Best Sports Bars in Manchester to Watch the Match

On Withy Grove, right next to the Printworks. BoxBar is purpose-built for watching sport and it shows. The main room has a wall-to-wall screen that makes everything else in Manchester look like watching on a phone. There are additional screens around the venue so you’re never craning your neck from a bad angle. The sound is loud enough that you feel the commentary in your chest. The food is burgers, wings, and loaded fries – nothing fancy, all of it fine for soaking up pints. Drinks are standard city-centre prices, around £5.50-6 for a pint. This is where you go for big events – Champions League knockouts, title deciders, boxing pay-per-views. They charge entry for major events sometimes, so check ahead. Book a booth if there’s a group of you; they go fast on derby weekends.

The Printworks complex on Corporation Street has multiple bars showing sport, and the advantage is variety. If one place is rammed you walk thirty seconds to another. The main options are Waxy O’Connors (huge venue, multiple floors, several screens), and various other bars across the complex that put screens up for big games. The atmosphere during a Manchester derby or an England game is as close to being in a stadium as you’ll get without a ticket. The downside is that it gets absolutely packed for the biggest fixtures – we’re talking queues to get in, queues to get a drink, limited seating. If that sounds like your idea of hell, come for the midweek games when it’s busy but manageable. If that sounds like exactly what you want, get there early on derby day and settle in.

At MediaCityUK in Salford Quays. The waterfront setting is the selling point – screens inside and out, with the outdoor area overlooking the docks making summer football feel like a different sport entirely. The setup is similar to BoxBar in the city centre: big screens, food and drink packages, booth bookings for groups. It’s a bit more spread out than the city-centre option, which means more space per person and less of that sardine feeling on busy nights. Getting there is straightforward on the tram – MediaCity stop is right outside. Around £6 a pint, food is standard sports bar fare. The outdoor screens during summer tournaments are genuinely brilliant – it’s the closest Manchester gets to watching football on holiday.

In the Printworks. This is the Bavarian-themed sports bar, and yes, the concept sounds ridiculous, but it works. Long wooden benches, steins of lager, and enormous screens. The atmosphere for big games is electric because the communal seating means strangers end up celebrating together, which is half the point of watching sport in a bar. They do beer-and-food deals that are decent value if you’re there for a long session. Pints of the German lagers are around £6-7, steins obviously more. The live oompah bands between games are exactly as daft as they sound. Go with a group, embrace the chaos, and don’t wear anything you’d be upset about getting beer on. Bierkeller during a Champions League semi-final is one of Manchester’s great nights out.

On Quay Street near Deansgate. Walkabout has been showing sport in Manchester since before most of these other places existed. It’s an Australian-themed chain and the decor has seen better days, but it does the basics well: lots of screens, long opening hours, and it shows everything – football, rugby, cricket, NFL, UFC. The drinks are cheap by city-centre standards, there are regular deals on pitchers and jugs, and the food is pub grub that does the job. It’s not glamorous. Nobody goes to Walkabout for the ambiance. But if you want to watch an early kick-off on a Saturday morning with a full English and a pint, or catch a UFC card that starts at 3am, Walkabout is the one that’s reliably open and reliably showing it.

On the Printworks. Tiger Tiger is primarily a nightclub, but their sports bar section is worth knowing about. Multiple screens, decent seating, and because it’s attached to a bigger venue, there’s room to spread out. The sports bar area has its own atmosphere separate from the club, which means you can watch the early game and then transition into a night out without changing venue. Drinks are club prices – expect £6-7 for a pint, more for cocktails. The crowd is younger on average than Walkabout or Bierkeller. Works well for a Saturday where you want football in the afternoon and dancing in the evening without having to walk anywhere between the two.

On Deansgate. A bar that puts football front and centre without being exclusively a sports venue. They’ve got a good number of screens, comfortable seating, and they actually turn the sound on for the big games rather than making you lip-read the commentary like some places do. The food is better than average for a sports bar – proper burgers and decent pizzas rather than reheated frozen stuff. Pints around £5.50-6. Footage hits a sweet spot: it’s got enough screens to feel like a sports bar but enough style that you wouldn’t be embarrassed to have a drink there on a night with no football. Date-compatible sports watching, if such a thing exists.

This matters more than people think. For a standard Premier League Saturday, you can walk into most of these places and find somewhere to stand. For a Manchester derby, a Champions League knockout round, or a title decider, you need to plan. BoxBar and Box on the Docks take booth bookings for big events – do it early, like as soon as the fixture is confirmed. Bierkeller runs ticketed events for the biggest nights. Walkabout is usually first come first served, so arriving an hour before kick-off is the minimum for a seat. The Printworks bars fill up fast when both United and City are playing on the same day.

United versus City is the fixture that turns every bar in Manchester into a sports bar. The atmosphere in any of the venues above during the derby is something everyone should experience at least once. A few things to know: wear your colours if you want to, most places are mixed crowds and the banter is generally good-natured. Get there early. Like, embarrassingly early. An hour before kick-off for the big screen venues is already late. And don’t be the person trying to switch the channel to something else at half-time – read the room.

Tuesday and Wednesday Champions League evenings have their own feel in Manchester. Both clubs have been regulars in the competition for years and the city treats European nights differently to domestic football. It’s more intense, more nervous. BoxBar and Bierkeller are the best venues for the occasion – the big screens and loud sound make those late-drama goals hit differently. When City scored the winner against Dortmund, the Printworks was louder than some actual stadiums. For away legs with late kick-offs, Walkabout is reliable for staying open to the final whistle. Wherever you go, Champions League nights in a Manchester sports bar are worth building an evening around.