Coffee shops in Manchester that are great for remote working

With its neutral hues and natural foliage, stripped-back bricks and leather booths, The Alan is a tranquil space in which to enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner – the open-plan kitchen serves all day from first thing till late evening – or indeed coffee and cocktails in the bar.

If you’re serious about your coffee, Ancoats Coffee Co has to be your first port of call in this part of the city. Inspired by owner Jamie Bowland’s time spent in the flat-white Mecca that is Melbourne, this is a destination for people who really care about what goes in their cup.

Ancoats Coffee Company in Manchester Piccadilly is set in 111 Piccadilly, a light-filled handsome building near the train station. If you’re serious about coffee, this has to be one of the city centre’s must-visits. Inspired by owner Jamie Bowland’s time spent in the flat-white Mecca that is Melbourne, this is a destination for people who really care about their coffee. The team expertly roast their own beans and create Manc-centric blends like Graphene and Warehouse City. 

Atlas Bar is known as one of the originals of Manchester’s modern cafe-bar scene. And for its extensive collection of gins – over 570 varieties and counting.

Open in Liverpool since 2010, BSC is something of an institution over there and the place to go if you’re in need of caffeine sustenance. Breakfast, brunch and all things cheap and lunch-like are also on the menu, while the art-adorned walls make it a great place to chill out.

There are two ways to eat at the Doghouse, at the ground floor BrewDog Bar or upstairs on the rooftop. Take your pick from everything from “monster burgers” to buffalo hot-wings, but whichever you choose, BrewDog’s Doghouse is a beer lover’s dream.

The BrewDog Doghouse is brought to you by international beer makers, BrewDog. Claiming to be Manchester’s first carbon-negative “beer hotel”, you’ll find signature touches by the brand from beers in the shower to in-room beer taps.

California Coffee & Wine is a ray of SoCal sunshine. The Cal-Mex flavours served up are fresher and sharper than typical Tex-Mex offerings and everything feels clean and wholesome – if you give the sausage and bacon mega stack a swerve.

The food doesn’t take itself too seriously, it’s just there to be enjoyed. Expect dishes like San Fran salmon, all scrambled eggs and wilted spinach with some spectacular smoked fish from the Manchester Smokehouse or ranch beans with tortilla, smashed avocado, Cali salsa and plenty of zing from fresh chillies and spring onions.

Chapter One is an independent bookshop and café with a huge selection of fancy drinks, vegan-friendly cakes and a well-curated selection of literature.

Ducie Street Warehouse is all sorts of things, but one of those things is a restaurant. It’s an all-day affair with everything from classic brunches to late-night cocktails. On the menu you’ll find a good selection of small sharing dishes and large plates – it’s a sociable kind of place. And of course, you’ll also find Ducie Street Warehouse’s signature focaccia flatbreads.

The opening of Ezra & Gil Peter Street in 2021 was greeted with glee by brunch and coffee hunters this side of the city centre. Like their NQ venue, this new place is well-run and well-thought out, with a menu that suits weekend loungers and grab-and-go office workers. 

Folk is a bit of an institution in Didsbury, having been on the scene for over a decade now. On a sunny day you can sit outside with the palm trees and straw canopy and try to convince yourself you’re somewhere more exotic.

Foundation Coffee House Northern Quarter is the first of three locations in the city centre from this homegrown brand. This spacious original site in Grade II Listed Sevendale House sets the tone for its siblings on Portland Street and Whitworth Street. Namely sleek, minimalist design and a cultish devotion to premium, single source beans.

Grindsmith Media City has been keeping the creatives and apartment-dwellers of Salford Quays fed and caffeinated since 2016. 

When Peter Street lost its Caffe Nero it gained Haunt, an independent coffee shop and wine bar. Stepping inside, you feel like this corner spot in the beautiful St George’s House, with its views of the Midland Hotel and Central Library, has finally got the classy occupier it deserves.

Idle Hands have a super-tight following – who helped by setting up a crowd-funding campaign in their honour when the chips were down – and, as a result, there’s a strong community focus at this coffee shop and kitchen, which started life on Piccadilly Station Approach in early 2015.

Inspire Cafe is an inclusive, relaxed gem of a community cafe housed in a former church in Levenshulme. It serves breakfasts, light lunches, and homemade cake during the day, with occasional pop-ups from local street food traders (with local beers) in the evening.

Based conveniently near Manchester’s gay village in an early 20th-century warehouse, Leven opened in October 2021 as one of its newest, and coolest design hotels.

Without Night & Day Cafe, the Northern Quarter as we know it probably wouldn’t exist. It was places like this, jazz club Matt and Phreds, and Factory Records-owned Dry Bar that kickstarted the area’s reputation for art, music, and banging nights out – and the apartment boom that followed.

Clean lines, stripped wood, potted greenery, local art, yoga brunch… these are just some of the calming factors at newly hip Chapel Street’s one-stop coffee shot shop Procaffeinated, where your daily caffeine fix will leave you refreshed rather than climbing the whitewashed walls.

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.

Takk is one of the mainstays of the always-evolving coffee and brunch scene in the Northern Quarter. It’s been around since 2013 (making it about 80-years-old in NQ years) and has since sprouted two more Takks, one a pop-up at Hatch, and the other a permanent fixture at University Green. 

The second permanent opening from Icelandic-inspired coffee house Takk brings a little bit of NQ hipsterism to the University of Manchester campus. Housed in the sleek University Green development, Takk Oxford Road is a popular choice for an iced latte and a home-baked cake between lectures, or a vaguely Nordic brunch dish. 

Conveniently located opposite West Didsbury Metrolink station, Wine & Wallop Didsbury is a cosy retreat where you can sample an interesting selection of wine, micro-brewed ales and cask ciders, accompanied by a light lunch or a few nibbles.

YES is a gargantuan place with four floors of fun. Despite that, it still has a low-key cool and something approaching a homely vibe for somewhere so big.