After a few years spent locked up in our houses, we’re all in need of a blowout – and what better excuse than the feast of St Patrick?
This year, St Patrick’s Day falls on Thursday, 17 March – and Manchester’s operators are already gearing up for the celebrations.
From Guinness gravy-soaked burgers and guided tours of Manchester’s Little Ireland, to boozy Guinness-fuelled bottomless brunches, parades and Irish festivals, we’ve put together a list of some of the best events happening in the city for you here.
Whether you want to drink your weight in Guinness or absorb a bit of culture, there’s something here for you.
Keep reading to discover where to go on St Patrick’s Day in Manchester this year.
The annual Manchester St Patrick’s Day parade is organised by the Irish World Heritage Centre and takes place in Cheetham Hill.
Now in its 25th year, the parade will start from the Irish World Heritage Centre on Queen’s Road in Cheetham Hill at 12 noon on Sunday and will follow a route down Cheetham Hill Road as far as the AO Arena before turning round and following the same route back to where it started.
One of the city’s oldest St Patrick’s celebrations, the Manchester Irish Festival has events running in the city throughout the month right up to 20 March.
Highlights include the award-winning Fianna Phadraig Pipe band who are coming up to their 75th anniversary and will be taking the festival on tour with visits to different locations across the city throughout this weekend, before touring Levenshulme, Burnage, and Fallowfield on St Patrick’s Day itself.
The area around Manchester’s Oxford Road station was once known as Little Ireland, and this St Patrick’s Day you can learn all about its history from local tour guide Ed O’Glinert .
This guided tour promises to unearth the best stories of Little Ireland: recalling Auntie’s Bar, stopping off at the site of George Orwell’s doss house, searching for a whiff of the Waxie’s Dargle and maybe even enjoying a glass of a black Irish drink with a creamy head.
It will take place on 19 March, kicking off at 1130am and running for a couple of hours. You can pick up tickets for the tour here.
A two-week Irish festival at O’Sheas beer garden
Image: Supplied
O’Sheas giant beer garden has re-opened in Manchester, and operators are kicking off the St Patrick’s Day celebrations early with a two-week Irish festival.
Think live music from a host of Irish bands, free-flowing pints of ice-cold Guinness, and cocktails like espresso martinis and pornstar martinis, plus an all-new Irish American street food menu from Manchester bagel heroes Eat new York.
Running from now until 24 March, it’s the perfect excuse to get down to the newly-returned (and now covered) beer garden that was such a hit when hospitality reopened its doors in April last year.
A 4-day ‘Irish weekender’ at Manchester Piccadilly Gardens
Image: Twitter
Piccadilly Gardens will be paying homage to the Emerald Isle with a weekend full of live music and dance, free-flowing Irish stouts, street food and more.
Irish dancers, pipe bands and Irish folk musicians will take to the stage in the middle of the gardens throughout the long weekend, whilst huge bars will have all manner of Irish tipples – from dry Irish stouts and Irish coffees to hot toddies and fine whiskeys.
Entertainment will be free and take place in the gardens from 12-7pm every day throughout the long weekend.
Manchester’s part-time pizza parlour is bringing the goods this St Patrick’s Day, with non-stop pints of Guinness and endless slices of their New York-style cold-proved pizza all for a fixed price.
For one day only, the team have added the beautiful black dry Irish stout to its bottomless brunch offer in honour of St Patrick’s feast.
That means that for just £25 a head you’ll be able to get 90 minutes of unlimited Guinness and non-stop pizza slices at both Manchester Bridge Street and Northern Quarter venues between 12 and 5pm. How grand.
A special Guinness fondue burger at Honest Burgers
Image: Honest Burgers
Honest Burgers is selling limited-edition fondue burgers drenched in Guinness gravy this month, all in the name of St Patrick’s Day.
Comprised of Honest’s classic hand-shaped beef patty, it’s sandwiched between brioche then topped with candied bacon, molten fondue, a Guinness beef and bacon gravy, crispy onions, rocket and pickles.
Available at the burger restaurant through March, it’s served with Honest’s signature rosemary and sea salt fries. For this month only, you can also enjoy a pint of draught Guinness on the side to wash it down with.
Bottomless wings and endless Guinness at The Shack
Another bottomless Guinness deal, this time with added endless wings.
The Shack in Manchester’s Northern Quarter has bottomless deals running on St Patrick’s Day, priced from £15 a head – and it sounds too good to miss.
Even better, they’ll also be offering free gaming in the basement from 5pm and £2.50 shots of Jamesons all day.
Boilermakers and Jameson whiskey pizzas at Nell’s
From 14-20 March, Nell’s pizza is serving up one of its classics with an added Irish twist.
For one week only, fans can get the signature Chilli HOney pizza with added Jameson whiskey for an additional £1.50.
On top of that, there’ll be some boozy specials on the drinks side too – think Jameson orange and lemonade, or the classic boilermaker – combining a schooner of beer and a shot of Jameson for an extra £2.
