If you’ve landed here you might be looking for a beautiful room in which to hold your wedding, birthday or anniversary party. Maybe you are after a modern space with audiovisual equipment for a corporate event. Or perhaps you want to hire a venue and put on your own private live music showcase. This is Manchester after all.
Whatever you are looking for, Manchester has all manner of function suites, conference rooms and whole venues to hire for your private event. If you’re looking for private dining, may we direct you to our article on Manchester’s best private dining rooms.
Here is a round up of our favourite private hire and event spaces in Manchester.
The Alan
The Alan is widely known as Manchester’s most stylish hotel and it has a top class restaurant too. There are lots of different event spaces in The Alan from studios that accommodate 10 people to the industrial styled basement space SITU that holds up to 220. You can even hire the entire hotel, yep, rooms, restaurant, bar, meeting rooms, the lot, if you have the readies for that.
Capacity: spaces from 10 – 220 or the whole hotel which holds many more.
Price: POA
BAB
BAB is a cornerstone of the Northern Quarter situated on Stevenson Square. It’s known for its modern take on kebabs which feature ingredients like octopus, beer battered tofu, and flat iron steak. It also has a menu of mezé plates all of which can be pre-ordered as part of a private hire deal. You can hire BAB for groups of 20-100 and it has a full nightclub sound system.
Capacity: 20-100
Price: No hire fee
14 Little Lever St, Manchester M1 1HR
The Beeswing
The Beeswing is a modern wine bar in the trendy Kampus neighbourhood just on the edge of Canal Street, a few minutes walk from Piccadilly. It has a stunning terrace which is an enviable sun trap in summer months and it gets the sun until right up into the evening. You can hire the entire restaurant and bar space for events and they can also provide a variety of menus to suit your needs.
Capacity: up to 70 indoors, with added outdoor space weather dependent.
Price: varies depending on day of week, time of year – based on minimum spend rather than room hire.
24a Minshull St, Manchester M1 3EF
The Black Friar
Every bit of The Black Friar is available to hire including the whole 200 capacity restaurant. You can also hire The Tavern – a fully covered and heated outdoor space, The Garden – a large, landscaped outdoor space with loads of lush plants and flowers, The Sanctuary – a cosy intimate room with leather sofas and vintage furniture, and The Glass Room – kinda like a modern conservatory.
Capacity: The Tavern: 44 seated or 65 standing, The Garden: up to 150 but you can just hire smaller areas, you don’t have to hire the whole thing, The Sanctuary: 24 seated 40 standing, the restaurant: 50 seated or up to 200 standing, The Glass Room 32 seated or up to 40 standing.
Price: all spaces are free to hire but there are rules about ordering food as part of the deal.
41-43 Blackfriars Rd, Manchester M3 7DB
Black Dog Ballroom
With its leopard print pool tables and subterranean dive bar aesthetic Black Dog Ballroom is a great shout for a big party. The whole venue – that sits under towering alternative shopping centre Afflecks Palace – can be hired out and it houses up to 80 people for party times or 30 for dining. Benefits of the space include a projection screen, DJ facilities and a sound system.
Capacity: 30-80
Price: Sunday-Wednesday: £250 deposit which is fully refunded if your bar spends hits £1250 and partially refunded in increments if it goes over £750. Thursday-Saturday: £300 deposit which is fully refunded with a £1500 bar spend and partially refunded in increments when you spend over £1000.
52 Church St, Manchester M4 1PW
The Dog Bowl
The Dog Bowl is another venue that you can hire in its entirety and is ideal for big social parties made even more fun by the addition of games machines from NQ64. The venue is a New York inspired bowling alley, bar and casual dining restaurant with food from fried chicken masters Kong’s. With this in mind, it’s unlikely you’ll hire it for a wedding (though it has been known), think more big birthdays or group celebrations where lively, boozy times are a priority.
Capacity: up to 180 standing or up to 100 seated dining.
Price: from £315 per hour or £20 per person.
