Manchester's Local Business Scene

Manchester's business character is still visibly shaped by its industrial past, even as the city's economy has moved well beyond it. Understanding that mix helps explain why the same city has such different neighbourhoods for very different kinds of business.

From "Cottonopolis" to a modern service economy

Manchester was the world's first industrialised city, built almost entirely around cotton spinning and weaving in the 19th century - the mills and warehouses of that era still define large parts of the city's architecture, even where the businesses inside them have changed completely. Today, Manchester has the second-largest urban economy in England outside London, built on a much broader base of finance, professional services, media and digital business.

Spinningfields and Deansgate: the professional services core

Manchester's financial and legal sector is concentrated around Spinningfields and Deansgate - a relatively compact, modern business district that grew rapidly from the late 1990s onwards, now home to a large share of the city's law firms, accountants and financial services businesses.

MediaCityUK: a genuinely different kind of hub

Just across the Manchester Ship Canal at Salford Quays, MediaCityUK - home to the BBC's northern operations and a large ITV presence - has pulled a real cluster of media, production and digital businesses into the wider Manchester area over the past decade and a half, distinct in character from the traditional city centre.

The Northern Quarter: independent and creative

By contrast, the Northern Quarter's converted Victorian warehouses house a dense concentration of independent, creative businesses - design studios, independent retailers, hospitality - a genuinely different business character from either the financial district or MediaCityUK, within a fifteen-minute walk of both.

Whatever part of that mix you're looking for, browse businesses listed in Manchester on Adsquare by category to find what's actually operating locally today.