Feature image – The Manc Eats
Manchester
Heaton Park’s ‘Gallagher Hill’ where people have been watching Oasis for free is no more
Thomas Melia
The Heaton Park viewpoint coined ‘Gallagher Hill’ which fans flocked to to watch Oasis for free has been closed off ahead of the remaining gig dates.
The particular high area of Heaton Park has gone viral online after Oasis fans have been using it to watch the Live ’25 shows for free, with a distant view of the huge screens.
But as thousands of ticket-holders flock back to the remaining Manchester gigs of Oasis Live ’25, fans who couldn’t manage to get any tickets will be disappointed to learn that the viral viewing point Gallagher Hill has been shut down.
Usually, this hill section of the Manchester green space isn’t filled with Gallagher supporters – it’s normally home to a herd of cows who use this land to graze and walk about on throughout the day.
Huge fences have now been erected around the area to prevent any further groups from gathering, with Oasis still set to perform on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
Manchester City Council has said that there are also around 300 young trees that have been planted in this part of Heaton Park to develop a new woodland area.
The purpose of the fencing is ‘dual purpose’, a council spokesperson said: “Both to protect the environment from further damage and to dissuade people from gathering there. The necessary measure means the concert will no longer be visible from this area.”
After seeing videos of fans in this particular area, one TikTok user checked it out for herself asking her followers: “Would you get on Gallagher hill now?” before panning her camera to show cows grazing on the land.
Although fans of the Manchester icons were flocking to this spot in order to join in on the Oasis fun from afar, issues have been raised via safety concerns of visitors, the cattle herd and reports of litter.
Fans are now being directed to enjoy the many, many events taking place in the city centre, including the MCR Live Hub at Piccadilly Gardens.
‘Gallagher Hill’ in Manchester today ahead of the next Oasis shows. Credit: The Manc Group
Some fans have been very understanding reasoning this fair decision admitting, “Probably because of security and threats unfortunately”, while others express their disappointment asking, “How sad do you have to be to put that up?”.
One social media user, who was planning on taking a family member to this brand new Manchester landmark commented, “They could’ve utilised Gallagher hill”.
The fan went on to pose the question of making it an official viewpoint for concerts, posing the question, “£30 entry fee, is that too steep?”.
Councillor John Hacking, Executive Member for Employment, Skills and Leisure, Manchester City Council, said: “The atmosphere across Manchester has been electric over this last week with the whole city swept up in Oasis fever and peaking over the weekend with the first two hugely successful homecoming concerts at Heaton Park.
“As you would expect given the size of the concerts and numbers of people attending, we go through a continuous process with partners of re-assessing the plans in place for the concerts to ensure both public safety and that any environmental impact on our award-winning park is minimalised.
“The steps being taken ahead of the next concert regretfully mean the distant view of the large screens behind the event stage will no longer be there. Unfortunately our hand has been forced in having to put these additional measures in place to protect the very recent extensive planting of young trees in that location as we try to establish a new woodland area in the park, and the wellbeing of our cattle herd in the field, as well as to keep people in the park safe.
“Our advice to music fans who don’t have tickets for the concerts is to head into the city centre instead. The whole city is going all out to celebrate and help everyone have a good time. We’ve got some fantastic things going on with a real party atmosphere for everyone to enjoy whether they’ve got tickets for the Oasis gigs or not.”
New app launches taking music fans on an immersive AR tour around Manchester
Emily Sergeant
The history of Manchester’s globally-renowned music scene is now being celebrated through the launch of a unique new app.
Manchester Music Mooch is an app that takes you on an immersive journey of the city’s iconic musical heritage locations, all while giving emerging artists a platform to shine.
Made possible through The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, and by using the power of Augmented Reality (AR), the app takes music lovers on an interactive trail across five grassroots music destinations.
The app was created by MediaCity-based Dig Media and award-winning app developers, ArcadeXR, ahead of an expected 1.3 million music tourists arriving in Manchester this summer.
It was developed in collaboration with Manchester Digital Music Archive, Salford University, Toasted Productions, and the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), as well as with support by Visit Manchester and ABID.
Some of the famous grassroots music sites featured on the toor included like Tony Wilson Place, Band on the Wall, Fat City Records, and the Roadhouse.
Influential music spots in the Oxford Road Corridor like Manchester Academy, Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), and the former BBC building, can also be explored on the tour, as well as influential clubs in the Gay Village.
Loads of well-known and upcoming musical names will be providing the narrative for the tour along the way, such as DJ Paulette, Rowetta, Luke Una, and even Middleton-born singer songwriter JP Cooper.
A new app has launched and it’s taking music fans on an immersive AR tour around Manchester / Credit: Supplied
The app’s launch comes as the city celebrates a sensational summer of live music, with a whole series of music-themed activities taking place across the city as part of Manchester City Council’s MCR Live ’25 campaign – including Wild In Art’s Music for the Senses art trail.
“Manchester’s music history is globally renowned, but the city often struggles to convey its story cohesively,” commented Simon Marsland, who is the founder of app creators, Dig Media.
“With Dig Media’s expertise in media production, archiving and technology, alongside extensive local and international music networks, we’re spearheading a resilient way of sharing Manchester’s musical legacy never done before.”
Georgina Pellant -
14th March 2022 
