Ah yes, another bank holiday is on the horizon, and with the weather set to (hopefully) hot up, this late May bank holiday could not be coming at a better time. With festivals, freebies and community activities galore, there’s plenty to look forward to, whether you’re looking for something to entertain the kids or an occasion to start socialising (or drinking) at 11am…
We’ve rounded up the best ways to spend this late May bank holiday weekend in Manchester, whatever your preference.
Check into The Grand Albert Hotel at Albert’s Schloss
This Bank Holiday weekend, Albert’s Schloss Manchester has transformed into The Grand Albert Hotel in partnership with Grey Goose, bringing a touch of hotel glamour to its usual late-night energy with the final Bank Holiday weekend set to be one of the liveliest yet.
Guests can expect a buzzing ‘lobby’ atmosphere, with entertainment turned up across the weekend, alongside a themed cocktail menu featuring Grey Goose serves including a Lemon Meringue Pie Martini with torched marshmallow, a Strawberry Margarita Spritz, and a Candy Floss Daiquiri.
Across the Bank Holiday Friday and Saturday nights, guests can also try their luck with ‘Push for Concierge’, a button hidden in the booths that summons a resident chauffeur bearing a room key and the chance to win a series of prizes. One lucky pair will even win a trip to Paris to experience the grandeur first-hand. Oui, really.
Be inspired by the Chelsea Flower Show with a visit to RHS Garden Bridgewater
With the iconic RHS Chelsea Flower Show having kicked off down south, you may be feeling inspired to have a go yourself, or at least be amongst the most beautiful blooms you can find – and that’s where our very own RHS Garden comes in, at Bridgewater in Salford.
With several waterfalls, a ‘paradise garden’ and even the UK’s largest walled garden, RHS Garden Bridgewater offers a 154-acre urban oasis just a stone’s throw from the city. It features a ‘cutting-edge’ design by RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winners, featuring more than a quarter of a million plants, and guests can also explore the Orchard Garden, as well as a Chinese Streamside Garden, which is actually the first authentic Chinese garden in the UK.
Step back in time to Ancient Egypt at Horizon of Khufu
Forget time machines and time-warping black holes. At The Horizon of Khufu experience, the magic of cutting-edge virtual reality technology makes it possible to step back in time, witness ancient ceremonies, and explore forbidden realms where the public can no longer venture.
Now open at Manchester’s Transmission House, this immersive adventure is a collaboration with Egyptologists from Harvard University who have ensured an authentic and educational exploration of Ancient Egypt. You simply slip on a headset and will find yourself plunged into a world of kings, gods and golden treasures.
Deansgate Mews Festival returns to Great Northern Warehouse with this year’s edition placing an even greater spotlight on Manchester’s grassroots music scene and the independent artists shaping the city’s cultural identity. Returning for its sixth year, the free festival will once again transform the pedestrianised Deansgate Mews into an open-air celebration of live music, creativity and community in the heart of Manchester city centre.
Building on the momentum of the city’s recent BBC Radio 6 Music Festival, Mews Fest continues Manchester’s wider celebration of independent venues, emerging talent and DIY music culture, creating a platform for artists developing their audiences outside the mainstream circuit.
Hosted by three different venues and music spaces, Lion’s Den, Low Four Studios and The Mews Bar, the festival’s multi-stage programme will showcase a packed line-up of rising bands, breakthrough artists, solo performers and DJs from across Manchester and beyond.
‘Let’s Grow at The Wonderway Tree’ at Merseyway Shopping Centre
Families are invited to dig into a world of imagination this May Bank Holiday Monday as Merseyway Shopping Centre Stockport hosts Let’s Grow at The Wonderway Tree. Taking place on Monday 25th May 2026, this free-to-attend family experience will transform Merseyway into a magical pop-up allotment, packed with playful gardening-inspired fun, immersive storytelling and hands-on experiences for children of all ages.
The event marks the official launch of The Wonderway Tree – a magical tree installation at Merseyway designed to host a summer-long programme of creative, educational and family-friendly experiences. Positioned in the centre mall outside Specsavers, The Wonderway Tree has been created as an imaginative community space where children and families can come together to learn, play and explore.
The Manchester Flower Festival returns to Manchester city centre from 23–25 May 2026 with free, unticketed floral installations, workshops and outdoor dining across the city. This year’s ‘Green Manchester‘ theme celebrates parks and future nature projects with a trail of flowers in Exchange Square, New Cathedral Street, St Ann’s Square, King Street and Manchester Arndale.
