Last Updated on 22 July 2026 by Colette
If you’re looking for the best place to have ice cream in the Greater Manchester area, I’ve got you! Small batch, fancy flavoured, premium ice cream is basically my speciality – eating it you understand, not making it!
A couple of the places on the list are in Manchester city centre, the others you’re going to have to travel a little for but they’ll be worth it!
Where to get the best ice cream in and around Manchester
- Grandpa Greene’s Luxury Ice Cream, Diggle
- Milk Maids, Bolton
- Ginger’s Comfort Emporium, Northern Quarter, Manchester
- Smithills Farm Ice Creamery, Bolton
- Dunham Massey Ice Cream Farm
- Holdens & Co – Ice Cream and Village Store, Bolton
- Frederick’s Ice Cream, Chorley PR7 4AL
- Lazy Sundae, Manchester Arndale, Manchester
- Sweet!, Northern Quarter, Manchester | PERMENANTLY CLOSED
- Big Licks, Printworks, Manchester
Scroll down for more information on each of these venues!
[Please note that the information in this post is accurate to the best of my knowledge but do check with individual venues before turning up!]
Contents - Click here to jump to the section you need
Grandpa Greene’s Luxury Ice Cream, Ward Ln, Diggle, Oldham OL3 5JT
There are actually quite a lot of places in Manchester to get Grandpa Green’s ice cream in Manchester (Alexandra Park and Reddish Vale Farm are just two that spring to mind) but for the full experience we recommend you visit the Grandpa Greene’s Luxury Ice cream parlour in Diggle.
This canal side parlour is the perfect stop off on a long walk down the Huddersfield canal (dogs are made very welcome at Grandpa Greene’s and can even get their own ice cream!) or you can of course just drive straight there – it’s worth noting that parking at Grandpa Greene’s is fairly limited and it can get very busy during peak times.
On hot days and summer holidays I recommend going to Grandpa Greene’s for breakfast or an early lunch to avoid the queues – unless you’ve had the foresight to book! There is a separate queue for takeaway ice cream on busy days and whilst, in our experience, this can move fairly slowly, it’s always worth the wait!
Through the colder months, Grandpa Greene’s have pre-bookable igloos and a delicious winter menu featuring bread bowls of stew and fancy hot chocolates. And, if you happen to be visiting around Easter, than a Slattery’s Easter egg sundae is a treat and a half!
Grandpa Greene’s have opened up a new venue in Uppermill too now which is well worth checking out.
You can read more about Grandpa Greene’s here:
Grandpa Greene’s Ice Cream Parlour – Review
Milk Maids, Deardens Farm, 908 Manchester Rd, Over Hulton, Bolton BL5 1AT
Milk Maids is a multi-award wining dairy farm making and selling small batch ice cream, churned fresh daily using their own milk. The Milk Maids ice cream parlour itself is a rustic little building right at the entrance to the farm with just a couple of tables inside and some outdoor seating if the weather is fine.
Milk Maids is a firm family favourite and, despite being a good half hour drive, is somewhere we visit every couple of months on average. It’s the first place the kids as to go to for a treat! What they love most about Milk Maids is the amazing choice of flavours (which changes constantly – keep an eye on their instagram to see what’s in the cabinet) and the melted chocolate in the bottom of a waffle cone – this is next level and absolutely worth the extra £1
Milk Maids isn’t a brunch / lunch destination – this is strictly delicious ice cream (and fancy hot chocolate!). That said you can buy fresh milk, eggs and ice cream to take away too.
There is no specific parking for Milk Maids, it’s just a case of parking carefully on the road and of course being respectful of local residents!
Ginger’s Comfort Emporium, Afflecks, Church St, Manchester M4 1PW | PERMENANTLY CLOSED
Ginger’s Comfort Emporium have closed their Affleck’s Ice Cream Bar and can now be found pootling round Manchester in their ice cream van – check out their social media for updates!
Ginger’s Comfort Emporium is tucked away in a corner on the first floor of Afflecks, seating is limited and you might have a bit of a wait.
Ginger’s sells “small batch, inventively flavoured real dairy ice cream, sorbet and vegan ice cream” and when I say inventively flavoured I’m talking ‘Marmalade On Toast’, ‘Olive Oil & Sea Salt’, and ‘Chorlton Crack’ (salted caramel peanut butter)!
We visited Ginger’s Comfort Emporium last summer and I would say the ice cream flavours weren’t necessarily very kid friendly but if you’re looking for vegan options or dairy free ice cream then you’re well in.
