You can't go wrong with Blythes. A Manchester art student staple, this store has saved me countless…read moretimes. The staff in here are extremely knowledegable and will even order in special materials and papers if they're out of stock. They've got just about type of paint from Winsor to Newton and Rembrandt paints, brushes, chalks, gouaches, water colours and graphic supplies and a large range of papers and canvases. I've bought specialist 300gsm paper in here for a menu project and special mounting glue. I had help with the measuring and cutting free of charge and advice of mounting my images. I highly recommend this store.

Blyth Art Shop…read more Blyth's Art Shop seems like a serious sort of art shop for serious sort of artists. Everything is very ordered, neat and clinical. They've got great ranges of paints, pencils and pens, as well as a downstairs section with artist accessories like folders, paper and even natural light bulbs so you can paint in natural light late into the night. There's two or three staff around to help you with any queries you might have in my experience they've usually got the time and patience to help you out properly. I can't help feeling that Fred Aldous across Stevenson square isn't just lots more fun, more well stocked and generally more exciting though.

The Manchester Art Gallery isn't massive but has an interesting collection of pieces. It's also…read morefree to enter, so not much to lose by stopping in. My partner and I were in the area and checked it out because they had an exhibition on drinkware and the historical context of its supply and consumption. Lots of cool pieces and good insights on the exploitation involved with coffee, tea, and chocolate. Other than that, it's not unlike most museum visits. Wander around, stop by the gift shop perhaps, and then you're off!

Free to the public during the week! We stopped here because we couldn't check into your Airbnb yet…read more We stopped by and walked around. It's big, pretty and they have clean and nice bathrooms. They also have a cafe, and plenty of chairs so you can rest and sit. The gift shop is also very cute and they have free wifi! Definitely check it out if you need to kill some time!