St. Ann’s House

St Annes Square in Manchester city centre. St Anne’s Square it’s pedestrianised and it has a several shops and restaurants. One of the entrances for the beautiful exchange theatre is here as well (worth a walk inside if you haven’t done so before). Also here is the entrance for the Barton Arcade. Some of the shops are high-​end shops like the Whiskey Shop, Molten Brown and Links of London. In the summer they have food stalls around the square with some hand made crafts etc. and in the winter this is one of the main areas for the Christmas markets.

St Ann’s is a good multi purpose area for Manchester, even if it is often overshadowed by the more open and upmarket Albert Square down the road.
Surrounded by all the usual high street shops like Holland and Barrett, coffee from Starbucks — plus there’s some good high street banks here still like HSBC and Barclays (I know… a bank you can actually walk into and do banking stuff still exists in town…)
The best thing on offer though are the travelling markets which come and go pretty much every month — there’s always something going on here so definitely worth checking out any time of the year — especially the Xmas ones from mid Nov to Dec.

St Ann’s is currently holding its annual (I think?) Feast Market. A collection of food stalls all in one convenient place — especially when you work close by, like me!
Although St Ann’s isn’t the biggest public space in Manchester, there are plenty of traders to choose from. It can be hard to take everything in, especially when your stomach’s growling and you know you’re short on time, but it’s worth it trust me. Don’t dive in to the first thing you see!
You can choose from a Turkish grill serving up different flavours of chicken in wraps, Indian, Chinese, Thai Pies, regular pies, hog roast (the same stall from my previous review and well worth a visit!), fudge, nuts, cakes and breads. There’s even a bar serving up beer, wine and prosecco if you feel the need. What more could you want?
On this visit — and I’m sure there will plenty more, as I always love walking back into the office with something exciting and everyone then mentally planning their next lunch break — I just went for a cheese and bacon pastry from Martin’s, along with a slice of flapjack. The pastry was gone in minutes and the flapjack served very well as a naughty hangover breakfast.

St Ann’s Square is great for many reasons, it’s great for shopping, there’s some great restaurants in the local area, it’s in walking distance of some lovely bars too in addition to the theatres.
My favourite thing to do in St Ann’s Square… People Watch. Sounds like an ominous creepy activity only to be taken up by the people with stringy hair, dirty sleeves, a snot trail and severe sinus issues. However, some of us curious folk who like to indulge in a book and a hot beverage on a clear day like to observe the masses that pass through Manchester. The students, the trendies, the sporties, the alternatives, the scruffy the loud, the loners, the groups. The families, the couples, the professionals, the urbanites, the old marrieds together for their 60^th year. St Ann’s Square is a colour pallet of what Manchester is made from, and what keeps it going, and on a day like today it’s grand to do just this, sit and watch.

I like to sit here and enjoy a cup of coffee or an ice cream. You can just relax for a bit, look around and admire the people passing by, being in a rush. Now and then, you will few people exercising a monotone Sunday walk. There are few fountains, and the sound of that water usually makes me really chilled and dreamy. The pigeons are flying around searching for bits of food left behind from a burger or two, as St. Ann’s Square has it’s own McD’s. Across the fast food, there are some arcades, with shops inside. One of them is my favorite when it comes to cigarettes. You can buy any flavor you fancy, any fancy cigars or cigarettes, even the ones that you can find abroad and not in the usual shops around. It’s a nice place. Even if it’s sunny or cloudy, the Square gathers lots of people every day. Especially tourists, hungry for more photos of buildings that have been in the same place for a long while.