Manchester’s Chinatown is the second-largest in the UK and the third-biggest in Europe.
First established over 100 years ago by Chinese immigrants drawn to seek their fortunes within the booming industrial heartlands of Cottonopolis, it might be little more than a mile in width – but it’s still packed with great restaurants, cultural artefacts and some surprising, hidden histories.
Many say the area’s beginnings are rooted in the restaurant business, still Chinatown was not really recognised until the 1970s – despite the arrival of its first restaurant in the forties and the official opening of a Chinese consulate in the 30s.
It was also once ‘ground zero’ for some secret intelligence operations.
Containing a secret doorway to the Guardian Telephone Exchange on George Street, to this day underneath its many cafes, restaurants, karaoke bars and bakeries lies a fortified nuclear bunker stretching out for 30m, attached in turn to more than four miles of underground tunnels that stretch all the way up to Ardwick.
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Image: The Manc Group
The bunker’s existence was denied by officials until 1967 – ten years after it was built – and the tunnels still exist today, albeit unoccupied. Sadly, they are not open to the public.
Still, there’s plenty more to see. As you wander the streets, look up and you’ll stumble across innumerable plaques and listed buildings.
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The most famous, of course, is the ornate Paifang archway – an official gift from Beijing and the only one of its kind in Europe.
Covered in gold leaf, lacquer and traditional symbols of luck and prosperity, following a lengthy construction it was officially opened in 1987 and remains a massive tourist attraction today.
Beyond that, there are plenty of shops, supermarkets, late-night karaoke spots and great eateries to discover. Keep reading to get to grips with exactly where you need to go when in Chinatown.
Retail in Chinatown is dominated by Asian supermarkets like Hang Won Hong, Wing Fat and Woo Sang – each with their own individual quirks.
The smallest, Wing Fat, is a favourite with locals – stocking the likes of vacuum packed Chinese sausages alongside fresh, whole fish, shellfish, and bulging polystyrene packets of pork belly in its fridges. You’ll also find traditional Chinese medicine here and a fresh grocery section out front.
Hang Won Hong, a personal favourite, does it all – with further subsections for other east Asian products from the likes of Korea and Japan.
With fresh veg on your right as you come down the stairs, there’s a fridge area with fresh meat, fish, herbs, salted eggs and kimchi; a snacking section, small beer and large soft drinks selection, innumerable rice and noodles, and a full area dedicated to cooking equipment next to the freezers.
As for Woo Sang, here you’ll find fortune cookies for 99p and the brilliant Hunan restaurant upstairs – the only one of its kind in the north west, according to its owner (more on that later).
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Cookware, tea sets, gifts and more
Just off the main square find the T.La Art & Craft Gallery, a gift shop that’s been trading since 1986. Here you’ll find Chinese art materials, new year decorations (this year’s celebration falls on Saturday 10 February), tea sets, bowls, wind charms, incense sticks and more.
Food has always been at the heart of Manchester’s Chinatown. The area is famous for its affordable cafes, bakeries, and award-winning restaurants, where chefs often add a northern twist to traditional Chinese cooking styles.
Manchester’s first Chinese restaurant, Ping Hong, opened here in 1948, and back then Anglo-Chinese cuisine was very much the order of the day.
Over 60 years later, chefs are still serving up a mix of dishes – ranging from the traditional to the more modern, with some putting a British twist on traditional recipes and cooking methods.
The scene here, once dominated by Cantonese cooking, is now more varied with dishes from provinces like Beijing, Shanghai, Hunan and Szechuan growing in popularity.
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Packed in between Portland and Princess streets, today there are loads of different Chinese eateries to discover – but don’t be surprised to find restaurants serving up all manner of cuisines.
A haven of cultural integration, Chinese and Japanese, Nepalese, Thai and Vietnamese restaurants all jostle for attention, with more piled high above street level.
With over 100 different places to choose from, hungry visitors are spoilt for choice.
