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Just outside Manchester’s bustling city centre lies a small but lively Vietnamese district affectionately known as ‘Little Vietnam.’ This cultural gem has blossomed over the past decade, bringing authentic Vietnamese cuisine, shops, and community to one of Manchester’s coolest neighbourhoods.
A neighbourhood with industrial roots
Ancoats has a rich history as Manchester’s “first industrial suburb,” known for its cotton mills and manufacturing that helped build the city’s global reputation during the Industrial Revolution. The area had struggled with economic decline and dereliction by the 1990s, but recent regeneration has transformed it into a thriving culinary and cultural hotspot.
Once known as ‘Little Italy’ due to a large influx of Italian immigrants, Oldham Road in the Ancoats area today proudly houses a growing Vietnamese community, helping it carve out a new identity as home to ‘Little Vietnam.’
Little Vietnam in Oldham Road 
Credit: The Vietnamese Store
The pulse of this cultural pocket runs strongest along Oldham Road. An area once defined by the hum of factories and industrial grit, it has transformed into a lively street lined with eateries, cafés, and grocery shops that are truly one of a kind.
Here, you’ll find the famous family-run Vietnamese Store, which not only sells all the authentic ingredients needed to whip up traditional dishes but is also home to a popular café serving up everything from pho to banh mi. Popular eateries like Que Huong Viet, Wow Bánh Mì and Pho No. 1 offer classic dishes such as pho noodles and bánh mì.
Ca Phe Viet, attached to a Vietnamese store, is famed for its pho and Vietnamese coffee, while Wing Yip, the largest Oriental supermarket in Manchester, supplies ingredients not just for Vietnamese cuisine but for a wide range of Asian recipes, making it a hub for Asian staples.
Manchester’s Little Vietnam offers a unique glimpse into the warmth and vibrancy of Vietnamese culture, nestled within a historically industrial area reinvented as one of the UK’s most exciting neighbourhoods.
For those wanting to experience a little piece of Vietnam in the UK, Oldham Road offers a warm, lively, and utterly authentic slice of Vietnamese life. Stop for a bowl of steaming pho, a cup of strong coffee, or a freshly-made bánh mì and you may just find yourself transported – if only for a moment, to the streets of Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City.