 If clubbing is not your scene, the bars are almost as lively and filled with music, great food and cool ambience. There's an area for everyone, such as the Northern Quarter, Deansgate Locks or the environs of Canal Street, and most pop between them on a fine night out! With the bar scene in such an ascendancy, it could be easy to forget the traditional pub, but given the beauties on offer around the city centre and beyond, there's a a vibrant selection of real ales, Belgian beers, fruit brews and whatever else takes your fancy.
 For the foodies, there'll be something to satisfy even the most jaded of palates, from modern British to Thai; from Japanese to Armenian; Spanish; Italian and beyond. In Chinatown, the curry mile and the square mile of brilliant fine dining restaurants in the city centre, whatever you want, Manchester has it.
 Big bands, small bands, global artists... when it comes to music, there's few places that can compete with Manchester's music scene. It's produced legends and brings the best and most diverse sounds into the city. Be it at the stadium size MEN Arena, the classically sedate Bridgewater Hall, the spit and sawdust of the Night and Day and the Roadhouse, the ever-popular Academies 1, 2 or 3 or a myriad of others, whatever you decide, there will always be someone on somewhere whatever night of the week you'd like your musical fix. Don't forget the massive music scene throws up plenty of amazing unsigned bands too!
 If it's theatre you're after, then from highbrow and literary to popular and musical, venues like The Royal Exchange, Library Theatre, The Lowry, the Contact and the Palace Theatre cater for all tastes. Keep your opera glasses peeled too for signs of a theatrical renaissance if the rumours that Manchester hope to rival the Edinburgh festival in a few years time. The biennial event would have a huge effect on Manchester's theatrical life.
 Of course it would also impact on the existing comedy scene, which laughs its way around the city. The tradition of top comics is just as long as that of fine music, and at the likes of the Comedy Store, Jongleurs, The Buzz and Zzub clubs, and the Frog and Bucket, that tradition is alive and kicking.
 For cinema, the choice between the massive AMC Cinemas and thefilmworks (with its massive IMAX screen) dominates the city centre, but The Cornerhouse stands as a bastion of cinematic independence. Screening mainly world independents, art-house and left-field films, it also houses an art gallery and a bar.
 Artistically, the city houses fine collections of contemporary and classic art. Manchester Art Gallery is the obvious starting point, but a wider search gets you to the Whitworth, the Lowry (home to a selection of their namesake's paintings), Urbis and a large number of smaller galleries, exhibiting everything from masterpieces to modern art, photographs to toy brick models, and everything in-between.
 On top of all that, there's festivals all year round too. Musically, the Move Festival takes over Old Trafford Cricket Ground in July for the UK's biggest urban event, while the world's biggest music convention, In The City, brings 500 bands and artists into the centre in September. There's a food and drink festival with the finest of local and global cuisine, while the comedy festival goes from strength to strength with each year, blasting off the careers of comedians such as Peter Kay, Caroline Aherne and Justin Moorhouse. The film scene is probably the most vibrant, with the Cornerhouse being the cornerstone of the Commonwealth, student and Kino events, while Salford's annual offering grows with every season.
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