AbstractThe wide array of new gastronomic establishments in Manchester's city centre symbolise its recent urban regeneration, set in motion by the 1996 IRA bomb that obliterated the Arndale Centre. David Bell and Jon Binnie describe the powerful political forces that lie behind this development, and the variety of eating spaces that it has generated, from the Printworks, an entertainment mall in the commercial retail heart, to the Boho shabby chic of the venues in the Northern Quarter.