Dim Sum, roast meats and hot pot
Mei Dim in Chinatown, Manchester. Credit: The Manc GroupMei Dim in Chinatown, Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
For seriously good dim sum, a staple at any good Chinese restaurant, try Mei Dim – a nondescript-looking basement canteen with massive laminated, pictorial menus. Ignore the grumpy naysayers online, the fact that the customer base here is 99% Chinese speaks volumes as to the true quality of the food.
Little Yang Sing is worth a visit too and boasts a great lunchtime set menu option, as is Happy Seasons – renowned locally for its roast meats, which range from fatty cuts of pork belly to rich, lacquered whole ducks. Go early, though, as these start selling out from as early as 12pm – they’re that popular.
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Roasted duck in plum sauce, freshly prepped and cooked from 7am then served the following day / Image: Happy Seasons
King Do spare ribs, prepped and made on the day / Image: Happy Seasons
If it’s hot pot you’re looking for, add XiongQi Hot Pot to your list. A relatively new addition to the famous Faulkner street, hot broth steams at the centre of your table – ready for you to cook whatever you like in it.
Options for veggies and vegans are numerous, as are traditional choices like tripe, ox tongue, mutton and prawn mash with bamboo fungus.
Deep-fried pork slices, cinnamon rice rolls, premium beef and a spicy hotpot / Image: Xiong Qi
Bubble tea, bakeries and dessert parlours
This part of town is also known for its great bakeries, cheap cafes and dessert parlours.
For bubble tea, the Taiwanese drink that’s taken Manchester’s Chinatown (and the world) by storm, head to WooTea on George Street where they make their own boba – aka tapioca pearls. This also stars in the desserts, which include indulgent cream-loaded lava cakes.
There’s also Cha-Time, Happy Lemon, or Ohayo Tea – the latter a dog-friendly, Japanese Shiba Inu themed tea house lauded for its fruit teas, which use real, freshly brewed fruit.
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WooTea’s fluffy lava cakes and bubble teas / Image: The Manc Group Ohayotea’s brown sugar tapioca milk boba tea Image: Ohayotea via Shibainuhoshidaily
Bakery-wise, one of Chinatown’s most famous, Ho’s, is sadly no more. Home to the £1.50 pork bun and a staple in the area for more than fourty years, it closed earlier this year – leaving competitor Wong Wongwith some big shoes to fill.
Small Chinese bakery Wong Wong was first opened on Princess Street in 2003 and sells a range of freshly baked traditional and contemporary Chinese buns, loaves, cakes, pastries and even wedding cakes. Opt for a custard bun here, or try the char siu or bolo buns with butter and a traditional milk tea.
Japanese dessert and tea bar Tsujiri Matcha is also worth a visit. As the name suggests, it specialises in matcha and stocks all sorts of delights, including matcha-flavoured lattes, ice cream basque cheesecakes, roll cakes and chocolate tartes.
For some of the best Japanese food in the city, Yuzu on Charlotte Street’s from-scratch cooking is a must. Expect spot-on execution of classics like gyoza, yakitori, katsu and chicken karaage, alongside fresh, silken sashimi served ‘don’ style atop warm, vinegared sushi rice – not to mention an excellent sake bar.
Faulkner Street’s Vietnamese kitchen Pho Cue, meanwhile, combines traditional cooking methods with a good measure of wild-card modernity. The weekly lobster pho, chargrilled on an in-house barbecue, is legendary – but you’ll also find some surprises, like Vietnamese tacos with a crisp rice pancake, listed alongside its traditional bun (spicy soup noodles) and bahn mi.
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Pho Cue restaurant in Chinatown, Manchester. Credit: The Manc Group
Red Chilli, said to be the first to serve spicy Sichuan cuisine in town, gets a lot of love, as does Hunan restaurant on the first floor above Chinatown’s Woo Sang supermarket. It’s the only one of its kind in the north west, according to its owner, serving traditional Hunan cuisine from the mainland.
