The 8th Day Shop & Cafe

The 8th Day Cafe is a classic Oxford Road fixture: a vegetarian and vegan community co-operative with a fifty-year history. Famously the 8th Day is responsible for creating the charity Lifeline and has been involved in countless community and social events throughout the decades. Over the years, it’s moved around Manchester and changed purpose several times, but at its core, the 8th Day is all about quality food at affordable prices.     

The shop is teeming with vegetarian and vegan goodies of all kinds for your at-home culinary experiments. Among the dairy-free and meat-free products, you’ll find organic and fair-trade groceries, gluten-free products, vegan and locally made alcohol, local artisan produce, natural and organic skincare and nutritional and herbal supplements. The friendly and knowledgeable staff will be happy to help you find what you’re looking for, whether that’s in the food or supplement department.   

There’s also now a cafe serving meals directly. Here you’ll find everything from hot meals to takeaway sandwiches and coffee and a cake, but we strongly recommend the hearty selection of stews, soups, and dahls, which are made fresh and constantly changing as the chefs experiment with combos of vegetables, pulses and spices. These are usually accompanied by generous slabs of bread on the side. You can follow this with a delicious dessert, from the wide range on the menu. These meals are rightly famous in Manchester, and if you’re looking for a sustaining lunch or you’re on a health kick but still like indulging in food, this is the place to go. 

Even better, the prices are targeted at students on a budget, making it much cheaper than many high street options. And again, if you want to do your bit for fair trade and the environment, you can be sure that the food available at the 8th Day Cafe is ethically and sustainably sourced.