Coronation Street and the Etihad – city pass gives behind the scenes access for a bargain price

There’s a joke at Manchester City that only two things in its Etihad Stadium are red – fire exits and ketchup.

As we take a tour around the football ground, our guide Andy embellishes the tale with a mischievous grin. ‘‘We’ve been trying to change the ketchup to blue,’’ he teases, ‘‘but it doesn’t look right on our chips.’’

It’s a play, of course, on the fact that last year’s Premier League winners’ strip colour is pale blue – while that of Manchester United, their arch-rivals across the city at Old Trafford, is red. Quips aside, the Etihad tour gives football fans of any description a fascinating glimpse into team tactics.

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Showing us around the home changing room, Andy told how City’s Spanish manager Pep Guardiola insisted it was round so that every player felt included during team chats. To avoid cliques Pep insists that only English is spoken and chooses where everyone sits, splitting up players of the same nationalities and placing the most experienced among the newbies.

Each player is provided with two brand new shirts per match and only their shin pads can be personalised. Andy also revealed how superstitious Kyle Walker always wears the shin pads his mum bought him as a 14-year-old schoolboy, handed over with the stern instruction to look after them. Twenty years later he clearly has.

Pitchside, Pep and his team are treated to comfy heated seats and subs get heat pumped out to them from the ground… while the visitors soak up the cold. It was fascinating stuff for myself, my partner Tim, our 15-year-old son Freddie and his friend Archie, also 15.

We were in the busy North West city armed with a recently launched Visit Manchester Pass, which gives access to 12 attractions plus discounts on several entertainment and food venues for a one-off fee over one, two or three days.

A one-day pass costs £79 for adults and £60 for kids. For an idea of savings, organisers claim adults can save over £60 on a typical itinerary with a £99 two-day pass. Next up for us was the Coronation Street Experience – a behind-the-scenes peek into Britain’s longest-running TV soap.

Exposing a few tricks of the trade, our guide Jeanette told how wine in the Rovers Return is actually grape or apple juice, while its famous hot pots are slops from the staff canteen.

And as outdoor and indoor scenes may be recorded weeks apart, meticulous details have to be noted – so if it’s raining when Ken Barlow enters his house one day, he’s sprayed with water bottles when he’s filmed inside later on. The tour also included an exhibition and hilarious film which reminded us of some of the acerbic lines that helped turn it into one of Britain’s best-loved shows after it launched in 1960 – like Deirdre Barlow saying of her daughter, ‘‘I see our Tracy like I see asparagus – kind of an acquired taste’’.

It didn’t matter that the boys weren’t avid watchers – they were fascinated by how the show is made.

We’d arrived at the city’s Piccadilly station on an Avanti West Coast rail service from London Euston. I’m a big fan of taking the train – it’s often faster, easier and altogether less stressful – and this route is particularly good, with trains running every 20 minutes and taking around two-and-a-quarter hours.

If you upgrade to first class you can eat and drink your way along the route too, with Forest Gin from Macclesfield in Cheshire and goodies from Birmingham’s Beaumont Patisserie. In Manchester itself public transport was quick, cheap and easy to navigate, partly thanks to a comprehensive tram network where a family weekend travelcard covering up to two adults and three children costs just £9.50.

We bedded down at the Marriott Victoria & Albert Hotel, tucked away next to the River Irwell near the trendy Castlefield area, just a 10-minute walk from both St Peter’s Square and Deansgate-Castlefield tram stops. Exposed brickwork in our large family room gave it an industrial-chic feel, while the 20 per cent Manchester Pass discount in the waterside bar and restaurant was an added perk.

Next up for us was SEA LIFE, an aquarium packed to the gills with underwater wonders including colourful clownfish, eels, seahorses and jellyfish.

One of our favourite zones was the ocean tunnel, a walk-though arch which gets you up close to beasts of the sea – sharks, rays and turtles. But we were about to go one step further… and climb in with them.

It’s not included in the Manchester Pass but we treated ourselves to an add-on extra – a “snorkel with sharks” experience. Clad in wetsuits and snorkels, visitors climb into a cage beneath the water in the centre’s vast ocean aquarium, surrounded by a host of the sea’s most fearsome creatures.

Ziggy the zebra shark – at 10ft-long their biggest sea creature – Barbara the humungous giant southern stingray, Derek and Bruce the Queensland groupers, and seven blacktip reef sharks all swam past, nonchalantly ignoring us.

Curiosity proved irresistible for giant green sea turtles Cammy and Ernie, however, who came over to check us out – with one of them poking its nose within inches of the cage. It was a truly special experience that got us far closer to these amazing creatures than ever before and any nerves we had quickly disappeared (from £140 for up to four people).

There’s a great selection of other attractions included in the Manchester Pass such as Chester Zoo, LEGOLAND Discovery Centre and an open-top bus tour. Once purchased you’re emailed a link to a digital pass and given an app where you can pre-book entry.

We also used ours to visit the National Football Museum. It’s a shrine to the nation’s favourite sport with heaps of hands-on activities, memorabilia like George Best’s Mini Cooper, an official replica of the Premier League trophy, the oldest surviving FA Cup trophy and tributes to players, managers and even the much-maligned refs.

I enjoyed reading the quotes emblazoned across the walls – like Dutch star Ruud Gullit’s ‘‘If I’d wanted to be an individual, I’d have taken up tennis”, while Freddie and Archie loved interactive games such as the penalty shootout and shot-stopper.

Also handy were the Manchester Pass discounts on some restaurants, like a special offer on a two-courses-plus-a-drink set menu at Shoryu Ramen, serving Japanese noodles with a terrace. At £24, it includes their signature Shoryu ganso tonkotsu made with pork broth and miso ramen topped with sticky fried chicken. My dirty lychee cocktail came as standard too.

Elsewhere we popped into Franco Manca for delicious pizzas on Neapolitan sourdough with toppings from smoked beechwood spicy salami to roasted cured ham – all with 10% off thanks to the pass.

All in all, a top break in a top British city.

Book the holiday

Avanti West Coast rail from London Euston to Manchester starts at £27 one-way; Milton Keynes from £18.

A family room for two adults and two children at Manchester Marriott Victoria & Albert Hotel starts at £164 a night B&B.

More info at can be found on the Visit Manchester website or the Manchester Pass website.