So much has changed about the Northern Quarter since our website first launched. Nevertheless, this central district remains the beating heart of creative culture in the Rainy City — an enclave for artists, musicians, designers, makers and outside-the-box thinkers, hemmed by the now-upmarket eateries of Ancoats, frantic Piccadilly, and mainstream retail offerings of Market Street and the Arndale Centre. Few shops epitomise what makes the NQ the NQ more than UNITOM. A visual art-orientated bookstore, print and editions exhibition space, boasting a beautiful range of journals and magazines to boot, it wears these specialisms on its sleeve. And by that we mean the space looks like an independent gallery from the street. And, once through the double glass doors, you’ll be greeted by experts with decades of collective experience.

Fittingly positioned in the bustling and varied Stevenson Square — which, over recent years, has established itself as the centre of the alternative Norther Quarter — the first thing you’ll notice are walls lined with huge artworks and design pieces. Canvasses come from practitioners like Iain.H.Williams, Skateroom and Alex Giles, while lifestyle objects by renowned brands such as Kinto and Freitag are also available. A prime spot for anyone looking to improve their interior aesthetics, then. This is before we to come all those pages, for example the ‘Modern Bible’ of expertly-curated vintage porn, a celebration of groundbreaking female typographers, and an in-depth look at the future of sneakers. Think titles at the vanguard of artistic publishing; daring, unique, bold, fascinating.