At some point it had to happen. For a long time now the Northern Quarter has been the epicentre of young Manchester cool. There are trendy bars, cutting edge shops, cheap and chic restaurants. Hell, that canny fellow Mr Scruff has even opened a cafe attached to record shop Vox Pops that’s dedicated to his second favourite pastime after making music - enjoying a decent cup of cha.

But what we like most about the Northern Quarter is that it’s a neighbourly affair, a you scratch my back and I’ll return the favour kind of a place. So what’s an area to do with all that bonhomie and creativity kicking about? Well, if you’re the Northern Quarter venue owners, one day you’re sitting gassing about music, art, poetry and stuff and the next day you’ve combined all the first letters of the words into an acronym and you’re organising the M.A.P.S festival.

Aside from the fact that here in the View Manchester office the Northern Quarter festival’s name reminds us a little bit too much of excruciating geography classes and freezing cold fun all in the name of orienteering, we’re getting pretty excited about the festival already and it’s not even until next month, and the end of it at that.

So why our giddy excitement? Well, for starters it’s going to be four days of non-stop fun. Kicking off on 23rd May and running until 26th May the M.A.P.S Northern Quarter Festival is going to be one serious party and best of all it’s being held at all of our favourite bars in the area plus a couple of cafes and clubs too. Over 14 venues are going to be taking part (including Dry Bar, Ruby Lounge, TV 21s, Joes Bar, Odd Bar and Night and Day) and in keeping with the festival’s name there’s going to be 200 (count ‘em) bands, dancers, artists and poets. You can buy tickets just to see your favourite band or you can do what we’re doing and opt for the day and weekend passes.

Strap yourselves in, buckle up and prepare for a serious four day Northern Quarter bar crawl. Maps at the ready…we’re going in.