SeeSpinningfields-Albert Square

Manchester Opera House

Sister theatre to The Palace Theatre. Host to touring musicals, ballet, concerts.

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Address: Quay Street

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Listing from Wikivoyage: Manchester/Spinningfields-Albert Square, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Updated 28 Sept 2026. Something wrong? Tell us.

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DoCastlefield-Petersfield
Odeon Great Northern
16-screen cinema multiplex. Shows the usual Hollywood movies.
£8 adults
SeeSpinningfields-Albert Square
John Rylands Library
After closing for refurbishment, the John Rylands Library is now open to the public. It now has access to all floors and a new entrance and cafe to the side of the building on Spinningfields. The John Rylands library is a beautifully-dark Gothic archive bang in the middle of the new business district. It is home to a number of special collections, many of which are now on display including the celebrated St. Johns Fragment, Papyrus P52 — possibly the oldest piece of the New Testament in existence. The library's magnificent Reading Room has been opened up so visitors are free to wander around it. There is also an exhibition floor which shows off some of the jewels of the collection. Don't confuse this library with John Rylands University Library, which is the library at the university and is not at all interesting (or open) to tourists.
Sun Mon noon-5PM, Tue-Sat 10AM-5PMfree
SeeCastlefield-Petersfield
Science and Industry Museum
This is a great museum for those interested in technology and industrial heritage: sited at one end of the world's first passenger railway line. The working cotton weaving machines are particularly worth experiencing. Catch one of their regular demonstrations of their operation. There is also the opportunity to explore the city's former sewers (now fully cleaned!) to get an idea of the living (and dying) conditions of Manchester's cotton workers. Most impressive of all is the huge collection of working engines in the Power Hall (closed until 2024), powered by steam, gas, water, you name it. The museum also hosts the first steam train (and with it, the first ever vehicle to run faster than a horse), as well as the first programmable computer with a cathode ray tube memory.
10AM-5PM dailyFree, except for temporary exhibits (prices vary)
SeeSpinningfields-Albert Square
People's History Museum
This little museum down by the river on the border of Manchester and Salford aims to document the way the lives of ordinary people have developed since the industrial revolution. The museum owns many artifacts and documentation from the history of socialism in Britain, not least the building where the Trades Union Congress held its first meeting, on Princess Street, which it now uses as a public archive.
Tue-Sun and Bank Holidays 11AM-4:30PMFree