Tib Street is a built-up blend of bakeries, bars, florists, cafes, newsagents and sex shops nowadays. It’s an intriguing and peculiar old part of town that seems to have a bit of everything.
But it wasn’t always this way.
For many years, this slender stretch of Northern Quarter had a single definitive trade that used to attract Mancunians in their thousands: animals.
Established as an agricultural space in the 1800s, Tib Street gradually morphed into a pet shop paradise during the early 20th century; a cavalcade of creatures peeking out from behind the windows that lined the street.
Hayley Flynn, the founder of Skyliner and a walking encyclopaedia of Manchester history, has previously dived into the history of the area on her walking tours, having discovered that Tib Street was a truly ‘wild’ part of the city.
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“There’s always been animals on Tib Street since it was established around the 1800s,” Hayley explains.
“But it became less about agriculture and pigs, and more about pets when the area became more developed in the early 1900s.
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“There’s still one pet shop there today but it was the arrival of the Arndale in the mid to late 1970s that saw most of the area close down and businesses move out.
“The area then became what we have today partly through the natural process of gentrification, partly down to arts-led regeneration.”
One of the most prominent traders in Tib Street’s heyday was a man name Walter Smith – who owned one of the longest-running pet shops in the area.
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He eventually sold it to another family, the Browns, but they kept the original name – and the original founder’s legacy survives in a painting titled “Mr Smith’s Dream” created by artist Liz Scrine.
“The Dream piece is based on Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas and the plan was the create the dreams of the animals in the pet shops in further lightboxes along the same wall, but the project was never completed,” Hayley informs us.
“So, we have this one piece that seems quite abstract as a standalone installation.”
Tib Street’s markets became bigger and more diverse throughout the 1900s.
As the areas began to attract five-figure attendances on Friday evenings, the pubs opened earlier to accommodate growing numbers of traders.
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“Around Tib Street could draw crowds of up to 10,000 on a Friday night, much of this was market footfall around Smithfield, especially the Shudehill side (the wholesale fish markets on High Street),” Hayley tells us.
“Then to serve the workers of the markets the pubs opened very early in the morning – so it was something of a 24 hour city in that respect.
“Teenagers relied on the markets for entertainment and a social space, and it was popular with sex workers too, so it was a bit of a wild place at times.”
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Much of the animal trade and pet shops shut down on Tib Street in the seventies, but the concealed structure of the street rendered it ideal for explicit stores to pitch up for patrons; away from city residents’ prying eyes.
“The pet shops and other independents along Tib Street were a very popular day out right up until the 70s,” says Hayley.
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“Even later on, strange independent traders who managed to survive in the area for a while longer drew in crowds, there was a latex mask shop that was popular with the younger crowd.”
Modern Tib Street is no longer a round-the-clock fiesta of beasts and booze, but if you crane your neck upwards, the relics of its past are in plain view.
Perched gently on the buildings, you’ll see a pandemonium of painted parrots.
“The birds form part of the same art trail as Mr Smith’s dream, they’re looking back into the building wondering where to go now that the pet shops are closed,” Hayley explains.
“They’re the Sulking Parrots of Tib Street, and have found themselves homeless. There are other birds like this hidden around the Northern Quarter to look out for, from doves to toucans.
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“They’ve been handing around since the late 90s but have been surprisingly overlooked, suppose that’s just testament to the fact we should always look up.”
To discover more about the amazing history of Manchester, you can take a walking tour with Skyliner – led by Hayley herself.
Tours are resuming later this month following lockdown; currently limited to five people due to group restrictions.
In celebration of Momo Shop: a Chorlton favourite that has flourished since its rebrand
Danny Jones
It’s not often we go out of our way to hammer home just how staggering we found a restaurant, but after now losing track of the number of times that a member of our team has eaten at Momo Shop in Chorlton and come back near speechless, it deserves more than a review.
We regularly hold ourselves back and resist the urge to talk in superlatives wherever possible, especially because we worry we might be falling into the recency bias trap, but in this instance, we’re going to go out on a limb and fall on our hospitality sword. Well, this particular writer is…
It’s official: Momo Shop Nepali Street Food – for our money, anyway – is up there with one of THE best restaurants in Manchester right now.
And there are plenty of reasons why, not least of all because of the years of practice they have feeding increasingly discerning Manc diners under a different moniker.
Simple but charming – all the focus is on the foodAnd the food speaks for itselfSome of the most flavourful fillings you’ll find in ManchesterBusy any given night of the weekNo review (Credit: The Manc Eats/Momo Shop via Instagram)
If you don’t live in/frequent Chorlton, you’ll be forgiven for thinking that this gaff was a somewhat new addition to Chorlton, but in actual fact it’s been gradually growing a loyal and passionate following for more than seven years.
This is because before the miniamlist rebrand that saw the walls stripped back, the exterior painted blue and cutesy little bits of artwork hung amidst that familiar and atmospheric festoon lighting, Momo Shop was once The Little Yeti.