57 Whitworth St W, Manchester M1 5WW
Ducie Street Warehouse
All areas of the huge and very stylish Ducie Street Warehouse can be hired out for events including the restaurant, terrace, main seating area and several smaller rooms including a first floor atrium. There is also a mini cinema which is ideal for any screenings you might want to invite up to 36 people to.
Capacity: meeting rooms at DSW hold between 8 and 80 guests depending on seating/standing arrangements. The cinema holds 36. Bigger spaces can accommodate up to 200 standing guests.
Price: POA
Ducie St, Manchester M1 2TP
El Capo
El Capo is currently closed to the public while it undergoes kitchen maintenance. In the meantime, you can hire the whole venue for events. Just ten minutes from Piccadilly station, El Capo looks like the kind of no good place an American road trip anti hero might find themselves in, complete with religious imagery, neon crosses, red lights, and intentionally rusty light fittings. If this sounds like the ideal place for your next big do, then the lord must be looking out for you because this basement bar is another Manchester event space available for private hire. Features include a fully stocked private bar, sound system and air con and the menu can also provide food (tacos anyone?) and bespoke cocktail menus for your private party, conference or rock n roll wedding.
Capacity: 120
Price: POA
12 Tariff St, Manchester M1 2FF
El Gato Negro
Simon Shaw’s acclaimed tapas restaurant is a popular spot for any occasion and its rooftop terrace is always named checked in any outdoor drinking and dining round up worth its salt. But did you know you can hire the entire top floor of El Gato Negro including its famed roof terrace (with retractable roof) for a private event? Well now you do. The flexible space is obviously ideal for a special party, holding up to 100 guests and the team are on hand to provide some of the city’s best food as well as cocktails, live entertainment or business support.
Capacity: up to 100
Price: POA – minimum spend £3000
52 King St, Manchester M2 4LY
The Fitzgerald
Sitting above the Quarter House on Stevenson Square, The Fitzgerald is a vintage burlesque-inspired venue in Manchester’s Northern Quarter and the whole glamorous space with its gorgeous antique-style glassware can be hired out for events.
Capacity: 120
Price: minimum spends vary depending on the day. It’s usually between £750 -£1200 except at Christmas when minimum spend is £5000.
11 Stevenson Square, Manchester M1 1DB
HOME
The modern arts centre of HOME is a stunning option for any event and has all manner of different spaces to hire. There are five hi-tech cinema spaces with capacity from 33 to 227 seats. There is also a huge second floor space with floor to ceiling windows and a roof terrace that can be booked for exclusive use. This can be set up for boardroom use, workshops, classrooms or parties accommodating anything from eight to 99 people. There is modern audiovisual and presentation equipment available too. There are some limits to the kinds of events you can hire space for at home with exclusions such as ticketed events, live music or sports, parties for teenagers, 18th or 21sts and, erm, hypnotists. There are in house catering and drinks options and outdoor catering or corkage is not allowed.
Capacity: 8-227 depending on the space you hire.
Price: from £125 for three hours depending on time of day and day of the week.
Kimpton Clocktower hotel
The Kimpton Clocktower is a glamorous, grade II listed building with vintage interiors that genuinely drop jaws. Many of its public spaces can be hired for private functions as well as enormous function rooms (their ballroom is the largest event space in the North West), suites, ballrooms, classrooms and a new basement area designed specifically for events. This place is the choice for some of Manchester’s most glamorous award ceremonies and dinners. But you can also hire smaller areas of its popular public bar and restaurant The Refuge. Choose from the Winter Garden with its glass roof and striking tiled floor or the Den with its foosball and pool tables, private bar and bespoke menu options.
Capacity: The Den holds up to 100 guests. The Winter Garden holds more depending on seating arrangements.
Price: POA
The Liar’s Lounge at Cane & Grain
Another NQ bar perfect for parties, Cane & Grain’s tiki-inspired Liar’s Lounge has space for up to 100 of your closest pals to dance the night away in your own private space. It comes equipped with a private bar, cocktail menu and DJ and sound system facilities. Guests can order from the main menu or talk to the team in advance about buffet-style options.
