Every wall in Manchester’s Northern Quarter has something on it — a portrait three storeys tall, a bird tucked above a shopfront, a whole scene hiding down an alley you’d normally walk straight past without a second look. I spent a cloudy December morning here with my mum, weaving through red-brick streets and craning my neck in every direction, including behind us.
But wander in completely without a plan and you’ll miss just as much as you catch — a handful of streets carry the real concentration of murals, and knowing where to slow down makes all the difference.
Here’s everything you need to know to walk it yourself, mural by mural, street by street.
Table of Contents
Route Overview
This is a loop through the Northern Quarter, Manchester’s compact grid of red-brick streets just north of Piccadilly Gardens.
You’ll start at Afflecks on Church Street and wind through ten streets before looping back to where you began.
Expect around 2 hours on foot, entirely flat, entirely free!
How Manchester Became an Open Air Gallery
The Northern Quarter wasn’t always a gallery. It was Manchester’s old rag trade district — warehouses, textile mills, wholesale shops — and the red brick you’ll walk past all day is a leftover from that industrial life.
The murals came later, and they came fast.
Subism Collective, Church St
A lot of the big names trace back to the 2016 Cities of Hope festival, which invited international artists to paint murals tackling social issues across the area in one go. The Outhouse Project picked up where that left off, continually recommissioning walls around Stevenson Square.
Then there’s 50 Windows of Creativity, a 2020 trail that added portraits like Akse’s Enigma to the mix. None of it is static. Walls get painted over, buildings get sold, and murals that were headline pieces two years ago can be gone by the time you show up looking for them.
Before You Go
Best Time of Day to Visit
Mornings are quiet — we went during the Christmas period, early enough that the streets were still empty. Afternoons are livelier, with cafés and independent shops open along the route. Both work; it just depends on the atmosphere you’re after.
How Long Does the Walk Take?
Budget around 2 hours if you want to actually look, photograph, and backtrack when you spot something you walked past. That’s slower than marching the same streets in one go, but this isn’t a walk worth rushing.
Places to Stop
The Northern Quarter is stacked with independent coffee shops and bars tucked between the murals, so a warm-up stop is never far off. Build in at least one break — slowing down is exactly how you catch the smaller pieces on shutters and bins.
Is Manchester Street Art Free?
Completely. Every mural on this route sits on a public street, and you can see all of it without paying a penny. If you’d rather have someone walk you through the history and the local stories behind each piece, a guided option is worth considering instead.
Street Art Changes Over Time
The murals you see today might not be the ones on your phone. Buildings get sold, walls get recommissioned, favourites get painted over. So don’t walk with your eyes locked on a map — wander, let your attention drift, and check behind you. Some of the best pieces are the ones you’d only catch by turning around!
The Manchester Street Art Walking Route
Church Street & Afflecks
Evan Barlow, ‘Evidently Chickentown,’ Red Lion St
Start here. Afflecks — the sprawling indoor market that’s been a Northern Quarter fixture since the 1970s — sits right on the corner of Church Street, Tib Street, and Oldham Street, and its exterior doubles as one of the area’s most consistent canvases.
Look for the mosaic work by local artist Mark Kennedy running along the building, mixing in Manchester references from Vimto to the Suffragettes.
It’s a fitting place to kick off: equal parts shopping landmark and open-air gallery before you’ve even turned a corner.
Nothing is worse than landing somewhere new and searching for WiFi before you can even find your way. I recommend an eSIM so you can use maps and travel apps the moment you arrive.
Get an eSIM before you arrive so you can use maps, book transport and stay connected from day one.
Here is the eSIM I use →Thomas Street & Tib Street
Just Eat, Thomas St
Head onto Tib Street and slow right down — this stretch rewards it. Akse has multiple portraits along here, including a striking image of Prince and a local favourite depicting Tony Wilson, the Factory Records founder who’s practically a patron saint of this neighbourhood.
Nearby, look for the poppy mural by Qubek on the multi-storey car park, dedicated to workers who died in the two World Wars, and keep an eye on the corner with Thomas Street, where the substation art rotates regularly.
This ended up being one of my favourite stretches of the whole walk.
On Thomas Street itself, hunt down Jim Vision’s two-part Tyger — a large portrait paired with a scene of two tigers locked in a fight, tucked in among the tighter backstreets.
Oldham Street & Stevenson Square
Shawn Sharpe, ‘So Let’s Talk,’ Stevenson Sq
Oldham Street is one of the Northern Quarter’s original shopping streets, and its mural game is strong. Look out for the 22 bees painted on the Koffee Pot building by local artist Qubek, commemorating those lost in the 2017 Manchester Arena attack — a piece that grew out of an earlier, viral bee mural just around the corner in Stevenson Square.
