The best places to celebrate graduation in Manchester

Cool city centre hotel The Alan are teaming up with lavish Spinningfields bar and restaurant Sexy Fish to offer a ‘dine and stay’ package to graduates and their loved one. Between 7 – 25 July, you can enjoy an overnight stay at The Alan, plus a four course graduation menu and complimentary glass of champagne at Sexy Fish from £195 per person. The meal is served sharing style and full of exciting Asian-inspired flavours, with dishes like ceviche and sushi, as well as a whole chicken, and salmon teriyaki, as well as some fittingly decadent desserts. If you just want to dine at Sexy Fish and skip the stay, you can enjoy the Sexy Fish menu from £55 per person.

Right on St. Peter’s Square you can find The Anthologist, and while certain humanities graduates might never want to think about anthologies ever again, it’s an ideal spot for a family celebration. groups of four or more can enjoy a generous, sharing-style feast across three courses for £36.95 per head. Taking in flavour inspiration from Asia to the Mediterranean to British charcuterie, there’s something to please all palates.

This swanky Spinningfields spot serves pretty plates of food from around the Pacific Rim, which makes it perfect for a flavour-packed celebratory meal. Bookings of six or more receive a complimentary bottle of prosecco, and all graduates get a glass of the stuff on arrival too. The perfect way to kick off a meal continent-spanning flavours, from Gochujang miso black cod to black pepper wagyu.

The Cut & Craft on Moseley Street is arguably Manchester’s most high-glam restaurants. The former bank is full of pillars, lavish booths, chandeliers, and some of the ritziest lavatories we’ve ever seen. The menu is steak-lead, but with lots of fish dishes, salads and bistro classics too, and for graduation season they’re offering three courses and a glass of prosecco for £55 per person. Available Monday to Friday all day throughout the month of July.

Fenix are celebrating all things wisdom with a graduation menu that promises to be decadent and memorable. If you book onto their Feast of the Wise lunch and dinner menus, you can expect a meal inspired by the Agean islands, with elevated Mediterranean dishes such as souvlaki, calamari, sea bass and rib-eye steak, from just £32.50 per person at lunch, or £44.90 for dinner. A scholarly tone is created with ornate scrolls featuring quotes from ancient philosophy, and of course Fenix’s signature theatrical flair. There’s drinking as well as thinking though – guests receive a complimentary glass of fizz on arrival. 

Enjoy a lavish graduation set menu throughout all of July, every day except Sundays. Groups of 2 to 7 people can enjoy two or three courses of decadent dining, with a wellington, monkfish, Chateaubriand or rib-eye steak as the centrepiece, priced accordingly. Pick from Hawksmoor’s much-loved starters like fillet carpaccio or that spectacular beetroot salad, plus heroic sides like beef dripping chips and macaroni cheese. If you’re looking for crowd-pleasing dining with effortless elegance, Hawksmoor is a no-brainer.

This is a really good one. From 20 June to 20 July, graduates eat free at long-standing tapas favourite, La Bandera. When two or more of you book in using the code GD25NL, your two cheapest tapa will be free. Just make sure to bring proof you’ve graduated, like your cap and gown, invitation or student ID, then enjoy sharing comforting Spanish favourites from one of their signature canary yellow booths.

Louis, the lavish Italian-American spot in Spinningfields, is offering graduates a complimentary glass of Laurent-Perrier Champagne for dinner bookings and a complimentary glass of prosecco for lunch bookings. You can enjoy Louis’ Graduation Set lunch menu, with two courses for £34.50 or three courses for £39.50, available Monday to Thursday, 12 pm to 4.45 pm. For dinner, you can enjoy two courses for £44.90 or three courses for £49.90. Available Monday to Thursday, 5pm to late.

If you’ve got friends and family coming to Manchester for graduation, and want to push the boat out, there’s nowhere better than the five-star Lowry Hotel. In June and July, graduates receive a complimentary bottle of champagne in their room, and 50% off a second bed and breakfast room too.

MAYA, the glam-but-fun bistro at the top of Canal Street, are offering graduates a sparking experience. Graduates get complimentary glass of fizz with any drinks bookings. if three or more of you book to dine, you get a complimentary bottle of fizz. Very nice indeed.

High-energy Mexican spot OCASA is celebrating graduation not with fizz, but with margaritas. Graduates can choose from a free coconut, chilli or smokey Vimto variety, or a paloma alongside their meal. Think crispy lobster nachos and yaki skewers. It’s a properly high-end party vibe.

Piccolino Café Grande occupies one of Manchester’s most majestic buildings, with a terrace view of a good few of the other, so if you’re looking for a spot to impress visiting relatives over graduation season, look no further. When you book with the code ‘GRADUATE’ you’ll get a complimentary glass of Moët & Chandon, and £10 off a bottle too. The graduate in question will also get a card and personalised sweet treat too. Plus, Piccolino’s menu of classy Italian dishes is sure to impress the whole group, from grandmas to siblings.

Lavish pan-Asian restaurant Vermilion in Hulme are offering a graduation set menu with two courses for £25 and three for £30 per person. Choose from starters like Tibetan momos and dragon roll sushi, and mains like drunken noodles and lamb biriyani. Plus, there’s a complimentary glass of Moët for all involved.