This & That Indian Cafe sign on Soap Street in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, home of rice and three curries since 1984 when established

A hanging sign for This & That Indian Cafe is shown on Soap Street in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, advertising rice and three curries and displaying the café’s long-standing telephone number. The simple illuminated sign is a recognisable detail of one of Manchester’s best-known curry cafés, tucked away off the busier streets of the city centre. This & That describes itself as a family-run business established in 1984 and located at 3 Soap Street, M4 1EW, offering homemade curries prepared with fresh whole spices. The café is strongly associated with Manchester’s “rice and three” tradition, a quick, affordable plate of rice served with three curries, historically linked to workers, students, shoppers and office staff looking for filling Indian and Pakistani-style food in the Northern Quarter. The image is commercially useful for stories about Manchester food culture, cheap eats, independent restaurants, hidden gems, curry cafés, halal food, vegetarian options, lunchtime trade, local hospitality and the survival of long-running city-centre eateries. The sign also has value for features on the changing Northern Quarter, where former warehouses, small food businesses, bars, music venues and creative industries have helped shape a distinctive urban identity. The close-up composition, brick buildings, external metal staircase and angled sign give the photograph a gritty back-street feel that suits coverage of authentic local food rather than polished chain restaurant branding. It can also illustrate wider themes around migrant food culture, family-run businesses, affordable dining, Manchester tourism, street-level signage, restaurant heritage and how modest cafés can become part of a city’s social memory. As a documentary stock image, it records a small but culturally important Manchester food landmark, where curry, lunch culture, value, tradition and Northern Quarter character meet on Soap Street.