Background to Salon:
The Manchester Salon was inspired after a trip to London for the Battle of Ideas in 2006, and a desire to bring some of the flavour of those very engaging debates to Manchester - at least in between the annual Battle of Ideas festival. The Salon now meets every month to discuss a topic of current affairs, maybe through the prism of a recently published book on the topic, and often with the author of the book introducing it.


The aim is to try and capture the essence and nuances of current affairs issues, and discuss possible solutions. With as many views as there are participants, our conversations never end and are carried on more informally in the bar after the debate.

Salon Discussions:
The Salon discussions are fairly informal. Usually a speaker introduces a book or a subject of current affairs, and then the debate is opened to the audience. Hilary Salt, the Salon's resident chair, moderates the debate, making sure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to speak and that all those niggling questions and differences of opinion itching to get out are indeed drawn out, taken seriously and responded to where possible.

In order to attend any of the forthcoming discussions, please complete the Contact Form, so that you can be added to our mailing list and just come along.

A small charge is made in order to cover the cost of room hire and any speaker expenses.

Suggestions for Discussions:
The Salon discussions are usually organised a month or two in advance to allow attendees and speakers alike to prepare. Both forthcoming and recent discussions can be seen by clicking on the Discussions tab. If you have any suggestions for future debates, please let us know by completing the Contact Salon form. It would help us tremendously if your suggestions included a promotional paragraph highlighting the importance and focus of the topic, a couple of background readings and any possible speakers.


Many thanks, Simon Belt (read less)

Background to Salon:
The Manchester Salon was inspired after a trip to London for the Battle of Ideas in 2006, and a desire to bring some of the flavour of those very engaging debates to Manchester - at least in between the annual Battle of Ideas festival. The Salon now meets every month to discuss a topic of current affairs, maybe through the prism of a recently published book on the topic, and often with the author of the book introducing it.


The aim is to try and capture the essence and... (read more)