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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Nealklein (talk | contribs) at 15:52, 5 March 2006 (→Road: Added apostrophe to change Manchesters (pl.) to Manchester (gen.)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
For other uses, see Manchester (disambiguation).
City of Manchester
Aerial view of Manchester city centre
Manchester
Geography
Status: Metropolitan borough, City (1853)
Region: North West England
Ceremonial county: Greater Manchester
Traditional county: Lancashire, parts in Cheshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire
Area:
- Total		 Ranked 228th
115.65 km²
Admin. HQ: Manchester
ONS code: 00BN
Geographical coordinates: 53°29′N 2°15′W / 53.483°N 2.250°W / 53.483; -2.250
Demographics
Population:
- Total (2004 est.)
- Density		 Ranked 6th
437,000
3,779 / km²
Ethnicity: 81.0% White
9.1% S.Asian
4.5% Afro-Carib.
1.3% Chinese
Politics
Arms of the City of Manchester
Manchester City Council
http://www.manchester.gov.uk/
Leadership: Leader & Cabinet
Executive: Labour
MPs: Paul Goggins, Gerald Kaufman, John Leech, Tony Lloyd, Graham Stringer
The parties ruling the borough councils by 2005.

Manchester is a city in the North West of England. The city is the UK's third largest city. The city is claimed to be one of Europe's fastest growing cities. Manchester is a centre of the arts, the media and big business as well as being the unofficial capital of Northern England. The city is also world famous for its sport, being home to Manchester United and Manchester City football teams.

The city is named from the old Roman name Mamucium plus ceaster, derived from the old Latin 'Castra'. Manchester is a metropolitan borough with city status. The city proper has a population of 437,000, whilst the wider urban area Greater Manchester has a population of 2,284,093.

Greater Manchester consists of the metropolitan district of Manchester, together with the surrounding boroughs of Trafford, Tameside, Salford, Wigan, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale and Stockport.

Geography and climate

Manchester is situated within a bowl-shaped land area, bordered to the north and east by the Pennine moors and to the south by the Cheshire Plain. The city centre is located on the East bank of the River Irwell, near the confluence of two other rivers, the River Medlock and the River Irk. The River Mersey also flows through the south of the city. Much of the inner city, especially in the south, is flat, offering extensive views of the moors from the floors of many tall buildings. Manchester's geographic features were highly influential in its early development as the world's first industrial city. These are its climate, its proximity to a sea port at Liverpool, the availabilty of water power from its rivers, and nearby coal reserves.

Manchester has a damp climate and a reputation as a rainy city. The average annual rainfall is 809 mm, meaning that this reputation is relatively undeserved.[1] This total is less than Plymouth, Cardiff, Glasgow, and Edinburgh for example. In international terms, Manchester receives substantially less rain than New York City, which receives 1200 mm of rain in an average year and the average annual rainfall total is comparable with that of Rome. The precipitation is light however, so a small volume of rain may take an hour to fall in Manchester, compared to several minutes of heavy rain experienced in Rome.

History

Main article: History of Manchester
The Peterloo massacre.
File:Mankmill.jpg
A mill in Manchester in the 1940s, similar to hundreds of textile mills which covered the city in the 19th century.
the Manchester Ship Canal. the first in Western Europe outside of Holland.
File:Lanc.600pix.jpg
The Avro Lancaster.was built and designed in the city during WW2.

Earlier history

The Manchester area was settled in or before Roman times. In the course of a campaign against the Brigantes, the Roman general Agricola set up a fort at Mamucium on the East bank of the Irwell. This temporary structure was rebuilt several times, and became an important staging post where the roads between the legionary fortresses of Chester and York, and the road northwards crossed. There was a civilian settlement, or vicus. An extremely rare christian word square was discovered in excavations some years ago. The North Gate of this fort has been reconstructed on the original site, together with a section of the fortress wall, and these may be found in the Castlefield district, at the end of Deansgate.

The fort was abandoned in the Dark Ages, and at some point in time the focus of settlement shifted from this spot to the confluence of the rivers Irwell and Irk. In medieval times, this area included a fortified manor house. Thomas De La Warre, a manorial lord who also happened to be a priest, gave the site to the church for use as a College of Priests around 1422, and commenced the construction of the Collegiate Church. The former is now Chetham's School of Music, and the latter, Manchester Cathedral.

A medieval charter accidently divorced Salford from Manchester, which became a separate township. Consequently, the suburb (now City) of Salford arose on the West bank of the River Irwell, which is only 20 metres wide when it runs between the two cities.

In the 14th century, Salford and Manchester became home to a community of Flemish weavers who settled in the town to produce wool and linen, beginning the tradition of cloth manufacture.

Manchester was an important place in the county of Lancashire by the time of the reformation. Perhaps the textile connections (which included the City Of London) resulted in the spread of puritanism and nonconformity. In 1642, Lord Strange attempted to seize the militia magazine for the King. This was opposed, and the resulting casualty, one Richard Percival, is said to be the first man to be killed in the English Civil War. Lord Strange returned to unsuccessfully besiege the town.

In 1745, the Young Pretender passed through the town en route to Derby. Upon the subsequent retreat some luckless Manchester recruits were left to garrison Carlisle, where they surrendered to the British Army.

Defoe described Manchester as the "greatest mere village" in the first decade of the eighteenth century. Nevertheless, it was the Industrial Revolution, particularly in the last quarter of the 18th century that transformed a market town into a great city. Its damp climate was ideal for cotton processing and with the development of steam-powered engines for spinning and weaving, the cotton industry quickly developed throughout the region (eg. Quarry Bank Mill in Styal, Cheshire). It also became an important distribution centre, populated by increasingly important warehouses.

