Night & Day Cafe

Night & Day Cafe is a live music venue at 26 Oldham Street in Manchester's Northern Quarter, England, one of the city's long-running independent stages for indie, guitar and alternative music. The venue combines a ground-floor cafe-bar with a compact gig room and has hosted emerging bands and club nights for decades, giving it an important place in Manchester's music scene. The crowd is mostly aged 18 to 40, with students, musicians, gig regulars and Northern Quarter locals, and there is no dress code; casual clothing and band t-shirts are typical. The atmosphere is informal and energetic, with a small stage, close sightlines and a cosy, slightly worn character that fans of grassroots music often prefer to larger venues. Programming includes live bands most evenings, with indie, rock, post-punk, folk and singer-songwriter acts, and club nights that follow gigs on some dates, often playing indie, alternative and dance music. The drinks programme is simple, with draught and bottled beer, ciders, spirits and soft drinks at accessible prices, and the cafe operates in the daytime as a relaxed meeting place. Hours are evening-focused and event dependent, so the current listings should be checked. Entry is free for some nights and ticketed on others, with the listed range from free to about £16, and club night entry is often cheaper than headline gigs. Reservations are not normally used for standing shows, and bottle service is not part of the format. Popular gigs can reach capacity, so buying tickets in advance is advisable for known acts. Oldham Street is a central route through the Northern Quarter, making the venue easy to combine with nearby bars before or after the show.