Explore Antcoats Guided Food Tour Experience in Manchester

Discover one of Manchester’s most exciting neighbourhoods through the food, people and stories that have shaped it.

This guided Ancoats food tour takes you through the world’s first industrial suburb, an area where historic red-brick mills now stand alongside some of Manchester’s best independent restaurants, bars and eateries. Today, you can find an award-winning chip shop inspired by hip-hop just moments away from Michelin-starred fine dining, but Ancoats hasn’t always looked quite like this.

Over approximately 3 to 3.5 hours, you’ll eat your way around the neighbourhood while uncovering its extraordinary transformation. Hear how a landscape of farms and cottages on the outskirts of Manchester became one of the most densely populated industrial areas in the world, filled with enormous steam-powered mills that were considered engineering marvels of the late Georgian era.

Along the way, you’ll discover stories of Victorian street gangs, Italian ice cream empires and the infamous ‘satanic mills’ that came to define industrial Manchester.

By the end of the 20th century, much of Ancoats’ industry had disappeared and its once-busy mills stood empty. Its revival began in the late 1990s, transforming the neighbourhood once again. Today, Ancoats is recognised as one of Manchester’s most exciting areas and has even earned a place on Time Out’s list of the world’s 50 coolest neighbourhoods.

You’ll visit a secret selection of local food and drink spots along the way, sampling some of the flavours that make modern Ancoats such a brilliant place to eat.

The exact stops remain under wraps until the tour, so arrive hungry and ready to discover a side of Manchester that’s best explored one bite at a time.