MCR8 MANCHESTER CITY REGION
Manchester Magazine 2011/12
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FIRST WORDS Welcome to the eighth issue of MCR – the destination magazine for Manchester.
To mark the upcoming centenary of the birth of Alan Turing, this issue of MCR pays tribute to the scientific and technological achievements that have helped shape the city – and the wider world. For those of you unfamiliar with Turing, he was a mathematician, the pioneer of computer science and the famous wartime Enigma code-breaker. He spent his final years in Manchester and you can learn more about his life and untimely death in our special Turing feature on pages 18 - 21. In this issue we also celebrate the success of the recent ‘I Love MCR’ campaign that showed the world just how proud Mancunians are of their city. We also hear from Natalie Ireland, the director of the Manchester Science Festival and Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, the president and vice-chancellor of The University of Manchester. Our shopping pages this issue focus on the retail stalwart that is King Street and the food critic Ray King tells us why hotel restaurants – far from being for the ‘unadventurous’ – are the place to fine dine in Manchester. Your nightlife options have also been thoughtfully categorised by the genre of music you can expect to hear. (Following
scrupulous research and testing by the team here at Marketing Manchester of course!) Out of town, we take a closer look at Rochdale – the birthplace of the co-operative movement - ahead of the International Year of Co-operatives in 2012. And we look even further afield in our showcase of some of the region’s best National Trust properties in our North West feature on pages 80 – 85. It goes without saying that on the following pages you’ll also find everything you need to know about what’s on in the city, the accommodation options, public transport information and details of the route network at Manchester Airport – not to mention their swanky new Virgin V-Room. For more information about what Manchester has to offer, check out visitmanchester.com, follow us on Twitter: @visit_mcr or download the Time Out Manchester app to your iPhone from the App Store. Enjoy the read! Andrew Stokes Chief Executive, Marketing Manchester November 2011 Web: marketingmanchester.com Twitter: @marketing_mcr
CONTRIBUTORS Pete Wild Pete Wild is from Wythenshawe, Manchester. He has a maths degree and an English degree and is a senior lecturer in finance at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Business School. He began filmmaking in 2009 and has written and produced a short film ‘Evariste Galois’ (2010) and a feature film ‘The Turing Enigma’ (2011). He is a fan of Manchester City Football Club.
Jon Sparks Jon Sparks is an award-winning photographer and writer specialising in landscape, travel and outdoor pursuits, especially walking, climbing and all varieties of cycling. He has authored guidebooks for all of these as well as travel guides to Finland and the Baltic. Born in Macclesfield, he now lives in Lancashire and is a regular visitor to Manchester and its surrounding countryside.
Gillian Lonergan Gillian Lonergan is a librarian and archivist and has spent her working life in the co-operative movement, particularly its history and development. She is head of heritage resources at the Co-operative College, working with the Rochdale Pioneers Museum and the National Co-operative Archive.
Ray King Ray King is a regular contributor to the Manchester Evening News and produces many articles for other media. He is a publicist for the leading independent Withington Girls’ School and regularly contributes to Cheshire Life on a range of subjects. His book, Detonation: Rebirth of a City, co-written with Andrew Nott, charting the renaissance of Manchester following the IRA bombing of 1996, was published in June 2006.
Percy Dean Percy Dean has worked as professional photographer for over 18 years. In that time he has worked around the world and in turn his work is highly respected globally. He was the founding editor and senior photographer for Document Magazine, which ran for over a decade. He has specialised in action sports, lifestyle and social documentary photography and lives and works in Manchester.
Nick Johnson Nick Johnson is the deputy chief executive of urban regeneration company, Urban Splash. A chartered surveyor for over 13 years, he was the Edward P. Bass Distinguished Visiting Architecture fellow at Yale University in the USA in 2007 and is commissioner for the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE).
Marketing Manchester Carver’s Warehouse, 77 Dale St, Manchester, M1 2HG T. +44 (0)161 237 1010 F. +44 (0)161 228 2960 marketingmanchester.com visitmanchester.com
Cover Photography: Juanjo Mena cover: Sussie Ahlburg (see page 50 for Juanjo Mena interview) Badly Drawn Boy cover: Antony Crook (see page 4 for ‘I Love MCR’ article)
Designed & Published: Marketing Manchester, November 2011
Photography: Ian Howarth, Percy Dean, Paul Jones, David Lake, Jonty Wilde, Jan Chlebik, Northwest Regional Development Agency, William Ellis, CityCo, Ben Page, Craig Easton
Contributors: In addition to the authors of our features and Manchester Voices, Marketing Manchester would like to thank everyone that has provided editorial for this issue of MCR.
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy in this publication, Marketing Manchester cannot accept liability for any loss or damage arising from its use. As changes often occur after publication date, it is advisable to confirm the information given.
The information contained within this guide is copyright and no part of the guide may be reproduced in part or wholly by any means, be it electronic or mechanical, without the prior written permission of the publishers. Marketing Manchester is the agency charged with promoting the city-region on a national and international stage. Visit Manchester is the Tourist Board for Greater Manchester and is a division of Marketing Manchester. They are funded by 360 commercial members and the organisations below.
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Contents 4–5
18 – 21
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We Love MCR
The Manchester Man Machine
What’s On: Exhibitions
The ‘I Love MCR’ campaign of summer 2011 brought out the Mancunian in people all around the world. Here’s our pick of some of what they had to stay.
Turing enthusiast, Pete Wild, tells the story of the famous mathematician ahead of the Turing Centenary in 2012.
Find out what will be on display in the galleries and museums across the city in the next twelve months.
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22 – 23
Manchester: A scientific and technological powerhouse
Snapshot: The Alan Turing Memorial
An introduction to the city’s academic achievements, past and present.
Check out the city’s tribute to the father of computer science – which is celebrating its tenth year.
10 – 11
24 – 25
Dining rooms of distinction
Top 5: Science and technology attractions
Manchester Voice: Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell
Food critic, Ray King, gives us the lowdown on the city’s best hotel restaurants.
36 – 37
Snapshot: Manchester Town Hall The Victorian Neo-gothic Manchester Town Hall was completed by architect Alfred Waterhouse in 1877. 38 – 41
Experience the city’s scientific and technological achievements for yourself with our pick of the top five related attractions.
The president and vice-chancellor of the University of Manchester discusses Manchester as a centre of discovery.
12 – 13
Snapshot: The Baby at MOSI Check out MOSI’s replica of the world’s first stored-program computer. 14 – 15
Manchester Voice: Natalie Ireland
32 – 33
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What’s On: Festivals Get the lowdown on the best festivals to attend in Manchester during 2012.
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Feast on the land Check out the produce that is reared or grown right on Manchester’s doorstep.
Fit for a King Few places can match the designer heaven that is King Street. Here, we give you the lowdown on one of Manchester’s most exclusive thoroughfares.
The Manchester Science Festival director talks to us about the sixth outing of the event this October.
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42 – 45
46 – 47
Restaurant listings A full list of the very best places to eat in the city. 50 – 51
Manchester Voice: Jane Sharrocks The general manager of Selfridges Exchange Square talks us through the exciting developments that have taken place in the store.
Manchester Voice: Juanjo Mena The newly-appointed chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic shares his thoughts on MediaCityUK, music-making and Manchester.
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Manchester’s musical genres Plan your nights out in the city by the musical genres on offer. 57
What’s On: Music Your guide to Manchester’s musical happenings in 2012.
58 – 59
Cocktail hour Kick-start your night out in style with a cocktail from one of Manchester’s best mixologists. 60 – 61
Snapshot: The Alchemist A firm favourite with the social set, The Alchemist is the place to ‘see and be seen’ in Spinningfields.
68 – 71
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Pioneer country
What’s On: Out of town
2012 is the ‘International Year of the Co-operatives’. Where better to learn more about this historic movement than where it all began – in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
From a scarecrow festival at Tatton Park to a chocolate festival in Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester and the wider city-region has plenty to see and do in 2012.
72 – 73
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Snapshot: East Lancashire Railway, Bury
Transport information
Step back in time with a ride on the East Lancashire Railway in Bury, Greater Manchester.
92 – 93 74 – 77
Maps
Manchester’s Countryside
Find your way around the city centre and Greater Manchester with ease.
Escape the hustle and bustle of city life with a day out in Manchester’s Countryside. Jon Sparks tells us where to go and what to do. 78
62 – 63
What’s On: Sport
What’s new in The Village? Three new bars, a club night and a tea room – the latest new ventures in and around Canal Street.
From football and cricket to cycling and running, whatever takes your fancy, there’s a good chance Manchester is playing host to it.
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80 – 85
What’s On: LGBT From World Aids Day in December to Manchester Pride in August – here’s all you need to know about the city’s LGBT celebrations. 66 – 67
Snapshot: Canal Street
All you need to know about getting around on the city’s buses, trains and trams.
94 – 95
Manchester Airport The international gateway to the North of England, Manchester Airport is the largest and busiest outside of London. Here you’ll find a full list of the scheduled flights. 96
The last word Time to unwind The National Trust is a charity that works to preserve and protect the buildings, countryside and coastline of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Here, we look at some of its most impressive places across the North West.
Nick Johnson, the chairman of Marketing Manchester, wraps things up.
Canal Street is the heart of the city’s Gay Village and home to many of its bars, restaurants and businesses.
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In the summer of 2011 the ‘I Love MCR’ campaign was launched to show the world how proud Mancunians are of their home city. The response was overwhelming. More than 22,000 people supported the campaign on Facebook and 33,000 took to Twitter to show their love for Manchester. We also had the support of familiar faces from the world of football, rugby, music and TV. Here’s some of what they had to say…
“Back in Manchester today for the first time in ages. I couldn't believe what I saw on TV but now I'm here I can totally believe the community spirit that's pulling together everyone now. Good on you Manchester!” Frank Callow
“Adore Manchester my home, my city x” Nicole Hardiman
@UMIC_ltd: We love Manchester! #ILoveMCR
Proud to work in Manchester, love the place!!!! Craig Holdcroft
I was just in Manchester for business last week. Nice city, cool people and very clean surroundings. Good to see a UK community proud of its heritage and name. James Brown
“The most amazing city in the world and the friendlest FACT :-)” Jason Wilkinson
@amytasker: Awesome weekend in Manchester. Good friends, food, drink and weather (mostly)! Miss it already #ILoveMCR
@JessicaaaCalder: Manchester makes me happy #iloveMCR
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@LouisaKGordon: This is my first and probably my only ever tweet, I just want to express my undying love for Manchester. The city of dreams! #IloveMCR
@5AYF: #ILoveMCR community spirit alive and well in Manchester. Be proud and love Manchester.
@charlottesykes: Manchester you win my heart more and more daily. #ilovemcr
@Muse_Devs: We are fully supporting @visit-mcr #iLoveMCR campaign, it’s great to see people joining together in support of this great city.
“Manchester is my home, for it's where my heart is...love from an Australian by birth.” Felice Tanya Vaiani
Best city in the world :) i love you MCR :D
No other place like MCR
Karl Jones
Hasan F Khan
@Iaintheoracle: Manchester is cool, nice shops in arndale just not sure about the accent ;) #ilovemcr
Join us on Facebook: facebook.com/WeLoveMCR visitmanchester.com
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Image: Graphene
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Manchester: A scientific and technological powerhouse Much is made of Manchester’s earliest claim to fame as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. And it was the cotton-friendly climate (code word for drizzle!) that was credited with securing the city’s position as the centre of the global textile industry.
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Less glorified is the general culture of innovation and enterprise that fuelled not only the Industrial Revolution but many a world first from the fields of science and technology that took place in the city. Some are inextricably linked to the Industrial Revolution, such as the creation of the Bridgewater Canal – the first man-made waterway in Britain – in 1761. Others are truly independent of cotton; the development of ‘Baby’ – the world’s first stored-program computer - at the University of Manchester in 1948, a great example. What’s certain is that achievement in Manchester is contagious. The Manchester Ship Canal, for example, which opened in 1894 to enable the city’s merchants to avoid paying a tax at the Port of Liverpool – and at the time was the largest navigation canal in the world – brought about, two years later, the opening of Trafford Park – the world’s first purpose built industrial estate. Competition has also played its part. The financial success of the Bridgewater Canal led a group of local businessmen to commission George Stephenson to build a railway to link Manchester and Liverpool. It was in 1830 that the prime minister of the day, the Duke of Wellington, arrived in Manchester to open the line – the world's first passenger railway.
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Into the 20th century, transport was still very much a focus. In 1904 the city witnessed the birth of one of the auto industry’s most prestigious brands - RollsRoyce - when Charles Rolls met Henry Royce at the Midland Hotel in 1904. And by 1910 the sky really was the limit when A.V. Roe and Company (later known simply as AVRO) was established in Manchester as one of the world’s first aircraft manufacturers. Just nine years later, in 1919, the UK’s first domestic air service commenced from the city’s Alexandra Park Aerodrome to Southport and Blackpool. These were, of course, very public achievements. They changed the way people in the city – and the wider world – lived their lives on a daily basis. Not so public were the discoveries and developments in the science laboratories across Manchester – none more so than those at the University of Manchester. It was there that, further to the atomic theory developed in Manchester by the chemist John Dalton, Ernest Rutherford first split the atom. He was recognised in 1908 with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the second member of the University’s teaching faculty to receive a Nobel award. The first was Joseph John Thomson who had received the Nobel Foundation’s award for Physics two years earlier.
They were the first in a long line of University staff and students to be recognised by the international award scheme. To date, there are 25 and their success isn’t limited to the historical. Indeed, today the University of Manchester has more working Nobel Prize winners on its staff than any other university in the country. The most recent additions to their Nobel alumni were Dr Andre Geim and Professor Konstantin Novoselov who were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010 for their development of Graphene - a oneatom-thick carbon nanofabric that is believed to be the world’s strongest material. When trying to explain the concept of the substance, Geim said: “with one gram of Graphene you can cover several football pitches. In Manchester, you know, we measure surface area in football pitches" – proof if ever it were needed that the Mancunian spirit extends most definitely into the lab. Away from the University, another of Manchester’s scientific firsts was recognised in 2011 when Professor Robert Edwards – who pioneered in vitro fertilisation (IVF) – received a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. It was through IVF that Louise Brown, the world’s first ‘test tube baby’, was born in Manchester in 1978.
Image above: The 'Norseman' yacht with the Directors of the Manchester Ship Canal on board at the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal on 1st January 1894, from a painting by James Mudd. Image no: B10/10/3/6412 reproduced courtesy of Manchester Ship Canal Company Photographic Archive held at Greater Manchester County Record Office. Image left page: Avro at MOSI.
Incidentally, Sir Robert is another Nobel Prize winner, having won the 2010 award for Physiology & Medicine. And so to the future. What next? Who knows what technological and scientific achievements are currently brewing in the minds and laboratories across the city. Whose name will be the next to appear on the city’s Nobel roll of honour? What’s certain is that with over 100,000 students studying across the city’s four universities each year, there’s bound to be more. Watch this space! The University of Manchester is located on Oxford Road on the southern fringe of the city centre. It is also home to The Manchester Museum and its collection of six million items. For more information: museum.manchester.ac.uk
The University of Manchester Nobel Prize roll of honour 1906
Joseph John Thomson
Physics
1908
Ernest Rutherford
Chemistry
1915
William Lawrence Bragg
Physics
1922
Archibald Vivian Hill
Physiology & Medicine
1922
Niels Bohr
Physics
1927
Charles Thomson Rees Wilson
Physics
1929
Arthur Harden
Chemistry
1935
James Chadwick
Physics
1937
Walter Haworth
Chemistry
1943
George de Hevesy
Physics
1947
Robert Robinson
Chemistry
1948
Patrick M. Blackett
Physics Physics
1951
Sir John Douglass Cockcroft
1957
Alexander Todd
Chemistry
1961
Melvin Calvin
Chemistry
1967
Hans Bethe
Physics
1974
John Hicks
Economics
1977
Nevill Francis Mott
Physics
1979
Sir Arthur Lewis
Economics
1986
John Charles Polanyi
Chemistry
1993
Michael Smith
Chemistry
2001
Joseph E. Stiglitz
Economics
2002
Sir John Sulston
Physiology & Medicine
2010
Andre Geim & Konstantin Novoselov
Physics
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Top 5 science and technology attractions Here’s our pick of Manchester’s five best visitor attractions that celebrate the scientific and technological achievements of the city.
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Jodrell Bank
MOSI
Twenty miles south of Manchester, in the heart of the Cheshire countryside, stands Jodrell Bank – the region’s most famous technological landmark. Towering 90 metres high and weighing in at 3,200 tonnes, the centre’s Lovell Telescope has seen it all. From tracking Sputnik I and the Apollo 11 Eagle Lander to being the UK’s only early warning defence against nuclear attack from the Soviet Union. More recently, it has gained cult status as the location of the death of Tom Baker’s Doctor Who, as well as inspiring album covers for Joy Division and featuring in a music video by D:Ream.
The Museum of Science & Industry, or MOSI as it’s more commonly known, is housed in the Liverpool Road Station building - the Manchester terminus of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the world's first purpose-built passenger and goods railway.
The Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre allows you to explore this scientific marvel up close and includes the Lovell Telescope, Planet Pavilion, Space Pavilion and Gardens.
MOSI pays tribute to its pioneering routes with a vision is to bring innovation to life like no other. Amongst its collection is ‘Baby’ – the world's first stored-program computer which first ran in 1948 at the University of Manchester. In MOSI’s new Revolution Manchester gallery you’ll also find highlights of the city’s achievements in six areas: Transport Revolutions, Computer Age, Engineering, Energy, Cottonopolis and Structure of Matter. Each section tells a story running from the past to the future.
For more information: jodrellbank.net
For more information: mosi.org.uk
East Lancashire Railway As the city that saw the world’s first passenger railway station it is fitting that today, Manchester boasts a thriving heritage railway attraction - the East Lancashire Railway - which tells the story of the heroic struggle to keep a dying part of Britain’s heritage alive. The beautifully restored 12-mile line runs along the Irwell Valley, along the edge of the West Pennine Moors and takes in viaducts, bridges, historic towns and villages. Passenger services run from Bury to Ramsbottom, Rawtenstall and Heywood as well as the pretty villages of Summerseat and Irwell Vale. For more information: eastlancsrailway.org.uk
Godlee Observatory Hidden high above the city’s streets, on the roof of The University of Manchester’s Sackville Street building, the Godlee Observatory is home to the Manchester Astronomical Society (MAS) – the oldest provincial astronomical society in England. Presented to the city in 1903 by Francis Godlee, the observatory is a well-know
landmark to commuters arriving and departing at the nearby Manchester Piccadilly rail station. If your time in Manchester includes the third Thursday of the month (October – March) you can attend a free public lecture to learn more about the MAS and join in a discussion about current astronomical topics. For more information: manastro.co.uk
Manchester Ship Canal The Manchester Ship Canal opened in 1894 to enable the merchants of Manchester to avoid using the Port of Liverpool. Once the largest navigation canal in the world, it was a massive feat of engineering and helped fuel the city’s economy. The area surrounding the canal became Trafford Park – the world’s first purpose build industrial estate. Today, the 35-mile long canal can be enjoyed on a Manchester Ship Canal Cruise that takes in spectacular scenery and the locks and bridges that have remained largely unchanged since their construction over 100 years ago. The lively commentary tells the story of how the waterway shaped the city of Manchester and the North West of England. For more information: merseyferries.co.uk
An historic gem in the heart of the city! Located on the site of the oldest surviving passenger railway station, in five listed buildings, MOSI tells the story of the North West’s industrial, scientific and social achievements.
www.mosi.org.uk
Free Entry
Inspirational galleries, regular demonstrations of original mill engines and textile machinery, historical costumed characters, and spectacular events and activities bring this amazing museum to life!
Open Daily 10am – 5pm Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester M3 4FP
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Snapshot - The Baby, MOSI
Manchester Voices
Natalie Ireland Manchester is well known for its scientiďŹ c achievements and with the annual Science Festival entering its sixth year in 2012; the city is a dab hand at celebrating all things science. Here, festival director, Natalie Ireland, tells us what to expect in 2012.
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What do you think of Manchester as a base for young aspiring scientists? Manchester is a great place for young scientists. There is so much heritage with the Baby computer and John Dalton (the Cumbrian professor who studied and worked in Manchester) and two professors at the University of Manchester have recently won a Noble Prize for discovering Graphene – the world’s thinnest material. With a number of wonderful universities and attractions such as MOSI and the Manchester Museum there really is so much to get inspired by.
How would you describe Manchester Science Festival (MSF) to first time visitors? MSF is a fantastic celebration of science events across Greater Manchester. We specialise in science shows, hands on activities for families, walks and talks around the city exploring the history of science, musical productions, theatre performances and comedy. We’ve also got debates which explore the cutting edge science going on in Manchester and around the world. Having just finished the fifth instalment of MSF can you tell us about your main highlight? My main highlight was Polar, an orchestra performance about the Polar Regions. We had the Manchester Camerata (Manchester's chamber orchestra) playing beautiful music to high definition film from the Polar Regions. You could see the polar bears swimming and splashing about in the water, all to this beautiful music. What I loved about it was that it was a very unique way of exploring science. How did you get involved in MSF? I studied biology, maths and chemistry at school and I went on to study medical microbiology and immunology at the University of Newcastle. Whilst I was there I thought I wanted to go into media and be the next David Attenborough. It proved a very difficult field to get into so instead I became a science presenter where I communicated science to the public through science shows and workshops. From that I got involved in organising science events. I organised the Newcastle Science Festival, British Science Festival and now the Manchester Science Festival here at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI). What do you consider is Manchester’s biggest scientific contribution to the world? It has to be the Baby - the world’s first storedprogram computer. We’ve got a model of it here at MOSI which is a tenth of the size of the actual computer. Visitors to Manchester absolutely must check it out. It really is quiet incredible to see how far science and technology has come over the years.
Are there other science festivals around the country, or is Manchester unique? MSF has been going for five years, so we’re a relatively new festival with lots to offer. There are other science festivals in the UK, such as Edinburgh Science Festival which is one of the longest established festivals. There are also festivals in Cambridge, Cheltenham and Wrexham. It’s just fantastic that science festivals are popping up all over the country as it gives more people the chance to see and learn more about the wonderful world of science. How can visitors to Manchester get the most out of MSF? You’ll find lots of fun activities at the Manchester Museum and MOSI. All of the Manchester universities have ‘drop in’ days where you can meet scientists and find out what they do and explore some hands on activities. I suggest visitors get hold of the festival programme when it’s out in the summer, find out what event they might like and get the whole family booked in nice and early. In the run up to the festival we do a thing called ‘Science Busking’ where scientists go out to different events with suitcases full of tricks and science demos to wow the public and give them a little flavour of what we’re about. And finally, what’s next for MSF? We’ve achieved a lot in five years and MSF is growing from strength to strength. We’ve got a lot of support from the public and the partnerships that we work with and we’re currently trying to secure more funding for the future. So hopefully, with some new partnerships we will be taking the festival forward and doing even more exciting things. We hope to be working more with local community groups but also pushing the boundaries with some cultural events and bringing out the creative side of science. For more information about the MSF: manchestersciencefestival.com
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What’s On: Festivals
CAMRA National Winter Ales Festival 2012 18 – 21 January 2012 Oldham Drink beer every day and every night at the best winter beer festival in the nation. CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) are proud standard bearers of great ale with over 200 cask ales, bottled ales and ciders. They’re not keeping them to themselves though the ales are all ready to be savoured by beerthirsty visitors on a beer-tasting mission in Manchester. camra.org.uk
MAPS Festival April/May 2012 Northern Quarter MAPS Festival is set across four days in the Northern Quarter. This May Day carnival showcases music, arts, performance and more. The celebration of the creative arts is celebrated with gig nights at the Northern Quarter's best venues and unusual secret locations. Daytime events include craft workshops, exhibitions, a Jubilee style tea party and circus on the streets. myspace.com/mapsfestival
Sounds From the Other City Manchester Irish Festival 4 – 20 March 2012 Various locations The festival provides a true essence of the Irish way of life with Irish music, song and dance. The main attraction is the St. Patrick’s parade showcasing dazzling floats, bands and processions. Although the festivities are scattered throughout Manchester it's the traditional Levenshulme village where a majority of events take place. manchesteririshfestival.co.uk
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May 2012 Salford Sounds From the Other City music festival unites the cream of the local scene with the planet’s finest musicians and club nights for a sonic extravaganza. Previous years have included landmark shows by Bo Ningen, Egyptian Hip Hop, The Ting Tings, and Marina and The Diamonds. soundsfromtheothercity.com
FutureEverything May 2012 Various locations FutureEverything scan the horizon of art, technology, society and the environment to bring you a two-day conference of international speakers with the latest thinking on the hottest topics. Discover an art strand that pushes the boundaries of new media with amazing and thought-provoking digital works. And continuing into the small hours, the music strand is a celebration of sonic pioneers, whether the best emerging talent or well established musicians who continue to innovate and inspire. futureeverything.org
Dot to Dot 28 May 2012 Various locations With hundreds of live acts and 16 hours of music each day, Dot to Dot offers a unique experience for festival-goers and artists alike. The Festival showcases up and coming bands and DJs from the UK and beyond. The Dot To Dot Festival is held in various venues in Manchester with a similar event the day before in Nottingham, and another event on the Saturday in Bristol. dottodotfestival.co.uk
The Irish Girl, 1860, Ford Madox Brown © Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund.
Exhibition highlights Manchester Art Gallery Ford Madox Brown: Pre-Raphaelite Pioneer 24 September 2011–29 January 2012 Discover how this radical Victorian artist changed the face of British painting and inspired the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Buy tickets online at www.manchestergalleries.org/fordmadoxbrown Tickets: £8 (£6 concessions, free entry for Friends, Patrons and under 18’s)
Mark Leckey See, We Assemble 18 February 2012–11 March 2012 See, We Assemble will feature three artworks, presented as three immersive spaces, from three key moments in the artistic career of Turner-Prize winning Mark Leckey.
www.manchestergalleries.org Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3JL Tel: +44 161 235 8888
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The Manchester Man Machine by Pete Wild
It’s not often that you’re told a story about a persecuted gay genius. Nearly 30 years ago whilst studying for an English degree a flatmate told me about Alan Turing - a war hero and father of computing; who spent the last six years of his life at the University of Manchester where he literally changed the world.
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For many years, people have found Turing a difficult character to understand; he was a man who demonstrated flashes of brilliance throughout his entire existence, as a code-breaker, a mathematical genius, and a homosexual martyr. It’s only today, in a slightly more liberal UK, that his story is beginning to be celebrated in its full, true colours. In May 2011, in a speech to parliament in London, US President Barack Obama acknowledged Turing amongst some famous pioneers. He said, “From Newton and Darwin to Edison and Einstein: from Alan Turing to Steve Jobs, we have led the world in our commitment to science and cutting-edge research: the discovery of new medicines and technologies.”
It was no coincidence that Obama’s speech juxtaposed Turing with Jobs - the CEO of Apple computers. Turing died in 1954, by biting into an apple that he had injected with poison. He chose the apple as a symbolic reference to his favourite Walt Disney film – Snow White. He bit into the apple and then tragically, tortured by a society unable to accept his sexuality, he waited for his prince. This poignant moment is captured by Glyn Hughes’ statue of Turing in Sackville Park, Manchester. There is of course, a natural urge to link Turing’s deadly apple with the logo of Apple computers. But the true link between Turing and Jobs’ multi-billion pound corporation is the real food for thought; Apple, or any other entity reliant on digital technology, simply wouldn’t exist without the work of Turing. And the future of computing will be determined by breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence (AI) – a critical area of research which was pioneered by Turing and is highlighted internationally each year by the ‘Turing Test’, a test of a machine's ability to demonstrate intelligent behaviour.
Despite his groundbreaking work in the field of AI, his efforts on behalf of his country to crack the enigma code and his research into mathematical biology (morphogenesis), Turing’s legacy was overshadowed by his sexuality. Ironically, as the first man to seriously consider whether a machine can be human, he was treated so inhumanely. Obama’s speech was a timely tribute – next year (2012) Alan Turing would have been 100 years old. Plans are well underway to mark his centenary year in celebrations up and down the country. In Manchester, there will be celebrations throughout the year. Turing has been owed this kind of tribute for decades. He was a quiet patriot, secretly honoured by Winston Churchill for his secret work during the war, an honest man in a dishonest world, open about his homosexuality in 1950s Britain when being gay was illegal. On being prosecuted for his sexuality Turing was chemically castrated and hung out to dry by the state he worked for so diligently
and creatively, but he found support in Manchester, where the University refused to dismiss him and continued to provide an academic haven where his genius was appreciated. For the 2012 centenary celebrations, MOSI – the city’s museum of science and industry, has decided to award artists and creative practitioners with an opportunity to exhibit works inspired by and themed around Turing and his achievements. Elsewhere, the University of Manchester is organising a conference, with speakers such as Andrew Hodges ,Turing’s biographer. Cornerhouse, at the centre of the city’s cultural community is working with the Abandon Normal Devices festival to produce a short film about the man. And the play about his life ‘Breaking the Code’ will be performed. And in my own small way I’m hoping to contribute towards The Turing Year celebrations, with a feature film I’ve produced based around his work – no small task!
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It really is the realisation of a dream of mine, and I was lucky to get on board some incredibly talented collaborators. During April 2011 our exceptional crew shot the film around Manchester and it premiered in Autumn at Cornerhouse, here in the city where Turing lived, worked and died.
I’m incredibly proud that Manchester will be a major part of Alan Turing’s centenary celebrations. The other two major locations will be London (his birthplace) and Bletchley Park (where he helped to crack the enigma code in World War 2). Who knows, there might also be further cause for celebration...
‘The Turing Enigma’ is a fictional contemporary thriller based around a missing coded message which surfaces as part of the celebrations for Turing’s 100th birthday. The film is shot in black and white and set in modern-day Manchester, with colour flashbacks to Turing in 1950’s Manchester (an aesthetic choice made in part to represent binary opposites).
The Loebner Prize has still to offer its jackpot of $100,000 to the first person or organisation that demonstrates – via the annual Turing Test – that a machine can think. At the time of writing the main jackpot is still up for grabs. Wouldn’t it be just wonderful if the prize is won in 2012 the hundredth year after Turing’s birth by a Mancunian.
I won’t spoil the plot of the film here – you’ll have to see it. However, I will say that working on this production was telling of current attitudes towards Turing. The very mention of his name brought out the best in so many people as they generously gave their time, energies and support to help a project that celebrates the life of this persecuted gay genius.
For more information about the Alan Turing Year: turingcentenary.eu For more information about ‘The Turing Enigma’: theturingenigma.com
But then, this is the city that has never forgotten the man, with a statue of him near Canal Street and the Alan Turing building at the University of Manchester. There’s also a major road named after him close to my beloved Manchester City’s football ground.
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Snapshot - The Alan Turing Memorial, Sackville Gardens
Manchester Voices
Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell The vice-chancellor and president of the University of Manchester, eminent scientist Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, discusses Manchester as a centre of discovery.
The University of Manchester is an incredibly prestigious institution and its alumni have achieved worldwide recognition. You must be thrilled to have such great ambassadors for the University and the city in general.
Manchester and its surrounding area are most definitely established on the global scientific map. How have the local universities contributed towards this reputation?
I love the graduation season. It’s a wonderful time for our students, when they celebrate their success and I always tell them that they will join a family of over a quarter of a million alumni of the University of Manchester, spread out across the world, many of whom have achieved wonderful things. I was recently in Hong Kong and China and it was interesting to see many of the senior positions there being held by our alumni. It’s a similar situation in the media, the arts, business and academia, and it’s fantastic to think that many of the people at the top have graduated from the University of Manchester.
I think the universities have contributed hugely to this reputation in three ways. Firstly, through the discovery and creation of knowledge; and secondly, the application and impact of this knowledge, such as the first artificial hip implant and first cochlear implant for deafness being pioneered in Manchester. Finally, through the training and development of people: our students who graduate in many disciplines; and our staff, who continue to contribute in many ways, both in Manchester and globally.
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Of course, if you look back a little further, 23 of our past students and staff have been Nobel Prize winners. In fact, two Nobel laureates are current members of the University staff. And it isn’t just in science disciplines; we have great people working in economics, history, the arts and so on, and I like to think that the University has had some impact on their future success. Of the total working population in Greater Manchester, nearly 20% are employed within knowledge intensive businesses. Clearly, it’s a very important sector; what developments can we look forward to in the future? The United Kingdom in general and Manchester in particular have benefited hugely from knowledge-based economies. The significant changes that I think – and hope - will occur in the future are that the UK will retain and Manchester will develop its leading position in knowledge economies. I also think that new knowledge and approaches will become important in traditional industries. I attended a conference recently about e-agriculture: how we can solve the world’s food problems by using new approaches, some of them electronic, and this idea of knowledge – new crops and ways of irrigation, a sense of the environment around - being applied to small market gardeners or farmers, even twenty years ago would have been almost unheard
of. I really think that in the future, knowledge will start to impact on areas where we would least expect it.
notable areas, because Manchester is a place known for its creativity: music; media; the arts and football. You can’t ignore football!
It’s been said that in Manchester we like to do things first, and do things differently. If you had to choose one thing that Manchester has done to change the world, what would it be?
You are passionate about communicating science to the public at large. What would you recommend a visitor to Manchester to see and do, to gain a better appreciation of the scientific developments that the city has been responsible for?
