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Hello,
The trudge up either the many steps or the steep sweeping approach of Manchester’s Oxford Road Station can be a bit of a challenge - especially if you’re carrying luggage. And my perpetual lateness means I’m always out of puff by the time I reach the top. As such, I sometimes fail to appreciate the lovely design of the station frontage - said to be our answer to the Sydney Opera House.
Etched in my memory as the starting point for many childhood holidays and days out, Oxford Road Station has always been a little bit special. There’s a very particular nostalgic smell that I think must lie in the great curved wood and concrete that make up the building. And its mid century redesign - by architects William Robert Headley and Max Clendinning - was truly ambitious. Though the roof was a bit leaky for a while there, it has to be said.
In the Pevsner Architectural Guide to Manchester, Clare Hartwell called the station ‘one of the most interesting and innovative buildings of the period’ and ‘one of the most remarkable and unusual stations in the country both for the architectural form and the technological interest’.
In particular, I’ve always enjoyed pulling open the oak-handled doors of the cafe and stepping into what is, undoubtedly, the warmest part of a spot that I think must have its own microclimate.
Now, there’s an opportunity for a business to restore and run the little café. Historian Tim Dunn has dubbed it ‘Britain’s coolest 1960s station cafe’ and has suggested the Railway Heritage Trust (RHT) may be able to offer grant aid to ‘clever, thoughtful retailers’ to restore the ‘original post-war features’.
Tweeting a link to the Rightmove listing he commented: “Passenger numbers are rising & their desire for quality is too. With Pumpkin gone, you could work with @northernassist to create an astonishing F&B outlet in this iconic transport location. Someone in Manchester must have the vision… maybe it’s you.”
The 65 square metre space is on Platform 4 just past the ticket barriers and neat the stairs to the other platforms. It was previously occupied by Pumpkin Café, which closed during the Covid-19 pandemic and didn’t reopen again.
The listing specifies: “Proposals are invited by interested parties to improve the look and feel of the waiting room to align with their brand image, provided the minimum number of seats available remains for waiting passengers.”
RHT say they provided previous a grant to Slice Pizza - which now sits in the kiosk by the station doors - and ‘they did a great job restoring the wooden shop fittings in their unit’.
Northern - which manages the grade II-listed station - says it's a 'great opportunity' for someone wanting to set up shop in the heart of Manchester and in one of the best stations out there’. They say they are ‘open to any interest and innovation’.
The images below, shared by Tim Dunn and Rightmove, show the café as it looks now and how the café looked back in sixties with Max Clendinning’s lovely space age Atomic-style tables and wood panelling.
A failing system?
This eye-opening piece by my colleague Helena Vesty looks at the human faces behind the catalogue of failings at Greater Manchester’s mental health services.
Following the resignation of Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust (GMMH) chief Neil Thwaite last week, Helena has looked at the tragedies that have stemmed from problems within the trust.
Currently under investigation by police, independent regulators and internal bosses, GMMH has been under the spotlight for years - and my colleague Neal Keeling has reported on a number of cases linked to the trust.
But it was revelations aired in a September episode of Panorama that brought GMMH to national attention. An undercover BBC reporter embedded at the Edenfield Centre - on the grounds of the former Prestwich Hospital where GMMH now has a number of inpatient units - captured footage of apparent humiliation, verbal abuse, mocking and assault of patients as well as the falsification of medical paperwork.
A stark review by the Good Governance Institute laid out a ‘combative management’ style and a trust ‘believing its own propaganda’ which ultimately failed to see the shocking conditions it was cultivating.
Over four years, Edenfield ‘became its own world’ investigators said. Clinical leadership became ‘confused and dysfunctional’ prompting a rift between staff and the leadership team. And a huge turnover among senior medics left a lack of authority and ‘staff who had stepped up to keep the service going were often too junior with little experience beyond Edenfield’. GMMH has accepted the findings and apologised 'unreservedly'.
