Teatime in Manchester, City of Cotton

Sugar Junction

60 Tib Street, The Northern Quarter, Manchester M4 1LG

+44 161 839 1444 • sugarjunction.co.uk

What is today known as Manchester’s Northern Quarter was the site of the city’s first cotton mill, opened in 1783, and by the 1840s, had become the epicentre of the textile industry, where wealthy merchants lived cheek by jowl with the poor who depended on the mills for their livelihood. The regeneration of the district today has given it an appealing bohemian charm and has encouraged the opening of independent fashion stores, music shops, bars, quirky restaurants, artists’ studios, and vintage clothing boutiques located in reclaimed warehouses and shops. Sugar Junction, a much-loved neighbourhood tearoom, is located in what was once one of Tib Street’s famous pet shops, and the welcoming interior has a vintage style that combines the rough simplicity of bare brick walls, assorted wooden chairs and tables (some converted from classic sewing machine bases), piles of well-thumbed hard-back books, an old delivery bicycle hung on the back wall, and a whimsical mix of 1930s and ’40s pictures and decorative objects on walls and shelves. It is comfortable, relaxed, companionable, and serves excellent food, alcoholic drinks, and 16 types of quality tea. The tiered Afternoon Tea stand includes sandwiches with various fillings that change daily, a fruit scone with dollops of jam and clotted cream, and amazing pastries and slices of home-baked cake chosen from the selection of the day (such treats as raspberry and white chocolate gâteau, lemon and blueberry cakes, Guinness cake, Victoria sponge, and berry and passion- fruit gâteau). Table wares are mix-and-match vintage, and teas include all the classics plus blends such as Tea at Tiffany’s (bergamot-infused black tea with lemon zest and rose petals), Northern Quarter (black tea blended with caramel and hops), and Cherries Are a Girl’s Best Friend (Japanese sencha with rose petals, cocoa shells, and cherry flavour). Everything here is blended perfectly to create a really sociable and cheery tearoom.