The construction of the Duke's Canal, sometimes referred to as the Bridgewater Canal, Britain's first true inland waterway, spurred this development by the provision of abundant quantities of cheap coal. The opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first true public railway, also contributed to the rapid development of the town.

Manchester quickly grew into the most important industrial centre in the world, and, significantly, the first industrial society. The pace of change was fast and frightening. At that time, it seemed a place in which anything could happen - new industrial processes, new ways of thinking (the so called 'Manchester School', promoting free trade and laissez-faire), new classes or groups in society, new religious sects, and new forms of labour organisation. It attracted educated visitors from all parts of Britain and Europe. "What Manchester does today," it was said, "the rest of the world does tomorrow."

Manchester’s population exploded as people moved from the surrounding countryside, and from other parts of the British Isles, into the city seeking new opportunities. Particularly large numbers came from Ireland, especially after the Potato Famine of the 1840's. The Irish influence continues to this day and, every March Manchester plays host to one of the world's largest St Patricks Day parades. It is estimated that about 35% of the population of Manchester and Salford has at least some Irish ancestry. Large numbers of ( mostly Jewish) immigrants came to Manchester from central and eastern Europe. The area, including Salford and Prestwich, today has a Jewish population of about 40,000. This is the largest Jewish community outside London by quite some way. To these groups may be added (in later years) Levantines (involved in the Egyptian cotton trade), Germans, and Italians. By the end of the nineteenth century, Manchester was a very cosmopolitan place.

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Manchester was an important seat of radical, reformist politics. A famous meeting, held in furtherance of parliamentary reform, took place in St Peter’s Field on 16 August 1819. It was to be addressed by Henry Hunt, a powerful speaker known as 'Orator Hunt'. Local magistrates, fearful of a large crowd, ordered volunteer cavalry armed with sabres to clear a way through the crowd to arrest Hunt and the platform party. They lost control (some reports suggest that many were drunk) and started to lash out at members of the crowd. The officers of a troop of hussars of the British army were so appalled that they tried to restrain the volunters. These events resulted in the (official) deaths of eleven people with over four hundred injured. The country was appalled. One of the dead had been present at the Battle of Waterloo, and it was said that "Waterloo were a battle, but Peterloo (as the proceedings were satirically called, "were nowt but bloody murder"

The so-called Peterloo massacre became a cause célèbre for the reformers of that era. Manchester was a focus of the movement to reform the Corn Laws (the Anti Corn Law League (ACLL), set up in 1836 by Cobden and Bright) and later the Free Trade movement known as ‘The Manchester School’ or 'Manchesterism' developed. Peterloo was a spur to obtaining municipal incorporation in 1838, when it became a municipal borough, soon after the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 allowed this. City status for the borough was conferred in 1853. The town obtained its first M.P.s.after the passing of the First Reform Act.

The first Trades Union Congress was held in Manchester (at the Mechanics' Institute, David Street), from June 2nd to June 6th 1868. Manchester was also an important cradle of the Labour Party and the Suffragette Movement.

Manchester's golden age was perhaps the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Many of the great public buildings (incliuding the Town Hall) date from then. Its cosmopolitan atmosphere contributed to a vibrant culture, which included the Halle Orchestra. In 1889, when county councils were created in England, the municipal borough became a county borough with even greater autonomy.

During this period, a deep canal (the Manchester Ship Canal) was dug, 36 miles long, from Salford to the River Mersey at the port of Liverpool. This enabled ocean going ships to sail right into the Port of Manchester Docks (technically in Salford). The docks functioned up until the 1970s, with their closure leading to a large increase in unemployment in that area.

Trafford Park in Stretford was the world's first industrial estate and still exists today, however with a significant tourist and recreational presence.

Manchester suffered greatly from the inter-war depression and the underlying structural changes that began to supplant the old industries like textiles.

In the Second World War Manchester was involved in heavy industrial construction - it was home to Avro (now BAE Systems) which built countless aircraft for the RAF, most famous being the Avro Lancaster bomber. It was attacked a number of times by the Luftwaffe, particularly in the 'Christmas Blitz' of 1941, which destroyed a large part of the historic city centre and seriously damaged the Cathedral.

In 1974 Manchester was split from the county of Lancashire and the Metropolitan Borough of Manchester was created.

Recent history

The devastation left by the IRA bombing
Manchester's Exchange Square.

At 11.20 am on Saturday 15 June 1996 the PIRA detonated a large bomb in the city centre. Whilst this bomb caused over 200 injuries, it caused no deaths and the principal damage was to the physical infrastructure of nearby buildings. The consequent reconstruction spurred a massive regeneration of the city centre, with complexes such as the Printworks and the Triangle creating new city focal points for both shopping and entertainment. A following regeneration took almost a decade to complete, with the last part of the Arndale centre renovated opening in the Autumn of 2005.

In 2002, the city successfully hosted the XVII Commonwealth Games, earning praise from many sources. Manchester has twice failed in its bid to host the Olympic Games, losing to Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000.

Rapidly developing institutions attract crime and disorder; see main article crime and policing in Manchester.

Since the regeneration after the 1996 PIRA attack and aided by the XVII Commonwealth Games Manchester's city centre has changed significantly. Large sections of the city dating from the 1960s have been either demolished and re-developed or modernised with the use of glass and steel; a good example of this transformation would be the Arndale Centre. Many old mills have been converted into apartments, helping to give the city a much more modern, upmarket look and feel. Some areas, like Hulme, have undergone extensive regeneration programmes and many million-pound lofthouse apartments have since been developed to cater for its growing business class community.

