Alex Reuben took a gamble when he quit selling suits in Moss Bros to open an art gallery in Manchester's Royal Exchange Arcade, aged 25 and "looking like I was 17". He has just taken an even bigger punt.
His Contemporary Six Gallery relocated and now occupies premises on Princess Street in the shadow of the town hall and Albert Square. It is the same Square which French artist Adolphe Valette famously painted. As well as being L S Lowry's tutor Valette also captured Manchester's industrial glory with paintings of bridges spanning the Irwell, and the dark city factories dotted with tiny lights. Several now hang in one room at Manchester City Art Gallery.
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