Head down to the Oast House for a House Party
As has become tradition, Manchester’s Oast House will be hotting back up for its new-look bank holiday festival House Party – with a bit of a twist. To celebrate the launch of its new look beer garden, new menu and new music line-up, the iconic Spinningfields bar is hosting its first ever Bank Holiday House Party – with live music all weekend, from midday ‘til late, featuring special guest DJ sets from Mike Joyce of The Smiths and Woody from Bastille!
What’s more, the Oast House will also be giving away 450 pints of Staropramen, fresh from the tank, alongside merch giveaways. This legendary, sprawling terrace will be bringing the heat all weekend, offering a cool off with their limited edition, ice-cold slushie, ‘Watermelon Cosmo Ice Blast-ille’ – a watermelon Cosmo slushie, Oast House style. What’s more, no tickets are needed.
Make your bank holiday sunny at Maricarmen
Spanish tapas bar, Maricarmen, with locations in Northern Quarter and Ancoats, has announced a new lunch deal, which guarantees you will feel like you’re in Spain this bank holiday weekend. At both sites, enjoy 2x tapas dishes and a soft drink for £7 or upgrade to a pint of beer or glass of sangria for £9.50.
Available Monday to Friday (2-4pm) you can enjoy the likes of padron peppers, patatas bravas, chicken wings, red wine meatballs, croquetas of the day, tortilla de pastas, pinxto and so much more.
If you can’t make it for lunch, Maricarmen Aperitivo is the one for you! Purchase any alcoholic drink and receive a FREE tapas plate with every drink you order. Two drinks = two free tapas! Five drinks = five free tapas. You get the drill! Available Monday to Friday (4-6pm) at both locations.
Kids eat free at Kargo MKT
For kids with every kind of taste bud, from picky pickers to fearless food explorers, this May half term (including the late May bank holiday), little foodies can feast for free at Kargo MKT. Whether they’re into tacos, crispy chicken, juicy burgers or trying something totally new, there’s something to make every tiny tummy happy!
Here’s what each of the food partners are offering this half-term:
- Baity: Hummus with cucumber sticks & flatbread, or chicken bites & chips
- Egg & Co: Pancakes & scrambles or eggs & tots
- Thatziki: Kids’ chicken box or halloumi box
- Sunrise Caribbean: Chicken bites and chips
- Bab Korean Food: Korean fried chicken with rice, or veggie bibimbap
- What’s Your Beef: Kids’ cheeseburger or chicken chunks with fries & dip
- Leopard Pie: Kids’ Margherita, pepperoni, or ham & cheese pizza
- Super Fry Guys: Sausage & chips, cod bites & chips, or popcorn chicken & chips
- Fuego: Three mini tacos
- House of Habesha: Chicken cheese toastie and fries
- Locale Coffee: Babychino
- +84: Mini bánh mì
- Boba Cha: Free kids’ drink with £10 spend
- Drip & Drizzle: Mini waffle or cookie dough
- MaBa: Kids’ curry & rice
- Inamo Sukoshi: Chicken karaage & fries, or hosomaki & edamame
- BokBok: Chicken nuggets & chips
Kids aged 10 and under can enjoy a free meal from selected dishes across participating food partners when an adult meal is purchased.
Available during Salford school holidays, Mon-Fri, 12PM-5PM, for kids aged 10 & under.
Track down the Wagon Train in Salford
The Wagon Train, a pop-up festival inspired by local communities, is set to visit several areas of Salford over the late May bank holiday and beyond, as part of the Salford100 celebrations. Walk the Plank’s pop-up festival will celebrate the heart and soul of Salford across several of its green spaces.
With free, family-friendly entertainment throughout the month — and more planned for the summer — visitors can expect music, poetry, play space, karaoke, talent competitions and more, in a programme co-created with Salford’s local community groups.
The Wagon Train bank holiday schedule:
- Saturday 23 May, 5pm–9pm — Seedley Pavilion, Buile Hill Park
- Sunday 24 May, 2pm–6pm — Albert Park, Broughton
- Bank Holiday Monday 25 May, 1pm–5pm — Ordsall Park, Ordsall
Kids eat free at Zizzi
Kids eat free over the May half-term holidays – including the late May Bank Holiday – at all Zizzi restaurants across England and Wales. Kids can eat three courses from Zizzi’s Bambini menu for free when an adult main meal is purchased. The Kids Eat Free offer is available to Zillionaires, members of Zizzi’s loyalty club, which is free to join, and accessible via the Zizzi Zillionaires’ Club app.
