Corn Exchange

Walk up Lune Street and you'll spot the Corn Exchange's impressive Victorian facade — all red brick and arched windows. Inside, it's properly theatrical: soaring ceilings, ornate ironwork, and that particular smell of old buildings that've hosted everything from market traders to rock bands. You can catch live music most weekends, stand-up comedy nights that actually draw crowds from Manchester, plus theatre productions and corporate events. The bones of the place are genuinely stunning — high galleries, original architectural details — and they've resisted over-modernising it, which is refreshing.