Culture

Manchester Central Library.

Nightlife

Like any large city there has always been a thriving nightclub culture here but Manchester's place in the history of modern clubbing surpasses every other city in the UK with the possible exception of London.

UK broadcaster Jimmy Savile is credited as being the first modern DJ by using twin turntables for continuous play after he obtained two domestic record decks welded together. The first place he used this device to play to the public in 1946 was a nightclub called The Ritz on Whitworth Street (which opened in 1927). Tony Prince is credited as becoming the world's first full time club DJ in 1964 when Jimmy Savile who was then a Mecca manager in Manchester told him that Top Rank considered him to be the first person ever to be on their payroll as a pure DJ.

Many teenagers of the 1960s developed a love for Northern Soul, which had as two of its epicentres the Wigan Casino and Manchesters Twisted Wheel and is credited as being instrumental to the development of the Motown Sound.

When Rob Gretton, members of New Order (the band formed from the remaining members of Joy Division after singer Ian Curtis' suicide) and Factory Records boss Tony Wilson opened Fac 51 The Hacienda on Whitworth Street in 1982 it quickly became the focus of electronic music and the start of house music, the Madchester sound and the Ibiza scene, which all came together in the Summer of Love in 1988. The Hacienda was also at the setting of the 2002 movie 24 Hour Party People.

Other historical clubs and nights in Manchester include 'Naked under leather' – one of UK birthplaces of Electronic Music. 'The Number One' - first gay rave/house club. 'Bowlers' - home of happy hardcore. 'Paradise Factory' & 'The Breakfast Club' at Manto. 'Home'. 'Flesh'. 'Homoelectric'. 'Danceteria'.

One of the oldest and most diverse venues is the Band on the Wall, a live music venue in the Northern Quarter area of the city. The venue was built around 1862 as the flagship pub of a local brewery, it was originally called The George & Dragon. It got its nickname in the late 1920 early 30s from the stage high on the back wall. In 1975 it was taken on by jazz musician Steve Morris and his business partner Frank Cusick and renamed The Band on the Wall.

Further reading

  • Simon Reynolds 'Energy Flash: Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture' Picador, 1998, ISBN 0330350560.
  • Sean Bidder 'The Rough Guide to House Music', Rough Guides, 1999, ISBN 1858284325.
  • Dave Haslam 'Madchester, England' Fourth Estate, 2000, ISBN 1841151467.
  • Mick Middles 'From "Joy Division" to "New Order": The True Story of Anthony H.Wilson and Factory Records' Virgin Books, 2000, ISBN 0753506386.
  • Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton 'Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey', Grove Press, 2000, ISBN 0802136885.
  • Dave Haslam 'Adventures on the Wheels of Steel: The Rise of the Superstar DJs' Fourth Estate, 2002, ISBN 1841154334.
  • Sean Bidder 'Pump Up the Volume: A History of House Music', MacMillan, 2002, ISBN 0752219863.
  • Tony Wilson '24-hour Party People' Channel 4 Books, 2002, ISBN 075222025X.

Art

There are many art galleries in Greater Manchester, notably:

Museums

The Imperial War Museum.

Museums in Manchester include:

Classical music

Lowry Centre and the Salford Quays development.

Manchester is home to two symphony orchestras, the Hallé Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. There is also a chamber orchestra, the Manchester Camerata.

For many years the city’s main classical venue was the Free Trade Hall on Peter Street. Since 1996, however, Manchester has had a modern 2,500 seat concert venue called the Bridgewater Hall, which is also home to the Hallé Orchestra. The hall is one of the country’s most technically advanced classical music and lecture venues, with an acoustically designed interior and suspended foundations for an optimum sound. Other venues for classical concerts include the RNCM, the Royal Exchange Theatre and Manchester Cathedral.

Manchester is a centre for musical education, being home to the Royal Northern College of Music and Chetham’s School of Music.

In the 1950s the city was home to the so-called ‘Manchester School’ of classical composers, which comprised Harrison Birtwistle, Peter Maxwell Davies and Alexander Goehr.

Main article: History of popular music in Manchester
File:Better late Oasis.jpg
The band Oasis who come from Manchester.

For Mancunians, the popular musical heritage of the city has always been a source of great pride. The city’s eclectic mix of music has created the sense among its inhabitants that Manchester is the most important city in world music.

Local groups have included the Bee Gees, The Hollies, 10cc, Buzzcocks, Magazine, Joy Division, New Order (both on local label Factory Records), The Smiths, The Chemical Brothers (formerly known as The Dust Brothers), The Fall, M People, Oasis, the Chameleons, Elbow, Simply Red, Take That and the "Madchester" scene bands the Happy Mondays, The Inspiral Carpets, James, The Stone Roses.

Manchester’s main popular music venue is the Manchester Evening News Arena, situated next to Victoria rail station, which seats over 21,000 and is the largest arena of its type in Europe, going on to be voted International Arena of the Year, beating New York’s Madison Square Garden. Other major venues include the Manchester Apollo and the Manchester Academy. The many smaller venues throughout the city, such as the Bierkeller, the Roadhouse and Night and Day Cafe, ensure that Manchester’s music scene is always vibrant and interesting.

See also: List of bands from Manchester

Literature

Famous writers from the Manchester area include Elizabeth Gaskell and Anthony Burgess, the author of A Clockwork Orange. W. G. Sebald lived in Manchester when he first came to England, and the city features prominently in his novel The Emigrants. Jeff Noon, the author of Vurt, writes novels which take place in Manchester. Charles Dickens was known to visit the city, and Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels are known to have found much to inspire their thoughts and writing when visiting the city during the Industrial Revolution.