Teppanyaki Chinatown also deserves an honourable mention, especially if it’s theatre you’re looking for. Chefs here use an iron griddle to cook your food in front of you, with flames shooting into the air as meat, fish, eggs and rice are expertly manoeuvred under your nose.
Nightlife and hotels
When it comes to nightlife in Chinatown, it’s all about the karaoke bars and casinos. These run into the early hours and vary in style.
For karaoke, choose from Orchid Lounge, Vina or K2 Karaoke, with the latter probably the closest thing you’ll get to a Chinese nightclub outside of Shanghai.
As for casinos, there’s the 24-hour Grosvenor on George street, or Genting and Napoleon’s found just round the corner on Portland street, which remain open until 5 and 6am in the morning respectively.
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Gaming isn’t just restricted to the casinos, though, and many people will gather in backrooms to play games like Mah-jong, poker and Pai Gow.
One of the karaoke rooms at K2. Each booth has its own individual theme and includes bottle serve / Image: K2 Karaoke
Just about edging into Chinatown’s nightlife is Seven Oaks, a traditional English pub behind Han Won Hong supermarket.
Open to all in the day with a ‘husband creche’ service, by night this nondescript drinking hole becomes a secret bar for hospitality staff only – requiring proof of employment by way of a payslip to gain access via the side door.
Hotel-wise, the district’s proximity to Princess and Portland street means you’ve numerous choices. Roomz, Ibis and Novotel offer comfortable budget accommodation, or for a more upmarket stay look at neighbouring hotels Brooklyn, Townhouse, or The Midland.
Culture
When many people think about culture in Chinatown, their minds likely go straight to Chinese New Year – admittedly a great time to visit the area.
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Falling in the middle of February in 2024, red lanterns line the streets, which soon become filled with people who flock here to watch the dragon parade, live performances and fireworks display – as well as to visit the pop-up Chinese market.
The rest of the year, many tourists are drawn here to visit the famous Paifang Chinese archway and pagoda that dominate Chinatown’s central square.
Decorated with dragons and phoenixes, visitors could be forgiven for thinking the ornately carved Paifang had been here for centuries. In fact, it only arrived in 1986.
Specially built in China and then shipped over in three huge containers, it took months to assemble and was originally covered in a traditional Chinese mortar mix using pigs’ blood when it landed here in 1986.
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Covered in gold leaf, lacquer and traditional symbols of luck and prosperity, following a lengthy construction it was officially opened in 1987 and remains a massive tourist attraction today.
Elsewhere, on the cusp of Chinatown, you’ll find the impressive Manchester Art Gallery backed onto George street and, at its heart, the Rain Citytattoo collective – another artistic enclave offering its clients a mixture of classic, contemporary and considered tattooing.
Transport
Chinatown is a short walk from Manchester’s Piccadilly bus station or the tram stop at St Peter’s Square. Further buses can be caught in and out of the city from neighbouring Portland Street and Princess Street.
The closest train station is Oxford Road, just an eight-minute walk away, but Piccadilly station is also close at a distance of just 10 minutes when travelling on foot.
The Manchester bus and coach station on Chorlton street is also within spitting distance.
Featured image – The Manc Group
Feature
10 fascinating photos that show how much Market Street has changed over the years
Thomas Melia
Whether it’s your default place to visit for shopping on your days off or just a necessary evil you dash down when nipping through town, Market Street is one of Manchester’s best-known streets.
And looking back on it over the years, Market Street has been one of Manchester city centre’smost popular streets even all the way back in the 1900’s.
Retailers have come and gone, trends flew by and consumables were snapped off the shelves, but the one thing that has kept this central street alive and beating is the people of Manchester.
The appeal of this high street really can’t be beaten and it seems its reputation has been following it around for over 100 years. If there’s one thing Market Street is never short of, it’s a crowd.
Have a look back over these photos of Market Street over the years – can you remember any of this?
