Piccadilly Railway Station 2002

An occasional series featuring places I continue to think are special.

Picture; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Looking out on Exchange Square, on a March day in 2014

Now I bet most of us at sometime have taken a picture through a big glass window.

It was what you do when pretty much all the interesting subjects have walked away or been exhausted.

So here is Exchange Square on a Saturday morning in early March looking out from the Arndale.

In my defence it does capture a moment of change down in the square.

The big wheel has been banished to Piccadilly Gardens and work is underway for the new metro stop which will be part of the Second City Crossing taking trams from St Peter’s Square, down Princess Street and Cross Street and on past the Exchange Square and the Triangle to Victoria Station.

And of course Exchange Square is itself a relatively new place but in turn contains two old pubs and a shopping centre which was once an Exchange.

So there you are, a little bit of Manchester magic along with a photograph.

Picture; looking out at Exchange Square, March 2014 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

More from the Art Gallery ............ part 2 ...... street scenes and roof tops

Yesterday at the City Art Gallery was a near perfect day.

And so I have returned to some of the pictures I took looking out across the city.

The extension to the Gallery always impresses me.

You go from the fine old building which contains many of my favourite paintings into the glass and metal area which connects to the new galleries.

It is light, bright and makes a perfect link from the old to the contemporary, but above all it is the vast areas of glass which allow you to gaze out beyond the confines of the building to all that is going on.

Now I know that photographing scenes through big windows is fairly common these days but being above the street offers an opportunity to see things in slightly different way so for that reason alone here over the next few days are a some more pictures from big windows.

And the nice thing is that the next time I go everything will be different.

Pictures; looking out on Manchester from the Art Gallery, 2015, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

More from the Art Gallery ............ part 4 ......glass and metal and roof tops

We were in the City Art gallery on a near perfect day, and as the sun shone I took took some pictures.

And so I have returned to some of the pictures I took looking out across the city.

The extension to the Gallery always impresses me.

You go from the fine old building which contains many of my favourite paintings into the glass and metal area which connects to the new galleries.

It is light, bright and makes a perfect link from the old to the contemporary, but above all it is the vast areas of glass which allow you to gaze out beyond the confines of the building to all that is going on.

Now I know that photographing scenes through big windows is fairly common these days but being above the street offers an opportunity to see things in slightly different way so for that reason alone here over the next few days are a some more pictures from big windows.


And the nice thing is that the next time I go everything will be different.

Pictures; looking out on Manchester from the Art Gallery, 2015, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

More from the Art Gallery ............ part 3 ...... glass and metal and roof tops

We were in the City Art gallery on a near perfect day, and as the sun shone I took took some pictures.

The extension to the Gallery always impresses me.

You go from the fine old building which contains many of my favourite paintings into the glass and metal area which connects to the new galleries.

It is light, bright and makes a perfect link from the old to the contemporary, but above all it is the vast areas of glass which allow you to gaze out beyond the confines of the building to all that is going on.

Now I know that photographing scenes through big windows is fairly common these days but being above the street offers an opportunity to see things in slightly different way so for that reason alone here over the next few days are a some more pictures from big windows.

And the nice thing is that the next time I go everything will be different.

Pictures; looking out on Manchester from the Art Gallery, 2015, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Looking out from the Art Gallery across the city

Today was one of those perfect days.

The sun was shining and the City Art Gallery was shown off at its best.

So having taken in my favourite paintings I wandered around looking out at the city.

Pictures; Manchester April 2015, from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

Every blog should have a reflection of the Refuge Building

Another in the new series, photographs using big glass windows and reflections.

Well where else but Oxford Road Station late on a warm summer’s afternoon.

Location; Oxford Road Railway Station, Manchester

Picture; Oxford Road Station and the Refuge Building, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Standing on the new metro stop at St Peter’s Square

Now I know everyone does the big glass wall windows reflection picture, but it’s been ages since I did one.

So here is the reflection of Central Ref and the Town Hall Extension taken yesterday while waiting for the tram.

And of course pretty soon it will all be very different ...... less a photograph more a moment in time

Location; Manchester





Picture; at the metro stop, 2106 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Inside the Great Northern

I have always liked the Great Northern Warehouse.

 It was begun in 1885, was completed in 1898 and renovated and opened as a leisure complex a hundred years later.

Picture; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Cafe Nero

Now after sharing my life with an Italian for over ten years you would think I could pronounce Cafe Nero correctly, but I can’t.

I do try, and have been known to repeat an Italian phrase over and over again, only to return ten minutes later and make a hash of it.

On the other hand I am good at remembering the city and Chorlton before the cafe and bar society arrived.

Coffee was something that came either as a frothy explosion of milk with a hint of caffeine or a cup of tepid brown stuff.

Mind you back in London what went for coffee in our home was that mix of sugar, coffee essence water and chicory known as Camp Coffee.  I tried some the other day and decided that like sugar sandwiches it was something best left to childhood memories.

And in much the same way I cannot get over nostalgic about the Manchester of the late 60s.  Ordering a glass of wine on a hot afternoon in some of the pubs in the city marked you out as strange, while the idea of wanting to eat outside was something you only did with a mid day sandwich in Piccadilly Gardens.

We always felt very daring at the idea of drinking in the Milk Maid opposite the sunken gardens or visiting the Ceylon Tea Centre.

And now both the Milk Maid and the tea centre have gone, along with Piccadilly Gardens which is a shame.  

On the other hand on a bright sunny day I can sit and watch the people go by in Albert Square sipping a glass of wine with a fine view of the Town Hall.

Picture; from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Outside the Great Northern

This is the last for a while of pictures from that short series of photographs using big glass windows and reflections.

We are down at the Great Northern Warehouse and being a historian I couldn’t resist the old brick buildings of the warehouse reflected in the glass of the new entrance to the cinema.

Picture; at the Great Northern Warehouse, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Standing in a less crowded Exchange Square

Now I am on a roll and here is another in the new series photographs using big glass windows and reflections.

That said this is also one of those pictures which captures a lost moment.

We are in Exchange Square, before the sweeping street furniture, and water feature and pretty much as it was when it was first finished.

The big wheel has yet to come to the city, and it is I think how I liked the square best.

Soon there will be the metro stop to add to the crowded space and for me something of its early simplicity has been lost.

Picture; Exchange Square from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Making the most of waiting, scenes of departure

Five to six on platform 13 of Piccadilly Station on a cold miserable morning in March is no fun.

At least the waiting room was relatively clean and more to the point warm which from my experience of train and bus shelters stretching back in to the 1950s was not always the case.

If there was a cafe in the waiting room the odds were that the tea was stewed, the coffee swimming in milk and the food overpriced and under cooked.  Added to this you could bet that the hard pressed staff had not kept up with the debris left by passing travellers and so just the simple task of finding a clean table with no dirty plates or spilt tea or sugar was a challenge.

By and large it is all an improvement today.  Tables are kept clean, the coffee tastes of coffee and the food interesting and above all there is a chance of a glass of decent wine.

Now I was thinking of all this after coming across a series of pictures I took a long time ago on people waiting to make a travel connection.  All were on their own and in some cases despite being in a crowd were clearly on their own.

And on Thursday,  the airport

Picture; from the collection of Andrew Simpson