Manchester is home to the Manchester Metropolitan University Writers School, one of the top creative writing schools in the country. The Writer's Bureau - a private company set up to help new freelance writers through its home-study courses - also runs its offices from the city. Local poet and author Mike Duff has lived his entire life in the city; he is a passionate advocate of Manchester and it's people.

Theatre

Manchester is noted for its excellent theatres. Larger venues include the Opera House, a commercial theatre promoting large scale touring shows which regularly plays host to touring West End shows, the Palace Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre, a large producing theatre located in Manchester’s former cotton exchange. The Library Theatre is a small producing theatre situated in the basement of the city’s central library and the Lowry is a large touring venue in Salford.

Smaller sites include the Green Room, which focuses on fringe productions and Contact Theatre, a theatre for young people with a bold contemporary design. The Dancehouse is a theatre dedicated to dance productions. The city is also home to two highly-regarded drama schools; The Manchester Metropolitan University School of Theatre and the Arden School of Theatre. In addition the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) has 4 theatre spaces especially noted for its opera and classical music productions.

Venues

File:Evening news arena.jpg
The MEN Arena.

As well as many sporting venues Manchester has many venues for performances and conventions:

Media

Television and radio

ITV franchisee Granada Television has its original headquarters on Quay Street in the Castlefield area of the city. The city is the main UK television production centre outside London and is where programmes including Coronation Street and many Children’s ITV presentations are produced.

The BBC has its headquarters for Northern England in New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road in the south of the city. Programmes including A Question of Sport, Mastermind and Real Story are made there. The BBC intends to relocate large numbers of staff and facilities to Manchester from London, once a site has been selected.

Manchester has its own television channel, Channel M, owned by the Guardian Media Group and operated since 2000. It has several local radio stations including BBC GMR, Key 103, Galaxy, Piccadilly Magic 1152, 105.4 Century FM , 100.4 Smooth FM, Capital Gold 1458 and Xfm. There is also a community radio network coordinated by Radio Regen[2], and with stations covering the South Manchester communities of Ardwick, Longsight and Levenshulme (ALL FM 96.9) and Wythenshawe (Wythenshawe FM 97.2)

Several now defunct radio stations are much lamented including "BBC Radio Manchester" - now BBC GMR, Sunset (which became) Kiss 102 (now Galaxy) and KFM which became Signal Cheshire (now Signal 1). The latter three played a significant role in the city's emerging House music culture, also known as the Madchester scene, which was partly based around clubs like the the Hacienda which had its own show on Kiss 102. There were also scores of pirate radio, student radio (currently consisting of Fuse FM at the University of Manchester and Shock FM at the University of Salford) and community radio stations and initiatives in Manchester.

Film

Manchester is home to the Manchester film festival and has held the commonwealth film festival. This is a list of films (Partial) set in Manchester:

Newspapers

The Guardian newspaper was founded in Manchester in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian. Its head office is still in Manchester, though many of its management functions were moved to London in 1964. It still shares a Manchester office on Deansgate with its sister publication, the Manchester Evening News, Manchester’s biggest-selling daily paper. Free commuting papers include Manchester Evening News Lite and Metro North West, both of which are available from Metrolink stops, rail stations and other busy locations across the city at rush-hour.

Gay and lesbian

Manchester has the UK’s largest gay population outside of London, and is renowned for its gay village; centred around the Canal Street area the gay village is home to various gay shops, restaurants, bars and clubs. On the last weekend in August it hosts the Manchester Pride Festival (previously known as Mardi Gras and Gayfest). Manchester’s gay culture was brought to mainstream attention in 1999 by the acclaimed and controversial Channel 4 drama series Queer as Folk, which was set in the village. It is also the birthplace of several gay rights organisations including the Campaign for Homosexual Equality and the Queer Youth Alliance. Manchester has its own gay sports teams, Village Manchester FC (soccer), Northern Wave (swimming) and Village Spartans (Rugby) which take part in Manchester's annual Pride Games. The year round gay and lesbian heritage trail exhibits Manchester’s gay history. Manchester’s claim to status of gay capital of the UK was strengthened in 2003 when it played host city to the annual Europride festival.

Education

File:MMU logo.gif
The logo of Manchester Metropolitan University.

Universities

Manchester is home to two major universities: The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University. The former is the largest full-time non-collegiate university in Britain, and was created in autumn 2004 by the merger of the former Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST. Within nearby Salford is the University of Salford, which is within 2 miles of Manchester City Centre.

Together with the University of Bolton and the Royal Northern College of Music and University Centre Oldham all nearby, these give the area a student population in excess of 73,000, one of the largest in Europe. Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Manchester and the Royal Northern College of Music are grouped together on the southern side of the city centre, and effectively form one large campus, split down the centre by Oxford Road, the busiest bus route in Europe.

Sport

File:United-logo.jpg
The badge of Manchester United.
File:Manchester City crest.png
The badge of Manchester City.

Sport and especially football are an important part of Manchester culture. Two major football clubs, Manchester United and Manchester City, bear the city’s name. Manchester City play at the City of Manchester Stadium, while Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground, the largest club football ground in England, is just outside the city proper in the borough of Trafford.

It is commonly percieved that Manchester City have more local support than United. However, research by Manchester University a few years ago showed that United had 9,000 season ticket holders within the 'M' postcode area whilst City had 7,000. The Manchester postal district includes the (strongly United supporting ) city of Salford but also Prestwich and Whitefield ( with one of the largest City supporters club's ) and areas such as Denton, where the Blues also have strong support. This research was done before City moved to the ( larger, 48,000 capacity ) City Of Manchester stadium. And well before the expansion of United's Old Trafford which will accomodate 76,000 by summer 2006. The truth is that nobody knows for sure which team has the most local support and that the figures are probably too close to call. What is beyond doubt is that United's nationwide and international support far exceeds that of City , so City have larger local support as a proportion of their fan base.