Market Street – Over the years
Market Street, 1823
Credit: The Manchester Library / The Manc Group
Shops and people galore, it’s almost like we’re looking at our modern day Market Street from 200 years ago. Oh wait, we are!
In this photo from 1823, there are families, workers, friends and couples, just like the street attracts in this day and age, it’s lovely to see that this central point has seen many people and witnessed many special memories.
Considering Market Street is uphill and this picture is facing downhill, we tried our best to recreate this moment in the present day.
Market Street/ Cross Street, 1890
Credit: The Manchester Library / The Manc Group
Gone are the Tudor style buildings of the previous photograph and in are the Victorian gas lamps and shop awnings.
It’s hard to make out what sellers and makers are perched up in each shop unit, but I want to visit whichever place is selling those fancy black top hats.
It’s great to see Royal Exchange has kept its legacy in our city even with all the developments happening in and around the city.
Market Street, 1905
Credit: The Manchester LibraryCredit: The Manchester Library / The Manc Group
Alas, colour! There’s some lovely gold brand embellishing spelling out ‘Brothers’ and even a hanging sign to match.
You’ll definitely never lose track of time, especially when there’s clocks sequenced in between the street’s high risers.
After some significant research the ‘Hope Brothers’ building may no longer be with us but a shop filled with Canadian sweet treats and coffee is, Tim Hortons.
Market Street, 1924
Credit: The Manchester Library / The Manc Group
This image is taken from a shop window overlooking Market Street and although the picture may be black and white, it looks as though the sun is beaming down over Manchester, someone got lucky!
1920’s Manchester would certainly put a smile on Andy Burnham’s face, just look at how many trams are running in this photo.
The clocks are no more and it seems the tram wires may have stole the skyline instead, our picture was taken from the top floor of clothing retailer H&M.
Market Street, 1940
Credit: The Manchester Library / The Manc Group
There was a time when everyone’s favourite affordable clothing shop, also known as Primark, was a department store branded ‘Lewis’s’.
Known for its grand window displays and the infamous phrase “If something happened it happened at Lewis’s.”
On the left of this photo you can see an arch detailing ‘Lewis’s Arcade’, this is now where Cafe Nero and Costa stand proudly on one of Manchester’s finest retail streets.
This photo was taken during World War Two and you can see in the windows a message – ‘Are you supporting the national effort?’
Market Street/ Cross Street, 1974
Credit: The Manchester Library / The Manc Group
Cross Street neighbours our beloved Market Street and is also where you’ll find a host of shops occupying the impressive perimeter of the Royal Exchange.
One of the city centre’s newest retail arrivals to nestle in this grand building is Astrid and Miyu, luxury jewellery makers and designers.
Manchester Arndale has seen a major facelift since this photo was taken as it opts for a more glass-heavy fronting and futuristic style.
Market Street, 1984
Credit: The Manchester Library / The Manc Group
Now in the 80’s and florescent lights and neon colours were all the rage, something which you can see in HMV’s logo shining brightly above its shop window.
The music catalog maestros may not be sitting pretty on Market Street anymore, but you will still find them in the Arndale Centre spotlighting loads of incredible new music, like they’ve always done.
You might not be able to pick up a copy of Madonna’s ‘True Blue’ or Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, but you will get yourself a ‘Black Hoof’ from ‘Black Sheep Coffee’.
Market Street/ Mossley Street, 1985
Credit: The Manchester Library / The Manc Group
A shop called Pizzaland dedicated to all things pizza? Here’s another reason why the 80’s were one of the best decades.
This popular eatery chain shut down in the early 90’s and some of these sites went on to become Pizza Hut sites but ours became a Santander, now closed down to make room for Pop Mart.
If all this food talk has made you hungry, fear not, there’s a Burger King just next door, or explore all the various food options in Manchester via our foodie friend, The Manc Eats.
