For many people in Greater Manchester, Cheetham Hill has essentially become a by-word for fake designer gear. The stretch of Bury New Road close to Strangeways prison has been known by the notorious moniker ‘Counterfeit Street’ for quite some time and the area’s reputation precedes it.
Earlier this week, Manchester Evening News reported that plans are in place for a number of buildings along the road to be closed, compulsory purchased, and then bulldozed. That same day, one building was raided and 20 tonnes of counterfeit goods were found.
As the building was already subject to a closure order, the retail units could only be accessed after heading down a very shady looking back alley, through a back door and then via a maze of staircases. It took cops two days to bag up all their evidence and leave the scene.
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Despite the heavy police presence, it seemed to be business as usual on Bury New Road when I visited. Walking along the half-a-mile section of the road from Great Ducie Street to the junction of Broughton Lane and Waterloo Road, my eyes were drawn to the suspicious unmarked stores.
Most had the shutters down but men would try and beckon passers-by inside through the small doors. Those who took them up on the offer would disappear around dark corners or down staircases. Having a raid take place just metres up the road did not seem to be much of a deterrence, if at all.
It is fair to say that the road’s reputation probably puts a lot of people off shopping there, which is particularly unfortunate for the legitimate businesses along the stretch. One man, who owns such a store at the Broughton Lane end, claimed that there are raids ‘twice a week’.
He said: “People will say that having police here is bad for business but it isn’t their fault, it’s the people selling these things. This used to be the best place for markets. You’re probably too young to remember but in the 90s it wasn’t like this.”
On asking the man, who did not wish to be named, what he thought about plans to demolish certain buildings on Bury New Road, he smiled: “I hadn’t heard that but it would be very, very good.”
As I wandered back down the street, I noticed one of the men outside the shops casually leaning on my car, making himself comfortable. He had even put a bottle of water on the roof.
I can see how that sort of thing could make people feel intimidated and the M.E.N has previously reported on women being harassed as they walk down the stretch. Another owner of a legitimate clothing store that has been on the stretch for around 10 years felt that these reports had been overblown.
He said: “A lot of it gets hyped up, like the stuff about girls getting harassed. Maybe that happens once every six months but young girls don’t need to come here if they don’t want to.”
However, the fact is that the route is a main road between Salford and Manchester, and as such young women and teenage girls may have to walk down it to get to work or even The Manchester College, which is at the Great Ducie Street end. So their choice becomes to either walk past the shops or cross the road and walk past a high-security prison.
A 21-year-old woman called Amy stopped to chat to the M.E.N as she walked along Bury New Road on Wednesday afternoon. She said that she has had two very different experiences of shopping along the road in the past. “The first time me and my friend went, it was because we wanted to see what it was about,” she said.
“We felt a bit intimidated but it wasn’t as bad as we expected because we’d heard stories about people getting locked in when they get raided and things like that. Once we were in the shops it seemed like you could get discount if you flirt with them. The men seem very nice though and I couldn’t ever say I’ve been forced into buying anything.
“However the last time I was here, the mood seemed totally different and I later found out that was because police were around. We got ushered into a shop we didn’t really want to go into and the door was shut behind us. When we tried to leave they told us to look upstairs and we only managed to get out when my friend said that her boyfriend was in the car with her money.
“Then we went to a different shop and we weren’t sure on an item and had to go to a cash machine - when we came back it was completely shut. And there was about 30 men stood outside who said they had to close because of a police problem.”
Another female resident previously told the M.E.N that when she walks along Bury New Road with her boyfriend, she is never harassed or bothered by men, but as soon as she steps out alone, she admitted : "I know for a fact that I am going to be approached by men. It always feel unsafe when you're on your own around here."
On the other hand, when I visited, only one store owner asked me if I wanted to look inside. I politely declined and he left me alone, which probably helps prove the point of having some sort of male privilege in this area.
Amy got onto why she personally returned to shop in the area. “The concept of shops selling goods that aren’t real I don’t completely disagree with because some people want stuff for their kids but maybe can’t afford it.
“I think there’s a lot of pressure in society today to be able to afford designer brands or have a Gucci handbag. But the whole area seems like a breeding ground for crime - they’re not just selling clothes and there’s obviously other things going on.”
Those ‘other things’ include prescription drugs being sold in the street , people being exploited sexually and for their labour, and illegal immigration, according to Detective Superintendent Neil Blackwood, who is heading Operation Vulcan. GMP say that the area is linked to 33 organised crime gangs from across the UK and that the operation is a response to the ‘harmful and endemic criminality which is often linked to counterfeit goods’.
The business owner who dismissed the reports of harassment as hype explained why he believes the road is so popular, while admitting that plans to knock down some of the buildings “doesn’t surprise” him and that “long term it’s probably for the best”. “If people can afford to spend £150 in JD then that’s fine but a lot of people can’t,” he added.
“We don’t sell fakes in here but the whole thing is supply and demand. It isn’t necessarily just people you’d expect visiting the shops either; I’ve seen people pull up in fancy cars like Mercedes and I even know a barrister who goes shopping along here.
“It’s up to the landlord to vet the people they let in. I don’t think it would spread elsewhere, it’ll probably just move online, or people’s houses, or car boots, it’ll just go underground. People will still want to buy it.
“You should see how busy it is on a weekend. It’s the customers who are voting and they vote with their money. Nobody’s forcing them to buy it, nobody’s twisting their arm, they want to buy it.
“I do think if you’re a repeat offender, you deserve to be shut down. The council are actually very fair and just give them a chance to take their stuff out. I think they do it the right way and they’re not abusing their powers.”
Of course, things are not going to change overnight - an assertion perhaps emphasised by police finding three men inside the store they seized 20 tonnes of counterfeit gear from and boarded up, just a day earlier.
The area is at the forefront of plans for major redevelopment, with Coun Bev Craig saying: “We have to have more aspiration for that bit of the city than being able to buy a ripped off North Face jacket,” when she took over as the leader of Manchester City Council last year. Flattening buildings would be the start of it, but whether it goes back to being the 'best place' for families to come and buy genuine, affordable clothing, or apartments spring up, it remains to be seen.
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