14 alternative nights out for Valentine’s Day in Manchester

Get your game face on with an afternoon of pool, shuffleboard and table tennis at Pong & Puck in The Great Northern.

Twenty Twenty Two is a Northern Quarter hangout with a difference. It has the metro tiles, basement decor and late night action typical of other bars in the area, but it also has table tennis and other games.

Chaos Karts puts you in the driving seat of an immersive augmented reality experience, bringing real-life karting and gaming together.

Creatures Comedy Club is an independent venue in the Northern Quarter with acts on stage seven nights a week. It’s a good place to catch local talent as well as bigger names trying out new material.

Electric Shuffle is a fresh take on shuffleboard. Usually associated with the pubbier end of the bar spectrum or the subterranean neon of a gaming venue, this is something new.

Food Sorcery Deansgate Square is an award-winning cookery school that runs classes on cuisines from all over the world, from Cambodian foodie sessions to dim sum masterclasses to pasta-making workshops.

Put down those phones, switch off your screens, and, er, stand in front of another one . . .  but this time in your own personal gamebox at Immersive Gamebox in Manchester Arndale.

This indoor inflatable playground is an excellent way to tire out hyperactive kids on a rainy day and for that we thank them. The other fab thing about it is that adults are welcome too. Inflata Nation Manchester believes all ages can have fun bounding around and burrowing through ball pools. We can’t disagree.

Junkyard Golf is Manchester’s original crazy crazy golf. There are imitators and imposters but this was the city’s first day-glo, booze-fuelled, loud, throbbing take on the traditional seaside game for kids.

With its glowing neon graffiti, low lighting, and hip hop soundtrack, Lane 7 in the Great Northern on Deansgate looks more like a punky 1980s nightclub than a wholesome, All American bowling alley.  

As well as bowling, there is fancy-pants bowling with neon zig zags. A bit of a cross between a new restaurant opening and Blade Runner. All the bowling is pretty sleek and shiny though with the standard graffiti décor.

Non-bowling entertainment includes just about everything that could possibly be construed as competitive with the exception of tiddlywinks.

Return to your youth and relieve the stresses and strains of adult life by whacking baddies Double Dragon-style or jumping gleefully from platform to platform in Bubble Bobble at NQ64. Get your arcade thrills as well as cocktails and craft beer at this underground bar.

From shoot-‘em-ups to pinball, classic platform games and button-bashers, you’ll find them all at NQ64.

Point Blank Shooting is an interactive virtual shooting range designed to test yours and your teammates quick-draw skills.

One of two Roxy Ball Room venues in Manchester, the Deansgate bar is an ideal “adult playground” perfect for parties. With golf, pool, shuffleboard and even ice-free curling at this upstairs space on Manchester’s busy Deansgate. 

Urban Playground Manchester is the place to go for an adrenaline-fuelled, ultra-competitive night out. Located in Manchester Arndale, it brings together high-tech games with bars and big-name dining from gourmet burger brand The Butcher.

Hearing the thud of axes can be a little unnerving as you leave the cinema in the Great Northern – especially after a slasher film – but the axe throwing at Whistle Punks is about letting off steam not cutting off limbs.

It’s competitive and a bit like darts really, only you’re throwing whacking great axes at the target instead. A bullseye with an axe is very satisfying indeed.