If you read our recent article about street markets (click here if you haven’t) you’ll know that we are massive fans of them! Luckily for us, places like Manchester have plenty to explore, and in this post we will be talking all about our experiences with the different markets of Manchester.
Bury Market
It was our visit to Bury Market that transformed us into “market people”, drawn in by local businesses selling fresh produce and homemade meals. Even though a round trip to Bury Market would take us a few hours, we were willing to do so to bring home some of their fruits and cheeses. Of all the markets we visited, Bury was definitely the most traditional. As well as food, they also sold music, books, clothes, and electronics. This market was also by far the biggest one we have visited with the outdoor section (called the open market) having over 300 stalls according the their website. There is also a an indoor area and a dedicated area for meat and fish which takes this total even higher.
We spent a good hour and a half at Bury Market exploring the different stalls, but the food stalls were definitely our favourites! As everything there was fairly cheap, we were able to sample a variety of stalls (as seen above) all for under £10! We would love to return to the Market soon to revisit some favourites and try the other stalls we didn’t get a chance to visit. Keep an eye on our Instagram page where we will post about our future visits.
Unfortunately, we hadn’t thought to bring a bag to take things home with us, so we were a bit restricted when it came to our purchases. The fresh fruit at Iddons was, however, quite irresistible so we ended up carrying a box of strawberries over to Heaton Park (if you’d like to hear more about our time at the park, click here) on the tram for a picnic. Next time we’ll be sure to bring a few bags!
Altrincham Market
Altrincham Market was sadly quite disappointing, especially considering we had been to Bury Market earlier that day. We arrived at 4pm which was unfortunately an hour after the main market area had closed (at 3pm), but we were still happy to browse the food stalls. It seemed more akin to visiting a collection of restaurants than stalls at a market, however, as the food was rather out of budget for us. Due to this, we never ended up trying any of the food, although we did look up all of the menus for the different restaurants. To enter the building that housed most of these restaurants you had to wait to be seated, which we assumed to be a COVID restriction. However, as we find the main appeal of a market to be browsing the different stalls, this was a tad off-putting.
While we would definitely like to visit again in the future to properly experience the market, we are more than happy to spend our time and money elsewhere in the meantime.
Piccadilly Gardens
The next market stop for us was the much lesser known market in Piccadilly Gardens in Central Manchester. This market is right in the middle of all the hustle and bustle of the main shopping and business areas of the city. The market has such a wide range of food options for such a small amount of stalls (only about 10). The options range from American style desserts like waffles and doughnuts to Indian and Greek stalls.
One quirk of this market is that it is only open at specific times on day on certain days of the week. it is open between 11am and 5:30pm between Wednesdays and Sundays. It is also closed over the Christmas and New year season between December 23 and January 14 although these dates may vary year on year.
When we visited we got some very classic street food, we got a Indian style chicken wrap that was filled with fried onions, lettuce and a sauce of your choosing. It was great and we would highly recommend. This same stall does wraps with lots of different meats and also currys too!
Hatch
Located on Oxford road in central Manchester, just under a bridge of The Mancunian way, this market offers an experience like no others in this article thanks to this location. The experience here is similar to that you can get from Altrincham market being that it is like a restaurant with food being consumed at tables service (although you can order to take away). What makes Hatch different to Altrincham is the fact you still have the ability to walk around and explore before picking the seat yourself which makes it feel a lot less formal and give you a lot more leeway to leave if you don’t fancy the options available.
Currently, to order your meal you scan a QR code on your phone that is printed on the table. From here a list of the stalls will pop up and you can browse the menus of each and decide what you want to order. However, you can only order from one stall at a time so if you fancy trying a couple of different ones you’ll have to make them as separate orders. Once you’ve done this you input your card details on the website as well as your table number and the food will be delivered to you. This current system might only be in place due to social distancing so hopefully you’ll be able to get much more of a market like experience here in the future.
You can get a wide variety of food and drink here which ranges from the “Miami Ice” cocktail bar to “FUKU” oriental food stand. We went with two different dishes from two different stalls we got some chilli dirty fires from “Parmogeddon” and a chicken wrap from KBOM. They were both great!
We visited at around 6PM on a weekday and there were several places that were not open so to combat this we would suggest visiting multiple times at different times during the day and week. This would also be a great place to visit during darker hours of the day due to the lighting and general ambiance of the whole area.
One market we didn’t talk about in this post was the large food market in The Manchester Arndale, which is like a smaller version of Bury market. The reason is that we will be mentioning this in an upcoming post about the Arndale so stay tuned to our blog to find out all about it!
If you liked this post why not check out our post on the top places to grab a sweet treat in Edinburgh here.
Have you every visited any of these markets or have recommendations for ones we could visit next? Let us know in the comments below
Seagull With a Suitcase 
Gosh, all of your food photos are making me drool, especially those samosas! Outdoor markets are truly atmospheric, and all of its lively and organic vibes make the food themselves all the more appetizing!
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Thank you! It’s one of the reasons why like them so much
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