Speaking of which: Stevenson Square is arguably the beating heart of this whole walk.
It’s the site of the Outhouse Project — Akse’s famous David Bowie portrait lived here for about 13 months after his death in 2016 before being painted over, and the walls have kept rotating ever since. Whatever’s up when you visit, expect it to be gone within a few months.
This is a spot worth a full slow lap — don’t just glance and move on.
Spear Street & Houldsworth Street
Liam Bononi, Cavell St
Cut down toward Spear Street and look for Dale Grimshaw’s tribal portrait near the Houldsworth Street junction — a striking, regal-toned piece dedicated to the West Papua independence movement, painted as part of Cities of Hope.
It’s one of the most colour-saturated pieces on the whole route, visible from some distance down the street. On Houldsworth Street itself, keep an eye out for a geometric worker bee mosaic — Manchester’s civic symbol turned into street art, a motif that recurs across the city since 2017.
Lever Street & Faraday Street
Mr Cenz, Church St
Just off Stevenson Square on Little Lever Street, find Akse’s Enigma — a portrait of Mancunian creative Ste Wing, painted for the 50 Windows of Creativity trail and rooted in the pair’s shared Vietnamese heritage.
On Faraday Street, look up for one of Mateus Bailon’s bird murals, all bright tropical colour against the brick, and keep an eye out for Tree of Tags, a more conceptual piece built from layered graffiti-style leaves.
Port Street & Newton Street
Dr Martens, ‘The Jadon Boot,’ Back Turner St
The final stretch.
On Port Street, find Nomad Clan’s Make Do and Mend, a nod to the area’s rag trade past, and duck into the nearby car park for Chekos’ portrait of David Lynch.
This street has also been home to Akse’s Ian Curtis mural — though street art being what it is, don’t be surprised if it’s already been replaced by the time you arrive…
That’s part of the charm.
On Newton Street, look for Faunagraphic’s blue tit mural, one of the longest-running pieces in the entire Northern Quarter, quietly holding its ground since 2011!
Artists to Look Out For
Akse P19
The Portrait Master
Akse P19, ‘Enigma,’ Little Lever St
If there’s one name you’ll see more than any other on this walk, it’s Akse.
French-Vietnamese, based in Manchester since the late ’90s, and responsible for a run of hyper-realistic portraits across the Northern Quarter — David Bowie, Prince, Tony Wilson, Ste Wing. His work is instantly recognisable once you’ve clocked the style: photorealistic, warm-toned, usually a face you know looking straight back at you (or in this case at a dalgona biscuit!)
Faunagraphic
The Nature Specialist
Faunagraphic, Blue Tit, Newton St
Also known as Sarah Yates, Faunagraphic works almost exclusively in nature imagery — birds especially.
Her blue tit on Newton Street has survived since 2011, making it one of the oldest continuously standing murals in the area, which says something about how well the work has held up against a decade of Manchester weather.
Jim Vision
The Sci-Fi Storyteller
Easily my favourite artist here.
Jim Vision’s two-part Tyger on Thomas Street is one of the most technically ambitious pieces on the route — dense, layered, and originally painted over an earlier work he’d done to promote a Netflix nature series. His murals lean toward the dramatic and narrative, more scene than portrait.
Nomad Clan
The Storytellers of Manchester
Nomad Clan is a duo — Joy Gilleard and Hayley Garner — working under a shared name, and their pieces tend to carry a melancholic undertone even when the imagery is bold. Make Do and Mend on Port Street ties directly into the neighbourhood’s own history as Manchester’s old rag trade district.
Mateus Bailon
The Tropical Escape
Brazilian artist Mateus Bailon brings a completely different colour palette to the Northern Quarter — saturated, tropical, bird-heavy. His Faraday Street piece is a genuine visual break from the area’s grittier, more industrial-toned murals, and easy to spot from a distance because of it.
My Take
Hyuro, Blindfolded Child / Tankpetrol, Anthony Burgess, Brightwell Walk
The Northern Quarter rewards slow walking more than any checklist ever could. A handful of streets carry the real concentration of murals, but the best moments are still the in-between ones — the shutter tag you almost miss, the portrait three storeys up you’d never clock if you weren’t already looking up.
Go self-guided if you can. Half the fun is not knowing what’s waiting on the next wall.
Want the deeper history behind each piece instead? A guided walk works just as well.
And once the murals have had their moment, Manchester’s got plenty more worth seeing beyond the Northern Quarter.
Manchester is the perfect base for exploring northern England. If you’ve finished discovering the Northern Quarter, there are plenty of fantastic places within easy reach, from historic cities to beautiful countryside and coastal towns.
Find the best day trips from ManchesterFrequently Asked Questions
Ask Ever!
Street art never stays the same, so did you spot a mural I missed or discover a new favourite? Let me know in the comments below!
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