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.

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.

Well I think we can finally say we have a wine bar scene in Manchester…read more BistroVin is a peaceful space over the renowned Spirited Wines shop on Deansgate, with huge glass windows overlooking the street and classical music on the stereo. You can buy wine by the glass or buy a bottle from the shop downstairs (£4 corkage fee). There's also a fantastic looking selection of cheese, from which a French staff member selected the English Barkham Blue as her favourite. THE SHAME. (it looked great). She also recommended their new range of beers which features rose and jasmine flavours! Even I might like them! An equally delightful server suggested I try the Merlot which he promised was a strong wine and it was really delicious and at £4.50 a glass (others cheaper) I wouldn't hesitate to come back.

We should all hang our heads in shame, Yelp Manchester - BistroVin has been open since MARCH and…read morenot one of us realised. An unexplored wine bar. Totally unacceptable. Accessed via stairs within Spirited Wines, their large first floor bar is light, spacious and tasteful. A couple of Chesterfield sofas are sat in the corner by the large windows, with the rest of the wooden chairs and tables nicely spaced apart. Though it was raining, dreary and thoroughly miserable outside, the service was warm and welcoming. The bar man, Nicolas, explained that wine was available by the glass from the concise drinks menu, or you could pop downstairs and choose any one of the bottles to enjoy (with a £4 corkage fee - you pay for it at the bar). Two friends and I opted for a lovely Rioja and if we hadn't been going out for a meal afterwards, would have been very tempted to get a platter of cheeses. They have a counter of them with the French cheeses being delivered directly and the English cheeses from local producers. A charming and unpretentious spot to escape the busyness of Deansgate. Long may they prosper.

I'd disagree with Alfie, living as I do very close to the gay village, this offy is very…read moreconvenient, especially since Olive Deli got repossessed or somesuch. There's actually bumloads of residential properties in and around the gay village, and not everyone wants to go out to bars all the time. Offies are for when you want to buy booze to drink in your house, or at parties. Yes, there are bars around, but they don't exactly do takeout for your poker night. It's a jolly good offy, selling the usual boozes at decent prices. They always seem to have some sort of offers on, too. For a recent party, the boyf popped to this offy to re-stock our gin supplies. The man behind the counter very kindly let him off 47p (because the boyf was clearly drunk and thusly having issues with his PIN number, so he had to scrape together all the cash in his pockets). I like businesses like this; friendly and local, and run by people who give you a smile and a wave as you drunkenly leave with your Gordon's. This is a lovely offy, and contrary to prior belief, really useful to the residents of this area. And, of course, a visit to the Village is a hip hip hoorah for local business (and booze), which we should all support. That reminds me, I should go in and give them that 47p...

An off licence, in the Gay Village. I've been in for a chocolate bar and done a reccy, and its…read morepretty good, but I don't really know why it exists. I suppose some people live there, but there's not that much residential and so many alcohol selling bars and clubs, that I cant imagine going there to buy booze. They have lots of choice; wines, beers and spirits, and deals that make it pretty good value. But you can get a bottle of beer in bars around here for a pound or even less (Baa Bar) and Canal Street literally never closes so I don't know when you'd need it. So if you need to know there's an off licence near Canal Street, then I'm telling you there is, but you probably don't need it.

Oddbins pure purpose is to serve office workers who want a bottle of wine or two before they go…read moreback to their plush flat in the Green Quarter. There's not really any cheap beer deals for us student types. It's more about classy bottles of red and white wine of which you might actually care about the taste. However, Oddbins do realise that sometimes city workers like to get a bit crunk too. They've got a helpful 20 percent discount if you buy 12 bottles of wine. It's not all bad.

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*

There's a Tesco, Sainsbury's, Co-op popping up on every corner of the city centre and it doesn't…read morestop at one branch of the supermarket giants' one stop city centre shops. The domination and battle of the supermarket giants are ever present in the city centre, you can find like four mini Tescos around the vicinity of Deansgate and Piccadilly areas. A lot anyway. So here's to the Xpress on Whitworth Street West, one of a few cornershop types springing up in the city, to balance the equilibrium of the chain store masses and inject a little local to the often impersonable, daunting city centre. Xpress Local has recently opened up on my route to university. I've watched it been transformed from an empty space, learnt what it takes for a cash machine to be installed whilst thinking damn, this is where my late night snacking will take it's higher form. Xpress stocks all your basic groceries, milk, cheese, bread and acts as your off license too. I've used it for the range of bad snacks on offer, which has been bad for the healthy eating regime plus the purse. It annoyingly does not display prices on a lot of things which I thought was because it was opening mid-finish but this isn't the case. Annoyingly so, one late night purge, I watched my tube of pringles being scanned to reveal £1.99. I knew I should have purchased the half price ones in Tesco. Xpress is one of those places you just pop in and get the things you want or crave or when you're under time pressure. There may not be an extensive range of fresh or organic what nots but you can expect a pleasant none lengthy queue if you do find yourself in here.

The Hanging Ditch is a lovely wine merchant / small wine bar situated at the Harvey Nichols end of…read moreDeansgate right next to Manchester Cathedral. I've been here a few times for drinks and Neil C. has always insisted we swing by on occasion to pick up a lovely bottle of tipple to drink at home. The staff here are always lovely and so knowledgeable! I couldn't recommend it highly enough!

Ok I love this place. I like to pick out a bottle of wine with a friend sit on the high stools in…read morethe summer. I always ask what new wines they have in and normally go home with a few treats. Now they do a few gin cocktails. The staff know what they are talking about and know nothing about red wine so I go here when I need to buy a bottle of red. They have a nice loo too.

Spirited Wines obviously has a large selection of wines (which you can also drink in the bar…read moreupstairs) and have developed a strong whisky selection too, accompanied by tastings. Unsurprisingly, it's more expensive in here than online (a £110 bottle of whisky is £30 less online) but we probably would never have found out about it had we not gone in. There's a small bottled beer selection which has a large proportion of gluten free beers (better than M&S, Harvey Nichols or hangingditch). Everytime I have gone in I have found the staff to be really nice and helpful and it's nearly always the same people who I suspect are also the owners/managers.

It might not be the best Tesco store in the city but it does the job, being in a good Piccadilly…read moreGardens location, close-by to Piccadilly Station. They have a pretty good food and drink to-go selection, which is essential in its' current location as it will appeal to travellers, while also selling a decent amount of essentials you'd expect to find in any convenience store anyway. The staff seems friendly enough, the checkout process is quick as they have a lot of self-service tills. If you have more time, the Co-Op outside of the station, the Tesco Metro on Market Street, or the Sainsbury's Local inside the station are a better option but this store is OK.

Just say no…read more Whatever it is you were planning to get from Tesco - vegetables, salad, milk, bread, lamb chops - can probably be brought from the independent stall holders within the Arndale Market's food hall a few minutes away. Failing that, there's Co-Op's now dotted all over the city offering everything from groceries and cupboard staples to ready meals. The prices are the same or cheaper than Tesco and you can buy with a clear conscience since the Co-Op is an ethical company selling fair trade products and produce bought directly from farmers.