A painted arch spans Faulkner Street among brown brick Victorian warehouses turned restaurants, and the corner Lazarus used as the Rosie Q bar.
What Chinatown looks like
A painted archway spans Faulkner Street, its tiered gold roofs and red columns rising over the traffic below. The grid runs tight. It is bounded by Mosley Street, Portland Street, Princess Street and Charlotte Street. Four blocks hold restaurants, a supermarket and takeaways under converted warehouse fronts.
The buildings on Faulkner Street are brown brick with sandstone dressings, four and five storeys, dating from the 1870s and 1880s. Segmental arched window heads run in stacked pairs up each floor, and ground level bays now hold restaurant fronts and the Wing Fat Supermarket, its sign running red and gold the width of the building.
crosses the centre of the grid, restaurant fronts at ground level on both sides. Strings of lit lanterns hang between the buildings above Faulkner Street, and after dark the block turns to neon, competing signs stacked three and four deep above narrow shopfronts.
At the corner of Faulkner Street and a five storey former warehouse rises in brown brick, its ground floor banded in stone below giant pilasters and a bracketed cornice. Two doors along, another block has window banners in Chinese characters over a dim sum restaurant in its basement.
Shot in Chinatown
For the Amazon Prime Video series Lazarus, the exterior of the fictional Rosie Q bar was the China Buffet Restaurant on Nicholas Street, its own sign swapped out digitally for the shoot. Detective Seth McGovern's police station scenes were filmed two streets over on Faulkner Street, with the production also filming on the adjoining Chain Street.
Lazarus
Nicholas Street and Faulkner Street. The Rosie Q bar and the police station scenes were filmed within the same three streets, a short walk apart.
Lazarus, 2025
China Buffet Restaurant
Played the Rosie Q bar
The China Buffet Restaurant's own frontage became the fictional Rosie Q bar for the series, its sign replaced digitally rather than dressed on set. A separate street scene, the character Laz driving and seeing Sam, was also filmed in Chinatown. Street View
Lazarus, 2025
Played a police station
Laz's visits to his friend, detective Seth McGovern, were filmed here on Faulkner Street. The production also filmed nearby on Chain Street, and neither source names a specific building for the police station. Street View
What Chinatown can double for
Stowell Street in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear
Newcastle's own Chinatown runs along Stowell Street, red brick buildings from the same warehouse era holding a dense run of restaurant shopfronts, with a purpose built arch marking the entrance the way Faulkner Street's does. The two streets share a similar scale and colour. Newcastle's own arch is smaller and less ornate than Manchester's, so keep both out of the same frame when doubling one for the other. The brick and the shopfront signage carry the match on their own. Try searching red brick Chinatown shopfronts now.
Nelson Street in Liverpool, Merseyside
Liverpool's own Chinatown is anchored by a paifang arch on Nelson Street and a long restaurant shopfront row, the same basic grammar as Faulkner Street. Its arch is taller and more elaborately carved than Manchester's, and the surrounding buildings are Georgian rather than Victorian warehouses. Keep the arch itself out of a wide shot, since Liverpool's is unmistakably larger, and hold close on the shopfront signage instead. A street level frame around the restaurant fronts holds the match better than an establishing shot. Try searching Chinatown restaurant shopfront row now.
Gerrard Street in Soho, London
London's own Chinatown along Gerrard Street has the same bilingual restaurant and supermarket shopfronts stacked over a narrow, pedestrian street. Its buildings run two to four storeys of Georgian brick rather than Manchester's taller Victorian warehouses. A tight frame on the shopfronts and signage holds the match. Anything that shows the full height of a Faulkner Street building gives away the extra storeys London's own street does not have. Try searching narrow pedestrian Chinatown shopfronts now.
