Top 6 Coffee Shops in Manchester (Starting in the Northern Quarter)

Allpress Espresso began in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1989 as one of the country's first coffee carts, before Michael Allpress moved on to roasting in the back of a garage. The company roasts with a custom-designed hot air roaster and now roasts in cities including Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Tokyo and London. Allpress is also the roaster behind the coffee served at BLACK MILK. Its Manchester café opened in 2023 as the brand's first café outside London and its base in the North.

The café sits on the ground floor of the Grade II listed Redfern Building in NOMA, in Manchester city centre. The space houses a café, a barista training hub and a coffee machinery workshop, with interiors by designer Deidra Hodgson that keep the building's original windows. Allpress serves blends and single origins graded at 83 points or more on the Specialty Coffee Association scale, with a food menu built around locally sourced ingredients. The space also hosts barista training and coffee workshops for the cafés it supplies across the North.

ManCoCo is a Manchester coffee roaster that hand roasts speciality coffee in small batches from a railway arch on Hewitt Street, just off Deansgate. The roastery and its artisan coffee bar share the same arch, with the roasting side and the café side divided by a wooden partition. Its green beans are speciality grade Arabica from identifiable single origin farms, estates and small farm cooperatives. Beans roasted in the arch are served in the coffee bar and sold to take home.

The coffee bar pours espresso drinks using the house blend and single origins, alongside filter coffee and a collection of loose leaf, whole leaf and caffeine-free teas. ManCoCo also runs a Coffee Academy on site. Courses cover an introduction to coffee brewing, exploring espresso and latte art, with one-to-one sessions also on offer. Visitors to the coffee bar sit in the same arch where the beans are roasted, behind Deansgate station.

Ancoats Coffee Co. was founded in 2013 and roasts speciality coffee in small batches at its roastery inside Royal Mill in Ancoats, Manchester. The mill, on the corner of Redhill Street and Henry Street, was built in 1912 as one of the last great cotton mills in East Manchester. First called New Old Mill, it took the name Royal Mill after a visit from King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1942. After years of disuse it was restored in the early 2000s.

The café sits beside the roastery, and coffee is roasted on site most days using single origins from countries including Brazil, Burundi, Colombia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Mexico and Uganda. The menu covers espresso, filter, cold brew and decaf, with sandwiches, bagels and locally baked pastries and cakes, including vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options. There is seating in the glass-roofed atrium, and the space is wheelchair accessible and dog-friendly. Ancoats Coffee Co. also runs cupping sessions, home brewing workshops and barista training, and supplies beans and equipment to cafés and businesses.

Idle Hands is a speciality coffee shop founded by Dave and Lucy, which started life in 2015 as a pop-up near Manchester Piccadilly station. After further pop-ups, including one at Grub in Mayfield, it opened its permanent home in 2018 at Dale House on the corner of Dale Street and Tariff Street. The shop is in Manchester's Northern Quarter. The room is high-ceilinged and light, with window bars, communal tables and counter seating.

Idle Hands works as a multi-roaster café, serving guest coffees from different roasters on espresso and filter. The kitchen makes pies and brunch dishes, with vegan-friendly food and oat milk available. Natural wine and craft beer are sold to drink in or take away. That mix makes Idle Hands a Northern Quarter spot for both daytime coffee and an early evening drink.

Nomad Coffee is a speciality coffee shop at 24 Lever Street in Manchester's Northern Quarter, set in a converted industrial space with a vintage look. Exposed brick walls line the room, and big windows face onto Lever Street. It opened on Lever Street in December 2024.

Nomad serves speciality coffee with fresh sandwiches and pastries, covering breakfast, brunch and lunch. It is open seven days a week. The café is dog-friendly and has outdoor seating.

BLACK MILK is a café at 88 Oldham Street in Manchester's Northern Quarter, and it has been on Oldham Street since 2015. The coffee is made with Allpress beans and served alongside a full dessert menu. It is a walk-in café with no reservations, open from 11am every day of the week.

The menu takes in milkshakes, freakshakes, pancakes, ice cream sundaes, gelato, fresh bakes, edible cereal bowls and sticky toffee with ice cream, with vegan and gluten-free options too. BLACK MILK also sells its own award-winning pistachio, hazelnut and white chocolate cream spreads to take home. Late opening runs until 10pm Monday to Wednesday, 11pm on Thursday and midnight on Friday and Saturday, with a 9pm close on Sunday. That makes it an easy stop for coffee and dessert in the Northern Quarter well into the evening.