Today, I saw on Twitter that Benji Lanyado (@benjilanyado), a travel writer with the Guardian is coming to Manchester armed only with a mobile phone. I am so happy to introduce my hometown to Benji that I dedicate this blog to his travels up North.  He’s asked for direction as to where to go. Here’s my suggestion for a tour.

1.Go lounge on a deckchair at Spinningfields. Get a coffee from Carluccios and just chill. I hope the weather will be nice for you…..but I won’t hold my breath on that one.

2. At the back of Spinningfields and adjacent to the Manchester Courts is a little gem of a find – the People’s History Museum. Its free and its great fun and informative. Manchester really is the melting pot of political fervour – suffragettes, Chartism, unions – right on our doorstep. I ended up appreciating my hometown even more after a trip here. Oh and the cakes are pretty awesome too.

3. The Lowry Hotel where they film X Factor is a great place for afternoon tea. They currently have an exhibition on – all Disney pictures – which I think is truly magical and worth a visit.

4. Manchester’s town hall is the place where you see weddings taking place and at Christmas there’s always the inflatable Santa that goes flat. I love the architecture though. The front courtyard houses the German Market, Jazz Festivals and other big events. But today, its just business as usual…..still worth a look though.

5. Make Your way to the Manchester Big Wheel and you’ll see fountain and stones along the boulevard. I always chuckle when I see that kids have poured in washing up liquid and created a bubble factory right in the heart of Manchester. You don’t get that in Trafalgar Square huh!

6. Got to see the Urbis for its ultra cool architecture. Unfortunately its not open at the moment but I bet you’ll go ‘Wow that is so cool!’ when you see the glass structure right in front of you. Behind it is the MEN Arena where all the stars have sell out tours. To its left is Cheetham’s School of Music where they have delightful classical renditions and to the right, you have Printworks – walk in 10 minutes and you are at Sweet Mandarin.

7. The Printworks houses the Odeon theatre. Have you seen Inception? Its messed with my head and I don’t know sometimes whether dreams are real or not. Anyway, there’s a few ‘discos’ in the Printworks. I sound so old skool calling them ‘discos’ but that’s what they really are. Discos for teenyboppers.

8. Walk up Withy Grove. Its a bit shabby on one side with the old run down shops and a bit glam on the other, with the Birdcage – that in a nutshell is Manchester – an ecclectic mix.

9. Withy Grove then becomes Shudehill and forks into High Street. This is where the Arndale Centre (Fish market entrance is). With your back turned to the Arndale, this is the view. Do you see the white building? That is where I am, at Sweet Mandarin – in that white building. I’ll save you a table Benji and look forward to welcoming you to Sweet Mandarin.

10. Sweet Mandarin – based on the first High Street of Manchester, overlooking the imposing Smithfield Fish Market wall. We are an award winning Chinese restaurant and cookery school. Outside where we are, they are filming the Hollywood movie, Captain America – take a front row seat and relax. Welcome to Manchester, Benji.