It’s impossible to choose one single thing that Manchester has done! Of course, Manchester is very well-known as one of the primary sites of the Industrial Revolution and during his recent state visit to the UK, it was great to hear US President Barack Obama refer to Manchester once directly, as the home of the Industrial Revolution and once indirectly, as the home of the computer and Alan Turing. I do think that the Industrial Revolution and some of the changes it brought about: the Suffragette movement; trades unions; the Co-operative movement, have changed the world. But there are also some more modern discoveries that have come out of the University of Manchester and I can’t help but mention the most recent of those: Graphene – the most remarkable material, that I think will have a massive impact on people’s lives in the future. Difficult as it is, I think I would have to say that the Industrial Revolution is the thing that has changed the world. However, I should just add that there are many other
My first recommendation is an interesting one, because I would suggest that they walk into Manchester Town Hall through the main entrance, because as far as I know, it’s the only town hall entrance in the UK where the statues on either side are of great scientists of the city: Dalton and Joule, and that says something about how much Manchester values discovery. I’d also encourage a visit to The Manchester Museum and the Whitworth Art Gallery. MOSI contains much about our discoveries and a little further afield is the new science discovery centre at Jodrell Bank. Events worth a visit are Manchester International Festival, Manchester Science Festival and Manchester Histories Festival. Overall, I think I’d start with Manchester Town Hall and then move on to the museums and galleries, to see some fantastic exhibits of what has been done in Manchester. manchester.ac.uk
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Find us on facebook 240 STORES 30 EATERIES OVER 60 FASHION RETAILERS 16 HEALTH & BEAUTY BOUTIQUES
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Whatever you’ve got in mind we’ve got inside
Bubbles include: Men’s Jacket: JD Sports, Dress: Coast, Ladies Coat: Next, Bag: Fossil, Shoes: Dune, Hot Water Bottle: Superdrug
Right at the city’s heart, Manchester Arndale is the perfect Mancunian mix of popular and cool. It’s where high street favourites Topshop and Next rub shoulders with edgy brands like Hollister, Gio-Goi and Kurt Geiger. Techies will love exploring the Apple and Sony stores, Bose and the quirky gadgets on show at Clas Ohlson. Eating out is temptingly eclectic too, ranging from leisurely dining at YO! Sushi to something spicy at Nando’s and a host of perfect spots for a well-earned coffee. Whatever you’ve got in mind, we’ve got inside at Manchester Arndale. Telephone: 0161 833 9851 manchesterarndale.com Find us on facebook
Fit for a King Few places can match the designer heaven that is King Street. Lined with luxury shops and decadent restaurants it is one of Manchester’s most prominent thoroughfares. Since the late 19th century, King Street has been a place to see and be seen - and not a lot has changed. It is to Manchester, what Fifth Avenue is to New York and Bond Street is to London. Home to the Ship Canal House and the Bank of England building, this famous street is dotted with history. Manchester's first Town Hall was housed here, but as the size and wealth of the city grew, largely as a result of the textile industry, a new building was proposed. The current Town Hall now sits in Albert Square.
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At the top of King Street you can find the swanky Room Restaurant which was once the Reform Club - a gentlemen's haven for liberal politicians. William Ewart Gladstone, whose statue still stands in the building, was once a VIP guest and Winston Churchill was a member. And back in the late 1970s, it was the National Westminster Bank on King Street that stored the belongings of the famous Manchester painter, L.S Lowry after his death. The King Street we know today is the base for Manchester’s contemporary fashion, and for more than a century now, it has housed an impressive catalogue of designer labels. You can expect to find exclusive outlets such as Vivienne Westwood, Armani and Agent Provocateur to name but a few. Here’s our pick of some of the great brands to look out for. We’ve also chosen a couple of places to eat between shopping.
Pretty Green
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Vivienne Westwood
Room
Tommy Hilfiger
7 Spring Gardens, King Street, M2 2BG viviennewestwood.co.uk
81 King Street, M2 4AH roomrestaurants.com
51 King St, M2 7AZ uk.tommy.com
Vivienne Westwood is a large part of British fashion history and is probably best known for pioneering the punk look. Today’s pieces are recognisable for their voluminous quantities of fabric (think Carrie Bradshaw’s wedding dress in the first Sex and the City movie), and of course those gothic corsets.
This award winning restaurant and cocktail bar is the perfect shopper's retreat. The menu is based on classic dishes all produced with a contemporary British twist. Think Prawn Cocktail, Liver and Onions and Black Forest Gateau.
As one of the worlds leading premium lifestyle brands, Tommy Hilfiger delivers superior styling, quality and value. In the Manchester store you will find collections that celebrate the essence of classic American cool.
Fred Perry
Agent Provocateur
Manchester, M2 7LQ fredperry.com
81 King Street agentprovocateur.com
Fred Perry was founded in the 1940s by Manchester born Frederick John Perry. It’s almost as synonymous with Wimbledon as strawberries and cream. Taking inspiration from the city’s industrial history, the Manchester store has raw brick walls, wooden and concrete floors, scaffolding stair rails, a mesh ceiling and rusted metal arches.
Since its launch in 1994, London-based label Agent Provocateur has established itself as the go-to for beautifully crafted lingerie that strikes the perfect balance between playful and provocative.
Crombie 33 King Street, M2 6AA crombie.co.uk Celebrating over 200 years of authentic British style, Crombie is favoured by royalty, politicians, presidents and celebrities. Most recognised as the creator of the world's finest coats, the Crombie style has been immortalised in films and print. The Crombie collections provide the ultimate in classic luxury fashions ranging from formal wear through to casual and accessories.
78-80 King Street, M2 4NH dkny.com
Cath Kidston Jack Wills 35 King Street, M2 7AT jackwills.com Born in the upmarket university towns of Cambridge and Bristol, Jack Wills ( JW) is now rolling out across the UK. JW has a rock solid, traditional British heritage, inspired by vintage sportswear, beachwear and classic British public school style. It is the epitome of British preppy cool.
62 King Street, M2 4ND cathkidston.co.uk Set across three floors, this newly opened store is the largest to date, stocking full homeware, fashion, accessories, children and baby ranges. Cath Kidston is best known for its witty, vintage inspired prints and wide array of household and fashion products.
76 King Street, M2 4NH belstaff.com Belstaff has long been synonymous with British quality and style. The Manchester flagship store embodies the brand’s heritage and brings high quality design and materials to the modern day shopper.
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Simply stated, DKNY brings the energy and spirit of New York to the streets of Manchester. This home to Donna Karan's collection, addresses the real-life needs of people everywhere, from work to weekend, jeans to evening. Both fashionable and friendly, DKNY consistently delivers a unique mix all of its own.
San Carlo Pretty Green 81 King Street, M2 4AH prettygreen.com
Belstaff
DKNY
Last year, Liam Gallagher, former Oasis front man, opened up his very own Pretty Green store on King Street. Pretty Green is designed by Liam and draws inspiration from the art, music and culture scene of the 1960’s. The Manchester store houses both the Black (classic British tailoring) and Green Label (casual range) collections.
King St West sancarlo.co.uk/manchester San Carlo Manchester provides the very best in Italian dining. The chic new decor is the perfect setting for intimate evening meals and cocktails and light bites with friends and family. At San Carlo attention to detail is everything.
Tell us about the exciting changes you have recently made to the store.
Manchester is unique in that it boasts two Selfridges stores. Why is this?
In September, we opened phase two of our master plan for the store. It’s part of a scheme that will see the total refurbishment of the store – all floors and the exterior of the building over the next few years.
For exactly that reason - because Manchester IS unique. The stores are not that far apart geographically but the diversity of the customer is such that we only see a 10-15% crossover between the Exchange Square and The Trafford Centre stores.
Last year we widened the atrium in line with our Oxford Street store to give us more visibility and connectivity. Phase two will see the opening of our new beauty and fashion accessories hall. The new beauty lounge includes two brands that we have exclusive in the city – Armani and Illamasqua. It will also stock a lot of fashion accessory brands such as Carat, Dodo and Monica Vinader. So if you want something different, something unique, then Selfridges is the place to visit.
Manchester Voices
Jane Sharrocks Selfridges is one of retail’s most iconic brands. Exclusive to the UK high street, its four stores – two of which are in Manchester – are purveyors of the world’s most luxurious brands. Here, Jane Sharrocks, general manager of Selfridges Exchange Square tells us of the recent developments to the store.
Why has Selfridges chosen to invest so significantly in the Manchester store in Exchange Square? We have been privately owned as a family business for several years now, which goes back to our heritage and Gordon Selfridge, who founded the business. The whole philosophy and ethos of the business is to reinvest into the business to give the best experience to the customer. Selfridges Exchange Square has been around for several years and during that time we have seen the dynamics of the customer changing. We like to invest in our business to make sure that our customers continue to get the products and services they need along with the experience they have come to expect. The thing about Selfridges is that it’s all about the experience. Selfridges has had a base in the city centre for seven years. What do you think about the massive regeneration of the city centre in that time?
Obviously, The Trafford Centre store is very accessible – you get all the big names there and it is purely a shopping destination. Whereas here at Exchange Square the customers live, work and dwell in the vicinity of the store. The Exchange Square store is more about the luxury experience. We have more of the luxurious brands – many of which are only otherwise available in London. Selfridges is a globally renowned brand. What should an international visitor to Manchester expect from the iconic British store? An international visitor to Selfridges can expect the extraordinary. We house world famous brands like Chanel, Tiffany, Hermes and Louis Vuitton. On top of that it’s also the experience we give the customer. It’s about what you will see, what you will feel, what you will hear – and to some instances, what you will taste when you’re in the store – you won’t find it anywhere else. If you had friends or family visiting Manchester what is the one thing you would ensure they do above all others? Other than shopping, of course, I would take them out to dinner at our Moët Bar & Restaurant overlooking Exchange Square and then to the theatre. We’ve got a great range of theatres here in Manchester – from The Palace with its musicals to the more cultural art at the Royal Exchange Theatre and The Lowry as well.
For more information about Selfridges: selfridges.com
I think the city has evolved – just as the store has. For me, Manchester stands out from the rest of the UK because of the way that it constantly evolves. And it’s not just about retail space – it’s the entire product. For example, the redevelopment of the Town Hall Extension and Central Library – I think that is fantastic. Manchester is proud of its heritage and passionate about its future – which is very much in line with Selfridges as a business.
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What’s On: Exhibitions
Adolphe Valette: A Pioneer of Impressionism in Manchester
Once Upon A Wartime: Classic War Stories for Children
Until 29 January 2012 The Lowry
11 February – 2 September 2012 Imperial War Museum North
Born in France, Adolphe Valette was to make his name in Manchester. As teacher of LS Lowry, he saw his pupil’s fame outstrip his own, but while this exhibition explores the relationship between these two artists, it also celebrates Valette’s own skills as a painter. Valette introduced his own brand of Impressionism to the city in a series of paintings that captured the atmospheric mood of the streets, squares, waterways and buildings, seemingly forever shrouded in fog and pollution. thelowry.com
Visit this major new exhibition that delves into the pages of well-loved books, bringing five stories of war to life. Discover War Horse, Carrie's War, The Machine Gunners, The Silver Sword and Little Soldier as you wander through life-size sets, peer into intricate scale models and explore the stories’ themes of loyalty, separation, excitement, survival and identity. north.iwm.org.uk
Picturing Politics - exploring the political poster in Britain 12 November 2011 — 13 May 2012 People’s History Museum During 20th century elections, political posters wallpapered the streets, providing political parties an opportunity to ‘speak’ to the masses. Displaying 60 iconic examples, this exhibition will explore the development of the poster and examine one of the key aspects of our democracy: how parties speak to the people and crucially, how this communication has changed. The exhibition will showcase the museum’s unique poster collection which is the largest in the UK, including examples from all the major political parties. phm.org.uk
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National Football Museum Spring 2012 Urbis, Manchester The best football museum in the world is coming to Manchester’s Urbis building in early 2012. Expect exciting moments, unforgettable memories, legendary players, 'hands-on' fun for all the family and enough objects to fill a football pitch. From the 1966 World Cup Final ball to Maradona's "Hand of God" shirt, there'll be so much to see and do. nationalfootballmuseum.com
Say Something Series Every Thursday Islington Mill, Salford Every Thursday evening Islington Mill hosts a range of visual art events from artist’s talks, to performances and exhibition openings, showcasing the work of local, national and international artists. All events begin at 6pm and are free. islingtonmill.com
Giants of the Infinitesimal: An Interactive Experience of the Nano-World Until 31 March 2012 Museum of Science & Industry Nanoscience could revolutionise everything in our world, including healthcare, computers and energy sources. This interactive exhibition presents cutting-edge nanoscience research. Try large-scale models to find out how scientists create completely new atomic structures and learn about amazing nanomachines. The exhibition is a unique collaboration between artists and scientists. mosi.org.uk
The multi-award winning Imperial War Museum North is a great free day out for all ages. Designed by world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind to represent a globe shattered by conflict, it reveals how war shapes lives through powerful exhibitions, the Big Picture (a 360 degree light and sound show), tours, object handling sessions, and family activities (all free and available daily). Visit the café, shop and viewing platform offering views over The Quays. Silver winner – Large Visitor Attraction of the Year 2010 Open 7 days a week. 10am – 5pm FREE entry
iwm.org.uk/north
Manchester Visitor Information Centre Piccadilly Plaza, Portland Street, Manchester, M1 4AJ
Monday - Saturday: 9.30am - 5.30pm Sunday: 10.30am - 4.30pm Tel: +44 (0)871 222 8223 Email: touristinformation@visitmanchester.com
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Snapshot - Manchester Town Hall, Albert Square
By Ray King
Dining rooms of distinction It’s almost instinctive; the hurly-burly of the day done – whether spent doing business or at leisure – we return to the hotel, change, clean up and head out again to catch a flavour of the city. And from Chinatown to the fashionable celebrity haunts of Deansgate and beyond, Manchester’s vast range of bars and restaurants delivers a vibrant nightlife. Yet visitors could be missing a trick here. For much of the city’s style, culture and heritage – not to mention some of its finest cuisine – is located right there in the elegant and varied dining rooms of Manchester’s leading hotels.
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Image: Ryan Murphy, Executive Head Chef at the River Bar and Restaurant, the Lowry Hotel.
From the Hilton’s destination bar, Cloud 23, the reborn city centre is laid out more than 200ft below; the view from the floor to ceiling windows is jaw-dropping and a cocktail in the bar in the sky is the perfect precursor to dinner in the hotel’s acclaimed Podium Restaurant. With its discreet banquette seating, dim lighting and crisp linen tablecloths, it has a sexy, old school New York vibe and is an impressive setting for any occasion. David Gale, the executive chef and winner of the Chef of the Year 2010 award at the Manchester Food & Drinks Festival, is a strong supporter of local producers, believing this allows him to satisfy the wide demographics and genre of the hotel. The Restaurant serves everything from smoothies and full English Breakfasts with Bury Black Pudding to a sophisticated international menu with local influences in the evening - a favourite dish being The Deansgate 'Surf and Turf' Fillet of Cheshire Beef and grilled lobster.
From the sumptuous grandeur of Louis XV style and the intimacy of the Belle Époque’s Art Nouveau to the most glamorous of contemporary surroundings, the city’s hotel dining rooms impose their own graceful individuality and relaxed ambience in which to enjoy outstanding cooking. The Midland Hotel, home to the renowned French Restaurant, has been at the epicentre of Manchester matters for more than a century. It was here in 1904, a year after it was built, that Hon Charles Stewart Rolls first met with Frederick Henry Royce amid the landmark hotel’s ornate Edwardiana. Two years later the world’s most famous motor car company was founded. Graced with enormous crystal chandeliers, the Parisianstyled French has served crowned heads,
world leaders, movie legends, rock stars and footballing greats down the years with elegant, white-gloved panache. David and Victoria Beckham dined here on their first date. Head chef Paul Beckley’s modern French cooking fashioned from the finest of local ingredients has won the French two coveted AA Rosettes and it was awarded Life Magazines’ accolade “City Restaurant of the Year” in 2010. If the Midland’s majestic terracotta façade was the iconic symbol of Mancunian pride and prosperity at the turn of the last Century, the Hilton Hotel, occupying the first 23 storeys of the tallest building in the north of England, marks the confident renaissance of the city following the devastation caused by the IRA bombing of 1996.
Another star of the modern era is Sir Rocco Forte’s five-star Lowry Hotel, dominating the Salford bank of the River Irwell at the head of the elegant Calatrava bridge. The style and atmosphere of the chic, award-winning River Bar and Restaurant is fully in tune with the rest of this prestigious hotel, an enduring favourite of visiting sports and pop stars and the restaurant has recently acquired the services of internationally-acclaimed New Yorker Ryan Murphy as executive head chef. With a culinary pedigree hones in Michelinstarred restaurants in Sweden, Austria and the United States, where he worked with Alain Ducasse at Essex House and JeanGeorges Vongerichten at the Trump Tower, Murphy was among the re-opening brigade when the refurbishment of the worldrenowned Savoy in London was completed. His cooking style reflects a modern, stylish approach to classic dishes enabling the best available seasonal ingredients to “sing” with maximum flavour.