Some people still believe that there is a sectarian divide in Manchester football - with United being associated with the Roman Catholic population and City with the Protestant faith. If this ever was the case, it is virtually irrelevant today. It certainly never attained the levels that have been attained in Glasgow . Manchester City emerged from St Mark's - a Protestant church , hence the club's ' association ' with that faith. Stories abound of Catholic Priest's asking for parishioners to pray for a United victory during Mass. Certainly United's support amongst Manchester's huge Irish Catholic population was boosted when ( the devoutly Catholic ) manager Matt Busby took charge of the team. Along with Celtic , United are probably the most popular team in Ireland. But they are particularly popular in Northern Ireland and not least amongst the Protestant population. This support was bolstered by the inclusion of Ulster Protestant's such as Harry Gregg , Norman Whiteside and - most of all - George Best . On the other hand, Manchester City are supported by prominent Mancunian Irish catholics such as Bernard Manning , Liam Gallagher , Noel Gallagher and Johnny Marr . Other famous local supporters of City include Billy Duffy ( guitarist with The Cult ), Frasier actor John Mahoney , broadcaster/journalist John Stapleton and boxer Ricky Hatton . Locally raised United fans include actor's Christopher Eccleston and Ian McShane , singer Mick Hucknall , actor/comedian Steve Coogan , former Stone Roses bass player Mani and Morrissey .

City and United are just two examples of local football teams: according to the Urbis centre, Greater Manchester has the highest concentration of football clubs per capita of anywhere in the world. Other professional football teams in Greater Manchester include Oldham Athletic, Stockport County, Bury, Wigan Athletic, Rochdale, Bolton Wanderers and F.C. United of Manchester.

Many first class sporting facilities were built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, including the Manchester Velodrome, the City of Manchester Stadium, the National Squash Centre and the Manchester Aquatics Centre.

Old Trafford cricket ground, home of Lancashire County Cricket Club, hosts many first-class cricket and important international matches including Test Matches.

The Manchester area is also represented in rugby union by Sale Sharks, who currently play their home games at Edgeley Park in Stockport and Manchester R.C.; and in Rugby League by Wigan Warriors, who share the JJB Stadium with Wigan Athletic, and Salford City Reds, who are currently in the process of constructing a new state-of-the-art stadium in Eccles, over the Manchester Ship Canal from the Trafford Centre. Manchester is also home to Swinton Lions who play at Sedgley Park.

Belle Vue Stadium in Gorton is home to the Belle Vue Aces speedway team and also hosts regular greyhound races.

Manchester also has an ice hockey team called the Manchester Phoenix who are in the process of buliding an arena called the Trafford ice dome

Manchester is a successful sporting city with many famous sporting people heralding from the city as well as from the surrounding area of Greater Manchester. Manchester has also competed twice to host the Olympic Games being beaten by Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000.

It was announced in 2005 that various sporting arenas around the city will be used in the 2012 Olympics.

Transport and infrastructure

Air

File:Manairpot.jpg
Overview of Manchester Airport's Terminal 2.

Manchester International Airport, formerly Manchester Ringway Airport, is the third busiest airport in the UK in terms of passengers per year[3] and is served by a dedicated railway station. In 2005 the airport handled 22.1 million passengers and provided direct flights to over 180 destinations worldwide by over 90 airlines. Long haul scheduled destinations served directly from Manchester include New York ( JFK and Newark ), Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Houston, Las Vegas, Toronto, Port of Spain, Antigua, Barbados, Damascus, Dubai, Abu Dhabi (starting Spring 2006), Doha, Tehran, Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and (resuming in 2006), Hong Kong. There are also firm plans for direct service's to Beijing and Bangkok. Many European and domestic destinations are served. Manchester to London is the only high density airline route within England and is one of the busiest domestic sectors in Europe providing serious competition for the railways.

The airport has been voted the best airport in the UK by: Which Consumer Magazine, Travel Weekly Globe, Business Magazines International and in the Airport World’s Service Excellence Awards (European runner up, 2nd only to Copenhagen).

Barton Aerodrome, one of the world's oldest airports, is still in operation. It is very busy heliport and has small runways which deal with small aircraft.

Road

The main roads serving Manchester are the M56, M6, M61, M62 and M66 motorways. Most of these routes link onto the M60, Manchester’s orbital motorway.

A view from inside Manchester's busiest railway station, Piccadilly.

Railway

Manchester holds a pivotal position in Railway history as the birthplace of passenger rail travel on the The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened in 1830 after the famous Rainhill Trials chose Stephenson's Rocket to pull the trains. In just 50 years the city centre was encircled by several stations and termini, including Manchester London Road, (now Manchester Piccadilly), Manchester Victoria, Manchester Central and Manchester Exchange. Following the Beeching Report in the post-war years, cutbacks followed, with Manchester Central and Manchester Exchange closing to passengers. All rail services were then directed to Manchester Victoria and Manchester Piccadilly. High speed trains to London are run from Manchester Piccadilly by Virgin Trains, journeys typically taking around 2 hr 15 min. There are also several smaller stations remaining around the City Centre, including Manchester Oxford Road, Deansgate and Salford Central.

