Is Manchester what it's cracked up to be?

Always had a great time when visiting Manchester meself. My cousin Angela is involved in the promotion of The City of Manchester as it goes,working with people like Peter Saville..She's due a dinner meeting with Tony Wilson this month she tells me.She said she'll email and tell me what he's doing with himself these days..She's a big Manchester music scene fan,and invites me and our kid down for gigs.. We all went to Move 2002 to see New Order at the Cricket ground....Tho interestingly,she did tell me that what they doing now,is still trying to move the place on from the Hacienda scene,so they are'nt stuck on the past too much!

I said I'd prefer they dwelt on that scene personally!:D

Guess Manchester is more "Cutting It" than "Coro" these days.

I went to Manchester for the first time in a few years recently and I don't like how it has changed. There are lots of new buildings which are big and shiny but that's what new buildings in lots of places are usually like and I don't really want cities to become barely distinguishable from each other. Walking around I felt as if could be walking in any one of a handful of British cities or London in the late 1980's.

In the early 1990's Manchester and (to a lesser extent) Leeds seemed like cities that could be an alternative to London and challenge the established ways of doing things. Nowadays I don't think of them as potential alternatives to London: they have become imitations of London. They are being regenerated but they are also being transformed into something more conformist and in the long run what will be lost is a culture that is distinct from and in opposition to the corporate mainstream which will find it even harder to take root and grow.

Maybe I'm just an old leftie who is still waiting for the glorious day when the old enemy will be overthrown. Then again maybe I'm just someone who doesn't want to be bourgeois or accept that shit happens so you might as well join the massive shit fight. However, whatever I am I don't expect any significant changes to come from Manchester any more.

ChrissMari wrote:

monty wrote: It's a fantastic city.I wouldn't live away from the place. What was it Morrissey said a couple of years back."It's sexy,the people are sexy (Ah thank you Moz)" The old imagery of Corrie's cobbled streets have been replaced by neon and tall modern glass towers. I've still to visit bars I've never tried.There's something for everyone,PRINTWORKS,Arndale Centre,Deansgate,Castlefield,Piccadilly. Wealth of good record shops,boutiques,Afflecks Palace,Urbis,restaurants,canals.Beginning to sound like a tour guide but the place is buzzing. Don't let a couple of knobheads put you off coming.

PRINTWORKS??? and DEANSGATE??

i.e., where to go if you want to get fucked with by a drunken scallie looking for a fight

Afflecks is full of children trying to be something they aren't and the arndale centre is just filthy.

I love manchester but when I see it's "good points" laid out like above, I wonder if New York isn't more then place for me.

Oh I love New York!Though I did find myself taxi-ing around for bars in Manhattan,with the exception of Greenwich Village. Going back to the Arndale,It's changed a lot in the last few years.It used to look like a lavatory for years before the IRA did some renovations to it. Now it's been completely redeveloped,with yet another new section of it opening near NEXT. What's wrong with Deansgate and Printworks? I know Printworks isn't exactly cheap,particularly Hard Rock Cafe,but it's still a good collection of pubs,clubs and restaurants under one roof.

It's full of shit shit and more shit, oh Manchester is full of shit.

Seriously, it's alright. I'm sure are old friend Marty might take a few exceptions to the modern developements but if decent places to shop and eat or drink make a city worth visiting, you could do worse. It retains a vibrant atmosphere, and you don't seem to get much bother in any of the places I've drank in. That said I wouldn't want to broadcast my accent in a chippy full of Mancs. There's been a few very nasty attacks on Liverpudlians in recent times. I'm sure they'd say the same about Liverpool, if they had an accent it was possible to distinguish from any other northern mill town.