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Manchester’s wonderful Victorian architectural heritage owes much to the imaginative conversion and reuse of the grand and imposing textile warehouses of the 19th Century city they nicknamed ‘Cottonopolis’. One of the most imposing and one of the first sights to greet visitors arriving at Piccadilly railway station is now the Malmaison Hotel, one of the earliest of the boutique hotel group’s re-adaptations of striking buildings, blending period features with a thoroughly modern approach to hospitality. The Malmaison’s innovative spirit has recently seen a dramatic transformation of its bar and restaurant. The Art Nouveau style of the former Brasserie has given way to the Smoak Bar and Grill, a brash, contemporary American style diner with pewter counter and red leather booth seating that’s quite unlike anything the city has seen before, especially in the midst of a hotel. The cocktails are cool in every sense of the word and the atmosphere charged with the aromas from the menu’s fresh fish, prime steaks, and ribs sizzling on its oak-fired grill. The ingredients – many of them sourced locally - are so good that the butchery is on display. The two-Michelin starred celebrity chef Michael Caines – hailed as “the UK’s No 1 Restaurateur” in the Sunday Times’ Food List - also recognised the potential of one of Manchester’s iconic textile palaces. The dramatic red-sandstone Victorian building in Piccadilly, two minutes from the rail station, is one of Caines’ ABode Hotels group and boasts a signature Michael Caines Restaurant and MC Champagne Bar.
The atmospheric and intimate lower ground floor dining room with its innovative lighting, split level seating arrangement, striking contemporary decor and moody portraits by the celebrated photographer Brian Aris provide an ultra-sophisticated setting for enjoying exciting and innovative European cuisine utilising the best local and regional produce and ingredients from Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire and surrounds. Executive chef Mark Rossi, in consultation with Caines, has created an exciting range of menus, including grazing, à la carte and tasting, that have won critical acclaim for both the exceptional quality of the dishes and their remarkable value for money. There is no building in the city whose story has been more interwoven with the history of Manchester than the Free Trade Hall in Peter Street, close to the scene of the “Peterloo Massacre” of 1819 when cavalry attacked a crowd demanding Parliamentary reform. The hall was the setting for important political events and Gladstone, Disraeli, Lloyd George and Churchill delivered key speeches there. As a venue for music, it was home to the Hallé Orchestra and audiences have cheered Charles Dickens and jeered Oscar Wilde, encored Ella Fitzgerald and booed Bob Dylan in the hall. Many historic artefacts are on display in what is now the Radisson Edwardian Hotel and its flagship restaurant, Opus One, is a destination in its own right as one of Manchester's liveliest and popular dining rooms. Under the direction of head chef Neil Armstrong, Opus One serves innovative modern British food using the best of local
produce, presented in a modern, contemporary way. The surroundings are dramatically theatrical, with soaring ceilings, velvet red walls, high gloss black woodwork, antique gold wall coverings and bespoke furniture in black crocodile skin hide. Opus One bar, with its play on a 'glamorous Manhattan' provides the perfect destination to sip cocktails and enjoy company. Despite its reputation as the workshop of the world, forged during the Industrial Revolution, the bright lights of Manchester city centre are closer to the countryside than many people imagine, and the delights of country house hospitality are virtually on its doorstep. One of the most celebrated culinary gems amid the leafy Cheshire villages on Manchester’s southern fringe is the Alderley Edge Hotel & Restaurant, where head chef Chris Holland’s superb cooking has earned three AA Rosettes recognising “exceptional standards of cuisine” in which technique, flair, imagination, balance, textures and creative depth of flavour come through in every exciting dish. The à la carte menu of often classic traditional British dishes with extravagant twists – supported by an extensive wine list – includes innovative ‘sous vide’ specialities and a six-course Gourmet Tasting Menu demonstrating the exceptional breadth and variety of its cuisine. The light and airy conservatory restaurant, with panoramic views over the Cheshire plain, seats from one person to a party of 25. Everything is prepared on-site using best quality fresh produce from local suppliers… from the bread at your table to the biscuits with your morning coffee.
Image facing page: Opus One Restaurant at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel. This page left to right: Chef at the Alderley Edge Hotel & Restaurant, The Podium Restaurant at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate Hotel, Smoak Brasserie at Malmaison Hotel.
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Feast on the land Traceability and the desire for produce reared or grown on our doorstep has never been so popular. Greater Manchester is fortunate to have pockets of lush countryside that reap a bounty of fresh fruit and vegetables, awardwinning meat and a growing band of local producers. Red House Farm in Dunham Massey, near Altrincham, has been under the stewardship of the Clare family for more than a century and has recently converted to organic status. In the farm shop you’ll find produce grown on site as well as the opportunity to buy home made cakes, tarts and quiches from the on-site bakery as well as many chutneys, relishes and preserves.
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The business also supports a raft of other rural producers, selling potatoes grown down the road, free range eggs from a farm in nearby Antrobus and lots of delicious flavours of ice cream from Dunham Massey Ice Cream. It is this kind of dedication to local produce that has driven the business into the thriving farm shop and tea rooms that exists today they also have a major tourist attraction in their Maize Maze that runs during the summer months. The Clare family are one of a band of people who are passionate about local food. The Housekeeper’s Store at Tatton Park has venison, rare-breed pork and lamb, all from animals reared on the historic estate. You’ll also find cheese as well as other delicious local treats. Keep an eye out for Christine’s Cheshire Preserves.
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The 73-year-old head of the Clare family revived her grandmother’s jam making recipes. Now, she makes preserves using fruit and vegetables sourced from local farms, farm shops and farmers markets and sells them to retailers across Greater Manchester, including Barbakan in Chorlton, Didsbury’s Cheese Hamlet and Gibbon’s Grocers in Heald Green, as well as selling through the National Trust. You’ll also find her tasty preserves in Nixon’s Farmshop in Heald Green, another fine example of making the most of rural food. The business, set up by the family in the 1930s, started with pigs and cows and a milk delivery service to local houses. The cattle are now kept at Outwood Farm. There is an on-site abattoir and the meat is sold in the farm shop. They also support other producers including a local baker who uses meat from the farm every Tuesday and Friday to make pork pies.
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There are plenty of other people showcasing the best of the food we have to offer in Greater Manchester including Q Guild butchers, Taylors of Sale, established in 1850. The meat comes from rural farms within a 30 mile radius of the shop.
Many producers and farm shops offer expertise and advice on how best to make the most of their produce. But if you would prefer to see how the professionals do it, there are many restaurants across Greater Manchester doing this well.
The Farm Shed in Wigan, a newer family business set up in 2007, sources organic produce for a fruit and veg box scheme from several farms including in Lancashire and Cheshire. They also supply meat, fish, bakery goods, biscuits and chocolate.
Chefs at several restaurants around the region are celebrating local food on their menus. Malmaison in Piccadilly has a menu specifically designed to promote food nurtured by rural producers including meat from Taylors of Sale and goose and duck from Johnson and Swarbrick in the Ribble Valley.
Taking sustainability as well as local produce to new levels are Katy Brown and Marcus Saide from Trove. This Manchester couple use organic produce sourced locally to make their jams, chutneys, preserves, fruit loaves, breads, stews and drinks. They also make food hampers and encourage customers to reuse their jars and wooden delivery boxes.
Husband and wife team, Laurence Tottingham and Mary-Ellen McTague, also highlight the region’s culinary treasures at their Prestwich restaurant, Aumbry, using the skills they gained at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck in Bray. Dining at this
neighbourhood restaurant feels more like eating at the home of a good friend where the food is always seasonal and local. In Ramsbottom you’ll find tapas with a regional slant. The First Chop serves up this traditional Spanish dish but cooked with ingredients from the surrounding countryside. Expect crumbly Lancashire cheese from Coronation Street actor-turned cheese maker Sean Wilson and meat and vegetables from local farms. The pork served up at Il Toro, Strawbury Duck and San Marino restaurants, all in Bolton, is reared by the owner. Adam Chapman was tired of dealing with butchers who couldn’t give him the traceability he craved. Now all of the pork at these three venues comes from the rare breed Saddleback pigs they keep and sales have gone up 200%.
In Urmston Isinglass English Dining Room is also showing how local produce should be celebrated. The restaurant, featured in the Michelin Guide, is headed up by twins Anthony Dunbar, head chef, and Rachel Ireland, who runs front of house. This fine dining experience has only been enhanced with Anthony’s local knowledge of the food on offer. Regional delicacy Bury Black Pudding as well as salad ingredients that are a testament to the fertility of the Chat Moss peat bog in Salford play an important part on the menu. They also serve venison from Tatton Park, steaks from Holly Tree Farm in Over Tabley, near Knutsford and fruit and vegetables from Northern Harvest in Croft. In China Town there is a good chance that the pak choi, choi sum or kai laan you eat in many of the restaurants were grown by
Dennis Ford in Norley, near Frodsham. The lifelong grower, and also parish councillor in this rural village, has been supplying oriental vegetables to Chinese supermarkets in the city as well as its restaurants from more then three decades. Finally, for something totally different, and if you like to push your culinary boundaries, you might want to try The Mark Addy, located by the canal in Stanley Street, Salford. Its chef Robert Owen Brown has won praise from renowned national food critics for his dedication to promoting underused cuts of meat. Here, not only does the food come locally sourced but several dishes on the menu also celebrate dishes that were once a mainstay on dinner tables in this region like tripe, faggots and pigs trotters.
This article was funded through the Rural Development Programme for England administered by DEFRA and coordinated by Visit Manchester for Greater Manchester rural areas.
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Restaurant listings
American Black Dog Ballroom Corner of Tib St & Church St, M2 5WR +44 (0)161 839 0664 blackdogballroom.com
Brodsky Royal Northern College of Music, M13 9RD +44 (0)161 907 5252 rncm.ac.uk
Redhouse Farmshop & Tea Rooms Redhouse Lane, Dunham Massey, Altrincham, WA14 5RL +44 (0)161 941 3480 redhousefarm.co.uk
Charles Hallé Restaurant The Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley St, M2 3WS +44 (0)161 950 0000 bridgewater-hall.co.uk
Room Restaurant 81 King St, M2 4AH +44 (0)161 839 2005 roomrestaurants.com
Grill on New York Street New York St, M1 4BD +44 (0)161 238 9790 blackhouse.uk.com
Sam’s Chop House Back Pool Fold, Chapel Walks, M2 7LN +44 (0)161 834 3210 samschophouse.com
Grill on the Alley 5 Ridgefield Deansgate, M2 6EG +44 (0)161 833 3465 blackhouse.uk.com
Slattery Patissier & Chocolatier 197 Bury New Rd, M45 6GE +44 (0)161 767 9303 slattery.co.uk
Australian
Harvey Nichols 21 New Cathedral St, M1 1AD +44 (0)161 828 8888 harveynichols.com/second-floor-manchester
Taurus 1 Canal St, M1 3HE +44 (0)161 236 4593 taurus-bar.co.uk
Australasia 1 The Avenue Spinningfields, M3 3AP +44 (0)161 831 0288 australasia.uk.com
Linen - Manchester 235 The Great Northern, M3 4LP +44 (0)161 832 3927 manchester235.com
The Alchemist 3 Hardman St, M3 3HF +44 (0)161 817 2950 thealchemist.uk.com
Brazilian
Market Restaurant 104 High St, M4 1HQ +44 (0)161 834 3743 market-restaurant.com
The Mark Addy Stanley St, Salford, M3 5EJ +44 (0)161 832 4080 markaddy.co.uk
Moët Bar and Gallery Restaurant - Selfridges 1 Exchange Sq, M3 1BD +44 (0)161 838 0540 selfridges.com
The Restaurant Bar & Grill 14 John Dalton St, M2 6JR +44 (0)161 839 1999 therestaurantbarandgrill.co.uk
Mr Thomas’s Chop House 52 Cross St, M2 7AR +44 (0)161 832 2245 tomschophouse.com
The Round The Royal Exchange Theatre, St Anns Sq, M2 7DH +44 (0)161 615 6666 royalexchange.co.uk
Hard Rock Cafe The Printworks Exchange Square, M4 2BS +44 (0)161 831 6700 hardrock.com Old Orleans 27 Withy Grove, M4 2BS +44 (0)161 839 4430 oldorleans.com Simple Bar & Restaurant G20-21 Smithfield Buildings, Tibb Street, M4 1LA +44 (0)161 832 8764 simplebar.co.uk
Bem Brasil Northern Quarter 58 Lever St, M1 1FJ +44 (0)161 923 6888 bembrasilrestaurants.com Bem Brasil Deansgate King St West, M3 2GQ +44 (0)161 839 2525 bembrasilrestaurants.com Nossa Casa Brazil St, M1 3WF +44 (0)161 923 6846 nossa-casa.co.uk
British Baa Bar - Deansgate Arch 11 Deansgate Locks, M1 5LH +44 (0)161 832 4446 baabar.co.uk
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Northern Quarter Restaurant and Bar 108 High St, M4 1HQ +44 (0)161 832 7115 tnq.co.uk Ramsons 16-18 Market Place, Ramsbottom Bury, BL0 9HT +44 (0)1706 825070 ramsons-restaurant.com
Tiger Tiger The Printworks, M4 2BS +44 (0)161 385 8080 tigertiger-manch.co.uk Velvet 2 Canal St, M1 3HE +44 (0)161 236 9003 velvetmanchester.com
Zest Fine Food 877 - 879 Mossbank Way, Bolton, BL1 5SN +44 (0)1204 492 600 zestfinefood.co.uk
Cantonese
Irish
Spanish
Waxy O’Connor’s The Printworks, 27 Withy Grove, M4 2BS +44 (0)161 835 1210 waxyoconnors.co.uk/manchester
The Rake Blackstone Edge Old Rd, Rochdale +44 (0)1706 379 689 raketapas.co.uk
Yang Sing 34 Princess St, M1 4JY +44 (0)161 236 2200 yang-sing.com
Italian
East Asian
Old Colony House, 6a South King St, M2 6DQ +44 (0)161 834 0145
Tampopo - Albert Square 16 Albert Square, M3 3JE +44 (0)161 819 1966 tampopo.co.uk
56 Peter St, M2 3NQ +44 (0)161 839 9300
Indian Zaika Indian Restaurant & Bar 2 Watson St Great Northern Tower, M3 4EE +44 (0)161 839 5111 zaika-manchester.com Zouk Manchester Unit 5, The Quadrant, Chester St +44 (0)161 233 1090 zoukteabar.co.uk
International Band on the Wall The Northern Quarter, 25 Swan St, M4 5JZ +44 (0)161 834 1786 bandonthewall.org Cornerhouse 70 Oxford St, M1 5NH +44 (0)161 228 7621 cornerhouse.org Matt and Phred's Jazz Club 64 Tib Street, M4 1LW +44 (0)161 831 7002 mattandphreds.com
Pizza Express
The Triangle, Exchange Sq, M4 3TR +44 (0)161 834 6130
Thai Chaophraya 19 Chapel Walks (off Cross Street), M2 1HN +44 (0)161 832 8342 chaophraya.co.uk
Thai Ning Ning Ltd 92-94 Oldham St, M4 1LJ +44 (0)844 414 5484 ningcatering.com
Unit C1, 1 Piccadilly Gardens, M1 1RG +44 (0)161 237 1811 Unit B St James Building, 61-95 Oxford St, M1 6FQ 0161 228 6665 pizzaexpress.com Stock Restaurant The Stock Exchange 4 Norfolk St, M2 1DW +44 (0)161 839 6644 stockrestaurant.co.uk The Olive Press 4 Lloyd St, M2 5AB +44 (0)161 832 9090 olivepresspizzeria.co.uk
Japanese Sapporo Teppanyaki 91 - 93 Liverpool Rd, M3 4JN +44 (0)161 831 9888 sapporo.co.uk
South American Las Iguanas The Trafford Centre, M17 8AA +44 (0)161 747 6119 iguanas.co.uk
Turkish Cafe Istanbul 79/81 Bridge St, M3 2RH +44 (0)161 833 9942 cafeistanbul.co.uk
Café 2nd View Bar & Restaurant, Waterstones 91 deansgate, M3 2BW +44 (0)161 711 6150 waterstones.com Christie's Bistro Oxford Road, M13 9PL +44 (0)161 273 7014 chancellorshotel.co.uk/christies Left Bank Peoples History Museum, Bridge Street, M3 3ER +44(0)161 838 9190 phm.org.uk Touchstones Café Bar The Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley Street M2 3WS +44 (0)161 907 9000 bridgewater-hall.co.uk
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ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE
all know, when it comes Astowefashion, everything always comes full circle – even food. Traditional and regional, no nonsense and no food-miles is the culinary cool these days. If you want to have a go at creating authentic Manchester meals in your own kitchen, look no further than A Taste of Modern History, a brand new compilation of historic recipes that have passed down from one generation to the next in Manchester and the North West. This was the food that fuelled the Industrial Revolution.
R
obert Owen Brown, executive head chef at Manchester’s Mark Addy, is at the forefront of this regional food revolution, as a glance at the Mark Addy menu reveals. Black Pudding, Toad in the Hole, Steak and Cow Heel Pie feature regularly and are among the diners’ favourites.
