What's On

The best things to do in Greater Manchester this week | 5 – 11 February 2024

Emily Sergeant - 2nd February 2024

We’re into our first full week of February now, and there’s so much to getting up to across the region and beyond.

Sure, January was a bit of a slog… but now that a fresh new month has graced us with its presence, the Greater Manchester social calendar is really starting to become packed full of a wide range of events and activities you can get yourselves stuck into over the coming weeks.

If you’re finding it a bit tricky to pick what to do, we’ve chosen a few of the best bits for another edition of our ‘what’s on‘ guide this week.

Here’s some of our recommendations.

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Manchester Open Exhibition 2024

HOME

Monday 5 February – 28 April

Manchester Open Exhibition is back for the third time in our city.

Taking place every two years down at HOME, the Open Exhibition is the biggest celebration of Greater Manchester’s creative talent, and sees HOME’s Gallery walls filled with 480 artworks created by the people of our region that have been specially-selected by a panel consisting of art experts and community representatives.

Open to all, the Exhibition brings together artwork including paintings, prints, photography, sculpture, ceramics, digital and mixed media, video, audio, and so much more. 

Find out more here.

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Hamilton: The Story of Tonight

Kimpton Clocktower Hotel

Monday 5 February – 29 February

Kimpton Clocktower Hotel is celebrating Manchester hosting the multi award-winning cultural phenomenon Hamilton for the very first time with a photography exhibition showcasing moments both on and off stage.

Open for free to the general public until the end of February, Hamilton: The Story of Tonight offers a glimpse into the journey of the musical that captured the imaginations of audiences in our city.

20 photographs taken by Hamilton’s production photographer, Danny Kaan, are currently on show.

Find out more about the new exhibition here.

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Power UP

Science and Industry Museum

Monday 5 February – onwards

Did you know there’s a huge gaming event currently happening in Manchester?

With more than 160 consoles and hundreds of games to play, Power UP is back for more in 2024 down at the Science and Industry Museum, and it’s taking ticket-holders on a journey through five decades of gaming every weekend.

There’s everything from retro arcade games, to state-of-the-art virtual reality, and so much more to get stuck into, and each ticket includes unlimited play all day.

Find out more about the exhibition here.

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Six Nations 2024

Greater Manchester

Monday 5 February – onwards

It’s that time once again… the Six Nations is back.

With the international rugby tournament having officially kicked-off last Friday (2 February), we thought it would be only right to put together a list of the very best places in Greater Manchester to head on down to and catch a game.

After all, we don’t want you scrambling around to find places showing the action, we just want you to sit back and enjoy the games.

Read our round-up of the best places to watch the Six Nations here.

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Did you know there’s currently 15,000 free cinema tickets up for grabs this month?

It’s all part of Escapes – a new project supported by the British Film Institute (BFI) and National Lottery funding that’s giving everyone the opportunity to “enjoy the big screen experience” and “discover independent cinema”.

The thousands of tickets are now available across the UK for completely free of charge, and there’s a handful of Greater Manchester cinemas taking part.

So whether you’re someone who prioritises a trip to the cinema, someone who treasures a visit but only on a special occasion, or someone who’s just keen to discover more, there’s a free ticket to see brand-new wrestling biopic film, The Iron Claw, with your name on it

Find out more, and claim your free ticket here.

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The Pie Festival 2024

The Black Friar Salford

Monday 5 February – 28 February

Back by popular demand, The Black Friar’s ‘Pie Festival’ has returned for 2024.

There’s nothing that sounds more inviting on a cold January evening than a lovely warming pie, right? So when we heard that The Black Friar’s now-annual Pie Festival was making a 2024 comeback, we have no shame in admitting we did a little dance.

Now in its third edition, the Salford restaurant has brought back the parade of meat and gravy, sweet and savoury, and all things pie and pastry-encrusted – with something for everyone on the menu.

Best of all, not only are there some enticing flavours on offer, but they’re also only £10 each.

Find out more here.

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Madagascar The Musical

Opera House Manchester

Thursday 8 – Sunday 11 February

Madagascar The Musical has arrived in Manchester this week.

Based on the DreamWorks animated film of the same name, Madagascar The Musical invites audiences along on a journey with “all of your favourite crack-a-lackin’ friends” as they escape from their home in New York’s Central Park Zoo and find themselves on an unexpected journey to “the madcap world of King Julien’s Madagascar”.

The show will be taking to the iconic Manchester Opera House stage from Thursday 8 – Sunday 11 February, and there’s still a few tickets up for grabs if you fancy it.

Find out more and grab last-minute tickets here.

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Chinese New Year 2024

Manchester City Centre

Saturday 10 & Sunday 11 February

The legendary Dragon Parade is set to make its way through the city centre once again this weekend, as Manchester gets ready to celebrate Chinese New Year 2024.

Marking what will actually be the ‘Year of the Dragon’ itself, there arguably couldn’t be a better time for the city’s iconic and Dragon Parade to make a return to the streets of our city, and bring a spectacular show of colour and light along with it.

Not only that, but Chinatown will be home to a live performance stage, a fun fair, and loads of stalls serving up tasty and authentic street food across the weekend too, while Manchester’s famous traditional red lanterns can also be seen adorning trees all around town.

You can find out more about everything happening for Chinese New Year this year here.

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00s Brunch

Brickhouse Social

Saturday 10 February

Brickhouse Social has announced that it 00s-themed brunch is back by popular demand.

The Manchester social hub is inviting music lovers down to enjoy 90-minutes of bottomless pizza slices, fizz, bottled beers, and select cocktails on its ooftop terrace every Saturday over the nexr couple of months – with a resident DJ playing all the best tunes from the 2000’s. 

Tickets will set you back £33pp, and there’s two Brunch sittings available, so you can opt for 1-3pm, or 3:30-5:30pm. 

Find out more and book your table here.

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Fancy watching the Super Bowl this weekend, and want somewhere to catch all the action in Manchester?

This Sunday is officially ‘Super Bowl Sunday’ for NFL fans.

Super Bowl LVIII is officially happening this Sunday 11 February, and with the NFL scene getting bigger in the UK each year, it’s understandable that more and more Mancs are getting keen to watch the action live into the early hours of the morning.

But, first things first… you’ve got to pick where you want to be come kick-off.

Luckily, there are a whole host of sports bars in Manchester city centre that will be showing Super Bowl LVIII right through till it finishes at around 3am UK time, and we’ve picked about a dozen places you can hunker down with some good grub and plenty of pints to watch it.

Read our round-up of the best places to watch Super Bowl LVIII here.

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Featured Image – HOME | Fabio De Paola / PA Wire (via Supplied)