When I was a kid growing up in Hong Kong, like most middle-class families, we had a black-and-white television. One of my favorite programs aired on Saturday mornings: a recap of the soccer matches in the English Football League, followed by the match of the week. My team was Manchester United. At that time (late 1960s to early 1970s), Man U was probably one of the best-known football teams in the world.
Visiting the city of Manchester would have been a big deal if I had made the trip in the 1970s or 1980s. Alas, after moving to Canada in 1976, I lost track of—and interest in—the team. Nevertheless, as if the city were beckoning me, during my recent trip to England, a couple of random posts from book-related sites appeared on my screen, promoting several libraries and a bookstore café that offered high tea.
Manchester also came onto my radar because I learned that in recent years, the city has welcomed a sizable number of people from Hong Kong. This became possible after the United Kingdom amended its laws to allow Hong Kong residents born before 1997 to immigrate under the British National (Overseas) program.
So, after spending a few days with my friend Jan, who runs a soup kitchen out of her house in Wolverhampton, I hopped on a train, and less than two hours later, I checked into the Ibis Hotel near Piccadilly Station. From the hotel, I walked to the House of Books and Friends, hoping to reserve a seat for high tea in the same historic room where Winston Churchill and William Gladstone once took tea. However, the young woman at the front desk told me the next available dates for high tea would be sometime in June—three months away! I toured the room and found myself a seat for coffee and a slice of cake.
Before arriving at the House of Books and Friends, I made a stop at the Portico Library. Founded in 1806, this subscription library was established by a group of businessmen and intellectuals seeking a space for reading, discussion, and learning.
One of its most famous members was the scientist John Dalton, who made major contributions to the study of color blindness and atomic theory.
Unlike public libraries, the Portico remains a subscription library, meaning members contribute to its upkeep while enjoying access to its vast collection of historic books and periodicals. However, the public is welcome to visit the non-members’ area.
The original library once occupied all three floors of its neoclassical building, but today, the bottom two floors have been rented out to a pub to help fund the library’s maintenance.
While I was there, the library happened to be hosting an exhibition of its Chinese collection—a fascinating glimpse into its historical archives.
For dinner on my first night, I had a bowl of Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles. Manchester has the second-largest Chinatown in the UK, but compared to the several Chinatowns in the Greater Toronto Area, it is quite small, occupying only a few streets. In terms of price, the noodles I had were as tasty as those in Toronto, but the cost was only numerically similar: my bowl of noodles would be about C$15 at home, but £15 in Manchester.
Day two in Manchester began with a walking tour. I really enjoy walking tours because they add context to the sites, and many guides are excellent storytellers. Our guide, David, had a deep knowledge of the local music scene and even brought along a small music box to play various songs for us. One of the historic hotels we visited was the Refuge Building, where I later returned for the famous Sunday roast.
In the afternoon, I took a local tram to the area where the Imperial War Museum is located. It was a glorious sunny day, and instead of spending time inside a museum, I chose to walk around the area and then took a leisurely stroll most of the way back to the city centre.
Later in the evening, I decided to eat at Rudy’s Napoletana—a well-known pizzeria whose original location is featured in Where to Eat Pizza: The Experts’ Guide to the Best Pizza Places in the World.
Having a delicious pizza isn’t exactly a first for me. But when I asked for the bill, the waitress told me someone had already paid. I insisted it must be a mistake since I didn’t know anyone in the city. She replied that they wished to remain anonymous—but had taken care of it.
This is the first time something like this has ever happened to me. So, thank you—whoever you are!
On my last day in Manchester, before taking a train to London, I joined a paid public tour of Chetham’s Library. It claims to be the oldest free public reference library in the English-speaking world, and it’s well worth the price to see the chained books, old manuscripts, and fascinating artifacts.
Before becoming a library in 1653, the building was originally founded in 1421 as a priestly college by Thomas de la Warre, a local lord and clergyman. It served as a residence and place of study for priests. That ended with Henry VIII’s Act of Supremacy in 1534—when the college was dissolved, the priests were evicted, and the building was seized by the Crown.
In the 17th century, a wealthy merchant named Humphrey Chetham purchased the neglected site for £500 and transformed it into both a school and a library, ensuring free access to books and knowledge for the public—an incredibly progressive idea for the time.
Another claim to fame for Chetham’s is that Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels met here to discuss ideas that would later shape The Communist Manifesto.
Additional photos
Additional Links
- Amateur Traveler Podcast Episode 660 — Travel to Manchester, England
- Chetham’s Library Official website
- The Portico Library Official website