Manchester/Piccadilly-East Centre

Piccadilly-East Centre is the area in Manchester that covers Chinatown, the Gay Village, and Piccadilly Gardens. It is bounded by the A57 (M), Oxford Road, and the A62.

Understand
It lies within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire and is served by Manchester Piccadilly railway station. It contains amongst others, the following neighbourhoods:


 * Chinatown: Manchester's Chinatown around Faulkner Street has been a feature of Manchester since the late 1970s. It's a genuine experience — you'll find people on the streets of Chinatown speaking Chinese to each other and most of the signs are bilingual. It's home to the bulk of Manchester's east Asian restaurants as well as many traders in Chinese food and goods.
 * The Gay Village: around Canal Street out of the many cotton warehouses in the area. It is home to one of the oldest and most-established gay communities in Europe and is known for its tolerance toward all kinds of people. Many of Manchester's most famous bars and clubs are to be found here, most of which are as popular with heterosexual party-animals as they are with the gay crowd. The Village hosts a major Pride festival every year, when the whole region of town is closed to the public for an expensive and exclusive weekend for gay and gay-friendly people from all over the UK.
 * Piccadilly Gardens: As well as being Manchester's central bus station, Piccadilly Gardens is also a landscape garden. It's an interesting choice of design and has not found favour with all of Manchester's residents. The area is dominated by the hideously-ugly Piccadilly Plaza complex, including the Jarvis Hotel and Sunley Tower, an eyesore visible from miles away.

By bus
As Manchester's main local bus station (Piccadilly Gardens) is in Piccadilly Gardens, many buses in central Manchester heading into town terminate here and in surrounding streets..

By car
This area has numerous one way streets and is best avoided by car.

By tram
Services mostly run every 12 minutes on all routes:

At peak times
Peak times are from 07:15am – 7:30pm on Monday to Friday and from 09:30am – 6:30pm on Saturdays:


 * 5 trams per hour to Altrincham
 * 5 trams per hour to Ashton-under-Lyne
 * 5 trams per hour to Bury
 * 5 trams per hour to Eccles
 * 5 trams per hour to Etihad Campus
 * 5 trams per hour to MediaCityUK
 * 10 trams per hour to Piccadilly

Offpeak
Offpeak refers to all other times during operational hours:


 * 5 trams per hour to Altrincham
 * 5 trams per hour to Ashton-under-Lyne
 * 5 trams per hour to Bury
 * 5 trams per hour to Eccles (via MediaCityUK)
 * 10 trams per hour to Piccadilly

By train

 * Avanti West Coast have 3 trains per hour to London Euston with different destinations:
 * 1 tph calling at Stockport, Stoke-on-Trent and Nuneaton
 * 1 tph calling at Stockport, Macclesfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Rugby and Milton Keynes Central
 * 1 tph calling at Stockport, Wilmslow, Crewe and Stafford


 * CrossCountry have 1 train per hour to Bournemouth and Bristol Temple Meads:
 * 1 tph to Bournemouth calling at: Stafford, Birmingham International, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Banbury, Oxford, Reading, Basingstoke, Winchester, Southampton Airport Parkway, Southampton Central and Brockenhurst.
 * 1 tph to Bristol Temple Meads calling at: Cheltenham Spa and Bristol Parkway.

Both CrossCountry services first call at Stockport, Macclesfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street before continuing to their final destinations.

Get around
The Piccadilly area is one of the busiest areas in the city, and intense traffic can make it difficult to get around by car, and dangerous to get around by bike. The easiest and safest way to get around is by foot, with wide pavements leading from Piccadilly railway station to all points of interest.

Buy
Market Street and the Arndale Centre are just off the northern part of Manchester Piccadilly Gardens. Here you will find the usual High Street stores.

In the Piccadilly Area