As he points out in the introduction to this fascinating collection of recipes,
“THE NORTH WEST CAN BE PROUD OF ITS CULINARYY HISTOR CULINAR HISTORY. Y. FROM THE HUMBLE HOT POT TO EXQUISITE ECCLES CAKES, WE’VE CREA TED MANY OF THE NA TION’S CREATED NATION’S FFAVOURITE AVOURITE DISHES. GOOD, HONEST GRUB AATT ITS BEST, BEST, IT USES LOCAL SEASONAL INGREDIENTS THA THATT DON’T COST THE EARTH.” His own recipe for Pickled Tripe Tripe is Robert Owen Brown’ss contribution to A TTaste Brown’ aste of Modern History History,, and Manchester’ Manchester’ss own Duerr’s Duerr’s jam and preserve makers have offered up one of their secrets with a recipe for Manchester Marmalade. Next to the recipe we learn that the first freight train that arrived in 1830 at the station, which is now the site of MOSI, brought oranges to Manchester along with its cargo of American cotton.
social reform as well as industrial development, and whose lives are gloriously told at the People’s People’s History Museum.
The Black Pudding that fed the railwaymen of the East Lancashire Railway was introduced to Bury by the Romans. Quick Step Pudding was a sweet clue’ss in treat as well as a natural remedy (the clue’ the name!), for the Lancashire weavers of Queen Street Mill TTextile extile Museum, Helmshore Mills TTextile extile Museum and The Weavers’ Triangle, Triangle, and for the apprenticed child millworkers at Quarry Bank Mill, the occasional bowlful of Lobscouse must have been a welcome change from the usual bread and porridge. Nouvelle cuisine it ain’t! But that was so last century.. And if anyone can persuade us to start century eating tripe again, it is Robert Owen Brown!
For your free copy of A TTaste aste of Modern History including 22 recipes and ideas for great days out, visit modernhistory.co.uk/taste modernhistory .co.uk/taste
Other dishes have been sourced from, and inspired by by,, the museums and heritage attractions promoted by Modern History and each of the twenty-two recipes is served up with a tantalising historical titbit. Lancashire Hot Pot fed the mighty workforce of the mills and pits who led the way for
A Historical Recipe Book Journey Or send your name and Through Northwest Cuisine address on a postcard to: A TTaste aste of Modern History History,, Brochurelink, Unit 1, Ocean Park, Dock Road, Birkenhead, CH41 1HW
Manchester Voices
Juanjo Mena Juanjo Mena, the newly-appointed chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic shares his thoughts on MediaCity, music-making and Manchester.
Photograph by Andrew Brooks, Art Direction by Raw
Welcome to Manchester! You must be thrilled to take up your new role as Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic. Where would you rate this among your career achievements so far?
Your first concert season with the BBC Philharmonic begins in Autumn 2011. Do you feel that the orchestra’s repertoire for the season reflects your own musical personality and inspirations?
It’s a perfect time for me to come here, to an orchestra of this quality. I’ve worked a lot with other orchestras – for nine years I was Chief Conductor of Bilbao Symphony Orchestra – and I’ve spent two or three years looking for the next opportunity. I think the BBC Philharmonic is the best orchestra I’ve worked with and that we can learn a lot from each other and really say something through our performances and the music we play.
The season has been a really wonderful project for me, because the orchestra and I can start to build a new repertoire together, that I know really well and in which I can guide the orchestra towards improvement. There are some strong reference points for me: a Bach/Bruckner programme that’s a big project; and a Debussy cycle – ‘Reflections on Debussy’. The Debussy is nice music, complex to play and really important to me.
It’s an exciting time to be here, following the orchestra’s recent move to its new base at MediaCityUK in Salford. What are your impressions of Media City in general and in particular, the new recording and concert facilities that are available to the BBC Philharmonic? There’s an unbelievable energy here, throughout the MediaCity project and within the orchestra’s musicians. To have these new facilities in which to perform music, which are much better than our previous premises, creates a synergy between the orchestra and its surroundings: we will develop and become part of MediaCity. It reminds me of what happened in Bilbao, around the time the Guggenheim Museum and Euskalduna Concert Hall arrived and transformed an industrial area, bringing cultural riches to it and a new life that you couldn’t have imagined before. For me, MediaCity represents the same thing - a new place in which to do wonderful work.
And of course, there’s some Spanish music included in the season! Are there any concerts in particular during the 2011/2012 season that you would recommend to a newcomer to orchestral music, or as an ideal first experience of the BBC Philharmonic? In January 2012, the Debussy festival begins. He’s a wonderful composer, his music is very direct and I think it would appeal to people coming to classical music for the first time. The first concert in the series has the theme of ‘night’ and the programme is beautiful, including pieces by Mozart, Takemitsu and Sibelius, as well as Debussy. Another concert in the same series is based around the idea of ‘pictures’ and features two of the most famous works in the orchestral repertoire: Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ and Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’. We do a similar thing in the other two
concerts that make up the festival and I think it’s a great opportunity for new audiences to get to know the work of one composer across a number of concerts and also experience some really stunning music by other composers that complements Debussy perfectly. Finally, although you’re relatively new to Manchester, is there anything that you would recommend to a visitor to the city, as a must-see or must-do? I still have a lot to discover about Manchester. I know about its importance to music and culture, as one of the biggest cities in the UK and I’m really happy to be here. I want to find out more about the culture and life of Manchester; as conductors, we often go straight from our apartment or hotel, to the auditorium or studio and then after a tiring day, back to the apartment or hotel. I’ve only had a bit of time to look around, but I want to see more of the canals and I really like The Bridgewater Hall. My family will be coming over here soon, so I need to explore some more places to show them. I’ll discover more about Manchester – I promise!
bbc.co.uk/philharmonic
Photographs by Sussie Ahlburg
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Manchester’s musical genres It’s hard to know where to go for a night out when you’re in an unfamiliar city. And Manchester’s nightlife is so varied that it even takes the locals a while to get to grips with what’s on offer. To help you out we thought it best to break things down by the types of music each venue is best known for. Whether you’re looking for a night of dance, RnB, hip hop, indie, rock, classical or jazz, you won’t be disappointed by what Manchester has to offer.
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Dance Since the ‘Madchester’ days of the Haçienda, the city has dominated the electric and fearless dance scene. Be your passion for disco, funky house, retro, techno or electro, Manchester has something for everyone – from the understated dance fiend to the hardcore Ibiza Rocks lover. The Warehouse Project is the definitive down-under hot spot, buried under the arches of Piccadilly railway station. Housed in a former World War II bunker, it oozes a sense of illegality (for the record, it isn’t!) as you party to some of the world’s best DJ’s Basement Jaxx, David Guetta, and Annie Mac to name just a few. Don’t panic if The Warehouse isn’t on during your stay - head to Sankey’s in Ancoats on the edge of the Northern Quarter. The Mancunian institution now has satellite clubs in New York and Ibiza – a testament to its huge following. Recent visits to the decks have included Pete Tong, Laidback Luke and The Swedish House Mafia. There’s also the relocated Venus Nightclub, a stones throw from Manchester Arndale shopping centre, which boasts regular DJ’s and a range of special nights dropping beats till dawn. If clubbing until the early hours isn’t really your thing, head down to Deansgate and check out Label and Prohibition. If the music does eventually get you, you can always cross over the road to Avici White – one of the latest additions to Manchester’s dance circuit.
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Indie Manchester has a legendary Indie clubbing culture. Inspired by the Stone Roses and intensified by the 90’s Oasis revolution; it’s a definite contender for one of the best nights in this city. If you want to mix it up with the students and enjoy cheaper mid-week drinks and no entry fee then get yourself to 42nd Street or 5th Ave, both just off Deansgate. These are both well established clubs and deliver an unforgettable indie experience with friendly faces, up to date beats and tributes to past greats! The Factory hosts ‘Bulletproof’ on Fridays and ‘Stonelove’ on Saturdays – both of which are an Indie Guru’s birth-place. If you’re into the more recreational night out where live, fresh music takes over, there is never a quiet night at The Academy on Oxford Road in the student end of town! By Sunday, if you are still not ready to hang those dancing shoes up from the weekend, then totter over to MoJo’s behind House of Fraser on Deansgate. This quirky little cocktail hide-out blasts the old classics until the early hours.
RnB Manchester has established itself as the hot spot of the North for its dynamic RnB and hip hop clubs, boosting a culture of style and swagger. This chic and self-assured scene has surged over the past decade, igniting a generation of confidence to the city’s club nights. These clubbers take glamour and fashion to the next level; ‘slicker than your average’ definitely springs to mind! Bijou Club, hidden away within six arches at the bottom of Deansgate opposite Manchester Cathedral, is known for its elegant and stylish terrace, which attracts local celebrities and footballers. If you head down here any Friday or Saturday night you’re guaranteed to bump into a familiar face or two! Whether it’s a bit of Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Usher, Beyonce or Lil Wayne that you’re looking for – the carefully chosen themed nights hosted by the city’s meticulous promoters will not disappoint. If it exists, Manchester has it! If you like a lively area with a choice of bars then head to The Printworks, just off Exchange Square near the Wheel of Manchester. Here you’ll find Entourage, a hot spot on a Saturday with its club night ‘Diva.’ Be prepared to party with the hardcore! Hunting for a mid-week tipple? Deansgate Locks is the place to experiment with its many bars and drink offers - sample ‘Eivissa’ at Sakura on a Thursday. This contemporary bar and club with its Japanese influence is one of a kind and is taking the city by storm! One last RnB VIP hotspot is Suede Nightclub, just off Deansgate. It’s the ultimate RnB and hip hop experience – America style!
Classical If raving, dancing or rocking until dawn isn’t your cup of tea – fear not. The city’s impressive Bridgewater Hall attracts classical performances on a regular basis and is the permanent home to the world famous Hallé orchestra. The classical enthusiast can also take in a performance at the Royal Northern College of Music and Chetham’s School of Music, both of which are truly inspiring venues for this genre of music.
Jazz Manchester houses some amazing jazz venues, the most famous being Matt & Phreds Jazz Club in the Northern Quarter the only club in the north of England dedicated to live jazz. Matt & Phreds is open six nights of the week and prides itself on showcasing the finest jazz talent around. Just around the corner, there’s Band on the Wall. This refurbished one-off music venue with the latest of ark sound studios plays host to a variety of music – Jazz being strong amongst the mix. Band on the Wall has been one of the cornerstones of Manchester’s thriving music scene, bringing the best music from around the world to this city.
What’s On: Music & Nightlife
The Warehouse Project
Keep It Unreal with Mr Scruff
Every weekend beneath Piccadilly Train Station Until 1 January 2012
First Saturday of every month Band on the Wall
Returning for another series of intimate gigs with international superstar DJ’s and blockrocking bands. The Warehouse Project lineup for 2011 includes: Annie Mac, Carl Cox, Sven Väth, Jeff Mills, Yousef, Pete Tong, Armin Van Buuren and many, many others. thewarehouseproject.com
Manchester's very own resident DJ Mr Scruff will be at the controls all night long with 'Keep It Unreal' every month at Band on the Wall. Expect a mix of jazz, soul, hip hop, funk, disco, deep house, reggae, dubstep, afrobeat, breaks, latin and tea. bandonthewall.org
Pop Til You Drop BBC Philharmonic Various dates The Bridgewater Hall The BBC Philharmonic is widely recognised as one of the finest orchestras in Europe. Its main concert series takes place at Manchester's world renowned classical venue, The Bridgewater Hall and this season sees the arrival of its new Chief Conductor, Juanjo Mena. bridgewater-hall.co.uk
Last Saturday of the Month The Deaf Institute On the last Saturday of every month all three floors of The Deaf Institute will shake to the sound of proper pop, non-stop. With DJs: Danielle Moore (Crazy P), Abigail Ward (Fist of Pop), Neil Scott (El Diablo’s), Pasta Paul (Piccadilly Records) - smash hits and bad dancing is guaranteed. thedeafinstitute.co.uk
Chetham’s lunchtime concerts series Most weekday lunchtimes Chetham’s School of Music Chetham’s world-renowned School of Music educates the brightest young musicians based on their talent and potential, not background or ability to pay. Most weekday lunchtimes, Chetham’s students perform their current repertoire in concert from 1.35pm. Performing in buildings that date back to the Medieval period, Chetham’s is a surprising oasis of creativity where young people, outstanding buildings and beautiful music meet. chethams.com
Funkademia Every Saturday Mint Lounge Funkademia takes place every Saturday to a consistently full house, feeding a friendly crowd with a diet of pure unadulterated soul-funk. The DJ collective will take you on a journey through four decades of the very best soul, funk, electric disco and hip-hop with a touch of smooth r&b and some big house classics. mintlounge.com
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Cocktail hour Manchester is well-known for its love of real ale and local breweries. But just as some places are known for pulling a good pint, others are ahead of the pack when it comes to mixing-up a cocktail or two. Whether you’re looking for a Mojito, a French Martini or a Strawberry Daiquiri, somewhere in town there's a bartender just waiting to mix it for you. Here’s our pick of the city’s best cocktail haunts.
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The Alchemist
Fast becoming the place to see and be seen, the Alchemist is a fashionable choice for cocktail lovers. No visit would be complete without trying one of their ‘Artisan Cocktails’ The Godfather, Summer of Love or Torreador. These hand-crafted rustic drinks have been created using the finest ingredients; but the real experience is watching the in-house mixologists preparing them with their impressive techniques. 3 Hardman Street, M3 3HF thealchemist.uk.com
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24 Bar & Grill
Located in the basement of the Arora Hotel this uber sexy bar is ideal for a stylish gettogether or an intimate evening with a loved one. Renowned for its friendly bartenders, Obsidian is the place to go for tailor made cocktails. And the best bit - the menu changes every season offering some of the finest ingredients in the North West. 24 Princess Street, M1 4LY 24barandgrill.co.uk
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Smoak Bar & Grill
Smoak is total indulgence for the senses. Imagine great cocktails being served from an unusual sunken bar, with highly skilled mixologists serving you while you stay seated. Be sure to sample their signature drink - the Smoak Stack, which mixes Buffalo trace, caramel liqueur and pear juice smoked with apple wood chips from their ‘Smoaking’ gun.
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Room
Room is famous for its cocktail hour (Monday to Friday - 5.00pm to 8.00pm) were you can try a number of their retro cocktails for just £4.50 – bargain. Try a Sherbet Dip Dab, a Kola Kube or a Sour Black Jack and be immediately transported back to your youth. 81 King Street, M2 4AH roomrestaurants.com
Malmaison, Piccadilly, M1 1LZ malmaison.com
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Cloud 23
For cocktails with a view, Cloud 23 is one of the best spots in Manchester. Take in the city’s skyline whilst sipping their signature cocktails. We suggest you try one of the Manchester inspired drinks - Cottonopolis, Alexandra Park and The ‘Hac’ for a real taste of the city. With its sensual and contemporary design, Cloud 23 creates an atmosphere like no other. Hilton Manchester Deansgate, M3 4LQ cloud23bar.com
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Apotheca
Winner of the 2010 ‘Best Cocktails in Town’ award (City Life Awards) Apotheca is renowned for serving high quality drinks from an ever-growing menu. The name comes from the antique pharmacy cabinets which are displayed at the front of the bar. With many flavours often unseen in cocktail menus Apotheca really offers something different. Why not try some of their signature slicks - Bees Knees Daiquiri, Kryptonite, Gorilla Arms or Space Lust. 17 Thomas Street, M4 1FS apothecabar.co.uk
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Snapshot - The Alchemist, SpinningďŹ elds
What’s new in The Village? Centred around the world famous Canal Street, Manchester’s thriving LGBT scene finds its home at the heart of the city, in the unique setting of ‘The Village’.
Having recently celebrated 21 years of Manchester Pride in August 2011, the LGBT community is as vital a part of the city’s tourism offer as ever. Having come so far in terms of acceptance of diversity, the community has also raised significant funds for local LGBT and HIV groups. And what better way to celebrate its achievements than through the transformation of its beloved home, The Gay Village.
With something to offer for everyone, regardless of age, background or sexuality, The Village is a unique and popular attraction for locals and visitors alike. Recent regeneration projects have led to the expansion of The Village as more and more fantastic venues open in the area surrounding Canal Street. One thing that makes The Village so popular is its variety in the choice of venue. With a multitude of
bars, clubs, cafés and shops, from the vibrant and outrageous to the suave and sophisticated, there really is something for everyone. And so, in no particular order, we’ve rounded up the Top 5 new additions to Manchester’s Canal Street and its neighbouring roads to give you a snapshot of what’s new in The Village…
G-A-Y Manchester 10 Canal Street, M1 3WB +44 (0)161 228 6201 g-a-y.co.uk Set right in the heart of The Village, this popular London institution has finally made the move north and recently opened its doors to Manchester’s gay community. It has since gone from strength to strength and it’s not hard to see why - open late seven days a week with no entry charge, competitive drinks promotions and a sleek interior, G-A-Y Manchester promises the very best in pop music for those looking to release their inner diva. With walls covered in bright TV screens, plenty of plush seating and an attractive roof terrace overlooking Canal Street, G-A-Y is the one stop shop for camp pop fun in Manchester.
Aftershock @ Sub 101 101 Princess St, M1 6DD +44 (0) 161 950 0101 clubaftershock.co.uk Venture underground to the unique clubbing space beneath Cruz 101 for Manchester’s freshest and funkiest gay house club night. Every Saturday from 12 am - 5.30 am, the Aftershock dance floor is the perfect hideout for house lovers in search of a weekly dose of late-night dancing. With the uplifting sound of the biggest house tracks from DJ Nik Denton and guests, and a minimal décor bathed in bright laser shows, Aftershock is ‘the’ new club night to be seen at.