Although there is no Underground Railway system similar to London's, the city has had several failed attempts to create one including the infamous "Picc-Vicc", a heavy rail tunnel linking the main stations. Excavation work under the Arndale Centre for this project began in the 1970s, but was soon abandoned due to costs and rumours of 'subterranean obstacles'. This may well have referred to the 'Guardian' underground nuclear bunker network, originally constructed by NATO (as a means of protecting communications in the city in the event of an atom bomb being deployed) and now used by BT.

The urban and suburban areas are covered by a sizeable network of rail lines, including lines to Ashton-under-Lyne, Bolton, Oldham, Stockport and Wilmslow.

A Metrolink Tram in Manchester city centre.

Manchester has a tram system called Metrolink. Operated by Serco, the Metrolink links the city centre to Altrincham, Eccles and Bury. It is a high-frequency service, with trams running every 6–12 minutes. It carries nearly 20 million passengers each year.

Plans to extend Manchester Metrolink were reinstated after an election-time u-turn by the Labour Government which had previously rejected the plans months earlier, despite years of support. The Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE), responsible for public transport in the area, led the fight to ensure that the extensions are to be built, with significant support from Local Councils and Communities, as well as the main Manchester City Council [4]. If the desired system, nicknamed the big bang, is completed, passenger numbers are predicted to more than double; to an estimated 50 million per year.

A widely held view of many in Manchester of one of the major failings of the Metrolink is that it has never been extended to reach the Trafford Centre (approx. 5 miles away in Trafford Park), with a wide possibility of routes for this task. The line from Manchester City Centre to Eccles Town Centre is also judged by many to be a failure as it takes longer than an equivalent bus journey following a similar route, but achieves this without the Metrolink's advantage of using 'Metrolink-only' specially dedicated / constructed routes.

Since Metrolink's inception and the initial euphoria at the huge success, by the Public / Local & National Government / Environmental Groups it has become something of a victim of its own popularity. Many routes are extremely busy, especially at Peak Times, and prices have risen at a rate far above that of inflation.

Warning: If you wish to take a trip on the Metrolink you must purchase a ticket before the journey, from a ticket machine on one of the platforms. These ticket machines do not accept credit cards or debit cards, and many (half) do not accept banknotes despite the high cost of some routes. You must therefore ensure that you have plenty of coins (£2, £1, 50p, 20p, 10p) before travelling. However, if you have a valid train ticket which specifies a Metrolink station or "Manchester Stations" as your destination for that day, you can use this to also ride the Metrolink to certain stops without needing to purchase an additional ticket.

Buses

File:Manxbuses.jpg
Stagecoach Buses in Manchester City Centre.

Manchester and the surrounding area have an extensive bus network, with regular services in and out of the city connecting to all the satellite towns and villages. Maps of bus routes and a public transport journey planner for the Greater Manchester can be found on the GMPTE website.

The City’s buses are operated by a range of companies including First, Stagecoach (incorporating the lower-cost Magicbus), Finglands, UK North (also trading as GM Buses), and R. Bullock. The major routes, with high passenger volumes, are well provided for, including Oxford Road/Wilmslow Road, one of the busiest bus routes in Europe, bringing large numbers of students & commuters from Fallowfield / Withington / Didsbury to the university buildings that have campuses scattered around the city centre, and the various office buildings - including the BBC. Other routes, that are not as commercially attractive, with smaller passenger volumes, are less well provided for, and the cost of a single journey can be similar to that of a Week Pass for the 'South Manchester' journey.

First Manchester also operates free Metroshuttle services which link important areas of the city such as Manchester Victoria, Piccadilly and Oxford Road stations with Chinatown, Deansgate, Salford Central, and Albert Square. These services are very successful and therefore often busy. At present, there are three routes, numbered 1, 2 and 3 - each uniquely coloured orange, green and purple respectively. They run every 5-10 minutes and complement the Metrolink and National Rail services, linking them with the city’s car parks, tourist attractions and bus termini.

Those arriving at Manchester Piccadilly Bus Station and requiring to take a Train from Manchester Piccadilly Train Station can choose either to take a Metrolink or wait for the free Metroshuttle. It should be noted, however, that if one sits waiting on the Metroshuttle for 10 minutes one could have easily walked the distance to the Train Station, less than 1/2 mile away.

High frequency bendy bus routes include the Bury-Manchester 135 service and the Bolton-Manchester 8 service, which operate every ten minutes.

Manchester's principal bus station mainly for services on the south side of the city is at Piccadilly Gardens, which is also served by Metrolink and a short walk from the city's main train station, Piccadilly. Shudehill Bus/Metrolink Interchange caters for routes mainly on the north side of the city and is within walking distance of the Victoria Train Station. Long distance coaches - operated mainly by National Express - serve the Manchester Central Coach Station at Chorlton Street. This smart, modern station opened in March 2002 and replaced the old Chorlton Street coach station (on exactly the same site). The old station was notorious for crime and prostitution.

Water

The Bridgewater Canal.

One legacy of the industrial revolution is an extensive network of canals: the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal, Rochdale Canal, Manchester Ship Canal, which provides access to the sea, Bridgewater Canal, Ashton Canal, and the Leigh Branch of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. Today, most of these canals are used for recreation.

The Manchester area is supplied with water by numerous artificial lakes, built on the former small rivers around the city. In some cases these lakes form long chains, as in Longdendale. In the past, the city also had a ‘pressurised water’ power supply system, a predecessor of the modern electricity network. Manchester also had Britain's first sewer network, which still exists today. This network is what prevents Manchester from having an underground rail system.

Commerce

Shopping

File:Trafford cenre.jpg
The domes of the Trafford Centre the UKs 2nd largest shopping centre.