Capacity: 100
Price: POA
19A Back Bridge St, Manchester M3 2PB
Love Factory
If the event you want to host is MASSIVE, Love Factory could be the venue to hire. This multi-functional warehouse-sized event space is housed inside a former machinery plant and comprises four indoor and outdoor areas: The Love Factory, Motorworks, The Courtyard and The Scrapyard which can house from 200 and up to 6000 people. It’s industrial, it’s edgy, it’s got colourful lighting, in other words it’s very Manchester. What’s more, the experienced on-site team can help you with everything from licensing, risk and operations management and cleaning and waste removal to crew and rigging, lighting, visuals, sound, security and performance programming. Whether you need a movie set, are planning to host an outdoor festival, or just have loads of mates and want a banging venue for your 21st birthday, Love Factory can probably deliver all you need and more.
Capacity: 200 – 6,000
Price: POA
202 Dantzic Street, Manchester M4 4NL
Pen and Pencil
The Pen and Pencil takes its name from the New York steakhouse frequented by Don Draper in Mad Men. The venue is right in the middle of the Northern Quarter, a part of Manchester often used by film companies to represent old New York. The private hire room here is available seven days a week and can accommodate up to 70 guests. This room comes with its own private bar, projector, screen and microphone, independent volume control and air-conditioning. The whole venue can also be hired out if you need something bigger than can handle up to 200 guests. Buffet-style food and discounted drinks packages can be ordered and this venue also offers cocktail masterclasses if you want that as part of your event.
Capacity: up to 70 in the private room or 100 for the whole venue.
Price: no hire fee and no minimum spend.
Pot Kettle Black, Angel Gardens
Well established as an excellent bakery that does a fantastic range of Antipodean brunch dishes, PKB now has two venues in the city centre with a new venue from its bakery arm Half Dozen Other on the way in 2023. PKB’s Angel Gardens venue on the edge of Ancoats is available to hire for private events. The bright, airy and flexible space with its characteristic floor to ceiling windows has room for 150 standing or 100 seated guests. Split across two levels, PKB Angel Gardens has its own in-house kitchen and an attractive feature bar making it ideal for everything from weddings to business events. The friendly team can provide bespoke catering for your event at this unique and modern venue.
Capacity: up to 150 standing or 100 seated.
Price: minimum spend £1500.
Angel Gardens, 1 Rochdale Rd, Manchester M4 4GE
Provence
Spinningfields wine bar Provence is a popular after work spot for a few glasses of quality vino and a charcuterie board but it also has a basement room that can be hired out for events. Provence’s “wine cellar” holds 20 seated guests or up to 60 standing and has the unique offering of karaoke (which they call wine-oke) as well as bottomless brunch and wine tastings as add ons to your event booking.
Capacity: 20 seated and up to 60 standing.
Price: from £20 per guest.
Unit G21, The Avenue Spinningfields, Provence, Manchester M3 3HF
Storehouse (under Foundation)
The Storehouse is a sleek, colourful event space that sits underneath Foundation Coffee House and Whitworth Locke Aparthotel on Whitworth Street – just minutes from Oxford Road train station. The versatile space can be used for all kinds of events including parties, weddings (including civil ceremonies), film screenings, and fashion shows. There are a number of spaces available. The Green Room holds eight people and features a boardroom table and TV screen on an aquamarine backdrop with pot plants for a city apartment feel. The modern function room holds up to 150 and features a state of the art sound system, fully stocked bar and LCD projector and screen, should you need it. There is also a ground floor lounge available as an add on.