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Richmond Tea Rooms Richmond Street +44 (0)161 237 9667 richmondtearooms.com Before you start thinking there’s nothing more to The Village than lively bars and clubs, think again. Opened in August 2011 and headed up by the boys that own men-only bar The Eagle, Richmond Tea Rooms is part of the growing trend of development in the area surrounding Canal Street. The immaculately purpose built new venue aims to provide a unique experience for all, whether it be for a relaxing afternoon tea and scone, a traditional lunch or a meeting place to begin a big night out.
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The Molly House 28 Richmond Street, M1 3NB +44 (0) 161 237 9329 themollyhouse.com If you ever wish to escape the sounds of Kylie or Madonna, look no further! Set in an Edwardian warehouse, this fairly recent addition to Richmond Street is a rather more refined establishment akin to Manchester’s Northern Quarter style. Proving a big hit in The Village with people of all ages and orientations, The Molly House offers a place to sit, talk and enjoy good food, quality wines, ales and cocktails, or even a nice cup of tea, in the midst of classy jazz and blues. Although don’t be fooled, the Molly House is so popular that it never fails to draw in a buzzing crowd at weekends. The ‘decadent, shabby chic’ of the bar undoubtedly broadens the appeal of The Village, whilst the friendly, easy-going atmosphere adds to the commonly held view of Manchester’s LGBT community as one of the most welcoming and cohesive in the UK.
Icon Bar Manchester Richmond Street, M1 3LZ iconmanchester.com Something truly iconic has arrived on the scene in Manchester’s Gay Village. A celebration of icons past and present, this newly opened bar welcomes you to become a star for the night. From the flamboyant artwork on the walls to the decadent furniture, Icon is fresh, sparkly and above all, glamorous. Offering a large and varied drinks list, the bar hosts weekly events planned to entertain and titillate. From quiz nights to an off the wall bingo night, Icon is outrageous and unapologetically camp, promising to leave every guest with a memorable experience that they will want to encounter again and again.
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What’s On: LGBT
World Aids Day
The Great British Bear Bash
Sparkle
1 December 2011
May 2012
13 – 15 July 2012
Over 90,000 people are living with HIV in the UK and new infections continue every year. World Aids Day aims to raise awareness to tackle HIV prejudice and help stop the spread of HIV. Every year, Manchester participates with a number of fundraising initiatives and candlelit vigils. There is also an annual commemorative vigil at The Beacon of Hope HIV memorial in Sackville Gardens (the only HIV memorial in the UK).
Every year, over the early May Bank Holiday weekend, Manbears, Cubs, Chasers and Daddies gather together for a weekend of fun and frolics. The Great British Bear Bash has been taking place since 1998 and the weekend includes a wealth of events and activities. Each Great British Bear Bash has a theme where fancy dress costumes are encouraged. manbears.co.uk
A celebration of transgender lifestyles, Sparkle is the largest event of its kind in the UK. This will be eighth year that the two-day festival has taken place. It offers an opportunity to make new friends, celebrate and get support and information about gender issues. Sparkle is also a weekend packed full of entertainment, with the majority of activity and events taking place in Sackville Gardens, located within the Gay Village. sparkle.org.uk
LGBT History Month
Pride Games
February 2012
June 2012
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans History Month takes place across the UK every February. It celebrates the lives and achievements of the LGBT community, taking a close look at those who fought for social justice and also reflecting upon some of the major changes in attitudes over recent times. As ever, Manchester will be hosting a programme of activities and events to mark this key month. lgbthistorymonth.org.uk
Pride Games is an annual week-long lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) multisports and leisure festival, hosted by a number of venues across Greater Manchester. The Games are all about the taking part, with something to suit most tastes. Aiming to challenge stereotype, the Games provide varied opportunities for participation. Those taking part can choose from athletics, mountain biking, squash, fivea-side football, 5km and 10km runs, ballroom and Latin dance master classes. pridegames.org
Manchester Pride 17 - 27 August 2012 Manchester Pride is Manchester's annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) festival and is one of the largest events of its type in the UK. The festival peaks during the August Bank Holiday when a variety of acts perform at Manchester Pride’s Big Weekend. However, the event also delivers ten days of art, films, exhibitions, community get-togethers and the ever popular Pride Parade, which winds its way through the city’s main streets. manchesterpride.com
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Snapshot - Canal Street
Pioneer country Gillian Lonergan traces the history of the co-operative movement, from its origins in Rochdale to the present day.
Ask co-operators across the world about the origins of co-operation and they will name Rochdale and Manchester, with many immediately quoting Toad Lane and 1844. During 2012, Manchester, which has the headquarters of most of the national cooperative organisations will be at the heart of the UK's celebrations of the United Nations International year of co-operatives. There will be visitors from many countries coming to celebrate the international year in the Manchester and Rochdale area, culminating in a week of activities being arranged by the Co-operative Group and the International Co-operative Alliance, the international federation of co-operatives includes organisations representing over 850 million individual co-operators in Europe, Africa, Asia, North and South America and Australia. Co-operatives are membership organisations, operating in many different business sectors. In the UK, the most widely known are the retail shops and the bank, though the 12.8 million co-operative members across the UK are also involved in
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running schools, housing co-operatives, farms, pubs, community shops, manufacturing and service businesses - all based on the co-operative values and principles that were established in Greater Manchester. The co-operative movement has its origins in the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society, founded in 1844 by a group of 28 working men. They saw in co-operating together a way to not only improve their own situations, but to improve the lives of others. The United Nations estimates that by the start of the twenty-first century, co-operation will have improved the lives of half of the population of the world. In developing countries, co-operatives are increasingly playing their part in enabling people to raise themselves - and keep themselves - out of poverty. Across the developed world, co-operatives enables members to work together to direct the activities of their co-operatives, often into new areas of community benefit including the delivery of public services such as health and education or community facilities such as village shops or the local pub.
The Rochdale Pioneers did not start the first co-operative society in the UK. There had been many earlier experiments, many of which had run into problems through trading difficulties such as giving credit, lack of business experience or buying the wrong amount or quality of food. Others simply failed though being unable to recruit new members to move the society into a new generation. The business model developed by the Rochdale Pioneers took into account the experiences of those that went before and the writings of people like Robert Owen. Owen’s first experience of managing factories was in Manchester, but he was probably best known for his work in New Lanark in Scotland. Here he developed the mill and village into a business that not only provided good conditions for the workers, but also involved them in understanding the aims of the business. He became known as the Father of Co-operation. Owen’s ideas, together with the practical suggestions of Dr William King of Brighton and George Jacob Holyoake and the knowledge gained from early experiments directly led to the
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Rochdale Pioneers and a workable model of co-operation that for the first time could be replicated in different places and applied to different types of activities.
idea of setting up a co-operative to act as a wholesaler for the movement. Several of the Rochdale Pioneers were leaders in the new Co-operative Wholesale Society and it started business at the end of 1863 in Long Millgate, Manchester.
The Pioneers did not have starting a shop as their sole aim. Their 1844 rule book sets out their wider vision. Starting a shop was the first, and today there are over 5,000 Cooperative retail outlets in the UK; housing was to follow, and today there are just under 10,000 UK households in housing cooperatives. Their third aim was farming, always a good way of ensuring the quality of produce to supply the shops and The Co-operative is now the UK's biggest farmer. Their final aim was to "arrange the powers of production, distribution and education", they knew that people working together would be so successful and adaptable that the whole world should be converted. There is nothing in the UK - or international cooperative movement - with agriculture, retailing, manufacturing, housing, schools and services that was not forseen within the Pioneers' "Rule First". The Rochdale model was soon taken up by other groups across the UK and soon many co-operative societies were in existence. By the mid 1850s, the societies were working together and in 1860 started to discuss the
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This was only the first of the national organisations to be based in Manchester. It was soon followed by the Co-operative Union, the information and advisory body now known as Co-operatives UK that connects co-operatives of different types. The Co-operative College, the educational organisation of the co-operative movement and organisations like the Co-operative Press, which produces the Co-operative News, the oldest co-operative publication in the world, celebrating its 140th anniversary in September 2011 were also founded and are still based in Manchester.
Image top: Co-operative Wholesale Society buildings on Corporation Street in Manchester in early years of the twentieth century. Above: The Rochdale Pioneers Museum
This is an exciting time for the co-operative movement in Manchester, with major development of the region's heritage resources, the redevelopment of the NOMA area of Manchester and the building of a new headquarters for the Co-operative Group, the largest co-operative society in the UK and the largest co-operative owned by its consumers in the world.
Over the next 10 to 15 years, NOMA will bring a new, 4 million sq ft, mixed-use, redevelopment in the heart of the Manchester. It will transform 20 acres of Manchester city centre’s heartland into a development combining the city’s recognised strengths in commerce, culture and community with the values and principles that set the Co-operative apart. 31 Toad Lane, Rochdale was a former woollen warehouse, it became the original home of the Rochdale Pioneers, before they built their own new headquarters just along the road, they moved out. It was bought by the co-operative movement to become a Museum in 1931. It has been closed to visitors during 2011 for a major restoration and development project. The Co-operative Heritage Trust, the charitable trust that owns the Museum has received major funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, together with grants from the John Paul Getty Junior Trust, the Esmee Fairbairn Trust, the Pilsworth Environmental Company and the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust. The £2.3 million ROCHDALE (Renewing Our Co-operative Heritage, Developing the Archive and Learning Experiences) project involves major changes at the Museum, with the reinstatement of the second floor which will become an education space, used by
schools, co-operative and community groups – reflecting the Rochdale Pioneers own view of education, that it is for people of any age and covering a wide range of activities. For the first time, the building will be fully accessible to all as an access tower will bring an improved staircase and a lift. The exhibitions are being completely renewed, enabling new ways of engaging visitors and reflecting the knowledge of the movement that has been developed over the last few years. The project will enable conservation work to be carried out on collections of the Museum and the National Co-operative Archive, ensuring that they will be available to future generations. Three Outreach Officers are working with community and educational groups to develop resources from the collections and there is a growing role for volunteers who would be interested in working with historic collections in different ways. A new website, social networking facilities and digitisation equipment will help in making materials accessible to all, whether they are in the North of England or anywhere in the world.
For further information: co-operativeheritage.coop
Image above: Co-Operative poster Below: The Rochdale Pioneers Museum
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Snapshot - East Lancashire Railway, Bury
By Jon Sparks
Manchester’s Countryside There’s more to Manchester than the city. And there’s even more to Manchester than just a city that happens to be surrounded by countryside. Manchester’s countryside connections are deep and special.
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In fact, Manchester can fairly claim to be the spiritual home of the British outdoors movement. It’s probably because it was the world’s first great industrial city that the outdoors became so important so early. Men and women may have worked six days in the mills (quite possibly dark and satanic ones) but on Sundays they flocked in their thousands to the surrounding hills and moors. There’s even a song about it:
from a Country Park. If you like to combine a gentle walk with some bird-watching, then the place to head for is Pennington Flash, near Leigh – a mile-long lake formed as a result of mining subsidence. Over 240 different bird species have been recorded here, probably the most spectacular being the Marsh Harrier. In summer it’s also a great place to see dragonflies and damselflies and there are some superb wild-flower meadows.
“I may be a wage slave on Monday, But I am a free man on Sunday.”
Closer to the city, we’d have to mention Boggart Hole Clough, even if its only claim to fame was the most Northern name in the land. In fact it has a lot more to offer, being a Local Nature Reserve noted for its ancient semi-natural woodland around a handsome lake. It’s even given its name to a local brewery. By the way, for the benefit of Southerners, a ‘bog-gart’ is really a mischievous household sprite; the Harry Potter version is pure fantasy. Oh, and a clough is a steep-sided river valley.
The lines come, of course, from Ewan MacColl’s “Manchester Rambler”. Salfordborn, MacColl was directly involved in the outdoors movement and especially in the famous Mass Trespass of 1932. The Trespass itself took place on Kinder Scout, a few miles over the border in Derbyshire, but it was born in Manchester. Today, of course, we can walk freely over all the high moors and mountains. And the Greater Manchester boundary encompasses great tracts of high ground, heathery moors with broken fringes of gritstone crag: high places of wide horizons, which include the northwestern corner of the Peak District National Park and stretch on up into the Pennines. Here the loudest sound you hear may be the startled rattle of a grouse or the rippling call of the curlew. However, you don’t have to “get all your pleasure the hard moorland way”. There’s plenty of scope for easier walking, by rivers and through great estates like Dunham Park, famous for its deer. First and foremost, though, are the Country Parks, many of them based around reservoirs or reborn from old industrial sites. One of the best, and best-loved, is Jumbles, north of Bolton, but wherever you are in Greater Manchester you’ll never be too far
Rock On If walking – even the ‘hard moorland’ variety – doesn’t generate enough adrenalin, then the crags which fringe the moors have some great rock-climbing. British climbing is centred an axis between Manchester and Sheffield, with the British Mountaineering Council having its HQ in West Didsbury. The Peak District has hundreds of crags and thousands of climbs; the main concentration within Greater Manchester is around the Chew Valley, east of Oldham. Between them, Dovestones Edge, Quarries, The Ravenstones and the weirdly-sculpted Wimberry Rocks have over 500 recognised climbs; some may be little more than scrambles, while right next door you may find some of the hardest test-pieces around.
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A little further north, Blackstone Edge has some pleasant climbs in the lower grades and is a beautiful place to be on a sunny evening. If you’ve never sampled the rough delights of gritstone climbing, there are plenty of guides and activity centres who can give you a safe introduction; the classified section of ukclimbing.com is a good place to find them, while the BMC website thebmc.co.uk can quickly guide you to climbing clubs. Or you can get a taste of climbing in warm, dry surroundings at an indoor centre like Climb Rochdale or the Manchester Climbing Centre; occupying a converted church, this is one of the largest indoor walls in Europe. These are also good places to track down guides and instructors for outdoor climbing.
Where there’s a wheel Climbing isn’t the only sport that has its centre of gravity in Manchester. The city is famously at the heart of the British cycling revival, but it’s not just about the now hallowed track of the city’s Velodrome (HQ for British Cycling). Even track stars like Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton use the
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roads for some of their training – and Tour de France stars like Bradley Wiggins hammer out thousands of training miles in the Pennines and Peak District. If your ambitions are more modest, or you’d just prefer to avoid the traffic, there are quiet lanes and traffic-free routes on canal towpaths and through country parks. CycleGM cyclegm.org has detailed maps for download, or to order in good old-fashioned paper form, as well as an interactive route planner. The Trans Pennine Trail transpenninetrail.org.uk also passes through Greater Manchester, making great use of old rail lines and towpaths as it climbs gently into Derbyshire on its way across the backbone of England. There’s plenty of the rougher kind of biking too. Greater Manchester includes a fine section of the Pennine Bridleway; a couple of loops based on this are the 11-mile Diggle Jiggle or the Lake to Lake loop (10- or 20mile versions based on Hollingworth Lake or Walsden). These aren’t outrageous but they are proper mountain biking: several sections that will rapidly expose the limitations of the £99 ‘supermarket special’. Fortunately Manchester has a terrific selection of real
bike shops. Of course, even the best bike demands some skill from the rider; again, there are numerous activity centres and instructors who’ll help get you started. Ask around in a good bike shop or try Googling. One instructor we’d recommend is mountainbikeinstruction.co.uk, usually working out of Rivington, a few turns of the pedal over the Lancashire border.
Ride on The Trans Pennine Trail isn’t just for bikes, of course; most of it is also open to horseriders. In the west, circling around Altrincham and Sale, it’s pretty rural and a good place for some easy hacking. The riding centre founded by International show-jumper John Shaw, in Urmston, has easy access to the Trail, and Ashton Hall Eques-trian Centre is also nearby. The Pennine Bridleway is also very much aimed at horse riders, but it’s steeper and rougher, calling for more experience form both horse and rider. The best source of information about riding schools, clubs and livery yards is The British Horse Society, bhs.org.uk
Water of life We have to admit it; Manchester has a bit of a reputation for rain. It’s not entirely fair – there are plenty of wetter places – but yes, the region does get its share of precipitation. But that’s not all bad, especially if your idea of fun involves getting wet anyway. The reservoirs dotted amongst the hills don't just keep Manchester hydrated, they also provide endless opportunities to play on, in and around the water. Top sites for sailing and/or windsurfing include Watergrove Reservoir, Hollingworth Lake and Dove Stone Reservoir. Water-grove is home to the West Pennine Sailboard Club, which welcomes day visitors. Dove Stone – overlooked by some of the aforementioned climbing crags – is mainly a dinghy sailing centre and has regular training days. Pride of place, though, goes to Hollingworth Lake tinyurl.com/ao27tq, recognised by the Royal Yachting Association, among others, as the premier provider in the North West of England. There are Taster sessions on alternate Saturday afternoons (a bargain at just £10) and Open Nights on Thursdays through the summer. As well as sailing and windsurfing, the centre provides courses in kayaking, mountain biking and rock climbing; Blackstone Edge is on the horizon and there’s a handy indoor climbing wall when the weather isn’t so favourable. All in all, Hollingworth Lake is the closest thing to a ‘one-stop shop’ for outdoor sports in Greater Manchester. If it’s falling water rather than flat that floats your boat, you might want to look further afield. Kayakers should check out Burrs Country Park near Bury, burrs.org.uk/park, where the River Irwell has been adapted to make a great training ground. Experienced paddlers can have plenty of hectic fun on the Irwell, from Ramsbottom down to Burrs. Manchester’s other prime river is the Goyt, tumbling down from the Peak District to Stockport. Here it meets the Tame to form the Mersey; there’s more potential paddling here but it doesn’t have the clear, clean water of the Goyt.