Inside Arndale Centre, 1978
Credit: The Manchester Library / The Manc Group
Manchester may be one of the most eccentric cities in the world with a constant array of new openings and arrivals but the trusty Arndale has been by our side since the very beginning, or at least the 70’s.
The same can’t be said for this lovely sculpture by Franta Belsky, which was installed in 1977 and removed in 1988 after refurbishments to the shopping centre.
This big open plan mezzanine might not be present anymore but it’s clear to see that one thing certainly hasn’t changed and that’s our love of shops.
The retailers might not be the same, but this shopping powerhouse is never short on some incredible and wonderful vendors.
Outside of Manchester Arndale,Market Street, 1990’s
Credit: The Manchester Library / The Manc Group
Manchester’s Arndale Centre sees 41 million visitors each year and has undergone some very big changes throughout its time.
We’re sure some of you looking at this picture will remember when the Arndale had its own deep blue awning and a few benches perched outside.
Whether its 1823 or 1990, one thing’s for sure, Market Street has always looked sharp!
Interview | Snow Patrol on being at ‘the best they’ve ever been’ and making music that matters
Danny Jones
2024 was the year that Snow Patrol not only returned with their first album in six years but reminded crowds all over the Europe in the 12 months leading up to that release why they’ve still got the following the day to this day.
First formed back in 1994 if you can believe that (yes, it’s been more than three decades since these lads first arrived on the scene) Snow Patrol remain one of the most recongnisable names in contemporary alternative, classic indie and ‘dad rock’ if we’re still throwing that term around.
We’re not using that as anything other than the foundational sound and sheer compliment it is by the way; we often feel it’s almost an unnaitainble kind of sound/vibe at this present moment but one than formed many of our first music memories and still influences our tastes to this day.
More importantly, you don’t get to have been around as long as these without having made an impact on people, so when we were offered the chance to chat with the band’s famous frontman, Gary Lightbody ahead of their Co-op Live debut, we were delighted and beyond grateful. Here’s how it went:
Before the interview, we caught Snow Patrol at their intimate album show back in September. (Credit: The Manc Group)
Gary Lightbody on making Snow Patrol’s ‘best record to date’
I heard you say somewhere recently that it might be the favourite thing that you’ve ever made. Does that still sound true to you?
[He nods with a modest smile] Yeah, yeah. I do tend to make my make sure my feelings are set on a record before it comes out, because I don’t want the reaction to you know to dictate how I feel about it.
But yeah, I think we felt that from pretty early on recording with Fraser [T. Smith], I mean, Johnny [McDaid] and Nathan [Connolly] and I had written songs for it and Johnny had made some extraordinary versions we were referring to as the original version of the song, and that’s what we went in the first time to record with a new producer.
Obviously, we’ve been working with Jacknife Lee for 20 years and wanted to try somebody new – not disrespect to him, he’s a f***ing legend – but it didn’t work out the first time, so then we took some time to figure out what we wanted to do and I’d already written ‘All’ with Fraser.
So we decided to go in with him and we could try each other out; he could see if he liked us and vice versa, and it was instant – it was just instant. Every day felt like an adventure and like we were going in the right direction each time.
Some of the songs you know were started by Johnny (the original versions), and then we’d add to those and every time we added, this time it felt like there was something that was expanding the universe of the song, whereas in the previous incarnations it felt like there was something sort of falling inwards like a flan collapsing in a cupboard or something.
Hard not to laugh at that analogy.*
It felt experimental and every time Johnny and Nathan were playing, it added something extraordinary and it was just a joy and an honour to watch them work, and it’s not a joy watching me play the guitar, but it wouldn’t have worked in the reverse.
They’re extraordinary players and so by the end of that time with Fraser, when we’d finished, there was a real strong feeling that the music was as good as we ever made, so that’s when it galvanized with me, that’s when it sort of coalesced with me that this was the strongest album that we’d made.
It hasn’t stopped – I haven’t stopped feeling like that.
