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Bad news sells. Good news inspires February 2015
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MANCHESTER ‘TOP PLACE TO VISIT IN 2015’
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recent guide from the New York Times has confirmed what we all knew already; Manchester is one of the best cities in the world. The guide ranks 52 cities worldwide in order of recommendation and is seen by readers in the US as a definitive guide to the must-see parts of the world. Claiming top spot is Milan, Italy, while Manchester came in at 26, the only British city to make the cut. The list may have raised a few eyebrows, but for years people from all over the world have chosen Manchester to come to visit, live, work and study. While credit can go to the Council this PR coup, the city is the attraction it is today because of its strong communities Manchester has drawn and maintained strong Irish, Asian, Afro-Caribbean and LGBT communities and it is they that provide the colour beneath the often grey skies. These communities have
brought us our famous St Patrick’s Day celebrations, the neon lights of the Curry Mile and with it great excitement around Eid and Ramadan. Let’s not forget Chinatown and the fantastic displays on Chinese New Year. We take pride in a bustling West Indian community, traditionally centred around Hulme and Moss Side, that last year gave us two Caribbean Carnivals and the city has long been a proud home to a large LGBT community with our very own Mardi Gras – now Pride festival – approaching its 25th anniversary. Then of course there is the hugely successful and acclaimed Manchester International Festival and one of the busiest Christmas Markets in the world. Manchester is seen as the first modern city – being the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution – and has since seen its universities, schools and colleges become leading educational institutions. Manchester was the home
of Enigma code-breaker Alan Turing, who you can thank for the modern computer age and more recently, the city’s pioneering of ‘wonder-material’ graphene, to be boosted by a new facility at the University of Manchester. Add to that the city’s top museums and art galleries, including the Museum of Science and Industry and the Imperial War Museum North and, as mentioned in the NYT article, the soon to be refurbished Whitworth Art Gallery. Parts of the city itself are living museums of the birth of the modern world, like the canals and waterways around Castlefield, not to mention John Rylands Library – a video of which features on the NYT listing – and Central Library. Culture is a big part of the city and current hubs like the Cornerhouse on Oxford Street provide a credible setting for some truly world class homes of film, theatre and performance.
Visitors arrive in their thousands from our world class airport and come to enjoy our rich sporting heritage. It’s not just football; rugby, cricket and cycling draw hundreds of thousands every year, and the 21,000-seater Phones 4u Arena is the second busiest indoor venue in the world. Spots like the Hacienda are etched into British club culture and world-famous clubs like Sankeys and Warehouse Project, the Albert Hall and scores of others across Manchester uphold that tradition, culminating once a year in the not-perfect, but popular Parklife festival. It’s not just house music though. Every scene and genre has roots set here and the Northern Quarter is one of the places to be for food, drink, music and art in the country. As Mancunians, it’s natural to be sceptical of outside recognition, but let’s just allow ourselves to take this opportunity to say ‘I told you so’.
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