YES

Few music venues can confidently claim to have something for everyone – YES, however, has always done things differently. Since its opening in 2018, it’s been hard to imagine the city without YES. The brainchild of acclaimed Manchester independent promoters Now Wave, the venue is famed for catering to a whole variety of styles across its four floors without an ounce of compromise on its personality.

Though Manchester’s weather might occasionally have different plans, YES’ rooftop bar might just be the city’s finest vantage point to kick back with a cocktail and look out over the post-industrial city skyline. On long summer evenings, expect DJs on the roof. Just downstairs, YES’ Pink Room is the venue’s main live music space. At 250 capacity, the Pink Room is home to established artists on the rise – and Now Wave are exceptionally plugged into the most exciting emerging talent. In the daytime, the Pink Room hosts occasional film screenings and independent shopping fairs.

The main bar – on the ground floor as you enter from Charles Street – remains a great meeting place for a chat and a catch-up, be it over a coffee or the venue’s impressive craft beer roster. By night, on weekdays and at weekends there are DJs playing anything from dance and soul to house and world funk in the main bar, which can quickly transition into an impromptu dancefloor. And finally, YES’ 60 capacity basement venue space remains your strongest chance of seeing next year’s hottest new act.

Its location is a huge part of the venue’s success. YES is just a short walk from the central St Peter’s Square MetroLink stop, an even shorter walk from Canal Street and located just off Oxford Road, meaning that the venue is popular with – though not at all exclusively – the city’s student population.

A venue where it’s possible to pop in for a lunchtime coffee and stumble out twelve hours later having seen a film, a band, some DJs and danced at a club night until closing time. Very Manchester.