12 great wine places in and around Manchester 2024

It was time to venture out into the rest of the UK and we’ve kicked off by checking out good wine places in and around Manchester, in the friendly and formerly industrial North. London will always dwarf other UK cities but as it gets ever more expensive and competitive to sustain a business there it’s not uncommon to see homegrown talent choose to opt-out and open in smaller, more accessible cities and towns or the beautiful surrounding countryside.
Manchester has long had a reputation for music and football (and rain!) but a burgeoning restaurant and bar scene with quality at the fore have given it just as bright a future for food and wine as well. Cheers!

  1. Phone: +44 161 477 5744

    Address: 7 Rostron Brow, Stockport

    Best Medium-Sized List of the Year UK, presented by Luigi Bosca 2024

    Housed on the first floor of a former coffee warehouse in Stockport Old Town, just outside Manchester, Where The Light Gets In is a special and unique experience. With only 30 seats and an intimate open plan space with the kitchen team as much part of the evening as anyone else (or lunch on Saturdays). As many ingredients as possible come from their farm and as such it's a set tasting menu only. Nature, sustainability and organic nourishment are key, with a light and hyper seasonal Nordic (or perhaps Northern?) slant.

  2. Phone: +44 0161 710 2885

    Address: 8th Floor, Blackfriars House Saint Marys, Climat, Parsonage, Manchester

    Best Medium-Sized List of the Year UK, presented by Luigi Bosca 2024

    A wine-led rooftop restaurant in Manchester city centre, Climat is the younger sibling to Chester’s Covino. The talented chef describes the food as ‘Parisian ex pat’, a nod to his time spent in the cosmopolitan kitchens of the French capital. You can build the meal you want from the ‘snacks’ and ‘plates’ before moving onto dessert and cheese, a flexible approach to happily enable drinking. The wine list is a 400+ strong collection of bottles from around the world, with an extra lean into their favourite region of Burgundy. For a list of this size it really hits the mark in terms of balance,...

  3. Address: 825 Stockport Road, Manchester

    A Manchester wine bar and bottle shop specialising in natural wine and organic food, with snacks, plates and desserts from locally sourced produce served all day and evening. Their ‘list’ is what’s on the shelves or via the online shop, with everything available to drink in or take home. Bottles range from familiar, reliable options to the more ‘weird and wonderful’. Eco conscious throughout, they are plastic free and working towards zero waste. Keep an eye out for a regular programme of events and themed tasting nights.

  4. Address: 118 Northgate Street, Chester

    Covino is a small owner-run wine bar & restaurant in the heart of Chester, serving a daily-changing menu of seasonally inspired small plates, with the focus firmly on simplicity and flavour. The wine list has over 130 references from around the world, ranging from the classics, all the way through to the more left field. And for a special occasion or event, Covino also offers a cosy private dining room, seating up to 12 people.

  5. Phone: +44 0161 236 2931

    Address: Faulkner House, New York Street, Manchester

    A relative newcomer to Manchester city centre, Higher Ground was first set up as a pop-up in 2020 and led by a talented international trio - Joseph, Richard and Daniel who met back in 2016 whilst working at New York-based Blue Hill Stone Barns under chef Dan Barber. The threesome also boast the likes of Fera, Relae and Noma on their impressive CVs. Following the opening of Higher Ground the threesome then went on to open Flawd, a neighbourhood natural wine bar and bottle shop in Ancoats, just north of the city, in 2021. The wine list encourages discovery and curiosity, via a focus on smal...

  6. Phone: +44 161 235 4780

    Address: 16 Peter Street, Manchester

    Adam Reid at The French is the flagship restaurant of the historic grade ll listed Midland Hotel in central Manchester. He took over as chef-patron in 2016 following Simon Rogan's departure. Just like the rest of the hotel the interior of The French is pretty grand and classical - high ceilings, plush sweeping banquettes and old school elegance. The food is contemporary and seasonal fine British dining using top ingredients. There’s a choice of tasting menus and wine pairings.

  7. Phone: +44 161 660 7177

    Address: 30-32, Thomas Street, Manchester

    Wolf at The Door is a relaxed three floor neighbourhood restaurant and bar with tables and counter dining in the lively, youthful Northern Quarter. The menu is a clear single page of small and large sharing plates, three sides and two desserts. It’s seasonal, new British cooking, elevated with some cheffy techniques, clearly inspired by the great outdoors. Dishes are cooked over coal on their custom made grill for maximum flavour and plated with skill and creativity. With an eye on lifestyle, travel and good times as much as food and flavour they have a record shop and café over the road and ‘...

  8. Phone: +44 161 392 7294

    Address: 42 Blossom Street, Manchester

    Mana opened in 2018 and received Manchester’s first Michelin star just a year later. A multi-course tasting menu is the only option for lunch and dinner with wine pairings available alongside their wine list. The interior is pared-back luxe, and the never-ending stream of small dishes are ambitious and creative using hyper seasonal ingredients and inspiration drawn from the natural world. Mana, along with a handful of other places in the city, represents an exciting new era for Manchester dining, putting the city firmly on the quality map.

  9. Phone: +44 161 826 3008

    Address: 9 Murray Street, Manchester

    Erst is a natural wine bar and restaurant in the Ancoats, a historical and recently regenerated area of Manchester now filling up with independent businesses and trendy places to eat and drink. The interior is stylishly pared back – clean lines, a brushed steel bar plenty of wood. A series of simple but flavourful European small plates and wine friendly snacks – oysters, salami, anchovies and grilled flatbreads – are on the menu.

  10. Phone: +44 161 836 6980

    Address: 184-186 Deansgate, Manchester

    The Manchester outpost of the hugely successful British steakhouse Hawksmoor is located in a former Victorian Courthouse in the heart of the city. The interior is true to the building using lots of reclaimed features from the era - parquet flooring (from another courthouse in fact), wood panelling, classic leather banquettes and glazed bricks from a public lavatory in Liverpool – which they promise have been well cleaned! Food and drinks are consistently excellent, sourcing ethically reared cattle from small British farm along with sustainable seafood from around the British coast. There are...

  11. Phone: +44 1695 572511

    Address: Moor Hall, Prescot Road, Aughton, Ormskirk

    Sustainable Wine List of the Year UK, presented by Premium Estates of Austria 2024

    Moor Hall is a luxurious grade II listed restaurant with rooms, with a history dating back to the 13th century. Since being transformed in 2015 by the present owners they’ve received rave reviews and a coveted two Michelin stars. As well as the main restaurant they have private dining and a ‘kitchen experience’. The uber talented chef is ex-L’Enclume (another two star) and El Celler de Can Roca. The cuisine is new British - delicate and produce driven, presented in exceptional and natural surroundings. It’s all tasting menus, either four or eight courses at lunch, eight only for dinner and win...

  12. Phone: +44 114 299 1539

    Address: 0.2-0.5 Krynkl, 294 Shalesmoor, Sheffield

    Jöro is a husband and wife run 12 table restaurant in a re-purposed shipping container in the new Krynkl development on Kelham Island, a man-made island dating back to the 1100’s and one of the Sheffield’s oldest manufacturing sites. It’s all rather fitting to have a steel building in the heart of the old industrial quarter of the steel (and cutlery) city. The word Jöro means ‘earth’ in old Norse and the restaurant is strongly influenced by nature despite their urban setting. Ingredients for their small plates and tasting menus are native and hyper seasonal.