Its former iteration boasted hundreds of glowing reviews in its own right, which already plated up plenty of stunning Nepalese food, but since switching primarily towards serving a menu primarily made up of momos (Tibetan-style fried dumplings hand-folded into various shapes) they’ve well and truly shone.
Now approaching a full 12 months under the new name, the Nepali street food spot isn’t just one of a relatviely small handful considering how much great South Asian food there is across Greater Manchester, we’d wager it could be the very best representing that Alpine-Himalayan belt in our region.
Our latest visit was genuinely just as good as our first, second, third and so on – take your pick.
From the simply incredible deep fried pork dumplings and the deeply moorish butter sauce that goes with literally any momo filling, to the super traditional buffalo ones that are not only authentic but, come on, where else can you find such a unique meat in these parts? It’s some of the best food we’ve eaten.
And we don’t just mean of late; Momo Shop might genuinely among of the nicest scran we’ve had in ages and it’s no exagerration to say that the first taste we enjoyed from many of these flavours have formed some of the strongest culinary memories we’ve created in quite a while.
It’s also worth nothing that it isn’t just one main snack-sized dish. The chow mein, keema noodles and cheesy chops are showstoppers themselves, and we’ve already booked in again for a 30th birthday celebration purely so we can try those lambs ribs and their take on a shashlick.
Nevertheless, we love the idea of the numerous configurations and concotions by pairing different dumplings and owner Niti Karki gave us some pro-tips of the best duos and even let us in on the trade secret of her go-to combo when she’s hungover. Legend.
Once again, at the risk of sounding too hyperbolic, odd moments have felt like core foodie memories on a par with our favourite all-time meals.
Personally, I’m glad to report that this isn’t just a review: consider this a declaration that Momo Shop has quickly become my favourite restaurant not just in Chorlton but in all of central Manchester, something I haven’t had since the heartbreaking closure of Cocktail Beer Ramen + Bun in 2023.
Plenty of varietyDamn straightNiti = absolute iconWe’ll keep your condiment secret forever, Niti…
There might be an element of the almost HakkaPo-esque style drawings, the colour palette and the carefully curated pop-punk, old school emo and post-hardcore playlist that’s over half a decade in the making that makes particualrly partial to this place
But before we wrap up this glorified love letter parading as a ‘review’, we also want to give a special nod to the charming staff and Niti’s mum, specficially, who was too modest to even let us share her picture, but whose wealth of wisdom, influence and experience has clearly inspired Momo Shop’s success.
Don’t be shy, Sue – the only thing more stylish than the food was you, girl. Pop off.
Put simply, we’ll be going back here as regularly as possible until we try every different momo + sauce variation there is, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us.
If you are in the mood for more dumpling excellence, by the way, you might want to check out the unassuming Northern Quarter gem that is Chef Diao.
Lady Gaga is a tour-de-force of talent at the Co-op Live Manchester
Clementine Hall
Lady Gaga proves she’s a truly world-class act after two sold-out nights at the Co-op Live Manchester, as if we needed any reminding.
The city of Manchester has been flooded with harness-wearing, mesh-sporting little monsters over the past two days.
And that’s because the absolute icon that is Lady Gaga brought her ‘Mayhem Ball’ to the Co-op Live for two nights.
I don’t think you’ll find anyone who doesn’t know who this fabulous woman is. Over the past decade, she’s won an Oscar, headlined the Super Bowl, performed in blockbusters alongside Al Pacino, no less, and her songs are literally ingrained into our minds.
It’s been a whole 11 years (yes, really) since she performed in Manchester, and it’s safe to say she was back with a bang.
The performance was split up into five distinct acts, and each one was as exhausting and exhilarating as the next.
She begins the show by bopping out of a comically huge red dress, but this staging was only the start of what madness was about to ensue.
Luckily, we’d been prepared by the other half of the Audio North team, who had the equal privilege of seeing her on night one and were left similarly speechless.
Throughout the 30-song epic, we had crutches, sand pits, cages, skeletons, enough wigs to produce an amateur production of Annie, and we didn’t question any of it. Why would we? It’s Lady Gaga.
Kicking things off with ‘Bloody Mary’, the two and a half hour marathon didn’t leave any stones unturned.
We had all the bangers, from ‘Just Dance’ and ‘Paparazzi’ to ‘Bad Romance’ and ‘Applause’, it had us wondering why any other superstar even bothers putting a song out these days.
Pop is in a good place at the moment with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish and so on, but you can make a strong case for Gaga having helped pave the way for every lady in the business ever since.
Gaga truly had us in the palm of her hands (or claws at one point), even more so when she left the stage to de-robe and show her more vulnerable side for the last two songs – beanie firmly on.
It wasn’t just a concert: this was a fully-fledged tour de force of talent that Manchester won’t forget any time soon.
Sometimes there’s no point in intellectualising why someone has that ‘X-factor’; sometimes you just have to take a step back and say WOW.