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Here's the Mancunian Way for today:
Hello,
I hope you all had a pleasant weekend. I spent much of it wanging on about the blue skies, sunshine and emergence of spring flowers. It’s amazing what a bit of Vitamin D can do for your attitude.
There was an interesting piece in The Sunday Times yesterday about Manchester’s nightlife. In it, journalist Kate Spicer speaks of the Warehouse Project's green room as the city’s nightlife hot spot.
She quotes former Radio 1 DJ Nihal Arthanayake, whose children suffered racial bullying when the family moved to Stockport in 2016. After a tough couple of years he says ‘everything changed’ when PR Gemma Krysko invited him to Mayfield and he now loves Manchester. “The energy is off the charts. Every day a new opening. There’s this aura of possibility,” he says.
He also describes Homobloc - Manchester’s 'queer block party for all’ - as ‘the most unbelievable explosion of hedonism I have ever seen outside of a private villa in Ibiza’.
Spicer writes: “I guess what you feel the most while mooching about in Manchester’s nightlife is that if the wants and desires of young, joyful and reckless people haven’t been gentrified out of existence, they’ve been assimilated, accepted and enabled.”
The article also quotes Mackie Mayor founder Nick Johnson as saying the city’s vision of itself is ‘underpinned’ by Factory Records and the Haçienda. I know it’s annoying to hear the Haçienda mentioned in yet another article by a London journalist, but I think Spicer’s piece is a bit different. She is speaking very specifically about current offers for clubbers and, frankly, could not be more effusive about the city. And it’s kind of impossible not to mention that oft-mentioned club when speaking about Manchester to a national audience - after all, as Andy Spinoza told Neal Keeling last week, it would not be the city it is today without it.
But you can't please everybody. The ‘LDN v MCR’ list that accompanied the feature annoyed some Mancs. It compared Ancoats’ ‘Hipster Aldi’ with Holland Park's 'Supermarket of Dreams', Stockport to Peckham, Maxine Peake to Helena Bonham Carter and Bugzy Malone to Stormzy. It also ranked Londoner's 'emotional baggage of house prices' against Manchester's 'emotional baggage of the Haçienda closing'.
A Reddit thread quickly formed, as Adam Maidment writes, with one poster raging: “It’s vomit inducing. Oh look how posh London is and how ‘real’ Manchester is. It reminds me of 90s magazines and their ‘hot/ not’ lists.”
Chippy? Mancs? Never.
Arena attack victim taking legal action
Martin Hibbert is said to be taking action against a conspiracy theorist who claims the Manchester Arena terrorist bombing didn't happen.
Mr Hibbert and his daughter Eve were both left with severe disabilities after the blast in 2017, which killed 22 people. The dad suffered 22 shrapnel wounds, including one that severed his spinal cord, as he attempted to shield Eve from the explosion.
He last year spoke out to reveal he had been notified by police about one conspiracy theorist. An investigation for the BBC's Panorama programme reported Richard D Hall, whose YouTube channel once had more than 80,000 followers, visited victims' homes and even set up cameras in a bid to prove they had lied about their injuries. In a video posted on his website, Mr Hall admitted spying on Eve from a vehicle parked outside her home, and said he had made 'door to door enquiries' to peddle his theory.
Now the BBC reports Mr Hibbert and his daughter have filed legal action against Mr Hall, alleging defamation and harassment. The family is said to be seeking an injunction to restrain Mr Hall from making similar allegations in future and damages for some of the harm he has caused them.
It’s thought to be the first time such an action has been launched in the UK against a conspiracy theorist. The Manchester Evening News has contacted Mr Hall for a response.
Crackdown on 'grooming gangs'
Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman were in Rochdale this morning to launch a new 'grooming gangs' taskforce they say will 'make a big difference' to tackling child abuse.
When asked why the Government had not addressed the issue of grooming gangs sooner, the Prime Minister claimed it was a long-held ambition. “Last year I said that if I became prime minister I wanted to take decisive action to stamp out this evil and that is what we are announcing today, a new expert police-led taskforce, tougher sentencing, and a new legal duty on those working with children to report abuse,” he said. "I won't rest until we make sure that our children can grow up in an environment that is safe and secure.”
Flanked by the Home Secretary and Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson, Mr Sunak said the new initiative will make things easier for whistleblowers and said exploitation is happening in communities across the country.
As Paul Britton writes, the shadow of child sexual exploitation has hung over Rochdale since nine men were convicted and jailed in 2012 for a catalogue of serious sex offences against vulnerable victims in Rochdale and Heywood. Shabir Ahmed, who was known as 'Daddy' in the gang, is still serving a 22-year jail term for rape. Former detective Maggie Oliver resigned from GMP in 2012 to turn whistleblower over the force's failings in their cases. Police went on to admit the girls had been 'let down' and 'substantial' pay-outs were made as GMP issued a public apology.
The PM earlier pledged 'political correctness' would not get in the way of a crackdown, as ministers promised tougher sentences and new support for local forces to protect children from abuse. Ethnicity data will also be used to support police investigations. Part of the plan will see specialist officers assist local police forces to solve child sexual exploitation investigations as part of the new grooming gangs taskforce.
So what does the new taskforce mean for Greater Manchester Police? Chief Constable Stephen Watson says any additional support is welcome.
The force says its child sexual exploitation (CSE) unit has charged eight suspects with 82 CSE-related offences and arrested an additional 50 suspects since it was establishment in 2021.
The force says it recorded 37 more CSE-related crimes in 2022 than in the previous year. They say that takes the number of live investigations into recent and non-recent abuse involving multiple victims and/or multiple suspects up to 62.
