Manchester - Great for Sport, Entertainment and Shops

Manchester has always been an ambitious city, but over the years, crumbling finances and decaying infrastructure led to it becoming a run don and relatively unpleasant place. It wasn't the worst city in the North of England, but you wouldn't travel very far to spend the night there.

All this changed in the mid 1990s, when Manchester was awarded the contract to stage the 2002 commonwealth games -- one of the biggest sporting events in the world. A range of new sporting facilities were put into place, and huge amounts of investment in the city center were made in order to transform Manchester entirely.

One of the most notable changes that was made was the introduction of a vast new pedestrian area in the heart of the city and the construction of a large tram network. This started to encourage people back into the city from the surrounding areas, and led to a complete redevelopment of the chopping centers such as The Arndale, and caused many large companies including Selfridges to open stores in the city.

One of the legacies of the Commonwealth Games has been the quality of the sporting facilities that have been created in the city. The Manchester Velodrome is one of the best in the world, and has hosted world championship events twice since it opened. Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United now holds a crowd of more than 70,000, and is a great place to be during a major game -- if you can get hold of a ticket.

The MEN Arena holds more than 25,000 people, and is packed every night with some of the biggest names in music, the local ice hockey team or other large events.

Manchester has always been a city where music is very important, it produced any number of famous bands including Oasis and The Stone Roses, and it still has a lively local music scene that ranges from smaller groups that play in the many smaller venues through to much larger international bands who regularly arrive at the city's main arenas on their international tours.

Where Manchester really excels as a destination is in the quality of the nightlife it offers. Oxford Road is the main area for an evening out, although there are also places close to Piccadilly that are very laid back, while some of the surrounding towns such as Didsbury are a pleasant place to be on a Saturday afternoon.