Salford

Salford was a market and manufacturing town in Lancashire, with the smaller town of Manchester to its east. Both grew rapidly with the 18th / 19th century textile trade, with Manchester outgrowing Salford, and together they became a major seaport 40 miles inland through the digging of the Manchester Ship Canal. But in the 20th century the UK textile industry collapsed, and the port became derelict as the canal was too small for container ships.

In 1974 Salford was transferred from Lancashire to join the new entity of Greater Manchester, and its city boundaries were extended out as far as semi-rural Worsley and Walkden. In 1986 a bold regeneration scheme was launched in the docklands, turning these into a lively modern destination with striking architecture and major attractions. The Quays span the two cities and are therefore detailed separately, with only brief references here. They're two miles west of central Salford, and the problem is that the centre hasn't enjoyed the same investment and political attention, and has had to make do with trickle-down wealth from The Quays. The main reason you'd base yourself here rather than on The Quays is for access to the Victoria-Deansgate strip of downtown Manchester.

Since 2020, many Hongkongers fleeing the National Security Law imposed by China have settled in Salford, which has led to it being nicknamed "Little Hong Kong".

• Visit Salford tourist information.

Walk is generally the best option, though it's a couple of miles between central Salford and the Quays. Bus services have been cut back in favour of the tram, so areas that aren't on a tram route are cut adrift.

• See 🌍 Salford Quays for Lowry Art Gallery and Theatres, Media City, and Imperial War Museum North.
• 🌍 Salford Cathedral, 250 Chapel St M3 5LE. Until 1829 the Roman Catholics in England were forbidden to build churches, and faced many other restrictions, so the city's large Irish population was ill-served. The RC Cathedral of St John the Evangelist was completed in 1848 in neo-Gothic but not consecrated until the builders were finally paid in 1890. It's not "oriented"ː "west" where you enter is actually south. It's a light, airy space under a soaring groined vault ceiling. (updated Jan 2020)
• 🌍 Salford Museum & Art Gallery, Crescent M5 4WU (200 yards east of Salford Crescent railway station), ☏ +44 161 778 0800. M closed, Tu-F 9ː30AM-4PM, Sa Su 11:30AM-4PM. Rotating exhibitions, permanent collection includes a mock-up Victorian street. Pay & display car parking. Free. (updated Nov 2022)
• 🌍 Working Class Movement Library, 50 The Crescent M5 4WX (100 yards south of Crescent railway station). Tu-F 10AM-5PM. In a mock-Tudorbethan building that used to be a nurses' home, this archive and resource documents the seldom-told lives of the cities' working classes, including the Suffragette movement which had its northern powerbase here. Free. (updated Jan 2020)
• 🌍 Ordsall Hall, 322 Ordsall Lane M5 3AN, ☏ +44 161 872 0251. M-Th 10AM-4PM, Su 1-4PM. Timber-framed 16th-century mansion with 17th-century brick wings added, and much altered in the 18th century. There's a hoaky legend that Guy Fawkes planned the gunpowder plot here then escaped through a hidden tunnel. (updated Jan 2020)
• 🌍 Barton Swing Aqueduct in Eccles is an engineering oddity. A conventional aqueduct carried the Bridgewater Canal across the River Irwell from 1761. Then in the 1890s the river became the Manchester Ship Canal, and the aqueduct was too low for shipping to pass. A lock system would have impeded Bridgewater Canal traffic and wasted water so the solution was this aqueduct that could be swung aside, pivoting on an island. The mechanism still operates, although sizable shipping rarely uses the Ship Canal nowadays so it's normally parked "open" to Bridgewater Canal boats.
• Worsley is a pleasant village 5 miles west of Salford. It was the seat of the Dukes of Bridgewater, whose third of that ilk built the Bridgewater Canal, opened in 1761 to huge commercial success. At Worsley Delph, by jcn 13 of M60, he dispensed with the tedious process of hauling coal up the shaft to load onto canal barges, and tunneled his canal right into the mines. It's a good spot for a pub lunch, though the canal waters are sometimes a shocking tangerine from the iron oxide in the old mine workings.
• 🌍 RHS Bridgewater Garden, Leigh Rd, Worsley M28 2LJ, ☏ +44 161 503 6100. Daily 10AM-6PM. Extensive garden opened in 2021 within the grounds of the former Worsley New Hall. Discounts for car free visitors. Adult £12.65, child £6.35, RHS & U5 free. (updated Jul 2021)
• 🌍 Lancashire Mining Museum, Higher Green Lane, Astley M29 7JB, ☏ +44 1942 895841. Th Sa Su 1:30-5PM. This colliery was a latecomer, extracting the coal beneath Chat Moss from 1912 to 1970. It became a museum, with its impressive tall headgear and winding engine, and a collection of colliery locomotives. (updated Jul 2021)

• Football: 🌍 Salford City FC, Moor Lane M7 3PZ, ☏ +44 161 792 6287. "The Ammies" play soccer in League Two, the game's fourth tier. Their Moor Lane stadium (capacity 5100, and sponsored as "Peninsula Stadium") is two miles north of the centre, take the bus up Bury New Road. But if you came here to make a point of not watching Man United you're in the wrong place, as the club is owned by United's renowned "Class of 92" players. (updated Jan 2020)

🌍 Manchester United: see Salford Quays for details of Salford's lesser-known club, just south across the river in Old Trafford.