Smithills Farm Ice Creamery, Dean Rd, Bolton BL1 7NS
On our most recent visit to Smithills Farm we were both surprised and very pleased to see the addition of Smithills Farm Ice Creamery selling their own dairy products. The Smithills Farm Ice Creamery is built on the large car park meaning you don’t have to actually visit the farm if you just want to pop in for some milk or ice cream.
However, if you do visit the farm, you can actually see the cows be milked and the butter and ice cream being made – which somehow makes it all the more tasty in my opinion!
Although there’s no seating inside the Smithills Farm Ice Creamery, there’s a handful of picnic benches outside.
You can read more about visit Smithills Farm here:
What is there to do at Smithills Farm
Dunham Massey Ice Cream Farm, 34 Station Rd, Dunham Massey, Altrincham WA14 5SG
Dunham Massey Farm Ice Cream is made on the farm using a family recipe, with a huge choice of flavours that change regularly. Alongside classics, you’ll often find fun creations such as Caramac, Malteser, Custard Cream and White Chocolate Oreo, plus seasonal specials like sunflower ice cream during the summer trail. I personally recommend the Black Forest but then I do love cherry anything!
Other places that we have yet to try ourselves but deserve a place on the list include:
Holdens & Co – Ice Cream and Village Store, 5 Blackburn Rd, Bolton BL7 0BA
Holdens & Co. have been making their famous original dairy ice cream since they opened their doors in 1929.
Because their ice cream is handmade using artisan, small batch methods not all flavours are available at all times but they aim to stock a classic collection of flavours mixed with seasonal flavours to tickle your fancy.
Frederick’s Ice Cream, Bolton Rd, Heath Charnock, Chorley PR7 4AL
The team at Fredericks are passionate Italians making real luxury Italian ice cream using on the best ingredients Their ice cream factory is located on site and is where they make all their own award-winning ice cream with flavours including classics such as Raspberry Ripple and Rum & Raisin, or seasonal flavours like Creme Egg and Mince Pie. The “Sweetie” collection offers up Custard Cream, Candy Floss and Baked Alaska to name but a few. The biggest problem you’re going to have at Fredericks is choosing!
Lazy Sundae, Lower Halle Mall, Manchester Arndale, Manchester M4 3AQ
You can now find Lazy Sundae in Manchester Arndale – the Tib Street shop in the Northern Quarter closed in early 2025 citing “landlord difficulties”.
Like Ginger’s Comfort Emporium, is probably not all that child-friendly in terms of flavours – in fact we walked past once planning to get an ice cream on the way back to the car and all five of us decided that Lazy Sundae probably wasn’t for us. If you’re looking for travel-inspired ice cream flavours such as Pandan, Hojicha, Miso Choco, Sesame Mochi or even Yuzu Pear Sorbet . . . you know where to go!
(They might not have ice cream flavours to suit our family tastes, but they do have the most incredible bit of neon on the wall that I wanted to steal! “I licked it so it’s mine”)
Sweet! 9 Stevenson Square, Manchester M1 1DB | PERMENANTLY CLOSED
Sweet! survived for less than a year unfortunately and has now gone!
New to the Manchester ice cream scene (is that even a thing?) is Sweet! in Stevenson Square in the Northern Quarter. Having only been open a couple of months, this isn’t one I’ve had chance to try myself but I’ve heard great thanks (and the amaretto and black cherry flavour sitting at the top of the menu is definitely calling my name!). Sweet! also do a range of milkshakes if you prefer to drink your frozen treats!
Big Licks, Printworks, 27 Withy Grove, Manchester M4 2BS
New to the Printworks for 2025, Big Licks is your go‑to for indulgent treats in central Manchester. Located within the Printworks complex on Withy Grove, Big Licks serves up not just ice cream, but handmade artisan gelato, towering sundaes, novel shakes, and hearty burgers too. Their display cabinets are brimming with constantly changing flavours, and the portions are generous!
Where to get the best ice cream near me?
If you’ve got a favourite place to go for ice cream in Manchester that I’ve not include – let me know and I’ll add it in!
Read these posts next:
Where to get the best hot chocolate in Manchester
Dog friendly pubs and cafes in Manchester
Where to get the best doughnuts in Manchester
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I need to work my way through this entire list. It all looks so good! 😮
There is an ice cream place in Ancoats that I love called Scoop – a great selection of flavours + indulgent desserts featuring ice cream
Ah yes I think I’ve heard of that but I’ve not been, I’ll add it in – thanks Ksenia!