An insider’s guide to eating and drinking in Chorlton

With its Tudor-style facade and picturesque setting overlooking Chorlton Green, the Horse & Jockey has always had the potential to be one of Manchester’s most notable pubs. In 2025 (a mere 200 years since it first opened) it finally secured its place on that list.

Situated at 97 Beech Road, the aptly named 97 serves cocktails that are up there with the best the city centre has to offer. Proper mixology comes to the suburbs.

Aahaa is a new Indian restaurant in Chorlton which has already become very popular. The website is not very convincing but take no notice of that because it’s the honest, authentic South Indian cooking and friendly staff that have won over the locals.

Barbakan is an institution. It has been selling Polish and European breads and other baked goods for over 50 years – long before Chorlton became a hip coffee culture destination. The cheesecake is famous and kids in Chorlton seems to be weaned on Barbakan bagels.

Beech Road’s Bar San Juan is almost always bursting at the seams with customers. This unassuming little tapas bar is one of those hidden gems of almost cult-like status and the closest thing to a real Spanish bar anywhere in the North West.

The Beagle is a bustling, eclectic, neighbourhood boozer. This selfproclaimed post-modern pub serves NYC-style pizza and ice cream sandwiches from local indie Nell’s Pizza. 

Bisous Bisous is a French patisserie and café on Beech Road in Chorlton. It serves breakfast and lunch but the main draw is its selection of dainty cakes and patisseries. They are like little shiny jewels and almost as precious.

According to Decanter, ‘Manchester is lucky to have Carringtons’ and in the world of wine that counts for a lot. This Chorlton independent bottle shop won Best Regional Wine Shop (North West England) in the 2023 Decanter Retailer Awards.

Chorlton Cheesemongers isn’t just a shop that sells cheese. No, it’s a uniquely-adapted, humidity controlled space which specialises in British and Irish cheeses.

An authentic Neapolitan-style pizzeria, Double Zero in Chorlton has been lauded as one of the best in the UK. What’s more, it’s BYOB. Top pizzas and your own wine make this place just about perfect.

The Drop Bar Cafe has sunny flavours all year round. This Caribbean set-up on the Victorian arcade opposite the bus terminus has big flavours, healthy options and is one of Chorlton’s best options for vegetarians and vegans. The Jerk chicken Sunday roast is very good.

Elektrik is an award-winning independent that’s become a mainstay of the Chorlton bar scene since it opened back in 2009. Founders Luke Cowdrey and Justin Crawford (you might know them as DJs The Unabombers) went on to launch Volta in Didsbury and later The Refuge in the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel (formerly The Palace Hotel).

Epicerie Ludo is a small shop on Beech Road in Chorlton that’s an absolute treasure trove of food and drink.

The Epicurean Chorlton is a friendly little beer shop. It may be smaller than its sister site in West Didsbury but the fridges are rammed with colourful cans in every hue from independent craft producers all over the UK and further afield.

Manchester may pride itself on its Northern-ness but Fell Bar Chorlton is the southernmost outpost of the Cumbrian brewery. It’s cosy and pub-like with a lovely atmosphere and excellent beer.

On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, Cap Coffee sets up stall outside, caffeinating the local mums and dads after the school run.

Serving up city centre-standard cocktails in the suburbs, Henry C is a cosy neighbourhood bar in Chorlton with a heavy New Orleans influence.

Indian Affair is a light, bright modern restaurant in the parade of little independents opposite Chorlton Bus Station.

Despite being enormous and giving off slightly-half finished vibes when it comes to the fit-out, Jasmine is always busy. It’s been busy for the last decade and it’s all down to the food.

The Jane Eyre Chorlton is a neighbourhood restaurant and cocktail bar on Beech Road, Chorlton’s most charming street. This offshoot of the Ancoats original has fitted in nicely to its location which has been home to some of Chorlton’s best restaurants over the years – and a few short-lived mistakes. The Jane Eyre is definitely in the former camp.