Manchester is one of the main retail centres of the North. There are two large shopping centres; the Arndale Centre in the middle of the city and the out-of-town Trafford Centre which includes food hall, multi-screen cinema and Namco games centre. Other shopping centres include the Triangle (formerly known as the Corn Exchange Building) which caters for a more youthful and upmarket clientele and the Royal Exchange Centre.

The city also contains two Selfridges, a Harvey Nichols, and the UK’s flagship Marks and Spencer store. There is a large John Lewis department store situated eight miles to the south of the city centre at Cheadle and from November 2005, at the Trafford Centre. There are a selection of more established stores in Manchester City Centre: Debenhams have a large store on Market Street, House of Fraser own Kendal's (formerly Kendal Milne), a large department store on Deansgate. The main shopping hubs in the centre of Manchester are Market Street, King Street, St Ann's Square and Deansgate. Former stores since gone include Lewis's, Henry's and Affleck and Brown. The building which formerly housed the latter is now known as Affleck’s Palace. It consists of low-cost stalls for independent traders and creatives. Affleck’s is located on Oldham Street, in the Northern Quarter, along with a range of independent music, clothing and other shops.

There is also a range of designer clothing stores, with the Triangle centre housing several.

Food and drink

File:Boddys.jpg
The Boddingtons brewery.

Manchester has a vibrant and exciting range of restaurants, bars and clubs, spanning the famous curry mile in Rusholme to traditional ‘grub’, China Town[5], modern bars and bistros at Deansgate Lock in the city centre. There are now many top class restaurants

Regional favourites include the Eccles cake. The traditional pie capital of the UK is supposedly at the heart of Wigan, 15 miles outside the city.

There is a Hard Rock Cafe, chain restaurants such as Wagamama and bars that include Waxy O’Connors and The Living Room. The coffee chain Starbucks has 12 outlets in a 2 mile radius. Other, independent restaurants, bars and clubs can be found in the Northern Quarter area of the city centre.

Manchester is also famous for its beer. Boddington's brewery closed in 2005. Keg ' Boddies' is brewed elsewhere but Cask Boddington's continues to be brewed in the city by Hyde's brewery in Moss Side . Hyde's is itself a long established independent brewery. Another Manchester brewer is Joseph Holt , whose Derby Brewery in Cheetham is just round the corner from the defunct Boddington's Strangeways brewery. The Royal Brewery in Moss Side - not far from Hyde's - brews McEwans lager. J W Lees brewery is in Middleton Junction , a few miles north of the city. Brewery's in Manchester and Salford which closed within the last twenty years include Wilson's , whose Newton Heath brewery closed in the late 1980's, and Whitbread/Chester's in Salford.

The scene set in Coronation Street of real northern life with a traditional English pub can also be found in the region.

Places of interest

Architecture

Manchester Town Hall is an example of the Victorian architecture.found in Manchester and is the home of Manchester City Council.
HSBC Bank, on Spring Gardens.
The B of the Bang, a sculpture commemorating the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
File:St albert square2.jpg
Albert Square.
File:Rbs building.jpg
The RBS building in Spinningfields.

Manchester has a wide variety of buildings mainly from Victorian architecture through to modern. Much of the architecture in the city harks back to its former days as a global centre for the cotton trade. Many warehouses have now been converted for other uses but the external appearance remains mostly unchanged so the city maintains much of its original character.

Structures of interest in Manchester include:

Skyline

The tallest skyscraper [6] in the United Kingdom outside London is currently under construction in Manchester. The 47 storey 561 ft (171 m) tall Beetham Hilton Tower on Deansgate is due for completion in late 2006. As of 2005, the tallest building in Manchester is the 118 m CIS Tower. Another skyscraper, even taller than the Beetham Hilton tower, has been approved and will be built near Manchester Piccadilly station.

Public monuments

Within Manchester there are monuments to several people and events that have helped to shape the city and influence the wider community. The Alan Turing Memorial situated in Sackville Park close to Canal street remembers the father of modern computing and the Albert Memorial, Albert Square, by Thomas Worthington is in memory of Queen Victoria’s consort. Queen Victoria is also remembered by Edward Onslow Ford’s Queen Victoria statue in Piccadilly Gardens.

The success of the 2002 Commonwealth Games is commemorated by B of the Bang, Britain’s tallest sculpture, located near the City of Manchester Stadium. A monument to Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln Square marks the cotton famine of 1861 - 1865.

Streets and plazas

Manchester has a number of busy squares, plazas and shopping streets. In the city centre Deansgate has many shops, including the department store House of Fraser (formerly Kendals), along with pubs and bars, while King Street is an affluent shopping area with many original notable buildings preserved in a conservation area. Canal Street, is the centre of Manchester's Gay Village and home to may pubs and bars. Two large squares, Albert Square, in front of Manchester Town Hall, and Piccadilly Gardens, the original site of the Manchester Royal Infirmary, are public plazas that hold many of Manchester’s public monuments.

To the south of the city centre, Wilmslow Road is the hub of much student life and is home to Manchester’s curry mile.

Other notable places in Manchester include:

  • Exchange Square featuring a BBC Big Screen
  • Portland Street
  • Great Northern Square
  • Spring Gardens
  • Cathedral Gardens
  • Market Street
  • St Peters Square
  • St Ann’s Square
  • New Cathedral Street
  • Chinatown - the largest Chinatown in the UK and the second largest in Europe

Spinningfields

Spinningfields is a new development in Manchester of a new piece of land being converted into Manchester's business centre of Deansgate. The new area will be home to several headquarters, squares and cafes. The first building to be produced was the RBS's new headquarters on Deansgate. The project is being spear-headed by Sir Norman Foster. Other buildings include a 150 metre tall office building, a new justice centre and new crown court.

