We went shopping to manchester before xmas and insted of staying in hotel we gota penthouse apt in centre right beside selfridges, harvey nicks, printworks everything in walking distance. We booked though laterooms.com. They were the city penthouse apts on victoria bridge street. They say they are luxury (in my opinion not luxury but nice), carpets a little bit scruffy but the central thing is the main reason we stayed there. There was hotel attached to apts called premier inn. anyhow here is the link
[broken link removed]