Whether your loved one is an an unabashed, mandolin-plucking romantic or a jaded cynic who peevishly mumbles about a ‘pointless corporate invention’ every February, a variety of venues around Manchester host a selection of absorbing wild card events and activities that offer an alternative to the dim lighting, delayed starters and petal-strewn hotel bed linen this Valentine’s Day.
Here are some of the best alternative Valentine’s activities across Greater Manchester.
Arguably Manchester’s most sophisticated silver screen experience, the King Street Townhouse cinema room embodies the five-star hotel’s commitment to supreme luxury with plump, cosy individual seats, cocktail service and elevated movie snacks.
This year, the cinema hosts a Valentine’s romance programme spanning over eighty years of iconic on-screen courtship, from Pretty Woman and The Notebook to How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Check out the full schedule and book your tickets below.
For loved-up music enthusiasts and couples who communicate best in show tunes, this sweeping celebration of musical theatre romance offers a suitably grand way to spend Valentine’s night.
Performed at the Bridgewater Hall, From Broadway, With Love journeys through some of the stage’s most enduring love stories and show-stopping moments, from the yearning optimism of Oklahoma! and West Side Story to the theatrical passion of Wicked, Guys and Dolls and The Phantom of the Opera.
For those who prefer shared curiosity over candlelit clichés, How To Read A Book offers an intimate and thoughtful alternative Valentine’s outing at Manchester’s historic Portico Library.
This reflective exhibition explores language, memory and neurodiversity, inviting visitors to reconsider how books are read, held and remembered. Led by artist and writer Stephen Emerson, the project applies ideas borrowed from palmistry to the creases and lines of well-worn paperbacks, transforming familiar objects into tactile artworks.
Set within the hushed elegance of The Portico – recently granted permission for an ambitious £11m expansion – the exhibition rewards contemplation and conversation, making it an ideal stop for a low-key Valentine’s date centred on ideas, stories and shared interpretation.
Led by founder and owner Guillaume, Ma Lumiere’s intimate candle-making workshop invites couples to learn the basics of wax-wielding and the harmony of aromatics, choosing 2 fragrances from 20 oils and creating their own 200ml soy candles to take home (sent via Tracked 48 after curing overnight).
The workshop takes place on Thu 19 Feb, providing a perfect belated Valentine’s option for anyone with prior engagements.
If you fell in love through fitness or fancy airing some grievances à la Challengers, book a session at Courts Club in St. John’s and enjoy an hour of tennis between two people for just £15 in ‘Manchester’s ultimate hang-out spot’.
For just £45pp, Harvey Nichols offers an extravagant wine-tasting experience for lovers and friends alike, which includes a 90-minute session featuring five small plates – Crab, Lime & Chilli toast, Porcini Mushroom Arancini, Duck Spring Rolls with Soy Sauce, Beef Brisket Basket and Dark chocolate dessert – and five paired vintages, pre-selected by their resident experts.
For weary singletons or anyone seeking a Valentine’s Day theatre experience with an incisive meta twist, Situationships delivers a sharply observed antidote to the endlessly tiresome ballet of modern dating across two nights at 53 Two.
This Greater Manchester Fringe Award-nominated comedy play follows two women with wildly different approaches to dating as they meet for cocktails to dissect the men in their lives. One is a committed romantic, the other a serial dater, and as the drinks flow, so do the secrets, misjudgements and relationship disasters.
Returning due to popular demand, these performances include a brand new second act packed with fresh dating horror stories, ideal for anyone who enjoys their romance served with biting humour.
- Words:
- Wolf McFarlane
- Published on:
- Fri 7 Feb 2025
For a less conventional yet classically opulent Valentine’s experience, couples can book the romantic roundtrip of a lifetime with East Lancashire Railway on Fri 13 and Sat 14 Feb.
For £94.50 a head, or £340 for a table of four, passengers receive a welcome prosecco followed by a four-course silver-served meal, accompanied by live classical music, as the immaculately restored Pullman-style steam train rolls through the Irwell Valley on an achingly idyllic voyage which lasts until 9.45pm.