In celebration of the Northern Quarter

Now I have lived long enough in Manchester to have seen that area behind the modern Arndale, slowly decline and bounce back.

And the crusty old historian in me was always very sniffy about the name the Northern Quarter which smacked of developer’s hype and something the place was not.

But that was and is unfair.  The new developments brought people back into this part of the city and offered a home to those quirky independent businesses which might find it difficult to set up elsewhere in the centre of town.

So with that in mind I think it is time over the next few weeks to feature the Northern Quarter, and here are two of Andy’s pictures which nicely show what has survived from the Blitz and the redevelopment plans of the late 1960s and 70s.

The stories are in no particular order and at least a few have been posted already, but in the interests of celebrating the place they are being brought out gain from the shadows.

And to start here are two from Shudehill.

I am constantly amazed at how the row that includes the Arndale Exchange has survived, and equally pleased that the Lower Turks Head has reopened.

Pictures; from the Shudehill collection by Andy Robertson