This is a small, simple off licence that has a good selection of beers, wines and spirits…read more It's clean and tidy, with a small range of magazines and basic groceries. A perfect place to pop in and get some of those bare essentials on your way home.

This is one of very peculiar streets in Northern Quarter. A mile-long Tib Street runs from the…read morejunction of Oldham Road and Swan Street down to Market Street, where it is flanked by Debenhams and Starbucks. Affectionately known as "cats and dogs street", Tib Sr used to house a good number of pet shops. Sadly, the last pet shop was forced to close in 2002. Since then "pet" acquired a more intimate meaning, in the proper sense of the word: the number of adult shops in the street and on its corners is, well, astounding. It is still possible, I suppose, to call it "cats and dogs street" or "pet paradise", but with entirely differently meaning attached... Of course, there is more to Tib St than shop windows with X-rated videos and sexual paraphernalia. My main destination in Tib St between 2005 and 2006 was CSV Media Clubhouse, at the top of the street, close to Hydroponics shop on the corner. CSV Media Clubhouse provides training and courses for those who want to acquire various skills in Broadcast Media, from radio to TV and filming. Opposite the door there is a peculiar graffiti wall, commemorating Tib St as it was, with lots of pet shops. Other notable doors in Tib St include: Olivier Morosini hairdressing salon; Thornley Groves estate agency; Rags to Bitches famous vintage shop; Matt & Phred's jazz club; The Northern pub; the Army Shop; Centro bar; Simple bar; Hedonist hair salon; and Sacha's Hotel. Affleck's Palace occupies the corner of Church St and Tib St. Abakhan Fabrics, the Mancunian Mecca for all things sewing and knitting, is planted on the corner of Warwick St and Tib St, opposite The City pub. Warwick St also connects Tih St and Oldham St. And one more unique feature about Tib St. As you walk up and down, you will notice pavement blocks with lines tiled on them. Take a moment to read them: they are the lines by the renowned Lemn Sissay, a poet who marked Manchester by his talent before jetting off to London (due to family, not for fame, as he insists). He was a guest at 2009 Manchester International Festival, and there are several places in the city where you can read his poems, but Tib St must be the most daring one. The poem is called Flags.

Carringtons is no place for Lambrini girls and Fosters fans, but if you appreciate fancy beer, wine…read moreand spirits, you'll love it! An award-winning off licence, it prides itself on offering things that are a little out of the ordinary. So you can expect to see a great mix of beers from tiny local breweries, as well as hard-to-find world beers, like New York's Brooklyn Lager and San Francisco's Anchor Steam Beer. The staff are friendly, knowledgeable and are always willing to make recommendations. So if you take a trip to this boozy treasure trove, you could end up finding the beer of your dreams! I can't really comment on the range of wines and spirits available I'm all about the beer. But I'm confident that even the fussiest wine lover will be impressed! My only gripe with this place is that it closes far too early! Most days, they seem to shut about 7pm and they're closed all day Sunday. If they stayed open until 8 or 9pm, I'm sure they'd get loads more customers. I know I'd visit a lot more!

Healthy looking wine merchants on the approach to Didsbury Village…read more It wasn't that long ago that the place was to be purchased and transmogrified into yet another (and one can only presume) soulless bar. Thankfully, and for whatever reason (pressure group one imagines), this never happened and we still have this wonderful menagerie of booze. Not only do they stock a large range of wines (and I haven't yet managed to choose a dodgy wine, unlike what can happen at supermarkets with their constant 50% off deals) but they also sell a fascinating array of beers (majority of which are British Premium) and ciders and malt whiskeys. Always willing to make a suggestion on your behalf (try as I do, I still have an extremely limited knowledge of the vino) they'll work around your budget (which again is usually extremely limited!). Haven't been recommended a wine that's probably best off in the Balsamic vinegar section in Morrisons. From what I can gather, most of the wines are from within the 'old school EU'...which suits me fine. You just can't recreate the romance of a real corked French number can you? I must add that it's blinking cold in there (the interior resembles a Canadian lodge) and the guys who run are usually decked out in Arctic puffer jacketsbut I guess this is to keep the stock at a certain temperatureI should have asked, perhaps the boiler has never been fixed? There's a couple more Carringtons (one in Chorlton and one in North Manchester).

Bottle (a bottle shop come bar) in Heaton Moor is a nice addition and has already made me visit…read morethe area more than before. I'm not really a pub type of person and don't really enjoy drinking a pint for the sake of it, so its nice to know that i can now jump on my bike and pootle along to Bottle on a sunday lunch for a decent bottle of cider. I say decent as Bottle serve 'thistly cross'. Not only that though they serve my favourites the whisky cask and ginger versions. AND..(.yes this is a big AND), they also have snyders jalapeno pretzels....which quite frankly are the only reason i ever eat pretzels. The place itself is small, but through a good seating plan can easily accommodate up to 30 people and still feel uncrowded. The shop is positioned towards the back and by the looks of it (see picture) has lots to choose from. whilst i don't drink beer myself (only cider), i know it must be a good choice as my husband spends ages deciding and has that look of glee in his eye. Its a really nice little place, with great beer, good seating and really friendly staff. I will be returning....often.