Religion

The Anglican Diocese of Manchester was established in 1847. Manchester lies within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford . Manchester is in the Central North Division of the Salvation Army. Manchester has the largest Jewish community outside of the capital and there is a large Muslim population.

Manchester has also has in own Anglican Cathedral. The cathedral often known as St. Georges Cathedral was built over a period of 600 years and is built in the Gothic Style.

Government

Greater Manchester

Main article: Greater Manchester
Numbered map of Greater Manchester.

The metropolitan county of Greater Manchester is made up of 10 metropolitan boroughs:

  1. City of Manchester
  2. Stockport
  3. Tameside
  4. Oldham
  5. Rochdale
  6. Bury
  7. Bolton
  8. Wigan
  9. City of Salford
  10. Trafford

Towns in the Greater Manchester urban area include Sale, Altrincham, Cheadle, Stockport, Ashton-under-Lyne, Oldham, Bury, Rochdale, Glossop, Stockport, Middleton and Stretford. Places like Trafford and Salford can be considered part of the Manchester urban area in a way that Wigan or Bolton are not.

The centre of Salford is adjacent to the centre of Manchester, with only the River Irwell separating the two by 20 metres.

Political divisions

The City of Manchester is divided into 32 wards. See Manchester City Council.

Law enforcement

Manchester and its metropolitan conurbation are policed by Greater Manchester Police who are based at Manchester’s Chester House Police Station. Manchester’s railways are policed by the nationwide British Transport Police. Manchester used to have its own police service until 1974 when its force and the lower divisions of Lancashire Constabulary merged to from Greater Manchester Police.

Twin Cities

Parishes

  1. Ringway

Unparished Areas

Showing former status (prior to 1974)

  1. Manchester (County Borough)

Foreign consulates and commissions

Manchester and its conurbation are home to a number of foreign consulates and commissions:

  • Australia - Australian Consulate: Chatsworth House, Lever Street, Manchester M1 2QL Tel: 0161 228 1344 Fax: 0161 236 4074
  • Bangladesh - High Commission People's Republic of Bangladesh
  • Belgium - Consulate of Belgium : 76 Moss Lane Bramhall, Stockport, SK7 1EJ, Tel. 0161 439 5999
  • China - Consulate General of The People's Republic of China: Denison House, Denison Road, Rusholme, Manchester M14
  • Denmark - Trade Office of Denmark: 4th Floor, Arkwright House, Parsonage Gardens, Manchester M3
  • France - Trade Commission of France: 24th Floor, Sunley Tower, Piccadilly Plaza, Manchester M1
  • Germany - Consulate General of Germany: Westminster House, 11 Portland Street, Manchester, M60 1HY, Tel. 0161 237 5255
  • Republic of Ireland - Trade Board of Ireland: 56 Oxford Street, Manchester M1
  • Italy - Consulate of Italy: Rodwell Tower, 111 Piccadilly, Manchester M1
  • Monaco - Consulate of Monaco: Dene Manor, Dene Park, Manchester M20
  • Netherlands - The Royal Consulate of the Netherlands: 123 Deansgate, Manchester M3
  • Pakistan - Vice-consulate of Pakistan: 4th Floor Hilton House, 26/28 Hilton Street, Manchester M1.
  • Spain - Consulate General of Spain: 1a Brook House, 70 Spring Gardens, Manchester M2 2BQ
  • Switzerland - Consulate General of Switzerland: 24th Floor, Sunley Tower, Piccadilly Plaza, Manchester M1

In addition, the British Council maintains a headquarters building in the city centre.

See also

References

Print

  • Manchester architecture
    • Manchester. Clare Hartwell. Pevsner Architectural Guides ISBN 0300096666
    • Manchester: A guide to recent architecture. David Hands and Sarah Parker. Ellipsis. ISBN 1899858776
    • Manchester - an Architectural History John Parkinson Bailey. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0719056063
  • General
    • The City Life Guide to Manchester: 6th edition. ISBN 0954446070
    • The Mancunian Way Published by Clinamen Press ISBN 1903083818
    • Manchester - a Celebration. Brian Redhead. André Deutsch Limited, London. ISBN 0233988165
    • Victorian Manchester & Salford. Published in 1988 by Ryburn Publishing Limited. ISBN 1853310069
  • Manchester culture
    • Morrissey's Manchester: The Essential Smiths Tour Phil Gatenby ISBN 1901746283
    • Manchester, England. The story of the pop cult city. Dave Haslam ISBN 1841151467
    • And God Created Manchester. Sarah Champion. Wordsmith. ISBN 1873205015
    • The Hacienda Must be Built. Edited by Jon Savage. International Music Publications ISBN 0863598579
    • Shake, Rattle and Rain - Popular Music in Manchester 1955-1995. CP Lee ISBN 1843820498
    • Like The Night - Bob Dylan and the road to the Manchester Free Trade Hall. CP Lee ISBN 1900924331

Online

Notes

  1. ^ 2004 estimates "Quinary age groups and sex for local authorities in England and Wales; estimated resident population; Mid-2004 Population Estimates". National Statistics Online. Retrieved November 2. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ "Manchester 'England's Second City'". MORI. Retrieved November 2. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Manchester tourist guide — Geography & weather". Manchester Online. Retrieved November 2. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ This has since been converted into the Greater Manchester Exhibition Centre, better known as G-Mex.
  5. ^ See www.radioregen.org
  6. ^ The busier airports are Heathrow and Gatwick.
  7. ^ Defined as a habitable building of whose height is at least 150m.

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