Lily’s Deli is from the family behind Lily’s, the award-wining vegetarian Indian restaurant in Ashton-under-Lyne. You’ll find all the ingredients you need to make your own curry feast plus freshly-made savouries, sweets and seating to enjoy some seriously good manchurian toasties and masala chai.

Lucky Mama’s is an Italian takeaway and cafe on Barlow Moor Road in Chorlton serving fresh Roman-style pizza, Veneto-style pasta and a range of Italian-inspired sweet treats. Tables are limited because there aren’t many but mainly because it’s so popular.

Mary & Archie Chorlton is a well-loved neighbourhood cafe bar, sourcing the best local ingredients for their famous ‘all-day’ brunch menu.

Miss Dee’s Evoden Bar & Kitchen is a relaxed Caribbean restaurant that offers excellent value considering its Beech Road setting.

Momo Shop is The Little Yeti rebranded with more of a DIY pop-punk dumpling vibe. It’s an establishment of the ‘limited menu but executed very well’ variety, which is more common in Asia than over here, where ‘all things to all people’ is perhaps too often attempted.

Out of the Blue manages to making selling fish cool. It’s a lovely shop with sea-inspired abstract paintings, changing window art, boatloads of shimmering, clear-eyed fresh fish and some of the friendliest staff you’ll find.

‘Doing lots of little things right’ is a definition of perfection. And Oystercatcher – a simple seafood restaurant in Chorlton – does just that. Serving fishy brilliance from char-grilled whole sea bream to Tandoori-barbecued monkfish tail, this is a restaurant you have to visit.

Plere is – whisper it – a wine bar, but it’s one that brings a Europhile cool to Beech Road with a clever selection of under-the-radar wines and quality cheese and charcuterie. If George Orwell’s perfect pub was The Moon Under Water, then maybe Emile Zola’s would be Plere.

Don’t be fooled by the unassuming exterior – the interior is even more unassuming. However, the food is unbelievable. Enormous flavours, friendly service and some of the tastiest Middle Eastern fast food you can find in South Manchester. Quite an accolade.

Rudy’s Pizza Chorlton is a relaxed outpost of the popular homegrown Manchester mini-chain of independent Napoli pizza masters.

Sambal is one of only a small handful of Malaysian restaurants in Manchester and it’s the only one in Chorlton. It has an excellent reputation in the Malaysian community with loyal customers driving for hours to eat there – but you can get the tram to Barlow Moor Road. It doesn’t look like much from the outside but book ahead if you can because it is very popular.

Shogun Ramen and Bar in Chorlton serves great value ramen. But we’ve not listed it in our guide just because it’s day-before-payday-cheap. It’s here because it does proper, traditional ramen and the folks of M21 can’t get enough of it. 

Smoak Coffee is a small coffee and bagel shop on Barlow Moor Road. The caffeine options are very good – roasted fresh every week – with a regularly changing single origin coffee and excellent filter coffee too.

Tea Hive is a quaint little cafe celebrating the nation’s favourite cuppa, and cake, lots of cake. As you’d expect, aside from good old English brekkie, there are Kilner jars full of loose leaf tea in all manner of strains. There’s coffee too, and they recently launched an inventive little cocktail menu utilising their house brews.

Thai Spice on Chorlton’s Beech Road is a small, super-friendly restaurant with a varied menu. It’s not just about the pad thai. The chef’s specials add an extra dimension adding fancier options to the everyday favourites.

Unicorn is a well-loved organic co-operative selling vegan produce. There’s an emphasis on Fairtrade and it does everything it can to source local fruit and vegetables through partnerships with local growers as well as co-operatives on the continent which share its ethos.

Water Lily is not the sort of place you could stumble across by chance. It sits above a parade of takeaways on Chorlton’s Wilbraham Road. From the street, you can’t tell if it’s packed to the rafters or dead as a doornail which puts off passing trade. Fortunately, Water Lily doesn’t rely on walk-ins. Those in the know book ahead for vibrant and colourful Hong Kong cooking.

Yane is a small independent Japanese restaurant in Chorlton. Sushi and ramen are everywhere, but this place specialises in Japanese comfort food in the form of donburi, katsu kare and traditional pickles, all made in house.