A balloon ascent ….. a clandestine visit by a rebel …. and a notorious slum

If you are going to write about our city’s past you can’t go wrong with a balloon, a rebel and a slum.

And if you add a vanished synagogue, an iconic and much-loved railway station along with a some poignant memorials, you have the outline for some fresh stories on Manchester’s history.

All these and much more come in our new book “The History Of Greater Manchester By Tram … Stories At The Stops, Market Street to Victoria”.

It is the third in the popular series where we use the metro tram network to deliver a new and unique way of telling the history of where we live.

With eight routes and 99 stops there is plenty of history, and the books record both the big stuff and the silly things that have gone on along the network

There will be stories of events and people around each stop.  Peter will paint pictures of each of the 99 and I will explore those stories.  Together they will build into a comprehensive history of Greater Manchester, with that added bonus that you can read the books at home or take them with you, stopping at each destination to alight and walk the past.

Book one and two featured the route in from East Didsbury as far as Exchange Square and this one takes you on the short journey from Market Street to Victoria Railway Station, taking in Shudehill.

Along the way we will offer tales of what Market Street was like in 1830, the mysterious visit of Bonnie Prince Charlie to Manchester a year before his occupation of the city, the ascent by Mr. James Sadler and a cat in a balloon in 1783, and the role of a railway company in the demolition of some notorious slums.

Nor could we leave out a night club, the Urbis Centre, Chetham’s School, a couple of historic pubs and the gruesome exhumation of 19th century cholera victims.

It has the lot and is available to buy at Central Ref, Chorlton Bookshop, and Waterstones on Deansgate as well as from us at www.pubbooks.co.uk, price £4.99.

And will be followed by books exploring the metro line across the city to the Etihad Stadium, Salford and Altrincham.

Location; Market Street, Shudehill and Victoria Railway Station

Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson, 2025, and Peter Topping

*A new book on the History of Greater Manchester By Tram, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20the%20History%20of%20Greater%20Manchester%20by%20Tram