BLACK MILK's Freshers' Guide to the Northern Quarter, Manchester

Afflecks has been part of Manchester's Northern Quarter since 1982, when James and Elaine Walsh signed the lease on the building. It is packed with over 60 small independent shops at any one time, selling vintage clothing, alternative fashion, jewellery, crystals, gifts and fancy dress. It is also home to tattoo artists, so you can leave with a new look as well as a new wardrobe.

Afflecks is where BLACK MILK opened its first cereal café in 2015, so it has a special place in our story. It describes itself as a safe space for entrepreneurs, artists, creators and makers to start out and grow, which means you are buying straight from independent traders. It opens seven days a week, with shorter hours on Sundays.

Lucy & Yak is an independent, sustainable fashion brand, and its Manchester store is on Oldham Street in the Northern Quarter. It sells comfy clothing such as dungarees, jumpsuits and jeans, and holds Fair Wear and GOTS certification. The ground floor showroom carries the latest collections, making it an easy stop for a freshers' week outfit.

Head down to the basement PreLoved floor for second-hand Lucy & Yak pieces. The Re:Yak BuyBack scheme lets you bring back clean, eligible pieces you no longer wear for a money-off voucher, so your clothes get a second life. The store also runs a monthly sensory-friendly shopping day for a calmer visit.

Forbidden Planet on Oldham Street is the Northern Quarter's shop for comics, graphic novels, anime and manga. It stocks new and back catalogue comic books alongside a big range of pop culture merchandise. If you want to make your student room feel like yours, this is a good place to start.

Look out for Funko figures, Loungefly bags, Gundam kits, Pokémon cards, plushes and blind boxes. Whether you are a lifelong comic fan or just after something fun for your halls, there is plenty to browse. The shop opens every day, from 11am on Sundays.

Piccadilly Records is an independent record shop that has been trading in Manchester since 1978. It grew up through the post-punk years of the 1980s, selling rock, pop, indie and alternative music, and moved to its home on Oldham Street in the Northern Quarter in 1997. The shop has been run by its current team since 1990.

The racks cover indie, disco, funk, house, Balearic, psych and much more, on both vinyl and CD. The shop has won Best Independent Record Store at the Music Week awards and Best Record Store at Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards. It opens seven days a week, so you can dig for records between lectures.

Holier Than Thou has been piercing and tattooing on Oldham Street in the Northern Quarter since 2005. The studio is a registered member of the UK Association of Professional Piercers, and its artists are internationally award-winning. It is the place to go if freshers' week feels like the right time for a new piercing.

Jewellery comes in 14k and 18k gold, implant-grade titanium, niobium and glass, and the stock changes daily. The tattoo artists create custom pieces and take walk-ins too. The studio opens seven days a week.

Nice Things is an independent houseplant shop inside Central Hall on Oldham Street in Manchester city centre. It stocks hundreds of varieties, from statement plants up to 2 metres tall to small plants for a bedside table. Plants at either end of that range can help a new student room feel like home.

You will find easy-care, low-maintenance plants for first-time plant parents alongside rare and unusual one-of-a-kind plants for collectors. The shop is built on the idea that houseplants are for everyone. Pick up a plant baby on your way up Oldham Street to BLACK MILK.

Fred Aldous has supplied arts and crafts materials for over 130 years, and its flagship shop on Lever Street spreads across three floors. It stocks around 30,000 art, craft and design products, from paints, brushes and printmaking supplies to textiles and jewellery-making materials. The Lever Street shop is also the company's headquarters.

It is also the place to stock up on stationery for the year, or to plan a crafty night in with your flatmates. You will find design-led gifts and homeware too, plus photo booths for a picture with new friends. The shop is dog-friendly and opens seven days a week.

Manchester Craft and Design Centre has supported independent designers and makers in the Northern Quarter for over 40 years. Its Victorian building on Oak Street was built in 1873 as a fish market, part of the Smithfield Markets, and opened as Manchester Craft Village in 1982 after a four-year restoration. Today it houses 20 studios, where craftspeople make and sell their work on site.

Browse handmade jewellery, textiles, ceramics, glass, prints, accessories and homeware from makers across the region. The centre also runs a free exhibitions programme celebrating regional, national and international craft, plus regular craft workshops. It opens Monday to Saturday and on the second Sunday of the month.

NQ64 is a retro arcade bar on Tib Street with 40 arcade machines, 2 pinball machines and 7 retro consoles. Pair a game with a video game-themed cocktail, or pick from its beers, wines, spirits and soft drinks. Pizza from Crazy Pedro's is served until late, so you can stay for a few rounds.

The neon-lit bar also has an outdoor terrace with its own bar, frozen cocktails and a retractable roof. NQ64 is open late seven days a week and is for over-18s. Consoles are free to play, while the arcade machines run on tokens bought at the bar.

Junior Jackson's is an underground rock and roll dive bar at 64 Oldham Street that calls itself Manchester's home of heavy metal and rock 'n' roll. You head down from the street into the basement, where the bar serves cocktails, shots, frozen drinks and beers including Pabst Blue Ribbon. Happy hour, with half-price drinks, runs until 8pm every day.

The kitchen serves burgers and noodles until 10pm every day. At weekends there are live bands and Bandaoke, where you sing along with a live band. It opens until 3am every night and is for over-18s.