From Netflix to Chanel, Manchester’s mix of culture, creativity and logistics is making it the UK’s new event powerhouse, says Ruth Halliday, senior event sales manager at Factory International, the organisation behind Aviva Studios.

Manchester is having its moment. After nearly 50 years in London, the BRIT Awards moved north. The MOBO Awards have followed. The English National Opera is establishing a base in the city, and industry show CHS is relocating here too.

Manchester is no longer London’s “alternative” — it’s being chosen on its own merit.

I’ve built my career in Manchester. For more than a decade, I’ve worked across hotels, unique venues, Manchester Central, and alongside the city through Marketing Manchester and the Manchester Convention Bureau.

Now, based in a venue at the heart of its cultural growth, I’ve had a front-row seat to the city’s transformation. I’ve watched festivals, conferences, and exhibitions grow, sometimes taking over multiple venues.

More and more top brand and event agencies are choosing the North as their base, drawn by the talent, the energy, and the opportunity to build something here. What once felt like a satellite market now feels like home to a growing wave of creative agencies who see the region not just as a place to deliver events, but as the place to build them. In the last few years, you can really feel the step up.

Global Brands, Local Context

Driving that momentum is the kind of brands coming here — and the way they’re choosing to show up. Netflix, adidas, MTV, Amazon Music, Selfridges, Paramount, and other global names have staged major moments here.

Chanel chose Manchester to showcase a collection that leaned into its industrial, cotton-worker heritage — tweed, texture, history. Context matters.

The New Epicentre

With remote working making location less important, Manchester isn’t just a regional option anymore — it’s an accessible choice for delegates across the UK and beyond. As Scotland and Ireland rise as international business events destinations, the centre of gravity for UK events is shifting. The story is no longer London-centric. In many ways, Manchester is starting to feel like the centre — if not the capital — of that conversation.

The city used to be compared to London constantly, but that’s the wrong framing. London is amazing, but the question shouldn’t be “How are we like London?” It should be “What does Manchester bring in its own right?”

It brings logistics, collaboration, culture, creativity, and experiential energy — but most of all, it brings the people of Manchester. That’s where you’ll find openness, pride and willingness to get behind an event to give the city its real character.

Campus-style experiences

Organisers can craft a campus-style experience here too. Delegates can walk between hotels and venues, grab a coffee, and feel like they’re in a neighbourhood, not shuttled across a city.

You can also take over multiple venues and make the city part of the event — hard to do in bigger, spread-out cities.

And it’s only getting more connected. Manchester Airport is undergoing significant connectivity upgrades in 2026, building on its strength as a gateway serving more than 200 destinations via 50-plus airlines.  With routes across mainland Europe and long-haul connections to the Middle East and beyond, Manchester feels increasingly plugged into the global events map — not just nationally, but internationally.

There’s also genuine city-wide willingness to welcome events. Hotels, venues, restaurants, universities — everyone works together. When something lands here, the city gets behind it.

Culture at the Core

People often associate Manchester’s roots with music, football and Coronation Street — but the city’s cultural and creative identity goes far beyond that. It’s a hub for fashion, food, street culture, and artistic experimentation.

Manchester is becoming a real force in tech, too. It’s often cited as the UK’s leading city for startups outside London, with more than 1,600 startups and scaleups employing over 60,000 people. Much of that growth is coming from areas like AI, cyber security and health tech, with the city’s AI firms alone valued at around $4.2bn. This is driven through initiatives with the Manchester Technology Centre, and the Greater Manchester Institute of Technology, which partners with the BBC to develop local talent.

The region also boasts science parks, animation studios, and vocal creative communities. From the Northern Quarter’s indie scene to cutting-edge new creative areas, the city feels alive. And that constant cultural movement feeds into events.

Making Waves on the Global Stage

High-profile events – such as Manchester International Festival and Marina Abramović's monumental performance Balkan Erotic Epic, which premiered at Aviva Studios and is now touring the world — have helped shift perceptions. They’ve shown the real economic impact of culture and that work developed here can attract international audiences. On the business events side, brands and organisations including adidas, MAD//North, Active England and many other global names are choosing Manchester too.

Experience The Real Manchester

Let your audience experience the real Manchester – that’s my advice to corporate event organisers and brand marketers. Build in a walking tour, a live jazz act, or a nod to the city’s music heritage. Work with local creatives, independent suppliers, and community groups for deeper, meaningful engagement. Cultural and community-led touches shift conversations, spark engagement, and make events feel authentic.

Creative Credibility

Organisers are challenging long-running formats, too. Companies revisiting events they’ve delivered for 15 years are asking how it could work somewhere new. Manchester gives them space to experiment — outdoor elements, wellbeing moments, live performance, unconventional lighting, or playful staging.

And I quite like the idea that events come here and show us how they see the city. They find their own Manchester. We don’t need everything to look the same — we like that different organisers interpret the city in their own way and bring something new to it.

You can’t beat the energy a creative twist brings. Even a mindfulness moment or spark of creativity can shift conversations for the rest of the day. I’ve seen organisers step away from traditional formats, and in Manchester, it feels natural — the city’s creative vibe gives permission to play.

For a long time, Manchester was framed as the alternative. Now, I don’t think that label fits. It’s not the second option. It’s a city with confidence in what it offers — culturally, creatively and commercially.

From where I sit, in a venue where music, art, brand activations and corporate events all share the same stage, you can see those worlds colliding in real time. That intersection — culture meeting business under one roof — feels distinctly Manchester. And that’s why this feels like its moment.