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Visit | Ideas worth exploring

Get a friendly welcome at People's History Museum in Manchester, the national museum of democracy. Explore the museum and be empowered by the past to make a change for the future.

Image of Exterior of People's History Museum, Manchester
Image of Three people stood behind a museum welcome desk
Image of Visitors playing the 2025 Banner Bingo activity at PHM. Image courtesy of People's History Museum
Image of A person sat looking at a museum display
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Plan your visit

  • Museum, PHM shop & Gather cafe open: 10.00am to 5.00pm, every day except Tuesdays
  • Closed: 24-29 December 2026, 1 & 4-15 January 2027
  • Free entry, most visitors donate £10

 

Follow the link below to plan your visit, and find out what to expect when you get to PHM.

Plan your visit
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Group visits

For group visits of over six people, follow the link below to fill in an enquiry form.

Booking is required to guarantee entry.

Group bookings are available all day on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and on Friday mornings.

Book your group visit
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Getting to PHM

The museum is located on the corner of Left Bank and Bridge Street, opposite the Civil Justice Centre, alongside the River Irwell, in the Spinningfields area of Manchester city centre, postcode M3 3ER.

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Follow the link below for information on how to get to PHM.

Getting to PHM

Families

We Love Kids in Museums logo

The museum is Family Friendly throughout, from facilities to family favourites including hands-on interactives and activities connecting you and your family with PHM’s unique collections and stories.

Bring your buggies, refillable water bottles and expect a warm welcome, simple signage, accessible toilets, and plenty of picnic places.

The museum has a Quiet Room you can use during your visit and sensory tools can be borrowed from access stations throughout the museum.

Plan your family visit

Access

People's History Museum, Spinningfields, Manchester

We are committed to supporting all visitors during their time at PHM.  We understand that everyone’s access needs are different.

Please talk to us if you have queries or require any assistance in advance of your visit on 0161 838 9190 or access@phm.org.uk.

For accessibility information check out our Detailed Access Guide on the AccessAble website.

Access at PHM

What's on

Exploring the galleries at People's History Museum

Explore PHM’s galleries, exhibitions, and hands-on and digital interactives engaging adults and children alike.

Use PHM’s visitor map to familiarise yourself with the museum building ahead of your visit.

Find out what's on

Eat & drink

An illustration of a hand holding a grey placard. The text reads gather at PHM

Take a break for brunch, lunch, or an afternoon pick me up in PHM’s café Gather

  • Open: 10.00am to 5.00pm, every day except Tuesdays
  • Hot food served until 3.00pm
  • For booking please call 01260 543977

 

A picnic area is available for visitors bringing their own food and drink to the museum.

View menu

Exit through the gift shop

Wooden shop fixtures in the museum foyer

A unique gift shop in Manchester inspired by the museum’s collection, full of books, cards, homeware, souvenirs and great presents for kids and grown ups.

Shop the collection

Free entry

Become a Radical Friend of People's History Museum

Join other visitors and make a donation today, helping to ensure the museum remains free for all.

Support PHM

Follow People’s History Museum on Instagram…

As On The Line: 100 Years of Strikes & Solidarity finally comes to a close, we want to thank everyone who came to see it at People’s History Museum.

Over the course of the exhibition, we welcomed over 61k people to the museum who came to hear the stories of working people who stood together for better pay, safer workplaces and fairer treatment- now that's a pretty major figure of people who still believe in solidarity✊🏼

It’s been wonderful to see how many of you made time for those stories, and many of you took a little piece of the exhibition home, too with our On The Line magnets and miners’ strike mini pins.

If there’s a story from the exhibition that’s stayed with you, we’d love to hear it ... ✍🏽 

#PHM #OnTheLine #PeoplesHistoryMuseum #StrikesAndSolidarity #WorkingClassHistory

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✊🏼 Today is the final day of On The Line: 100 Years of Strikes & Solidarity at People’s History Museum.

100 years of people standing together, speaking up and fighting for change, told through the banners, objects, artwork and stories they left behind.

Come on your lunch break, sneak out of work an hour early (we won’t tell 👀), or make that last-minute dash to PHM.

Open today until 5pm | Free entry

#PeoplesHistoryMuseum #PHM #OnTheLine #Strikes #Solidarity Manchester

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💀⁠What better time than Halloween to meet one of the more unusual characters in PHM’s collection ....
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This skeleton was once used by the 'Liverpool Tin Plate Workers Society' as part of the initiation of new members, including James Hogarth.⁠
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It’s one of the more unusual stories you’ll find at PHM, revealing the rituals and traditions that formed part of working people’s lives and organisations.⁠
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And if that’s inspired you, join us this Halloween weekend and make your very own skeleton face mask to take home💀✂️⁠
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📍 Free entry. Open 10am to 5pm⁠ Wed to Mon.
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#PeoplesHistoryMuseum #PHM #Halloween #Manchester #SocialHistory

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📸 ONLY 4 DAYS LEFT to capture On The Line Exhibition⁠
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After more than seven months at People’s History Museum, On The Line: 100 Years of Strikes & Solidarity comes to a close this Monday 2 November at 5pm ✊🏼

Explore a century of stories, objects, posters and photographs that show what happens when people stand together and fight for change.⁠
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If it’s been on your list, this is your final weekend to see it.⁠
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#PeoplesHistoryMuseum #PHM #OnTheLine #Strikes #Solidarity

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If democracy, people power, big ideas and fighting for change are your vibe … then you’re due a visit to People’s History Museum ✊🏼

Discover the people and movements that fought to make a difference.

📍 People’s History Museum, Left Bank, Manchester

#PeoplesHistoryMuseum #Manchester #PHM #ThingsToDoInManchester #FightforChange

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