Saturday morning. To make the night even cheaper, we are not booking a hotel - if we leave the club at 3am, we then plan to hang around the city until getting to the train station again at 7am. Ideas for that part of the night so far include hanging around in 24hour McDonald's for as long as possible in each one before being kicked out for not buying anything (there are 3 in Nottingham city centre, so we assume there must be at least 4 in Manchester), hanging around in casinos for as long as we can without playing (there are 2 of these in Nottingham) and hanging around in unguarded hotel lobbies (there are at least 4 hotels in Nottingham where I can envisage doing such a thing).
So basically, my question is where are there good student bars and clubs in Manchester? Are there any places we can hang around in the early hours of the morning?
So basically, my question is where are there good student bars and clubs in Manchester? Are there any places we can hang around in the early hours of the morning?
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But yeah, you'll easily be able to find a club that is open till 6am
As for casinos, don't you have to be a member in advance or signed in by a member?
For a town that boasts "excellent student night life" the transportation is completely dire after midnight if your wanting to get out the place. No wonder there's sirens nearly every minute somewhere in the City Centre.
I get hotels now.
Plus the Hacienda's-re-opened now which should be good
http://www.factorymanchester.com/index.php?page=home
Mojo's is open until 3
Plus I think there's an all night McDonalds on Oxford Rd if you're stuck
^^^ this - goto Sankeys, open until 6am and was voted best club in the world by DJMag last year.
There's a burger king in Piccadilly gardens but to be honest I'd stay away from it. The 'gardens' of an evening are not a pleasant place to be with high numbers of muggings and people occasionally getting assaulted there. There's a good reason they have two security staff working on the burger king door on a weekend night.
You'll need membership for most and of course to look respectable, not be too drunk etc. Most Manchester hotels will spot you doing this and you'll be ejected. You may also find that you get your details passed between licensed premises which would then see you come to the interest of the city's CCTV system and of course the police if it was felt you were causing a problem. Best to avoid this one.
There are some venues that will keep going until around the time of your train. Have a look for the Warehouse project, that can be quite promising and often open late. Also try a google search for what to do in Manchester on a night out.
If you are going to Sankeys then make sure you get a cab. If you walk from the city you'll find you stand a good chance of getting lost as many do with it being slightly off the main stretch and in an area being developed - again it's an area where muggings take place, but not as many as the gardens.
You could always consider waiting at the train station when your night is over. Some of them are warm, well lit and the bigger ones have a BTP presence for most of the evening which keeps the trouble down.
Also, avoid the Printworks. It's a horrible place that appears to attract the WKD crowd intent on getting hammered and fighting. There are much better areas in Manchester for a good night out without this place ruining your night.
And if you venture to the Gay Village be aware that the area is also experiencing higher levels of violence than it used to. Cheap drink prices appear to attract trouble and it's not the area it used to be.
Consider Deansgate Lochs and the Northern Quarter for a decent night out. Slightly more pricey but normally a decent crowd with a lot less trouble and a better atmosphere.
That's not the Hacienda, it's Factory, the Hacienda was torn down and is now the home to a load of yuppy apartments, Factory is on the opposite side of Oxford Rd closer to the BBC.
The coach station has security and locked doors and they won't let you in unless you're getting on the coach.
NB Departures doean't have much before security - worth checking though - but there seem to be plenty of cafes in arrivals for those hanging around picking folks up. There are three terminals, T1 is the closest to the station, you get there by walkway.
If you like the general pop scene then there's loads of places to go but they're often quite "dress code" type places. Deansgate locks is usually a smart shoes type place. Similarly, most of the places in The Printworks are like this. There's similar pubs dotted all around the city centre.
If you like the indie scene there's also loads of bars and clubs but they're often full of students. I do like Factory but it gets heaving and sweaty like most of the indie clubs on a Saturday. The main ones are Factory, 5th Avenue, 42nd Street, Mojo... I've probably forgotten some. Most of them close around 3am, though. The Northern Quarter is a good night for bar crawling. It's quite "alternative" but in the sense that it's not littered with the general chart music bars you get in the centre, not in the sense of hard core rock. There's also The Oxford Road Station area, which has a few alternative bars (one playing rock/metal, one playing folky oldies and one is a bit of a mix - Grand Central, Thirsty Scholar and The Salisbury), then there's a few clubs down there which have night such as Drum and Bass, Dubstep etc (such as Sub Space and Attic - again, often get very studenty, which is generally true for most places down the Oxford Road corridor)
If you like Rock there's often rock nights in a few clubs but the big one (Jillys) closed down. There's Satan's Hollow just off Oxford Street, which was decent last time I went but was quite "nu metal". I haven't been for years, though.
Sankeys is just out of the city centre... about a mile from Manchester Piccadilly station. Although I've lived in Manchester for 6 years (recently moved away) I have never been. People say it's a good night, though, and they're not that strict on dress code unless it's a special event. You'll apparently notice a lot of people drinking only water, though It's always open late (or early if you think that way )
The gay village is lively but it depends if you like that scene or not. Most of the clubs play pop, dance and club music. Some of the clubs are open until, such as Cruz 101 which I think closes at 6am. I've never experienced any violence down there like someone above mentioned.
There's loads of food places open 24 hours but not all of them are "eat in" after a certain time. There's a few down Oxford Road where you can sit in, but they're usually the general take away type (pizza, burger etc) and it's about a 10 - 15 minutes walk to the centre from this area.
If you go down the Oxford Road area then it's easy to get the night bus to the centre. Other areas have this but Oxford Road is much better served. Last time I got a night bus it was just £1 to the centre.
Ah, thems were the days when I was young and had stamina lol