For their starter, kids can enjoy carrot and cucumber sticks with either dough crusts or pasta crisps. Main course options include a Margherita pizza with up to two toppings, or pasta with sauce including Pomodoro, Bolognese, Cheese Sauce and Lentil Ragu.
Zizzi’s Candy Floss Sundae is included in the Kids Eat Free offer and features vanilla gelato, two mini cones, strawberry coulis to pour over, plus freshly spun candy floss, made in Zizzi’s in-house machine. Other dessert options include vanilla or chocolate gelato, a Chilly Billy Ice Lolly or a Kids Fruit Pot.
The offer is available Sunday to Friday, from Sunday 24th May to Sunday 31st May, excluding Saturday 30th May.
Catch comedy legend Roy Walker at The Garden Bar, Chorlton
Comedy favourite and television legend Roy Walker is set to headline the next comedy night at The Garden Bar in Chorlton this bank holiday, Monday 25th May 2026.
Best known as the iconic host of Catchphrase and as one of the stars of The Comedians, Roy Walker will top the bill at the popular bi-monthly comedy night alongside acclaimed comedian Hayley Ellis, with Manchester comic Tony Vino hosting the evening.
Doors open at 7pm, with the comedy starting at 8pm.
Soak up the history of the Whit Walks
The much-loved Manchester and Salford Ecumenical Whit Walks will once again fill the streets of Manchester on bank holiday Monday, 25 May 2026, as churches from across the region come together for a joyful public procession and act of worship.
This long-standing tradition will see hundreds of people of all ages take part, as congregations walk together through the city centre with colourful banners, music, and shared celebration, culminating in an open-air service in St Peter’s Square.
The service will be led by TV personality and Anglican priest Revd Cannon Kate Bottley, and the masses are welcome to watch the procession and join in with the service.
Get that Glasto feeling at Kampus Fest
Kampus Fest is back for its third year, bringing those Glasto vibes to Manchester even in its fallow year. Expect immense food and drink from the likes of Nell’s and Madre, live music and impeccable vibes. What’s more, the weather is set to make Kampus the best it can be, so you can sit out next to the canal and watch the day go by.
What to expect:
Friday 22 May
- Bank holiday weekend warm up with DJs in the garden
Saturday 23 May
- Iconic performances and legendary sets from the Glasto archive from the Untold Orchestra (6-8pm)
- Live garden DJ sets
- £7.77 margs all day at Nell’s
Sunday 24 May
- BBQ & free salsa classes at Madre
- How We Met festival: feel good vibes in the garden fusing music, art & immersive installations
- After party at Red Light
All weekend long
- Pop-up markets & kids crafting from Pop Up Market Co
- Outdoor wine bar by The Beeswing
- Food stall from Bondi Bowls
Grab free tickets here.
Celebrate Manchester City as the men’s and women’s teams throw a victory party
With Manchester City Women having conquered the Women’s Super League, and Manchester City Men winning 1-0 over Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Saturday, English football is looking pretty sky blue, and all that winning deserves one big celebration.
To mark the achievements of Manchester City men’s, women’s and academy teams during the 25/26 season, the club has confirmed that an open top bus parade will take place on Monday 25 May followed by ‘The After Party’, a special celebration event at Co-op Live – and everyone’s invited.
Dive into Banksy’s mysterious and provocative universe with The Mystery of Banksy – A Genius Mind
Featuring around 200 recreated works—from bold graffiti and striking photographs to clever sculptures, video installations, and vibrant prints—this exhibition offers a rare look into the creativity of the world’s most enigmatic street artist.
A dynamic video highlights key moments of his extraordinary career, all presented in an unofficial tribute true to his rebellious spirit. With over 3.5 million visitors worldwide, this acclaimed showcase is a must-see journey into one of contemporary art’s most intriguing minds.
Test the new Forest Tubing experience at Zip World Manchester
Zip World Manchester is launching Forest Tubing at Heaton Park on Friday 22 May, featuring two outdoor tubing slides of 252 ft and 262 ft. With hour-long sessions and unlimited rides, it’s the perfect bank holiday activity for children aged four and above, and the adjacent high ropes course keeps the adventure going all day long.