I have to give a major shout out to Paramount Books - a fantastic independent bookstore nestled in…read morethe sometimes overlooked and forgotten Shudehill area of town. Ok so there may be a million KFC ripoff takeaways and a few random shops that have seen better days around it but Paramount stands out as a well looked after 2nd hand book store with loads of character! I was pulled in on a wet and windy Monday by their comic book sale - in fact there's a whole area in the back dedicated to rare comics and graphic novels (fantastic selection) - inside there's a fantastic selection covering everything from music and film to politics, history and philosophy - really good to browse and possible pick up a tome to take home (wow that rhymes...) The best part of this place is the owner who basically is exactly what you'd be looking for if casting this place in a Hollywood movie. With glasses dangling from his neck and a scholarly look as he sorts the shelves - the classical music in the background makes you really feel what a unique place this is in the world of chain stores and amazon. Make sure you check out Paramount soon and enjoy a slip back into yesteryear!

Thank the lord for Paramount Book Exchange…read more One of the few independent bookshops left in Manchester, it's a strictly DIY affair run by a genuine book lover. The sign outside suggests it's only open Fridays and Saturdays but it's usually open Monday to Saturday unless the owner has popped out for something. The lively window displays give a great indicator of what's in store with stacks of new, vintage and secondhand books everywhere. Fans of cult fiction, sci-fi, horror, crime noir, queer fiction, biographies and pop culture will find much to treasure here as the stock leans more towards William Burroughs, Poppy Z Brite and Neil Gaiman than Harry Potter. There's also a small selection of 60s-90s vinyl for crate diggers. All they need is a coffee machine and I'd happily move in!

One of the most impressive bookstores I have seen through my travel around many cities in the world.read more

This Waterstones is one of two branches in the city center of Manchester, and is probably the…read morebetter branch out of the two, beating the Manchester Arndale branch which is both smaller and busier than this one, located on Deansgate fairly close to St Anne's Square and Market Street, opposite House Of Fraser, or as it's known to locals, Kendals. This store seems to have more of a vintage vibe, more old than new but still the vibe is quite nice for a bookshop, and they did have a selection of books. The store is set over several floors, as I recall there were 3 floors with lift access, in a rather old looking lift, which didn't look very pleasant and escalators available, and there was also a nice store guide to say what is on which floor, which was helpful. The layout of the books also seemed a lot nicer than some Waterstones stores I have visited, pricing seemed reasonable at most RRP prices, but still every book I noticed, was near enough all cheaper on Amazon, especially with delivery charges, which is one thing Waterstones needs to compete with. I'd normally come to Waterstones to take a look, and a read of books without buying, and buying what I like on Amazon, although I'm sure most people use Waterstones as a library, my friend even previously got banned from the Arndale store, for going in every week store, and just sitting in there from open to close, and reading books, without buying, so don't do it too much! There wasn't a lot of staff here I noticed, other than the tills, it would have been useful to see a few staff dotted around then, especially on the main floor, I think is called "Ground" where customers enter and exit the store onto Deansgate. This store is quite a nice Waterstones store and is a very large size and deserves a solid 3 stars, albeit sadly I feel I can't go any higher due to issues with the distribution of staff, pricing not being competitive with retailers such as Amazon and the lift looking something from Victorian Britain.

Magma Magma books is possibly one of the coolest shops I…read morehave been into in a long time! Why you may ask? Because it sells MOOMINS merchandise and books!! They sell all sorts of cool things here like books, magazines, swirly notebooks, cuddly toys (moomin ones!), eco friendly stuff which comes in the shape of recycled objects made into something else uselful, the mother board coasters are pretty snazzy! Like the other shops on Oldham street, its only small but the layout is perfectly set out to seem like there is so much space! I love it!

