Eccles

Do

Football: : 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

Buy

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.

Eat

300px | thumb | Eccles Cakes are often known as fly pie

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.

Drink

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.

Sleep

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.

Stay safe

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.

Connect

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