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Europe > Britain and Ireland > United Kingdom > England > North West England > Greater Manchester > Manchester > Manchester/Piccadilly-East Centre
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Piccadilly-East Centre is the area in Manchester bounded by the A57 (M), Oxford Road, and the A62. It lies within The Historic County Boundaries of Lancashire and is served by Manchester Piccadilly railway station. It contains amongst others, the following neighbourhoods:

  • Chinatown: Manchester's Chinatown around George Street and Faulkner Street has been a feature of Manchester since the late 1970s. It's a genuine experience - you'll find people on the streets of Chinatown speaking Chinese to each other and most of the signs are bilingual. It's home to the bulk of Manchester's east-Asian restaurants as well as many traders in Chinese food and goods.
  • The Gay Village: around Canal Street out of the many cotton warehouses in the area. It is home to one of the oldest and most-established gay communities in Europe and is known for its tolerance toward all kinds of people. Many of Manchester's most famous bars and clubs are to be found here, most of which are as popular with heterosexual party-animals as they are with the gay crowd. The Village hosts a major Pride festival every year, when the whole region of town is closed to the public for an expensive and exclusive weekend for gay and gay-friendly people from all over the UK.
  • Piccadilly Gardens: As well as being Manchester's central bus station, Piccadilly Gardens is also a recently renovated landscape garden. It's an interesting choice of design and has not found favour with all of Manchester's residents. The area is dominated by the hideously-ugly Piccadilly Plaza complex, including the Jarvis Hotel and Sunley Tower, an eyesore visible from miles away.

Get in

By bus

As Manchester's main bus station (Piccadilly Gardens) is in Piccadilly Gardens, nearly every bus in central Manchester heading into town terminates here.

By car

Piccadilly Gardens is bounded on two sides by Portland Street and Piccadilly.

By tram

Piccadilly Gardens is the penultimate stop on all services heading to Manchester Piccadilly. To the north of the square there is the Market Street station on the line to Bury.

By train

Manchester Picadilly is the main station in the city and is served by services from all over the country. This area is also served by Manchester Oxford Road railway station.

See

Piccadilly Gardens in the heart of Manchester
The Imperial Chinese Archway in Manchester's Chinatown
  • 2 The Portico Library and Gallery, Charlotte Street (corner with Mosley Street), +44 161 236-6785, . The Portico has been an exclusive members-only library since the early 19th Century and many of Manchester's luminaries have been patrons of the Portico over the years. Now hosting its own public gallery and providing admission to some parts for non-members, it is a slice of Manchester history that has remained almost unchanged since its inception. Call for latest information. Free entry.
  • 3 Imperial Chinese Archway, Faulkner Street, Chinatown. The Chinese arch in the central square of Chinatown was a gift to Manchester from the Chinese people in 1987 and is the only one of its kind in Europe. It is a beautiful and elaborate piece of artwork, reflecting the designs of Ming Dynasty China and is not to be missed.
  • 4 Whitworth Gardens, Sackville Street. This small park in the heart of The Village is notable for its memorial to Alan Turing, the father of modern computer science, whose homosexuality in an age of intolerance led to his suicide. The bronze statue on a park bench bears the legend 'Father of computer science, mathematician, logician, wartime codebreaker, victim of prejudice'. Also in the park is "The Beacon of Hope", an illuminated memorial to those who have died of HIV/AIDS worldwide.
  • The Village hosts a major Pride festival every year, when the whole region of town is closed to the public for an expensive and exclusive weekend for gay and gay-friendly people from all over the UK.

Do

  • 1 Piccadilly Gardens. Relax and watch the world go by in Piccadilly Gardens - the lung at the centre of the city. The Gardens are also home to the controversial concrete 'Berlin Wall', that houses cafés and seating. Free.

Buy

Market Street and the Arndale Centre are just off the northern part of Manchester Piccadilly Gardens. Here you will find the usual High Street stores.

Eat

  • Bar Burrito, 1 Piccadilly Gardens, +44 161 228-6479. Mon-Fri 11.30AM-11PM, Sat 11AM-11PM, Sun 12AM-10PM. Excellent Mexican style fast food, specialising in Burritos but also serving salads, nachos and tacos. Licensed.
  • No 1 Buffet, Whitworth Street. All you can eat Chinese buffet. No thrills Chinese food. £10 adults.
  • Tepanyaki, China town. Impressive and expensive Tepanyaki restaurant. Really good food, but pricey. main dishes £10 upwards.
  • Bar de Reve, 57 Hilton Street. Mon-Sat 1200-1900. A quiet, chilled, chic gem of Manchester. Serves fresh and fine cuisine to order. A new establishment and worth the walk and the money!
  • Tropeiro, Brazil St (opp. Sackville Street Gardens), +44 161 923-6846. True Brazilian barbeque that serves eleven cuts of meat from chicken, pork, lamb and beef and a range of salads and side-dishes. Also tasty caiprinha cocktails.
  • Number 1's, 48 Whitworth St (between Oxford Rd Station and the Gay Village). A really cheap Chinese buffet.
  • Tai Wu, 44 Oxford St (next to McDonalds). Another really cheap Chinese buffet.
  • Buffet Metro (near Piccadilly Gardens). A Chinese buffet which, during Happy Hour (M-F 15:00-18:00), only costs £4.95 for unlimited food. A really cheap deal if you want to eat out, but are on a budget.
  • New Samsi, 36 Whitworth St. City centre. A great sushi restaurant that also caters well for those that don't like raw fish. With a well-stocked, but small Japanese supermarket below (accessed from inside the restaurant) .
  • Yang Sing, 17 George Street. By Princess Street at the south-western edge of Chinatown, Yang Sing has long been considered the best Cantonese restaurant in the country (and perhaps in Europe).
  • Bouzuki By Night, 88 Princess St, M1 6NG, +44 161 236-9282. Greek restaurant with live music.
  • Red Chilli, Portland St. is of a very good standard and is unusual in Manchester in specializing in Beijing and the very spicy Szechuan cooking. It has a large Chinese following, which is always a good sign.
  • Wasabi, 63 Faulkner St, M1 4FF, +44 161 228-7288. Great sushi from the conveyor belt in a fun atmosphere. Needless to say, you will be full! £7.95 for 6 dishes and miso soup or 3 dishes and a noodle/rice dish. £12.95 for 10 dishes and a miso soup. £14.95 for 10 dishes and a rice/noodle dish..
  • Tokyo Season, Portland St (between Piccadilly Gardens and the Gay Village). Serves traditional Japanese dishes at reasonable prices, with a full menu of drinks also available including Asian and world beers, spirits and wines.