Situated on Oldham Street, but a hop and skip from the Night and Day Café lies this fantastic…read morebookshop. I've been visiting this place for ages, even if it's just to browse through the store and short list future gifts. I've recently acquired some American Film Making/Studies from there (the Steven D. Katz shot by shot/cinematic motion - books that are usually pretty hard to get hold of unless you're on the net. This is one of those places where the staff know what they're talking about and can help either find what you're looking for or influence you enough to take a punt on their own expertly led recommendations in the vast array of different books and magazines in this store (increasingly rare in the accountant led 'United Chaindom'). It's a shame many more shops were as enthusiastic and passionate as the folks behind magma...I know they can't all be this way but it's currently unfairly balanced. One large chain book store dominates now (and with unfortunately less choice, more celebrity led airport reading fodder) and with supermarkets getting in the act of the book market (albeit with a truly disturbing 'array' of 'books') we should be thankful that places like this are still open in our cities. A large section of this shop sells magazines which are more like the aforementioned coffee table books the higher echelon of mags if you will. Film, Architecture, Typography, Illustration, Photography, Graphics, Fashion, Art, Design, Cities all these creative acts and scenarios collude together in the books and magazine range. They sell a top mag called 'Specialten' which is a 'bi-monthly collection of short films, music videos and exclusive interviews' which comes with a DVD for the media. Just reminded myself to pick up the next edition as I type this... This shop (alongside one or two in London village possibly the other two Magma's as it happens) was the only such store to stock Daniel Johnstone's graphics/drawings books (and as such is referred to in the fantastic Daniel Johnstone documentary). Reanimate your creative synapses and spare at least half an hour to imbibe the glorious fractions of the arts world we don't see as much as we should. It's always a pleasure to walk into a store like this, find what you're looking for (or see something jump out at you which grabs your interest by the book ends) and after downpiping your debit/credit details into the 21st Century piggy bank walk from the shop, freshly acquired book in hand. Rifling through the pages of a new 'Ilva Table book' in a nearby boozer/café is one of life's great, small pleasures.

This WHSmith store is located on Market Street, serving Manchester city centre, with entrances via…read moreboth the Manchester Arndale and on Market Street opposite Virgin Money, the store opened in 2017 in a unit vacated by "SELECT" after relocating from elsewhere in the mall. I much prefer this store to their old one. It still has a refreshing, modern twist on it, that you simply don't get from other WHSmith stores. The store is over two floors, with a lift/stairs between both levels. The store has a nice selection of stationery, greeting cards and books. There are payment counters at each end of the store, the larger checkout, located by the Market Street entrance, includes National Lottery services. There are also two small fridges selling a small range of beverages, although the selection was not as good as other WHSmith stores, and miles behind their travel locations. Staff friendly enough, it always seems a little pricey here too (but that's WHSmith for you...) 4*

When I lived on Oldham Street many moons ago, I used to pop into Forbidden Planet on a weekly basis…read moreto pick up new copies of The Sandman, The Invisibles and other cool comics. These days, I only venture in now and again for something specific, like Reinhard Kleist's awesome graphic novel based on the life of Johnny Cash - I See A Darkness. For me, the layout and interior of Forbidden Planet lacks the ambience and wow factor of somewhere like Dave's Comics in Brighton but their range of comics, manga and graphic novels is faultless. For true fantatics and collectors, they also stock a massive range of cartoon, comic and pop culture memorabilia including tee-shirts, games, videos and toys. Personally, I have my eye on one of Frank Kozak's toy smoking rabbits complete with eye patch.

One of the best shops I have been to. A great selection of comics plus a continual supply of…read morespecial offers.

Is there a finer, funkier, funnier, bookstore in all of Yorkshire? Maybe all of the UK? I don't…read morethink so. What topic are you looking for? Proprietor Barry, with his assistant Jerry the cat, will find it for you. Indeed, probably several books on topic. Or just go in with an open mind and you'll find many books of interest. The difficulty will be deciding which to buy. Don't worry, the prices are so reasonable that you can take all you can carry. Beware, there are approximately 14,000 books there, so bring a really big bag.

I love quaint traditional rummagy book shops and this is one of the best. Set up an old cobbled…read morelane with mandatory ats a top some old books outside, the shops itself is small and paked high with books of all genres as well as some old classics and the frienldy old staff

WHSmith at Manchester Piccadilly is a pretty good branch, especially for a travel store, the prices…read moremight be really high, to the point I can't understand why as there are multiple rivals nearby selling many of their items or similar items for less, but they do have a pretty good selection if you're in a rush, ahead of getting a train. I do like the special events they seem to have on here, they sell Airpods and more recently they brought the Carabao Cup here ahead of 2020, giving supporters the chance to get a selfie with the trophy, this was a pretty cool experience to lift the trophy right before Manchester City defeated Aston Villa to retain the trophy for the third year in a row at Wembley back in 2020. (This was an experience offered by Carabao as part of their trophy store, but it is nice to see the store arranging experiences like that) They do also sell the IRN-BRU Energy drink range here, they are one of the few stores outside of Scotland to do so, I think it tastes terrible and at 2.5x the price of Carabao, it isn't worth it, but if you do love IRN-Bru, you'll probably like it. 4* - For a travel location, this branch of WHSmith is good, although I do prefer grabbing my drinks and travel stuff from the Co-Op just outside the station as the store looks a little better inside and is much cheaper.