New boss for biggest NHS trust
The new head of Greater Manchester’s biggest NHS trust is a former nurse. As such, Mark Cubbon understands the importance of delivering a good service to patients.
He started his nursing career in 1992, working at Trafford General, Withington Hospital, and the Manchester Royal Infirmary. Now he will head up Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), which runs 10 hospitals.
“There’s so much that has changed since I was a nurse here 30 years ago,” he says. “However, despite the challenges facing the NHS, one thing which hasn’t altered is that every member of the MFT team is working incredibly hard to deliver the best possible care for our patients.”
Mr Cubbon takes over after the departure of Sir Michael Deegan - and as Helena Vesty reports, he’ll be pushing to fix the gaping inequalities which see some Mancunians die well before their time.
"I am absolutely committed to ensure that MFT continues to play a key role in delivering improvements for our patients. In order to do this, it is hugely important that we further deepen our understanding of the needs of our diverse communities,” he says.
Tourist tax
The tourist tax we spoke about a few weeks back is not going down so well with visitors.
Manchester has become the first city in the UK to introduce the ‘City Visitor Charge’ - meaning overnight guests pay an extra £1 per room, per night, for their accommodation.
It’s projected £3m in annual takings will be used to fund the Accommodation Business Improvement District. But, as James Holt reports, it’s divided opinion.
One last thing holding up demolition
The abandoned block of maisonettes and shops at Eastford Square in Collyhurst has come to symbolise a bygone era. Once the centre of a 1960s council estate, it has been derelict for more than a decade.
Its demolition was held up for years by a 'legal wrangle' with one of the shop owners. Manchester Council now owns the whole building but there’s been one last thing standing in the way of demolition - a roost of bats.
Work to remove the concrete William Mitchell artwork facing Hamerton Road has now started. But lifting the 'substantial' sculpture up from the land, which sits above a tram line, has taken longer than expected.
Last week, councillors were told that once the gas is turned off and the bats are relocated, the building will be gone. Many locals say it’s about time. “I can't wait,” Michael Hattemore told Tom George. “It's awful. It was lovely when it was all shops. All these used to be flats. But they chucked those people out and the shops deteriorated.”
Best restaurants opening this April
With a long weekend on the horizon, you might be looking for a new way to treat yourself. Thankfully, our resident expert Ben Arnold has compiled this list of new restaurant openings.
Suki Suki, Little Blanchflower and Onda Pasta Bar are all about to open. You can read more here.
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Weather etc
- Tuesday: Sunny changing to cloudy by early evening. 13C.
- Road closures: M67 Eastbound entry slip road closed due to long-term roadworks at J2 A57 Hyde Road (Denton). Until December 1, 2025.
- A662 Pollard Street Westbound closed due to roadworks from Pollard Street to A665 Great Ancoats Street. Until April 13.
- Trivia question: Which band recorded Strangeways, Here We Come?
Manchester headlines
Tram Taylor: Manchester's original 'Tram Taylor' - a life-size cardboard cut-out of pop sensation Taylor Swift - is to be sold at auction. The cardboard figure has been a fond and familiar sight to thousands travelling through Cornbrook on the Metrolink, but its future was thrown into jeopardy when the tenant announced they were moving to Sheffield. The apartment then appeared up for rent with the proviso that the new tenant would need to be willing to cohabit with the cutout. The team at The Manc now plan to auction off the original cutout (which was replaced with a pristine new figure after it had become sun damaged) to raise money for the Mermaids charity. More here.
Tickets: Northern says it is making it easier for customers to swap their ticket to another train on the same day if an unexpected delay occurs. The rail operator has partnered with the app Seafrog, which will allow customers to swap their tickets from £2.50. They can swap any 'Advance Purchase' tickets that were intended for one train. Mark Powles, commercial and customer director at Northern, says: “We know some customers that had ‘Advance Purchase’ tickets were frustrated when their plans changed but they couldn’t easily change their train ticket.” More here.
Delays: University students from Manchester were among thousands of people forced to endure waits of eighteen hours at Dover as severe delays caused chaos. The port of Dover, which declared a critical incident, said the hold-ups were 'due to lengthy French border processes and sheer volume' after the severe traffic delays began on Friday and continued throughout the weekend. Groups of university students from across the country, including from Manchester, were among those forced to sit in a slow moving queue of coaches, go without food or water for hours on end and in some cases miss an entire day of their trips due to the major hold ups. More here.
Plea: Staff at NQ64 - the popular arcade bar with two locations in Manchester city centre - have pleaded with punters to stop having 'full on intercourse' in its photobooths. They say they are trying to get as many photobooths into as many locations as they can, but are sick of doing 'constant deep cleans' in the booths. It comes after a discarded bra was found in the Peter Street branch. More here.
Worth a read
Hilary and Pauline had to wait 60 years to marry. They were just 17 and 16 when they met in 1955 and knew immediately they wanted to be together.
“It didn't matter that Pauline was a girl, I just was in love with her as a person,” Hilary says. “Despite disapproval, we continued to see each other. It wasn’t long before I knew we were soul mates.”
The couple exchanged rings in 1970 and made their own commitment to each other before buying a home and having children. And when same-sex marriage finally became legal in 2014, Pauline proposed and they married, three years later. But not long after, Pauline was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and vascular dementia.
“When that love is there, you can climb every mountain – and we will do,” Hilary says. “We are now both in our mid 80’s, are very active and have children and a grandchild to keep us busy.
“So many people who have dementia think there’s nothing for them, but we have no doubt the Alzheimer’s Society is behind us. We are surrounded by love and kindness. It gives you a true reason to live and to want to go on. We don’t feel alone on this journey.”
You can read the full story, by Paige Oldfield, here.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk.
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The answer to today's trivia question is: The Smiths.
