Cubitts opens first Manchester outlet in former Affleck & Brown department store

A former drapery once known as ‘Harrods of the North’ is the new home of the British spectacle brand

2 min read

Cubitts/Felix Speller

04 August 2026

Cubitts has opened its first Manchester outlet in a former department store that was once known as ‘Harrods of the North.’

Affleck & Brown was established in the 1860s as a drapery, and grew to occupy a full block between Oldham Street, Church Street, Tib Street and Hilton Street.

A release from Cubitts highlighted the parallels between a site that once sold fabric by the yard and made clothes to measure, and the leading British eyewear brand.

Cubitts founder, Tom Broughton, shared that the company has been searching for a Manchester location for close to a decade.

“We wanted to be in the Northern Quarter, but only if we could find a building with the history and character to justify our arrival,” he explained.

“Smithfield Buildings felt immediately right: a spectacle shop inside a former draper’s department store, in a neighbourhood shaped by making, music and independent trade,” he emphasised.

Alongside Cubitts’ optical frames and sunglasses, the Manchester outlet offers eye examinations, repairs, reglazing, made-to-measure frames and bespoke spectacle consultations. A small collection of Manchester-exclusive frames is in development.

The interior of the store, which was designed in partnership with Manchester-based studio YOUTH, features industrial metalwork, textured glass, waxed cotton and timber, with a faceted oak counter at its centre.

“It was important that Cubitts Manchester was designed in Manchester, and not just deposited here. YOUTH understood how to make the space feel distinctly Cubitts without resorting to the usual Manchester shorthand,” Broughton said.

“The result is thoughtful, industrial and warm, with references to the city embedded in its materials, objects and music rather than announced from the walls,” he added.

Art within the space includes an original painting by Francis Hoyland depicting a seamstress at work, a Cubist gouache by Marcel Gille showing a forge worker, and a pair of modernist sandstone figures by sculptor Richard Perry.

Cubitts Manchester also features a revolving bookcase made by Manchester cabinet makers Goodall, Lamb and Heighway, from timber salvaged from HMS Foudroyant.