Will the real Manchester please stand up.
Thanks to my guided walking history tour (read all about it here) I feel that I have got my bearings in Manchester, so today I have decided to strike forth on my own! There are already a few things that I have made a mental note to see here today, the first of which though is brunch at the Koffee Pot in the Northern Quarter.
It's just a short walk from my hotel to Manchester's most bohemian and artsy district and I have heard from a couple of friendly 'Pot Heads' (the name the local Koffee Potters give to themselves) that I won't be disappointed.
The café itself looks like a typical greasy spoon from the outside. Once inside though I find that it's been fully 'Quartered up' and now boasts funky graffiti covered walls, free wi-fi and a great Sunday brunch that costs me less than a Grande Latte back in London, fantastic!
The rest of the patrons are equally as cool and quirky as the establishment. They are tucking in to hearty breakfasts, busily surfing on Mac books or reading, the Guardian, a dog-eared paperback. It's all very bohemian and relaxed, so my scruffy just got out of bed look passes as cool rather than just, well, scruffy.
Fully fed, and coffee'd up to the gills I head out for some urban discovery. My route takes me through the centre of the city, which is already filled with earnest shoppers and a far cry from the relaxed streets of the Quarter. I'm headed for Manchester's medieval centre, not a period that the city is well known for but its there, if you know where to look.
Passing through Exchange Square, where there are some of the few surviving medieval buildings in the city. I carry on around the modern glass structure of Urbis, (which will be home to the National Football Museum later this year) and I have arrived back in medieval Manchester.
To my right is the Chetham’s School of music, home to the Chetham Library, which was first, opened in 1653 and was the first public library in the English-speaking world. The library, which is located in the school's beautiful quad, is still open to the public, unfortunately only on weekdays so I have to make do with Manchester's other medieval masterpiece, its stunning cathedral.
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| Royal Exchange Theatre |
Moving just around the corner to the Royal Exchange Theatre I can also see old and modern Manchester colliding. The former commodities trading hall was once where cotton, which gave Manchester its huge wealth, was traded. This great hall was once described as the most important room in the world, and it certainly looks the part. Huge pink marble columns soar up to an ornate glass domed roof, and this is just half of the original building.
Inside the centre of the hall is the Theatre itself, which was added more than 20 years after the trading stopped. It resembles some kind of space pod that has landed in the centre of the hall and the contrast is very striking. A room within a room, well a theatre in the round that can seat 700 people in a room to be more accurate, but you know what I mean, right?
From the Royal Exchange it's a short walk through St Ann's Square to Deansgate and the next stop on my tour of the city. The John Rylands library looks more like a cathedral or a castle from the outside, an absolute riot of ornate Victorian Gothic architecture.
Image: John Ryland's Library
The wife of one of Manchester's most successful industrialists built the library in the 1890s, to which she also donated their impressive book collection. The resulting building is well worth a visit just for the stunning interiors, there's also an equally impressive medieval collection of manuscripts on show to the public too.
The next stop on my itinerary is the People's History Museum, which is located on the river Irwell that separates Manchester from neighbouring Salford. This is the area of Spinningfields and has some of the most impressive modern architecture in the city. Over the last few years over 2.5 million square feet of new commercial, residential and office space have made this Manchester's most futuristic and modern district.
Image: Leftbank, Spinningfields where the People's History Museum is located. Credit: Tony West
The Museum itself traces the fight for democracy which has taken place over the last 200 years in the UK. Manchester has played an important part in the rights of people over this period, the Suffragettes and Labour movements both having started in the city. The story is told excellently in between the museum's modern wing and the original Victorian pump house building.
Following the river away from the city centre and I come to the area of Castlefield, which is famously home to Granada Studios where Coronation Street is still filmed. The show is now the longest running soap on TV celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2010. This isn't bad for a show that was expected to run for 6 weeks!
The Museum of Science and Industry covers 7½ acres of this area of the city, unfortunately though I don't have the time to take in the many exhibits of this living museum and push on back towards the centre of town.
Image: Castlefield
Castlefield is another area where layers of history are literally stacked up on top of each other. The original Roman fort sits right next to the canal, railway and modern tram system that passes by the cotton warehouses that are now des-res converted luxury apartments. The last part of my route takes me onto the Rochdale Canal, which I follow back in to town and also helpfully goes all the way to Canal Street in the Village.
The canal also passes the site of the famous Hacienda nightclub where plaques still announce the famous names that appeared here inn the 80s and 90s. Madonna played her first UK gig here in 1984 and the club was instrumental in producing some of the UK's most influential bands as well as the 'Madchester' music scene.
The Hacienda was demolished and turned into flats in 2002 but the story it tells is one that has been retold in Manchester for centuries. This is a city that has not only always moved forward, but also pioneered the way for others to follow. Industry, civil and workers rights, music, entertainment, Manchester not only tells these stories brilliantly, it can also lay claim to being the inspiration and at their very beginnings too. Whatever next!
Manchester is only 2 hours and 7 minutes from London.
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