Lauren’s blog always tends to catch my eye (specially the #ocadoandchill one) when reading through my RSS feeds. Unfortunately the feed doesn’t quite work as it should but her cheap date ideas got me thinking instantly…
6 Cheap London Date Ideas
Maybe I should do one for Manchester too?https://t.co/C9vowtkXT6— Ian Forrester (@cubicgarden) January 9, 2016
How about 7 Cheap Manchester Date ideas? (got to be one better that London)
- Go for coffee or tea at one of the many coffee shops in Manchester
The Northern Quarter is a joy and its amazing the range of coffee shops where you can just sit and chat with a date for along time with no hassle. Be sure to buy regularly as you don’t want to be a leech on their business model. Its also worth mentioning Cholton is also worth visiting and now on the tram line. - Visit HOME MCR, the royal exchange, the central library, etc
I love the royal exchange and its a great date location, as I have said previously. Home use to be the Cornerhouse but recently they moved to a new venue which is almost as unique as the old venue. In Home you can visit the exhibitions, have drinks, have a complete dinner and watch a film or theatre play, Its a great space, relaxed, social and ever so great for a whole day of activities if your date is up for it. - Go for a wonder around Manchester city centre and look up
Manchester has such a variety of different areas and styles of buildings. You can wonder around the Northern Quarter, Spinningfields, Castlefield, Oxford Road, Victoria, etc and get a very different sense of the buildings and styles. You just need to look up… All are walking distance from each other although there is plenty of public transport. - Wonder the many canals of Manchester
You can wonder for miles around the canals and frankly find yourself in some very interesting parts of the city centre and further. Yes there are some you might want to avoid (around Piccadilly’s redlight area) but its all generally quite safe during the daytime and its quite romantic, wouldn’t you agree? - Eat cheap at one of the many Indian restaurants
Yes you could go down to curry mile, but there are these very cheap places such as this and that in the northern quarter. I wouldn’t recommend just going there alone, but it might make a good break from wondering Manchester. I mean you can’t beat £5 for 3 curries. - Visit MOSI, Peoples museum, Whitworth gallery or any of the many other museums and galleries
Manchester has some great galleries and museums including MOSI (museum of science and industry). My favourite has to be the Whitworth gallery which simply wonderful and is always full of interesting exhibitions. Even better if its a nice day, you can sit outside or have a picnic in Whitworth park, which is right alongside and closes very late during the summer months. - Visit one of the many festivals
Manchester loves its festivals! You only have to wait a month and you got the future everything, urban dance, food&drink, abandon normal devices, comedy, pride, etc, etc. And of course the grand daddy of them the international festival every 2 years. Every single one has such a great number of events and for not a bad price at all. Still remember taking a date to see Marinia in the withworth gallary. That was so surreal but unforgettable. - (OK one more extra) Play board games in Zifferblatt or any of the many other nerdy places
Not really my thing and I don’t like Ziffer for reasons already mentioned; but I will admit it could be a good place for some game playing with endless coffee and cakes. There are also many other places to play boardgames, etc which occupy Manchester city centre such as fanboy5. Also theres nerdy places like Fabcafe. holdfast and a bunch of game driven bars like 2022 (table tennis), Kosmonaught (table tennis), Marble (chess), etc… Great fun for a date along with drinking…
I didn’t mention parks, the pennies, bury market, weekend brunch, football, the underground tours, graffiti tours, shopping, cycle tours, etc… I’m sure many others have ideas, and all without mentioning netflix and chill.