The Lowry, Manchester

When I get a free day and want to get away from it all, i.e. have some time to myself and follow my nose, I like to hop on a train to Manchester, then get the Metrolink tram down to Harbour City. This is the nearest stop to The Lowry, only a short walk away, across a lovely part of the old Salford docklands.

Apart from the obvious Lowry galleries, there is an outlet shopping mall, two theatres, the Imperial War Museum and some lovely walks by the waterside. To say nothing of the intriguing architecture of the spectacularly renovated docks.

I happened to be involved in a small way in the building of the Lowry Theatres building, in as much as the company for which I worked at the time provided the scaffolding services for the construction and, maybe as a fore-runner to what I do now, sent me to the site to take photos of the scaffolds for their publicity. If only we knew at the time what some things are pointing towards. (Sorry, that's a bit deep, isn't it...).

Anyway, coming back to the whole point of this blog, the cafe in the Lowry (at the foot of the escalators to the galleries) happens to serve one of my favourite cappucinos in Manchester. In fact, were there to be a leader board for the best cappuccino in Manchester, this would be up there with the best of them.

On the rare days when I venture away from the title drink of this blog, they also do one of the best moccha's too.

For a couple of extra photos taken at the Lowry, please have a look at my other blog entry here.

Old McDonalds

Needed a quick coffee (and wi-fi) today so called at old faithful McDonalds for cappuccino, with a salad bowl and a crispy apple pie (they were on buy-one-get-one-free today, how to make my day!).

Whatever you might think of McDonalds, they do a semi-decent cappuccino at a very reasonable price.

Sat in the car to eat/drink so I could start downloading the morning's photos onto my laptop.

Definitely not the worst cappuccino in the world (maybe we could run a feature on that).

My local coffee shop - Coffee Cali in Rochdale

You can't beat a local coffee shop.
Whenever I go down into town there is very chance I might end up in Coffee Cali, on Yorkshire Street.
The ambience is great, with comfy seating, table/chairs, and high tables with stools in the window - great for people watching!
The cappuccino is well presented (see photos), albeit a little milky for my liking, and the service is friendly and polite They also serve a nice selection of paninis, sandwiches and cakes.
Well worth a visit if you're out this way.

Here's some cappuccino photos... enjoy!

Welcome to my coffee blog

As a fan of the cappuccino, and having a reputation for being a serial coffee drinker, I have at last succombed to the temptation to keep a record of where I partake of my favourite drink, and share my experiences with whoever wants to drop in and have a look.

I'd like to say drop in and have a coffee, but the best we can do in this situation is to drop in and talk about coffee, so please feel free to comment on posts and share your experiences.

I have often thought to find where the best coffee is to be found in Manchester, but really need to widen the coverage rather than limit it to one city. (I have my opinion on the best in Manchester, and may well divulge that in a later post. It may surprise you!)

For now, I'll leave you with one of the sights that inspired this blog, spied one day while walking along Tib Street. If only it were full, it would possibly be the largest Cappuccino ever made. Who knows?