The Bottle Stop is another of my staple bottle shops. It's a short journey in the car (they have a…read moresmall car park around the back of the store). Or if you are travelling from Manchester City Centre you can catch the X57 bus that will stop directly outside or get the train to Bramhall station which is a 10-15 min walk away. They have a very good selection of beers mainly from the UK, Belgium and German with a small selection of USA craft beer. Which is all priced very well. You will struggle to find a better price elsewhere on the beers they have for sale here. One of my favourite beer styles is Saison and they have an excellent range of them here. They also have a couple of beer lines. So you can purchase a pint to sip while you shop or sit on the beer tables outside. It's great on a hot summers day! The selection they have for sale on draft changes quite regular too. They also have a large selection of wines and spirits available. If you a throwing a party and need a great range of beers, wines and spirits then this is the one stop shop you will need. I really like this place, the selection is varied and the price is great. If you love a good beer this place is definitely worth the short trip.

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.

When I first moved in to the house where me and Mrs Zombi call home the shop over the road was…read moreowned by a cool Indian family and it had the local Post office in it,then one day those lovely Royal Mail people decided to close the post office part of the shop down...boo royal mail,boo!! After that the shop was still run by the same family but it became a Bargain Booze instead of an indie,which wasn't a problem as overnight the prices on essentials (bread,milk,sugar and chainsaws) came down a little and all was well with the world apart from the atm now charged you. Then a few months ago the wheels fell off a touch,the Mother and Father who pretty much ran the shop retired to have an extended trip back to India so the shop was sold,and overnight it stopped being Bargain Booze and became Boozed Up (a dreadful name) Now the bloke who owns it seems to make up the prices as he goes along thus leaving my local shop almost unshoppable in,call me weird (please do,i root the bad guy all the time for crying out loud) but I dont like having to ask the price of something and then not being convinced that the price you are given was plucked out of thin air. It's difficult to shop local if that means being poorer because of it....

A glorified off licence really but a little treasure none the less…read more Wraggs Tavern offers every Beer or Wine you can think of and more. It takes me 20 minutes to choose sometimes there is that much choice. What really sets Wraggs apart though is it's offerings of Weird Beers and worldwide beers you can't find anywhere else. Weird beers are those beers with the funny names and odd logos, there is quite a selection of these at Wraggs. It makes it fun to have a browse through those even if your not buying any of them. When you come across a skull splitter and wailing wench and see their logo's you will see what i mean. They sell all spirits you can imagine, sweets, soft drinks, cigarettes and they also have the lottery in there. You can be guaranteed that there is always an offer on in Wraggs and it is always so busy. They also have one on the main road in Royton.

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!!!!!!!!

Wow, I love this place!…read more If you're into the 'deli life' of fine cheeses, wine, gourmet chutneys, crackers and all things treat-wise then this place should be somewhere you need to hit if you're in the Hebden Bridge area. We popped in twice while holidaying around here for 3 days and bought some lovely picky items to enjoy a home picnic. The cheese was excellent and with Camembert and Old Amsterdam served perfectly ripe and ready to dive in to! The wine selection is really impressive and don't miss out on the olives too - the chilli ones have a real kick but really hit the spot. Get there early as well so as you can get bread, we were lucky enough to get a couple of ciabatta rolls on the last visit, very tasty! Not the cheapest place on the planet but perfect for a little treat or to live the 'dolce vita' as often as possible!

A pretty small Spar store at St Mary's Gate, I like to avoid this store if I can as it isn't the…read moremost inviting of stores, people (and sometimes the staff) like to smoke outside, and there is a lot of homeless people outside the store most of the time (very sad) The store is pretty small inside and a little dark, the selection is okay, but I do much prefer the Spar store at City Tower, or local Sainsbury's and Tesco locations in terms of product range and selections. Some of the staff seem friendly and they do offer MyHermes drop-offs, which can be handy, especially considering my previous favourite Hermes store, Sainsbury's Local, no longer offer this service. 2*