Drink

In Piccadilly Gardens:

  • Manna Manchester, 1 Piccadilly Gardens, +44 161 236-3230. Mon-Sat 7AM-8PM, Sun 10AM-5PM. Nice little café with friendly staff located on the edge of the landscaped garden. Serves good coffee, sandwiches, drinks, and sweet things. Everything here is both Fair trade and organic, so feel good when you go there!

In the Gay Village:

Sleep

  • Arora International Manchester, 18-24 Princess Street, M1 4LY (http://www.arorainternational.com/manchester/location.html), +44 161 236-8999, fax: +44 161 236-3222. A modern hotel inside a fine old building with restored façade. Rooms are reasonably spacious for the UK, bathrooms modern and there is air conditioning. The beds are comfortable and the rooms have irons, safes, fridges and heated bathroom mirrors. It is very centrally located in the Manchester city centre, being just across the road from the Manchester Art Gallery, close to China Town and a wide variety of entertainment venues and restaurants. Even reluctant walkers will not need wheeled transport to get around. The staff are friendly and helpful. Residential floors are secured; access requires your room key card. Breakfast has a good selection and may be included in the room rate. It is eaten in the hotel's own Obsidian Restaurant and Bar located in the basement and accessible by lift if you don't want to leave the hotel. The Obsidian also has its own separate street entrance. In room broadband internet is available for a fee. The reception area is modest. Parking is a few hundred metres away in a multi-storey public park; the hotel has none of its own. £130.
  • Britannia Hotel Manchester, 35 Portland Street, +44 161 228-2288. An attractive hotel, converted from an ostentatious warehouse, in central Manchester. From £26 for a single room.
  • City Inn Manchester, One Picadilly Place, +44 161 242-1000. A central boutique hotel in Manchester. Offers a restaurant, bar, meeting venue and event offers.
  • The Gardens Hotel, 55 Piccadilly, +44 161 236-5155.
  • Malmaison, Gore St (Piccadily), +44 161 278-1000.
  • SACO Apartments, 5 Piccadilly Place, M1 3BP, +44 117 970-6999, fax: +44 117 974-5939. Check-in: 16:00, check-out: 10:00. Serviced apartments set over the top of the new piazza in Piccadilly Place. The apartments are very conveniently located, with Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester Art Gallery, Chinatown and The Palace Theatre only a stones throw away. Rooms are well-equipped with necessities like wireless Internet, a direct dial phone, separate showers, digital TV and CD/DVD player and more. The lobby includes a lift, off-site gym and car parking. From £72.
  • Roomzzz Manchester City, 36 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 4JY, +44 844 4994888, . Roomzzz Manchester City is part of the fabric of the city. It's housed in a Grade II listed cotton warehouse, boasting high ceilings, long windows, soaring interior spaces and grand Victorian character. The concept of award winning Roomzzz is to combine all the best features of a boutique hotel with all the best things about a luxury apartment. Each room has a Luxury pocket-sprung memory foam bed, an Apple Mac Computer, Widescreen LCD TV with Freeview and free wi-fi, local and national calls. Easily reached from Manchester Piccadilly railway station, and with Piccadilly Gardens just a few blocks away, the Northern Quarter beyond, G-Mex and Deansgate's shopping to the north-west, you're never far from the heartbeat of Manchester's vibrant city centre.
  • Stay Manchester, 40 Laystall Street, M1 2JZ, +44 161 236-7330, . Check-in: 14:00, check-out: 10:00. Serviced apartments in Manchester City Centre. A great selection of 28 one bedroom (sleeps 3), 55 two bedroom (sleeps 5 or 6) and 1 three bedroom (sleeps 8) self-catering apartments, which come fully furnished with bed linen and towels also provided. All apartments also come with fully-equipped kitchens, washer/dryer, microwave oven, TV/DVD players and lounge/dining area. From £70.
  • The Thistle Hotel, 3-5 Portland St, +44 161 228-3400.
  • The Place Apartment Hotel, Ducie Street - Piccadilly, +44 161 778-7500. Luxury spacious loft style apartment hotel accommodations in the heart of Manchester City Centre within walking distance to shopping, business, eating and drinking districts.

Connect

This district travel guide to Piccadilly-East Centre is a usable article. It has information for getting in as well as some complete entries for restaurants and hotels. An adventurous person could use this article, but please feel free to improve it by editing the page.

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