Live sets from Berlin techno icons, literary discussion from some of the city’s young cultural commentators and a place with everything from yoga sessions to new band nights.
Not usually the things going on in a car showroom. But this isn’t your usual car showroom (or a car showroom full stop, really). No shiny suits. No shiny shoes. No extended warranties. No promotional pens.
The CUPRA City Garage is now up and running in Manchester, between Deansgate and St Ann’s Square, the 13th in all – with the other 12 in cosmopolitan locations like Milan, Lisbon, Munich, Mexico City and, of course, CUPRA’s hometown of Barcelona.
There’s food from sushi and noodle dons Unagi, a kombucha ‘tap room’ from Manchester’s very own fizzy drink legends Hip Pop and a music programme featuring local big hitters like Hit & Run’s Rich Reason, and a Saturday night blow-out called CUPRA FM, with a rolling line-up of international, multi-genre DJs, from Baby J to Juliet Fox.
It wants to be a lot of things. There’s wellness, from high impact dance workout sessions to ‘bass-fuelled yoga and somatic movement’, to talks, to Manchester’s alt-book club The Read Room.
While worldwide brands are increasingly choosing Manchester first over London, it wouldn’t be a leap to find this place popping up in Soho or Shoreditch.
But no. They came to Manchester instead. And according to Cécilia Taïeb, CUPRA’s global head of communications, and head of the CRA Designhouse, it wasn’t a particularly difficult decision.
“We looked around,” she says, “and we thought – why not Manchester? It’s a bit of a rule-breaker.”
Taïeb says they seek out ‘iconic locations where you can really feel the vibration of the city’. The Manchester outpost is no different. The garage took four years to plan, not because they were building it the whole time, but because they were waiting for the right space and the right time.
“We’re a small team,” Taïeb explains. “Everything we do, we do together. It’s not marketing over here and design over there. We all work as one.” That approach extends to how they’ve imagined the City Garage’s role within Manchester’s creative ecosystem.
Far from being just a showroom with a fancy sound system, the space is intended as an open hub for new ideas. “Anything that feels true to the CUPRA spirit,” Taïeb says. “If you’re a young band looking for a place to play, or an artist wanting to exhibit, just get in touch. This space is for the next generation.”
Authenticity is key here. CUPRA isn’t interested in flashy activations that attract a queue for one weekend then disappear. “We’re not a pop-up. This isn’t about volume or awareness,” she says. “It’s about desirability. If the people here fit the brand, then we’re doing something right. It doesn’t need to be for everyone.”
Still, Taïeb is aware that people can be sceptical when global brands turn up in their city waving the word ‘community’ around. “You can’t fake it with the new generation,” she says. “They don’t fall for marketing. But when people realise this space is genuinely open to them – that it’s about what they bring to it – then word of mouth will do the rest.”
That emphasis on local connection is part of why Manchester made sense. As Taïeb puts it, “If everyone expects us to do something, we won’t do it. We’re about the unexpected. And Manchester just really feels CUPRA.”
For Taïeb, it’s all about that blend of Barcelona energy and Manc grit. “We want to bring the CUPRA spirit, but also reflect the city we’re in. So this space needs to feel like home for both.” It’s why they’re taking cues from the people who use it. “If no one wants to do pilates, we’ll stop doing pilates. If they want something else, we’ll do that instead.”
With over a dozen City Garages already open worldwide – some running for seven years and counting – this isn’t some quick-hit campaign. Manchester’s City Garage is here to stay. As Taïeb stresses ‘it’s not a pop-up’.
And judging by the early programme – a mix of music, movement and cultural exchange – it might just become Manchester’s most unexpected new creative venue.