• Rugby - both versions - is played at 🌍 Salford City Stadium (AJ Bell Stadium), Eccles M30 7EY, ☏ +44 161 786 1570. This 20,000 capacity stadium is at junction 11 of M60, four miles west of the centre. Salford Red Devils play rugby league (13-a-side) in Super League, the top tier, and the women's team also play here in their top tier. The RL playing season is Feb-Sept. Sale Sharks play rugby union (15-a-side) in the Premiership, England's top tier, with a season Sept-April. (updated Sep 2023)

• Salford retail park is on Regent Road just west of Campanile Hotel, with a big Sainsbury's.
• Central convenience stores are Tesco Express next to the station, and Sainsbury's Local on Chapel St by the bridge.
• Loads of retail including another Tesco Express on Salford Quays.

• The places near the station are just takeaways with a few bucket seats. Keep going past the first one you see, Caribbean Flavas, which gets rotten reviews. Further east on Blackfriars, Eastzest is a decent Indian restaurant open daily 5-11:30PM.
• Good restaurants at The Campanile and The Lowry Hotel, listed below.
• Lots of budget eateries on Salford Quays, Media City, and just across the bridge in Old Trafford.
• Escape the city to Worsley: George's Dining Room and Tung Fong are on the canal bank, and Worsley Old Hall and Grill in the Park are by the golf club.
• Eccles is mostly just residential, but its western corner of Monton is green and has The Blue Bell, La Turka Bistro, Enoteca Wine Bar, The Park, and Crompton's at the Waterside.
• Eccles Cakes originate from that village, though (like "Cheddar cheese") it's not a protected designation of origin so they can be made anywhere. It's a small cake of flaky pastry stuffed with currants, often dubbed "fly pie". Nice with afternoon tea on a grey day.

• Around Salford Central station find The New Oxford, King's Arms, Menagerie Restaurant & Bar, Seven Bro7hers Beerhouse, Le Cassis Wine Bar, and The Old Pint Pot.
• There's a whole slew of pubs on Salford Quays and Media City. There's nothing further west till you get away out to Eccles and Worsley, see "Eat".
• Friedrich Engels grew up in Wuppertal, Germany but in 1842 was sent to work in Salford in his father's thread mill, to cure him of his damnfool revolutionary notions. He carefully documented the squalid city, published as The Condition of the Working Class in England, and corresponded voluminously with Karl Marx. He later showed Marx around the city; they drank, among other places, at "The Crescent" on the street of that name in Salford. The class struggle engendered by capitalism, they'd earnestly agree after a pint or three, was bound to lead to the self-destruction of that iniquitous system... and sure enough the pub closed down in 2017.

Riverside hotels can book up early, as they're so close to big events in Manchester. Conversely, you might pick accommodation around Manchester Victoria and Deansgate if where you're aiming for is Salford.

• 🌍 Campanile, 55 Ordsall Lane, Regent Rd, Salford M5 4RS (on riverside), ☏ +44 161 833 1845. Budget hotel, generally value for money but ask to see the room first: some are in good condition, others are dingy. Great location, quarter-mile walk to Castlefield, downside is street noise. B&B double £55. (updated Jan 2020)
• 🌍 Stay Inn, 55 Blackfriars Rd, Salford M3 7DB (junction with Trinity Way), ☏ +44 161 907 2277. Budget hotel, free parking. B&B double £70. (updated Jan 2020)
• 🌍 Manchester Central Travelodge, Blackfriars St, Salford M3 5AL (not to be confused with Manchester Central Arena Travelodge just north of Victoria), ☏ +44 871 984 6159 (premium rate). Great quality for what you're paying: room comfort and cleanliness, service, food and location all score well. B&B double £55. (updated Jan 2020)
• 🌍 Premier Inn, North Tower, Victoria Bridge St, Salford M3 5AS, ☏ +44 333 321 1309. Good value budget hotel. Breakfast £10 pp. Double (room only) £70. (updated Jan 2020)
• 🌍 Novotel Manchester West, Worsley Brow, Worsley M28 2YA (at jcn 13 of M60), ☏ +44 161 729 0029. Decent mid-range hotel, part of Accor chain, rooms and decor are kinda tired but good location for motorists. John Gilbert pub & grill is next door. B&B double £100. (updated Jan 2020)
• Lowry Hotel, 50 Dearmans Place, Salford M3 5LH (200 yards east of Salford Central railway station), ☏ +44 161 827 4000. Slick business hotel in a great location, but £18 pp for breakfast? Don't abbreviate the name to just "The Lowry", as that refers to the Lowry Gallery two miles away. Double (room only) £200. (updated Jan 2020)

Salford was always a rough industrial town and became worse in the "noughties" with organised crime and drug-fuelled violence. It's since been heavily policed, and security concerns elsewhere in the world have paradoxically made it safer, with CCTV and stewarding: public disorderly behaviour is now curbed more promptly. Show usual caution around late-night drunks and where you park the car.

As of June 2021, Salford has 4G from O2, and 5G from EE, Three and Vodafone.

• If the delights of big-city Salford should cloy, cross the River Irwell into its eastern arrondissement, which is called Manchester.
• Altrincham a few miles south has Dunham Massey Hall, and to its south is Tatton Park.
• Chester retains its ancient city walls and many historic buildings.