The Observer? Tick Sunday Times? Tick…read moreTelegraph? Tick Mojo magazine? Tick Elle magazine? Tick Food and Travel? Out of stock. Thanks WH Smith for almost making my Sunday afternoon.

Fab graphic tee-shirts? Tick Cool design books? Tick…read moreIncredible photography and art books? Tick Huge style bibles? Tick Quirky hand-made badges and zines? Tick Ace cards, stationary and wrapping paper? Tick Thanks to Magma, I was able to buy lots of unique and arty Christmas presents in one go. Wait, I forgot to get something for myself! How about the new Yoshitomo Nara book?

I bought something from Magma today! Yay,get in!…read more It's only 10 months ago since I wrote my review stating that one day I will buy something from here,and that day arrived today. Although I must state that in my previous review I said that if I did buy something, then it would probably be for someone else. Well I lied,I bought something for myself. Take that people who I would normally buy things for! What I bought was a cardboard solar powered nodding skeleton (you know you want one). It was supposed to be a build your own thing,but unfortunately the only one that they had in stock was the display model,which had of course already been put together,but that didn't bother me as I would've made a mess of it anyway. And because of this, the lovely Man who served me knocked 30% off the price....result! No longer in my eyes is Magma a museum of curiosities,it is now a cool shop of curiosities......

Have you ever flown to Knock airport in Ireland? I have. It's confusing because it's literally in…read morethe middle of nowhere. Its just a concrete box with a tiny bit of old concrete by it the middle of a massive expanse of grass and nothingness. If you fly to Knock, I promise that you'll feel exactly the same. That is, if you know nothing, like me. Because actually Knock, I discovered, is home to a very important Catholic shrine. That is why the airport got built. Thousands now fly on pilgrimage to Knock every year. In fact, it's so famous that there is a Knock shrine gift and bookshop in Manchester! Opened in order to serve the significant Irish community in our city, the bookshop sells relevant reading material, cards and trinkets, as well as organising pilgrimages and trips to the shrine over in Knock. The lovely lady in the shop was delightful and explained so much of this to me. Bizarre, but very interesting!

A store devoted entirely to the shrine of knock??!?! Where have you been all my life. Knock is a…read morespot in Ireland where an apparition (appearance of god, kind of) occurred. 15 people witnessed it, this event was given the Vatican seal of approval in 1992 and since and still is a busy site for pilgrimage. Now if your interested in anything knock related head to this little store on deansgate.

Amazing place that accepts you for being you. *Warning* @ Social Refuge where they treat you…read moredifferently if your not like them. I visited this coffee shop recently and left feeling pretty uncomfortable with how I was treated. From the moment I ordered, the staff came across as dismissive and noticeably colder toward me compared to other customers around me. There were a few interactions that felt unnecessarily sharp, and it gave the impression that I wasn't particularly welcome there. I want to be fair, but as a straight customer, the difference in tone and attitude didn't go unnoticed. Whether intentional or not, it made the experience feel exclusionary rather than inclusive. It's a shame because the space itself has a lot of personality, but the service made it hard to enjoy. I'd hope they work on creating a more welcoming environment for everyone.

I get the irony by starting with the quote "don't judge a book by its cover" but tbh this is…read moreexactly what I've been doing every time I've walked past this place in the past few months... Whether it was because the area of town is a bit random, the building a bit unattractive and me thinking it was more of a bookshop - something just seemed to be putting me off. But today in my meeting with Matt F we decided to give it a go and what a great decision it was! First off this place is huge and a labyrinth once inside - one half hipster bookshop, the other half cool cafe with a real nod to health (check out the menu on my pics). A really lovely environment with working fountain and a variety of places to sit. The food was excellent too - my breakfast pancakes were probably the best I've had in Manchester so far which is saying something. Quick note that they don't do sides - at one stage I thought I was going to turn into Jack Nicholson in '5 Easy Pieces' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wtfNE4z6a8 but thankfully the guy sorted us out with a side of toast after I asked nicely...repeatedly... Very friendly staff, great venue. I'll be back soon to work/eat/drink coffee/read a book - or all at the same time!