Capacity: 8 – 150
Price: from £125 – £3000 depending on the event
48-50 Whitworth St, Manchester M1 6LS
Tattu
Tattu is well known for its ultra modern, glossy purple and black interiors complete with a huge cherry blossom tree. Did you know that you can hire the entire venue at Tattu for an extra special event though? Now that would be one impressive party. Menu packages featuring the restaurant’s own unique brand of “contemporary Chinese” food and show-stopping cocktails are available as well as other bespoke elements that you can discuss with the team.
Capacity: up to 175 guests for a seated dining event or up to 200 for a drinks and canapé event.
Price range: for group reservations of up to 30 guests, a deposit of £20 per person is required when booking. For full venue hire, a deposit of 50% the minimum spend is required. Prices vary depending on the time of year so contact the team for more details.
3 Hardman Square, Gartside St, Manchester M3 3EB
Twenty Twenty Two
Manchester’s number one ping pong bar, Twenty Twenty Two always has a packed calendar of eclectic events going on as you would expect from a cooler than thou NQ venue like this. But did you know that you can hire the whole place for your own events? This tiled basement, walls daubed with murals from local artists is the ideal venue for your photo exhibition, indie film screening, fashion show or whatever your creative mind has conjured up. There are three rooms in total, with the smaller private hire room able to host 70 seated or 100 standing guests (70 standing if you want a ping pong table in there too), and has a projector for showing films. The main venue itself is divided up into two more rooms complete with seven ping pong tables with options for club quality sound system, live music stage, mics, lights, DJ booths and more.
Capacity: private room 70-100, full venue up to 250.
Price: private room £50 or £100 bar spend Sunday to Thursday, or £100 or £500 bar spend on Fridays and Saturdays. Full venue £200+ VAT for a half day or £400 + VAT for a full day. These prices are for daytimes. If you want to host evening or weekend events, get in touch for quotes and availability.
The Basement, Little Lever St, Manchester M1 1EZ
Trof
One of the original Northern Quarter bars and still one of the coolest, Trof is famous for its Sunday roast and laid back vibes but it also has a number of rooms you can hire to host your party. The exposed brick Bourbon Room with its own private bar, sound system, projector and more holds up to 40 seated or 60 standing and is only available to hire on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Montana Room with booth seating, colourful flamingo print wallpaper and bright red working Smeg fridge holds 16 seated or 26 standing and can be hired Wednesday-Sunday. This room also has its own jukebox and a projector. You can also hire the whole venue if you have a big idea.
Capacity: 16-60, or more if hiring whole venue.
Price: from £100 for the Montana Room but can be used against food and drink – enquire for other prices.
6-8 Thomas Street Manchester M4 1EU
The Whiskey Jar
This subway-tiled basement venue in a former textile mill has a speakeasy feel with black leather booth seating and old whiskey kegs up-cycled into tables. There are colourful Chesterfield sofas to relax on while you enjoy drinks. Like its sister venue El Capo, The Whiskey Jar can provide a fully stocked private bar, club sound system and air con for your event. Catering and drinks packages are available. This space is ideal for private parties, photoshoots, exhibitions, and more. It’s got a handy late licence too.
Capacity: up to 150.
Price: £200 Sunday-Thursday. Minimum bar spend £1,250 (an additional £250 will be charged if minimum spend not met.)
14 Tariff St, Manchester M1 2FF
Zouk
Popular Indian and Pakistani restaurant Zouk has a number of different areas you can hire. The outdoor shisha terrace can be hired for parties, networking events or drinks receptions for up to 90 guests. There is also a smaller outdoor VIP booth on the terrace that accommodates 20 to 25. For indoor events, the first floor mezzanine with its own PA system and plasma screens overlooks the main restaurant and can hold 20-90 guests. This semi-private area is quieter than the main restaurant but with a backdrop of atmospheric buzz from below. The flexible space has been used for weddings, engagement parties, birthdays, graduation parties, curry club quizzes, sports match screenings and more. The main restaurant area, bar and whole venue are also available to hire with minimum spend requirements at weekends.
Capacity: 20-250
Price: POA
5, The Quadrangle, Chester St, Manchester M1 5QS