For more information about what there is to see and do in Manchester's Countryside, including details of the walks, trails and cycling guides that are available, check out: manchesterscountryside.com
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What’s On: Sport
Barclays Premier League 2011 – 2012 Season Football is very much part of Manchester’s DNA. Top flight representation includes Bolton, Manchester City, Manchester United and Wigan Athletic, who battle it out each week with their peers in the Barclays Premier League. premierleague.com
TNA Maximum Impact IV 27 January 2012 MEN Arena Wrestling legends Sting and Kurt Angle head up the roster of stars from TNA's flagship television programme Impact Wrestling. TNA World Heavyweight Champion Sting will be making his first wrestling appearance in the UK for almost a decade alongside Olympic Gold Medallist Kurt Angle. Also starring at the Manchester event will be "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles, "Samoan Submission Machine" Samoa Joe, TNA Knockout Velvet Sky, Mr. Anderson, Matt Morgan, Bully Ray, Mexican American and many more to be confirmed over the coming months. men-arena.com
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National Badminton Championships 2012 3 – 5 February 2012 The National Cycling Centre Watch the cream of England’s badminton talent competing for the title of National Champion, where emerging players will take on the elite stars. They are not only competing for the coveted National titles but will also be preparing for the European Championships which will take place in Sweden in April 2012. nationalcyclingcentre.com
Greater Manchester Marathon 29 April 2012 Manchester is hosting its first full marathon in a decade - five thousand runners are expected to take part. The 26.2 mile (42km) route will take competitors past Old Trafford cricket and football grounds and Dunham Park. The city's last marathon was held in 2002 and with the success of the 10km Great Manchester Run, advanced runners now can endure a bigger challenge. greatermanchestermarathon.com
Bupa Great Manchester Run 20 May 2012 The Bupa Great Manchester Run is Britain’s premier 10k and was first staged in 2003. As thousands of runners take to the course, spectators can enjoy the action on a number of large screens located around the city centre. greatrun.org
Olympic Games 2012 26 July - 7 August 2012 Old Trafford Football will be a major feature of the 2012 Olympic Games programme. Manchester is hosting games for the men's and women's football event at one of the most famous football grounds in the world, Manchester United Football Club, the ‘Theatre of Dreams’. Beginning with preliminarily matches and ending with a knockout phase, the competition will offer all the drama that fans have come to expect from major international tournaments. london2012.com
OLD TRAFFORD THEATRE OF DREAMS
THE STAGE IS SET FOR YOUR DREAM DAY THE OLD TRAFFORD EXPERIENCE: MUSEUM ENTRY/STADIUM TOUR/RED CAFÉ MEAL
ADULTS £20 JUNIORS £15 48 hour booking notice recommended
Do the Old Trafford treble and get even better value from the greatest stadium in the world today. Tickets include museum entry, stadium tour and a meal at the Red Café – all from just £15. To book your experience
call: 0161 868 8000 email: toursenquiry@manutd.co.uk for more info visit: manutd.com/museum
Image: Lyme Park, Cheshire
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Time to unwind The National Trust is Europe’s largest conservation charity. It cares for places ‘of historic interest and natural beauty for the benefit of the nation’ across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, protecting over 350 historic houses, 160 gardens, 1,100 kilometres of coastline, 254,000 hectares of land of outstanding natural beauty, six World Heritage Sites, 28 castles and 60 pubs.The Trust has around 3.8m members and 61,000 volunteers. On the pages that follow we have handpicked four of the National Trust’s finest properties across the North West incorporating Cheshire, Merseyside, Lancashire and Cumbria.
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© NT/Stephen Robson
Lyme Park, Cheshire Lyme Park sits proudly on the edge of the Peak District National Park surrounded by sweeping moorland and with stunning views across the Cheshire Plain. The house was lived in for more than 500 years by the Legh family before coming into the care of the National Trust in 1947. It sits in the middle of a 1,400 acre medieval deer park which is home to almost 450 red and fallow deer. Its wild remoteness and powerful beauty contrast with its on-screen persona as ‘Pemberley’ - the backdrop to where Mr Darcy meets Elizabeth Bennett in the 1995 BBC TV production of ‘Pride & Prejudice’. In the real world, Lyme has had just as colourful a history. Mary, Queen of Scots is said to have visited the house on her way to take the waters at Buxton for her rheumatism in the 16th century. Visitors to the house and gardens can also discover Lyme’s connections to rescuing the Black Prince, sailing into exile with the Duke of Windsor and the writing of the hit series 'Upstairs Downstairs'.
The library at Lyme is also home to one of the most treasured books in the National Trust collection – the Lyme Caxton Missal. The only surviving example of the earliest known edition of the prayer book used in the pre-Reformation English Mass, the Missal was printed by William Caxton. For younger visitors, the outdoors beckons in the shape of Crow Wood Playscape. The Playscape is somewhere for kids to really let their hair down and have a wonderful time exploring the outdoors through specially designed play features set in the natural woodland landscape: from a huge badger set and giant slide, to an enormous tree house, interconnecting timber and rope walkways and tree trunk climbing.
© Emma Williams
Meanwhile, Lyme’s 17 acre (6.8 hectare) garden offers peace and tranquillity – the glorious Rose Garden lasting well into autumn, and the delightful Orangery a wonderful spot to sit, relax and enjoy the view. For more information about Lyme Park: nationaltrust.org.uk/lymepark
© Emma Williams
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‘Mendips’ and 20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool A combined tour to Mendips and 20 Forthlin Road, the childhood homes of John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney, is your only opportunity to see inside the houses where The Beatles met, composed and rehearsed many of their earliest songs. A visit provides a fascinating trip down memory lane in these two atmospheric period houses, so typical of Liverpool life in the 1950s. John Lennon lived at Mendips with his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George and it was here where his passion for music began. Step inside the bedroom where John did some of
his dreaming and wrote some of The Beatles’ earliest hits – or listen to a lodger’s reminiscences about life with the young Lennon as he grew up, with fascinating insights into everyday life at Mendips.
For more information: nationaltrust.org.uk/beatles
At 20 Forthlin Road you can see a wonderful display of family photographs taken by Mike McCartney, Paul’s brother. Step inside Paul’s bedroom, wander in to the tiny kitchen and her tales of how he and John rehearsed their songs at Forthlin Road and in the porch at Mendips! Access to ‘Mendips’ and 20 Forthlin Road is by minibus and guided tour only.
Image: 20 Forthlin Road, Allerton, childhood home of Sir Paul McCartney.
© NT/Robert Thrift
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© NT/Matthew Antrobus
Rufford Old Hall, Lancashire Rufford Old Hall, one of Lancashire’s finest 16th century houses, has been in the care of the National Trust for 75 years. Rufford was the home of the Hesketh family for 500 years before being given to the Trust in 1936. The glorious Great Hall is reputedly where a young William Shakespeare performed for Sir Thomas Hesketh. Along with enjoying Rufford’s wonderful collections of furniture, arms, armour and tapestries, you can also experience the dining-room as the Hesketh family would have known it and where they entertained their guests. The table is laden with food and candles are lit. In 1920 the Ladies’ Morning Room became the study of Thomas Fermor-Hesketh who would have carried out his daily business here, including his financial investments in the city and the day to day running of the estate. You can sit at his desk, look out over the lawns, read 1920’s newspapers or even
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write a letter on headed note paper featuring the Hesketh coat of arms. Also in the room is the desk of Canon Rawnsley, one of the founding father’s of the National Trust when the organisation came into being in 1895. The Victorian and Edwardian-style garden is only 20 feet (six metres) above sea level which makes it one of the lowest lying National Trust gardens in England. From summer through until autumn the splendid pink Japanese hydrangea vine, ‘Hydrangeoides Rosum’ contrasts with the tall elegant Yellow Ox-Eye, shilt September sees the flame red Crocosima ‘Lucifer’ and the golden day lily Hemerocallis ‘Lady Fermor-Hesketh’ come into flower. You can also enjoy woodland and canal side walks or wander through the topiary and sculpture scattered through the gardens.
For more information: nationaltrust.org.uk/ruffordoldhall
© NT/Andreas von Einseidel
Hill Top and the Beatrix Potter Gallery, Cumbria Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's cottage is where you can discover the real Miss Potter as you visit her delightful small farmhouse, filled with her treasures and favourite things. A time capsule of this amazing woman's life, you'll see where she drew inspiration for many of her children's tales and charming watercolour illustrations. You're sure to recognise the garden where Tom Kitten and his sisters played and where Jemima Puddleduck layed her egg! As you explore the cottage too, you'll find a reference to a picture from one of her Tales in each room - which is your favourite? Please note that to protect the small cottage's fragile interior, there is a timed ticket entry system in operation.
Over at the Beatrix Potter Gallery in Hawkshead you can celebrate the centenary of 'The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes'. Admire some of Beatrix's specially selected and rarely seen original artwork as you explore this charming 17th century building. It used to be the home of the solicitor's office owned by William Heelis, Beatrix's husband. For more information: nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-beatrix_potter For more information about all of the National Trust’s places and spaces across the North West visit: nationaltrust.org.uk
Hill Top: © NT/Stephen Robson
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Book your accommodation online at visitmanchester.com Alternatively, call in and speak to a member of the team... Manchester Visitor Information Centre Piccadilly Plaza, Portland Street, Manchester, M1 4AJ Monday - Saturday: 9.30am - 5.30pm Sunday: 10.30am - 4.30pm Tel: +44 (0)871 222 8223 Email: touristinformation@visitmanchester.com
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‘I am only interested in creating hotels in those locations where I would like to stay myself. ABode should be in the very heart of a city or town, the place where things are happening. Life is too short to be on the periphery.” Andrew Brownsword, owner of ABode Hotels
ABode is a growing group of exclusive luxury hotels and restaurants that include city locations such as Exeter, Chester, Canterbury, Glasgow and Manchester. Each encompass the best of the world of fine dining from top Devon chef Michael Caines MBE and affordable luxury from entrepreneur Andrew Brownsword. Celebrated hotelier Andrew Brownsword, joined forces with Michael Caines to create ABode Hotels, the two men were able to combine their unique and considerable skills and vision to bring to the fore a concept of all-encompassing modern hospitality that combines understated British style and modern comfort with great food and drink at all levels. With the spotlight on the North West, Abode certainly has made a impact on the area by combining Michael Caines distinctive style of cuisine with luxurious four star accommodation in both Manchester & Chester.
ABode Manchester ABode Manchester is ideally located in the very heart of the city, just minutes from bustling Piccadilly. The Grade II listed hotel retains the period character of a Victorian cotton merchant’s wholesale warehouse. The building, completed in 1898, was designed to impress, with its stylish and decorative front and its splendid walnut staircase with detailed tile and wrought iron work. There are 61 bedrooms, rated Comfortable, Desirable, Enviable and Fabulous. The striking contemporary design of ABode Manchester combines with our belief in traditional British style and comfort. ABode Manchester rooms offer all the features that make a night unforgettable, including a luxurious Vi-Spring bed which will
give you the best night’s sleep ever. Other ABode features include air-conditioning; secondary glazing; LCD TV & DVD players; in-room safe; hospitality tray with complimentary tea & coffee making facilities; bespoke toiletries; a tuck box with regional food and drink and complimentary Wi-Fi throughout. The five Fabulous suites are located on the fifth floor and are truly stunning. The Michael Caines Restaurant at ABode Manchester has established itself as one of Manchester’s most exciting dining destinations. Just minutes from bustling Piccadilly, the Restaurant and Champagne Bar are located in an atmospheric lower level dining room that is stylish and discreet. ABode Manchester’s Executive Chef is Mark Rossi. Mark knows Michael and his distinctive style of cuisine well, having worked previously under the maestro at Gidleigh Park, and as Executive Chef at the Michael Caines Restaurant at ABode Canterbury. In Manchester, Mark is enjoying making use of the best local and regional produce and ingredients from Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire and surrounds. For a more casual dining experience the MC Café Bar & Grill located on the ground floor and offers a chic yet casual place for light bites, power breakfasts, stylish evening meals and afternoon tea. Set in a former Victorian warehouse, the café oozes character with a crisp contemporary twist with the added attraction of outside seating within Stylish Piccadilly.
Let us set your soul on fire with the ultimate ABode dinner, room and breakfast package Stay with us in either a beautiful Enviable bedroom or, for complete luxury, in a truly Fabulous suite, complete with flowers on arrival. That evening, enjoy a pre-dinner glass of MC Champagne, and then settle down to luxuriate over a 7-course Michael Caines Tasting Menu (or 3-courses from the à la carte menu if you prefer). Wake up totally refreshed and enjoy a full regional English breakfast. A very special ABode stay that allows you to experience Michael Caines dining of the highest order. Guaranteed to set your soul on fire. Enviable £329 per room based on 2 sharing (Sat night £70.00 supplement) or Fabulous Suite £380 per suite based on 2 sharing (Sat night £70.00 supplement) Offer is subject to availability.
Why not come and experience the Abode Manchester for yourself. Quote MCR 8 to receive a 10% discount of our best available rate. Subject to availability. Please call reservations on 01244 347000.
107 Piccadilly Manchester M1 2DB T: 0161 247 7744 www.michaelcaines.com www.abodehotels.co.uk
Manchester VISIT
WITH BRITANNIA HOTELS
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Britannia Hotels Value for Money Manchester is bursting with events for everyone. From live music and sports through to art and theatre, you'll find it all here. Britannia has 8 Hotels in the Greater Manchester area with over 1500 Bedrooms on offer at value for money... The Britannia Manchester Hotel
The Britannia Stockport Hotel
Offers good value accommodation in a fantastic city centre location. All 363 bedrooms are comfortable and tastefully furnished with modern facilities. Portland Street, Manchester, M1 3LA. Tel: 0871 222 0017 Email: res704@britanniahotels.com
The hotel situated in a quiet residential district close to Stockport's bustling town centre with its wide range of shops and entertainment. Dialstone Lane, Offerton, Stockport, SK2 6AG. Tel: 0871 222 0014 Email: res702@britanniahotels.com
The Britannia Sachas Hotel
The Britannia Ashley Hotel
A warm and friendly atmosphere awaits at Sachas Hotel, Manchester. Its superb city centre location makes it the perfect base for exploring Manchester. Tib Street , Piccadilly, Manchester, M4 1SH. Tel: 0871 222 0018 Email: res705@britanniahotels.com
The Britannia Ashley Hotel is located in the peaceful village of Hale, Cheshire overlooking the local Bowling Green. Ashley Road, Hale, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA15 9SF. Tel: 0871 222 0013 Email: res701@britanniahotels.com
The Britannia Country House Hotel
The Britannia Bolton Hotel
The Hotel is located in the Didsbury area of South Manchester, next to a superb 18 hole golf course. Palatine Road, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 2WG Tel: 0871 222 0016 Email: res703@britanniahotels.com
The Hotel is situated close to the M61 motorway, yet far enough away to ensure a peaceful nights' sleep. This Bolton Hotel offers fantastic countryside views over the Rivington Pike. Beaumont Road, Bolton, Greater Manchester, BL3 4TA. Tel: 0871 222 0024 Email: res731@britanniahotels.com
The Britannia Airport Hotel This modern hotel has easy access to the motorway systems North, South, East and West. Manchester Airport is only 3 miles away and a shuttle bus operates 24 hours a day. Palatine Road, Northenden, Manchester, M22 4FH. Tel: 0871 222 0019 Email: res720@britanniahotels.com Calls to our 0871 numbers cost 10p per minute from BT landlines, other carriers and mobile networks may vary.
The Britannia Wigan Hotel The attractive Britannia Wigan is a modern hotel surrounded by lush greenery, located just off the M6 between Liverpool and Manchester. Almond Brook Road, Standish, Wigan,Greater Manchester, WN6 0SR. Tel: 0871 222 0026 Email: res723@britanniahotels.com
Visit our website for fantastic value for money offers throughout the year at: www.britanniahotels.com
The leading 5 star hotel in the north west The Lowry Hotel offers 165 bedrooms, six suites and the Charles Forte Presidential Suite. The hotel is contemporary, luxurious and comfortable. The River Restaurant offers a Modern British menu whilst the River Bar and Library offer a modern, light menu throughout the day. The luxurious Lowry Spa, offers a range of treatments from Carita and Elemis, a gym, sauna and relaxation lounges. Room rates from ÂŁ169 including breakfast. Special menus from ÂŁ19.50 per person for 3 courses from our daily menu. To make a booking, call us on 0161 827 4000
The Lowry Hotel
50 Dearmans Place, Chapel Wharf, Salford, Manchester, M3 5LH Telephone +44 (0) 161 827 4000 Fax +44 (0) 161 827 4001 enquiries.lowry@roccofortehotels.com www.roccofortehotels.com
Show us a hotel room that comes with its own cheese grater.