After learning what we did in this interview, The Forest Is The Path might just be our favourite Snow Patrol album too.
Amazing, and yeah you certainly feel something’s changed there. How much do you think working with different people in the booth helped that?
Things are always going to change and there has been an evolution live as well. You know, I feel like that the festivals over the course over the summer – we’ve been playing some great shows and it’s been so fun, so I feel like we’re as we’re sharp as we’ve ever been.
You know, you’re from Manchester, I’m from Northern Ireland: we don’t give ourselves, compliments – you know what I mean, this is not what we do, so I’ll do my very best without never being allowed back in Northern Ireland again.
It just feels like we’re everything has got sharper and everything has expanded. I mean, even the small moments feel giant, like there’s a song on the record called ‘These Lies’ and there’s a piano and Nathan’s atmospheric guitar and my vocal and that’s it but pretty early on we were like this is the biggest song on the record.
So it sort of feels like something’s happening creatively that is exciting and I don’t want to overthink it too much because no thought process went into it; nothing ever is strategic about what we do. We start with a blank piece of paper and a couple of instruments, and we’ll always do that.
Yeah, you’ve always done those quiet moments so well, be it ‘Set Fire to the Third Bar’ or even those songs that sound upbeat but there’s a real sadness behind it.How do you find going from those almost Emerald Isle proasic moments to the bigger stuff when playing live?
From L-R, Johnny, Nathan and Gary (Credit: Press Shot via Chuff Media)
I mean, thank you for everything you said there – you’ve hit upon it there: it’s the live thing we think about more than that. You don’t set your sights on live when you’re in the studio but when you do hit upon something and you go, ‘Oh s***, yeah, this will go in the set, yeah’.
We don’t think about like what will go on the radie, like that’s the death I think of creativity when you’re trying to find a blueprint to and wonder what’s on the radio right now.
I mean, it wouldn’t work for us anyway, what’s happening in pop right now – because I’m a fan of a lot of all kinds of music is well-established, you know what I mean; I’m not an indie snob or anything like that I love pop music too, and dance and hip hop and everything – but it’s not something that we can control.
It would just always seem like pushing ourselves into a shape that we don’t quite feel comfortable in, or wearing kind of clothes that you know that’s anytime. You know, we’ve in the past where we’ve had to wear clothes for a photo shoot that are just being taken out of a packet or whatever, so now we just bring our own gear to the photo shoots and stuff, so it’s about sort of feeling kind of comfortable and confident in yourself.
It’s like in the studio itself: this is where where you get into the difficulties, that’s where you get into the heart, the hard places and try and make them more malleable but never think about ‘radio singles’…
People call this record introspective, but I think that the last one [Wildness] was way more introspective and it didn’t have any singles really. So yeah, it was true [that this is their favourite record to date] and when we finished it we were like a dog with a a bird at the door.
Brilliant. And you know, you touched on the live stuff there and festivals etc. It’s great to have you back on the circuit but how excited are you to be playing these new songs and seeing fans develop a new relationship with them and you?
I try not to look too much at comments because it can send you down a path, but I did see a comment recently: somebody said that they came to see it for the first time and didn’t realisee they knew ‘All’ and didn’t realise they knew so many of our songs.
It’s great that the songs have got into people because it also takes the pressure off us, because we don’t have to worry about walking down the street anywhere, but the songs have found their way into the public consciousness, which if you could design a way to have success, that would be it: anonymous and successful.
We’ll finally get to stretch our legs a wee bit with the album. Don’t want to hit too many new songs just quite yet for anybody but it’s been really fun over the course of the summer to see the reaction. It’s been confidence boosting because it means, I think, that we can just sort of relax a wee bit and just allow the new songs to be part of the set without worrying too much.
We’re really conscious as well that people buy a ticket to a show: we want them to have a really fun night out, and that there shouldn’t be a sort of exam that comes along with with a show – you shouldn’t have to, like, do research before you go and if you know the new song’s great, and if you don’t, that’s okay, there’s not going to be tonnes of them, but there’ll be enough to satisfy us.
