I ♥ MCR (part 2)

View from the top of Shudehill car park

Islington Mill

Manchester is not just a town for young artist types.  It actually has a really interesting history.  Its roots are basically in the Industrial Revolution -- it earned official city status in 1853, but was widely recognised across Europe as the first industrial city by the 1830s.  Manchester already had a reputation for its linen, cotton and wool, but with introduction of mechanised labour, it was able to become the number one textiles manufacture city in Europe.  This reputation lasted for many years, and in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, the word ‘manchester’ is still used today for household linens.  Manchester doesn’t do nearly as much manufacturing anymore, but a lot of the warehouses and mills from that time remain.  One of the most famous ones, Islington Mill, has been converted into a live music venue with studios for artists to rent, as well.  

Manchester Cathedral (built in 1421, I think)

Going back before the Industrial Revolution, a city of some sort existed in present-day Manchester as early as the 1^st century, when the Romans built a fort there.  After that, it just existed as a manor and township, and Manchester still has some of the buildings from this Medieval settlement, including Manchester Cathedral, Chetham’s Library (where Karl Marx frequently studied), and Sinclairs Oyster Bar.  Interestingly, the Oyster Bar was located in an area badly damaged by a bombing in Manchester city centre in 1996 and was painstakingly moved to its current location in a different part of the city centre.  It’s a very popular place for drinks, especially on football Saturdays or anytime the weather is nice.  

Chetham's Library and School of Music

Navigating around Manchester city centre can be very tricky.  None of the main roads are straight or remain parallel with each other, and their route is often disrupted by pedestrian-only streets and squares.  The roads are constantly changing names -- the worst one, which is basically the main road in the city centre, has five different names in a three-mile span (that’s a new name every kilometer).  Half the time the streets don’t have signs with their names anyway, so learning to get around in the city was quite a challenge initially.  

Piccadilly Gardens

At the same time, Manchester is quite a pedestrian-friendly city.  A friend and I had a routine of walking through the city every Saturday afternoon, doing shopping or just browsing.  The city centre is always a really busy place, always full of people, even if it’s cold and rainy.  Market Street is the biggest shopping street in the city, and it leads right into Piccadilly Square, the main square in the city centre.  Whenever the sun is out, these places are so packed with people it’s tricky to get around.  There’s also a really big square in front of Manchester City Hall called King’s square that can accommodate a huge crowd of people, and it occasionally hosts festivals that draw such a crowd.  

Printworks is in the back, right in the middle.  The big glass
building on the left is Urbis, a multifuntion venue space in
the city centre, and to the left of it (not in the shot) is the
Oyster Bar.  19th, 21st, and 17th century buildings, all right
next to each other.  

There’s been a significant decrease in industrialisation in England in the past three decades (as is true for most of the westernised world), and Manchester has certainly had to adapt to this change.  Since the 1980s, Manchester has become much more commercial, and especially after the aforementioned bombing, the face of the city has changed dramatically.  It’s now a striking mix of very old, 19^th century buildings and sleek, modern, 21^st century buildings, all placed right next to each other.  I think it’s a really cool way of demonstrating where the city has come from and where it’s going.  The architecture is just another thing that makes Manchester such an intersting city.  It may not fascinate everyone, but I found enough here to keep me engaged for a good while longer.  Which just means I have a lot to see the next time I'm back, and hopefully it's soon.