Bottle does not have any cask lines but as a keg/bottle place it is top notch with an excellent…read morerange of ales and a knowledgeable and friendly owner/manager. I tried the porter on tap (I know! I drank beer!) and really liked its chocolate BBQ flavour. Bf got super excited about a 10% Thornbridge Jaipur and said it was one of the best things he drank in ages. He also bought a Thornbridge rhubarb to bring home which he also liked (although said he wouldn't need to drink more than one of those!). The prices are pretty high so it's more a treat place (if you want a bargain quality bottle option, head to Bargain Booze in Davenport). I imagine it might get hard to find a seat on weekends (which is great, because it means it's doing well) but midweek had the perfect balance of available seats but most tables taken which gave it a very pleasant buzz.

It's relatively easy to cater the needs of the student population, but not so simple to achieve the…read morecult status that Gaff's has achieved. Living in Whitworth Park for 2 years my local off license was McColl's - it was accessible, it was cheap, it had decent opening hours - yet I never would've dreamed of buying a McColl's t-shirt! It is impossible to walk around Fallowfield without seeing a student in a white t-shirt with the red Gaff's logo plastered across the front. Any small corner shop in Fallowfield would be stupid not to stock cheap alcohol, fags, pot noodles and energy drinks. And there are many shops which do, but none which have seen the success and received the following that Gaff's has. Having never lived in Fallowfield I've only ever been into Gaff's a couple of times to pick up cut-price under-the-counter cigarettes for my Fallowfield friends. I'm disappointed to see that this is a service that they no longer provide. I have also heard rumours about the sale of illegal substances out the back, but they are all 'friend of a friend' rumours, so who knows? From the outside the shop looks pretty awful. It is plastered in posters for various clubnights with horrendous names such as Pout and Vodka Island, for which they sell tickets.

Gaff's is a Manchester Student fallowfield life establishment!! This is the first time I am…read morereviewing a corner shop and it will probably be my last. The only reason I mention this place is because of its legendary status in Fallowfield among students. You see this place operates for the sole purpose of making students life heavenly. It is open till late for all your late night needs, it is as reliable as your iPhone. You can buy tickets to all the big gigs in Manchester's nightclubs, dvds and beverages for those late night house parties. Absolute gem!!! In fact I urge you just to pop in if you're ever driving through fallowfield, even if it is for a carton of milk. You will realize that you walk out with more than you came in for, because you remembered you needed it, such is the fantastic variety of stuff on the counter. I love you Gaffs!!!!!!!!

Slightly expensive but a great selection of new beers to try.read more

On my way to Tib Street Tavern, with about 20 minutes to spare before meeting a friend, I popped…read moreinto Beermoth at about 8PM on a Saturday. "Hi, would you like a drink?" Why yes, yes I would! 30 seconds later, I've the immense pleasure of drinking about a third of a pint of a complimentary, and excellent, Dutch Saison. These guys clearly know their stuff. In one corner I overheard two (of course) bearded fellows discussing the distressing dearth of qualified beer bloggers in the UK, only one of which (apparently) has ever undertaken any palate training. Recommendations from staff are always spot-on and I think it's fair to say that Beermoth has categorically the best beer selection in all of Manchester, if not the North West. It's the only place other than Port Street Beer House, for example, that I've ever seen stock (any variety of) Schneider Weisse Tap X. Needless to say, I felt obliged to buy a beer from Beermoth after the freebie, and drinking it next door in the Tib Street Tavern (instead of buying a pint there) was one of the best decisions, if ever so slightly cheeky, that I'd made that evening. I really hope it's already super-dooper-obvious, but I'll state it one more time: the staff at Beermoth are all lovely, helpful and knowledgeable. If you like craft beer at all, go to Beermoth. Do it now (unless it's 10AM and they're not open, that would be silly). Pick their brains (again, not literally, that would be all zombie-like and gross) and buy a beer (or six). You won't regret it.

When I went into Oasis Off Licence there were literally Valentine's balloons everywhere. I didn't…read moreparticularly mind, it was just a bit of a shock, that's all. Oasis has a whole array of sprits alcohol wise that is really quite impressive. They also sell retro pickled onion monster munch which is always a bonus as far as I'm concerned. The owner of Oasis obviously cares about his shop and it's got some pretty lighting in the window to go with the excitement of the Valentine's balloons. For that, in addition to the fact that he was totally polite and friendly to me, I like Oasis. Not the band. The off licence. In Levenshulme.

A & S Booze, I'd almost forgotten it when I passed the other day, and immediately took pen to paper…read morefor a Yelping to be uploaded later. This is where you can buy beer, and make yourself feel like you're a criminal in the very act of doing so. This is because of the defensive structure of the place. You can enter, and you can view the products on all sides through large thick glass walls reminiscent of a mad house. You cannot touch anything. Then you have to communicate with a man through a glass thing with a few small holes in it, reminiscent of prison telephones in the movies. The man then frowns upon you, so you don't forget you've done something wrong, and then you skulk off, beer in hand. Anyway apart from that aspect of the experience, it's a damn good off licence. They sells loads of beers, including some unusual European ones a class above the standard fosters. Most of these are available on cheap deals, as low as six for a fiver. They do few chocolates as well, but chocolates don't go with beer, crisps do.