Do you or the rest of the band have a favourite that you’re really looking forward to playing?
I never really tire of those songs that have sort of a slow build and that kind of go bananas at the end but I think there are [plenty of] songs that would be great to play like ‘Hold Me In the Fire’ and ‘Years That Fall’ that are kind of built for live shows.
We’ll maybe play the three or singles and then one extra each night and rotate that extra one, you know; if people to come to multiple shows – which sometimes they do – then at least they hear you know something new each night as well.
Nice, and do you guys feel there was a particular vibe that you tried to nail for this album?
Erm, no – it’s a good question but no, not really. I think the vibe was the vibe that was created between the four of us rather than on on any particular song, because I think the songs we just let them be.
That’s the thing: you start with that blank page and then you let the song be whatever it wants to be because any song written on a guitar or piano and has a melody, it can be anything we could make turn into a country song or whatever, you know, I think it’s just allowing the song to be what it feels like it wants to be, so getting out of the way sometimes is good.
But yeah, I don’t think there was a vibe that sort of is pervasive on the record as a whole but maybe lyrically, the vagaries of time is kind of the theme through the record as a whole: time’s not linear. We think it is because we’re told it is, but you just realise that every individual person has their own time.
Depending on how fast your heart is beating, how happy you are, how sad you are; how much grief or joy you are in your life, time will speed up and slow down and almost feel like it’s stopping sometimes, and that kind of is what has sort of been the kind of theme through the whole record coming out the back of my father’s death. I don’t really specifically talk about that in the record, but it’s um, it’s sort of something. I guess that became kind of a um a theme amazing.
Maybe that’s why I love this record so much because I’m obsessed with time. One last question, I saw you say ‘We’ve never been cool, so who gives a s***?’, and I think there’s something unique about a fan’s relationship with those underdog bands – what makes it special do you think?
That wasn’t exactly how I answered that, but they made me sound a lot cooler than I was. I think I was a bit more equivocal than that rather than but yeah, I mean it’s incredible.
People do say to me pretty often like this, whatever song it was – you know you mentioned, ‘Set Fire’ or ‘Open Your Eyes’, ‘Run’, or one of the quieter moments – they’ll say that this song means this to me because this happened and it was the soundtrack to that happening in my life, you know what I mean?
It could be something joyful, or it could be something extraordinarily painful and sad, and to feel like you were there for a person, you know what I mean? It’s something that you made in solitude, or together as a band – it wasn’t made for a specific person or a specific thing but that person has found it in their life.
So maybe it held them in a moment that was difficult for them or the opposite, or was like the best day of their life was made better by it – either way that makes me very, very happy but yeah, we’re delighted to be ‘that’ band and we’re delighted that anybody still comes to see us play live.
Especially the amount of people that have bought tickets for this tour is absolutely extraordinary. It’s kind of blowing our minds because even with Wildness we didn’t sell anything out, so it blows our mind to still be able to play arenas and mean so much to people. We don’t take it for granted, that’s for sure.
If there was one thing we took away from this interview it’s that we’re just so glad to have such a long-lasting, influential and meaningful band back in our lives and, more importantly, back where they belong: delighting the smallest of rooms to the biggest of arenas – Snow Patrol have always been built for both.
The lads are playing the Co-op Live for the first time ever this Saturday, 22 February and we’re sure it’s going to be an unbelievable show that follows not even a return to form in our eyes but a reminder of just how brilliant a bunch of musicians these lot are.
There are still a handful of tickets left for massive Manchester gig – you can grab yours HERE.
This Saturday, Snow Patrol take to the stage @TheCoopLive
Post-event: – There will be trams back to the city centre from Etihad Campus – Holt Town and Velopark stops will be closed in both directions for approx. 1 hour.
Georgina Pellant -
8th February 2024 