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What’s On: Out of Town
Tatton Park Scarecrow Festival
The Rise and Fall of Little Voice
Wonderful Town
11 - 19 February 2012 Tatton Park, Knutsford, Cheshire
31 May - 23 June 2012 Octagon Theatre, Bolton
31 March - 14 April 2012 The Lowry, The Quays, Salford
Visit Tatton's Scarecrow Festival in the Gardens and at the Farm this spring halfterm. Over 30 scarecrows will be resident in the Gardens. Find the farmyard scarecrows and have a go at making your own. tattonpark.org.uk
Little Voice sits alone in the attic room of her terrace house, avoiding the attentions of her loud mouthed mother, Mari. LV’s only means of escape is through her father’s old vinyl collection – especially the great divas: Bassey, Garland, Springfield and Holiday. But LV has a special gift: when the records stop playing the music miraculously continues, as she produces stunning impersonations of all of her favourite stars. This hilarious, moving and heartwarming story is backed up by a live band of multi-talented actor/musicians. octagonbolton.co.uk
For the first time ever The Royal Exchange Theatre, The Hallé Orchestra and The Lowry will combine their artistic forces and present this remarkable fully staged, brilliantly choreographed production of the legendary composer Leonard Bernstein’s musical comedy, Wonderful Town. Connie Fisher, star of The Sound of Music and winner of the BBC’s How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?, plays aspiring writer Ruth Sherwood who arrives in New York with her beautiful younger sister Eileen. The indomitable pair meet an array of colourful characters along the way, creating chaos at every turn in their search for romance, success and a free meal at Walgreens deli. thelowry.com
Taking Steps 16 February – 10 March 2012 Oldham Coliseum Theatre, Oldham Elizabeth is taking steps to leave her husband. Her husband is taking steps to buy a house for them to live in. Mark is taking steps to marry his fiancé, a woman recently arrested for soliciting. Taking Steps follows this mismatch of people over the course of an evening, as confusion and hilarity ensues. coliseum.org.uk
Ramsbottom Chocolate Festival April 2012 Ramsbottom After the success of last year's Chocolate Festival the event is back for 2012 and promises to be even bigger and better than before. Celebrating everything that is great about chocolate, the festival will bring together some of the best chocolate produce and producers around. chocfest.wordpress.com
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Transport Information Manchester is one of the most accessible cities in the UK thanks to its location and connection to the nationwide transport network. Once you arrive in the city, you will have no problems getting around thanks to a fleet of buses, trains and trams.
Buses
Trains
Buses are a great way to see both the city centre and the wider city-region. A comprehensive network of buses offer frequent services to many destinations. In the city centre you can make use of the free Metroshuttle buses which link to all the main rail stations, shopping districts and businesses in the city centre. tfgm.com
There are four main stations in the city centre: Deansgate, Piccadilly, Oxford Road and Victoria. Piccadilly welcomes the majority of visitors and is the main arrival point in the city for those flying into Manchester Airport or travelling up from London. nationalrail.co.uk
Trams Manchester’s tram network – the Metrolink is one of the most successful light rail systems in the UK, carrying nearly 20 million passengers every year. With services roughly every five minutes, Metrolink is the perfect mode of transport for those who don’t require a strict timetable. Don’t forget to purchase your ticket from the machine at the platform before you board. metrolink.co.uk
Travelling further afield? If your travels take you to another UK city, National Express operates from the modern Chorlton Street Coach Station. nationalexpress.com Virgin Trains run a maximum of three trains per hour to London Euston from Manchester Piccadilly, whilst Cross Country Trains and TransPennine Express offer frequent rail services to a number of major UK cities. virgintrains.co.uk crosscountrytrains.co.uk tpexpress.co.uk
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City centre map approx. 20 & 10 minutes by Metrolink from Victoria
Northern Qu
Central Reta
Chinatown
Spinningfie
Petersfield
Manchester City Centre Welcome! Manchester’s compact city centre contains lots to do in a small space. To help, we’ve colour coded the city. Explore and enjoy!
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Central Retail District Featuring the biggest names in fashion, including high street favourites.
Chinatown Made up of oriental businesses including Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Korean restaurants.
Piccadilly The main gateway into Manchester, with Piccadilly train station and Piccadilly Gardens.
The Gay Village Unique atmosphere with restaurants, bars and clubs around vibrant Canal Street.
Petersfield Manchester Central Convention Complex, The Bridgewater Hall and Great Northern.
Northern Quarter Manchester’s creative, urban heart with independent fashion stores, record shops and cafés.
Castlefield The place to escape from the hustle and bustle of city life with waterside pubs and bars.
Spinningfields A newly developed quarter combining retail, leisure, business and public spaces.
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Oxford Road Home to the city’s two universities and a host of cultural attractions.
Greater Manchester map From the cities of Manchester and Salford to the market towns of Bolton and Bury; and from the rural delights of Oldham and Rochdale to the metropolitan boroughs of Tameside, Traord and Wigan, Greater Manchester has it all.
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Manchester Airport Manchester Airport prides itself on being the friendly northern airport. It is the largest regional airport and the busiest outside of London. With over 19,000 members of staff, two runways and three terminals it handles over 18 million passengers every year. With several high profile announcements from airlines recently, Manchester is now connected to more than 190 destinations by 60 airlines, meaning you can get to anywhere in the world in one stop or non-stop.
To give your trip a good send off, there has even been the addition to T1 of the Epernay Champagne bar. With one of the largest champagne lists in the country, you will be guaranteed to find a Champagne you love.
At Manchester Airport there is plenty to do whilst you wait to catch your flight. From keeping up with your business, relaxing before you board or making the most of the many shops, bars and restaurants, the airport has it all.
If you are travelling with youngsters there are now two new free soft play areas, one located in Terminal 1 and one in Terminal 2. These were designed by members of Airport staff, as being parents themselves they knew how difficult it is to keep children entertained and also to get out some of their built up excitement before a long flight! The funky bright play areas have proved to be a real hit with the younger flyers and take the stress away for Mum and Dad.
For those who are looking for somewhere to work in peace and quiet, or simply get your holiday started in style, the Escape Lounges in Terminals 1 and 2 are ideal. With an on-site chef you can enjoy freshly made food, book a private meeting room or you and the children can play on the Wii, Playstation 3 or on the giant Scalextric racetrack in T1. Other hidden gems in the terminals include an on-site spa and a personal shopping service where you can sit back and relax whilst a member of the store goes off with your shopping list.
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If you are travelling with a child who is on the Autistic spectrum there is a free guide called ‘Airport Awareness’ that explains the process of going through the airport which can be downloaded from the airport website.
We all know how important it is to be up to speed with all the latest news and information. This is why Manchester Airport has installed Wi-Fi in all three terminals. This is free for up to 30 minutes and means you are never left out of the loop again, whether it is for business or fun. If you have an internet-enabled mobile phone you can download the Manchester Airport app. This is a one-stop guide to the whole airport with live flight information, terminal guides, maps and more – and it’s completely free. So whether you are travelling for business or pleasure, Manchester Airport has everything to ensure your journey is made easy. For more information of the many airlines that fly into Manchester, visit: manchesterairport.co.uk or speak to them via Twitter: @manairport
Manchester Airport Scheduled Flights Aberdeen (ABZ) Abu Dhabi (AUH) Agadir (AGA) Alicante (ALC) Almeria (LEI) Amsterdam (AMS) Antalya (AYT) Antwerp (ANR) Athens (ATH) Atlanta (ATL) Banjul (BJL) Barcelona (BCN) Basel (BSL) Beauvais (BVA) Belfast City Airport (BHD) Belfast International Airport (BFS) Bergamo (BGY) Berlin (SXF) Bilbao (BIO) Billund (BLL) Boa Vista (BVC) Bremen (BRE) Bridgetown, Barbados (BGI) Brussels (BRU) Budapest (BUD) Calgary (YYC) Cancun (CUN) Chambery (CMF) Chicago (ORD) Cologne (CGN) Copenhagen (CPH) Cork (ORK) Dalaman (DLM) Doha (DOH) Dubai (DXB) Dublin (DUB) Dubrovnik (DBV) Dusseldorf (DUS) Edinburgh (EDI) Enfidha (NBE) Exeter (EXT) Faro (FAO) Fiumicino (Leonardo Da Vinci) (FCO) Frankfurt (FRA) Fuerteventura (FUE) Funchal (FNC) Galway (GWY) Geneva (GVA) Gibraltar (GIB) Girona (GRO) Glasgow (GLA) Goa (GOI) Gothenburg (GOT) Gran Canaria (LPA) Grenoble (GNB) Guernsey (GCI) Hamburg (HAM) Hanover (HAJ) Helsinki (HEL) Heraklion (HER) Holguin (HOG) Hurghada (HRG) Innsbruck (INN) Inverness (INV) Islamabad (ISB) Isle of Man (IOM) Istanbul (IST) Ivalo (IVL) Jardines del Rey Airport (CCC) Jersey (JER)
bmi, Flybe Etihad Airways First Choice, Thomson easyJet, First Choice, Jet2, Monarch Airlines, Ryanair, Thomas Cook, Thomson Monarch Airlines easyJet, KLM First Choice, Monarch Airlines, Thomas Cook, Thomson Air France easyJet, Viking Hellas Airlines Delta Air Lines Airtours, Thomas Cook Jet2, Monarch Airlines SWISS Ryanair bmibaby, Flybe easyJet Ryanair easyJet easyJet British Airways First Choice, Thomas Cook, Thomson Ryanair Thomson, Virgin Atlantic Airways Brussels Airlines, Flybe Jet2 Air Transat, Thomas Cook Airlines Thomas Cook, Thomson Jet2 American Airlines Germanwings easyJet, SAS Aer Lingus Thomas Cook, Thomson Qatar Airways Emirates Aer Lingus, Ryanair Jet2 Flybe, Lufthansa bmi, Flybe First Choice, Thomas Cook, Thomson Flybe First Choice, Jet2, Monarch Airlines, Ryanair, Thomson Jet2 Lufthansa First Choice, Monarch Airlines, Thomas Cook, Thomson First Choice, Jet2, Thomas Cook, Thomson Aer Arann easyJet, Jet2, Thomas Cook Monarch Airlines Ryanair Flybe First Choice, Thomas Cook, Thomson City Airline, easyJet First Choice, Monarch Airlines, Thomas Cook, Thomson Thomas Cook Aurigny Air Services easyJet, Lufthansa Flybe Finnair easyJet, First Choice, Thomson First Choice, Thomas Cook First Choice, Thomas Cook, Thomson Thomas Cook Flybe Airblue, Pakistan International Airlines Flybe Turkish Airlines First Choice, Thomson Thomas Cook Flybe
Katowice (KTW) Kerry (KIR) Kittila (KTT) Knock (NOC) La Palma (SPC) Lahore (LHE) Lanzarote (ACE) Larnaca (LCA) Las Vegas (LAS) Lisbon (LIS) London Gatwick (LGW) London Heathrow (LHR) Luxor (LXR) Lyon (LYS) Madrid (MAD) Mahon, Menorca (MAH) Malaga (AGP) Ryanair, Male (MLE) Malta (MLA) Marrakech (RAK) Marsa Alam (RMF) Memmingen (near Munich) (FMM) Milan Malpensa (MXP) Monastir (MIR) Montego Bay (MBJ) Munich (MUC) Murcia (MJV) Nantes (NTE) Naples (NAP) New York JFK (JFK) New York Newark (EWR) Newquay (NQY) Norwich (NWI) Orlando International (MCO) Orlando Sanford International (SFB) Oslo (OSL) Ostersund (OSD) Palma, Majorca (PMI) Paphos (PFO) Philadelphia (PHL) Prague (PRG) Puerto Plata (POP) Punta Cana (PUJ) Reykjavik (KEF) Rhodes (RHO) Rzeszow (RZE) Sal (SID) Salzburg (SZG) Santa Clara Airport (SNU) Shannon (SNN) Sharm el Sheikh (SSH) Singapore (SIN) Sofia (SOF) Southampton (SOU) Stockholm (ARN) Stuttgart (STR) Taba (TCP) Tel Aviv (TLV) Tenerife (TFS) Toronto (YYZ) Turin (TRN) Vancouver (YVR) Varadero (VRA) Venice (VCE) Waterford (WAT) Zurich (ZRH)
Ryanair Aer Arann First Choice, Thomas Cook, Thomson Flybe First Choice, Thomson Pakistan International Airlines First Choice, Jet2, Monarch Airlines, Thomas Cook, Thomson Cyprus Airways, First Choice, Monarch Airlines, Thomson Thomas Cook TAP-Portugal British Airways bmi, British Airways First Choice, Thomas Cook, Thomson bmi easyJet, Iberia, Ryanair Monarch Airlines easyJet, First Choice, Jet2, Monarch Airlines Thomas Cook, Thomson First Choice, Thomson Air Malta, easyJet, First Choice, Thomas Cook, Thomson easyJet, First Choice, Thomson Thomas Cook Ryanair Flybe Tunisair First Choice, Thomson easyJet, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines Jet2 Flybe First Choice, Thomson American Airlines Continental Airlines Flybe Flybe US Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways First Choice, Thomas Cook, Thomson Norwegian Air Shuttle, SAS Thomas Cook easyJet, First Choice, Jet2, Monarch Airlines, Thomson easyJet, First Choice, Jet2, Thomas Cook, Thomson US Airways Jet2 First Choice, Thomas Cook, Thomson First Choice, Thomas Cook, Thomson Icelandair First Choice, Thomson Ryanair First Choice, Thomson Jet2, Thomas Cook Thomas Cook Aer Lingus easyJet, First Choice, Monarch Airlines, Thomas Cook, Thomson Singapore Airlines easyJet Flybe SAS Lufthansa First Choice, Thomson Jet2 easyJet, First Choice, Jet2, Monarch Airlines, Ryanair, Thomas Cook, Thomson Air Transat Thomas Cook Thomas Cook First Choice, Thomas Cook, Thomson Jet2 Aer Arann easyJet, SWISS
Flight schedule correct at time of going to print.
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The last word I don’t twitter or tweet, I don’t blog and I’m an antisocial networker with no facebook or facebook friends to speak of. It’s not that I’m Norman No-Mates, nor am I a technophobe, it’s just that I happen to think that private is the new public, just like Thursday became the new Friday and brown became the new black. I’m slightly worried that twaddiction may lead to some evolutionary ambnormalities: the development of the third hand at belly level - the twand perhaps? Allowing us to tweet our every move, leaving our oldfashioned hands free to do something more useful. Or even a twumb, a super-fast, super-digit that types silently at the speed of sound? John Cooper Clarke’s haiku highlights another reason I’m no fan – “To convey one’s mood in seventeen syllables is very diffic”. Now seventeen syllables is a lot less than 140 characters and I’m all for brevity, but the compression of communication into truncated transmissions to your faithful followers is not a game that I want to play. The twaiku though, might be something that would engage me. So might the bleet – Visit Manchester’s Paul Simpson’s witty conflation of the blog and the tweet – opinion distilled into 140 characters or less: a plaintive cry.
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The darker side of the twittersphere came alive whilst I was on holiday and my hometown became the unwitting focus of CNN’s reportage of the riots in the UK. The focus on Manchester was perhaps disproportionate, given that it was London that was burning, but collective antisocial action through social media networks is a consequence not of social media but sediments of inappropriate behaviour from all strands of society over the last 18 months. Manchester’s resilience should not be underestimated though, nor should the Marketing Manchester team whose riposte was swift, simple and effective. This is the city after all that hosted the largest peacetime bomb in history and has ‘previous’ on never letting a crisis go to waste. I ‘heart’ MCR may be the provenance of Milton Glaser’s New York, but it fits Manchester well and judging by the level of support and friends it has on facebook, it has a lot of fans, Señor Tevez excepted. And whilst we implore people to show their love for Manchester, it’s always nice when affection is reciprocated. As we saw, as the campaign matured, the proposition that Manchester Loves You. That’s five syllables or eighteen characters, whichever you prefer. Too short for a haiku? Too short for a tweet? Maybe it’s a bleet? Nick Johnson Chairman of Marketing Manchester and regional representative of CABE - the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.
The city’s most famous façade is also its finest hotel
In Manchester’s most celebrated building, the historic Free Trade Hall, stylish spaces create a mood of understated luxury. England’s Nor th West Tourist Awards 2010 - Winner for Best Large Nor th West Hotel
Radisson Edwardian Manchester +++++ Free Trade Hall, Peter Street, Manchester M2 5GP t: +44 (0) 161 835 9929 e: resmanc@radisson.com
radissonedwardian.com/manchester Best online rate guaranteed