But the scandal was only one symptom of the deep-rooted issues within GMMH. A number of concerns have previously been raised by coroners, whistleblowers and families.
In December 2020, Zak Bennett-Eko dropped his 11-month-old son Zakari into a river in Radcliffe. He was plagued by hallucinations and jurors at a crown court trial found him guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
Bennett-Eko, who has a learning disability, sought help from his GP, medics in A&E and the mental health liaison team six times in 2019. On one occasion he asked to be sectioned, but was sent back to his GP with notes that read 'no emergency, no urgency'. Multiple investigations have been launched following Zakari's tragic death - including by GMMH.
Another case linked to GMMH includes that of paranoid schizophrenic Eltonia Skana, 30, who killed seven-year-old Emily Jones on Mother’s Day in 2020. She had been under the treatment of GMMH, but when her nurse was sick, she wasn’t seen by any other mental health professional for three months in the lead up to the attack.
When police searched Skana’s home they found a month's worth of unused antipsychotic medication. She had twice been sectioned before and had a history of violent incidents. An internal review by GMMH found the incident 'could not have been foreseen’.
Running parallel to the two manslaughter convictions were yet more deaths - this time of GMMH patients themselves.
Over nine months, three young people died while inpatients on mental health units at the site of the former Prestwich Hospital. Rowan Thompson, 18, died at the mental health hospital in Bury in October 2020, followed by 17-year-old Charlie Millers in December and 22-year-old Ania Sohail in June 2021.
The trust was ordered to commission an ‘external report’ about the three deaths, and after an unannounced inspection in September 2021, the Care Quality Commission said it was ‘very concerned’ about the safety of people using the services at GMMH.
There are many more instances where the trust has been criticised or has admitted mistakes, detailed here. You can read the full story here.
Blood, sweat and tears
Around 28,000 people took part in the Manchester Marathon yesterday. Yes really - 28,000 people willing to endure shin splints, lactic acid and the inclement Manchester weather just to reach the 26.2 mile mark. Colour me impressed.
Ignas Brasevicious came in first and Naomi Mitchell was the first female across the line with an impressive time of 2 hours 31 minutes.
Also among the runners were Raja Aslam and Emon Choudhury, who are both currently observing Ramadan, making the run a particular challenge. “Even once I've completed this marathon I’ve got a few hours until I can have something,” Raja said.
Meanwhile, with a huge grin on his face, an unknown man proposed to his girlfriend as they both crossed the finish line together. A clip has been shared online.
You can see a gallery of pictures from the day here.
'This is terrible news'
I was sad to read about the closure of Alphabet Brewing Company after a decade as a fixture of Manchester’s craft brewing scene.
Owners of the Ardwick-based company have not yet given a reason for the closure, but it’s fair to say it’s an increasingly tough time for independent breweries in the midst of an energy crisis.
ABC, which launched in 2014, was behind a number of hop and fruit-led session beers including the tropical IPA Juice Springsteen.
The closure has been met with shock from other brewers, including Audenshaw-based Nico Ditch Brewing, which said: “This is terrible news. Absolutely gutted for everyone at Alphabet and wish all of you the best in future.” While Stockport pub Petersgate Tap wrote: “So gutted for you guys. Hope something pops up soon, stay strong.”
Are we being snubbed, Prime Minister?
The Prime Minister was in Greater Manchester again over the weekend - and though the Manchester Evening News reporters would love to tell you what happened, they weren’t invited. It’s the second time in a month that Rishi Sunak has snubbed the local press.
Arriving on Saturday, he first spoke to stallholders at Bury Market and posed for selfies. As Tom George reports, the Conservative Party said the visit was 'cut short' having been rescheduled which is why the press wasn't invited.
Mr Sunak then headed to Bamford, in Rochdale, where he joined campaigners knocking on doors. That’s his second trip to Rochdale this month after visiting the town to launch a new 'grooming gangs' taskforce he claims will 'make a big difference' to tackling child abuse. The M.E.N wasn’t invited to that either.
During his last visit to Bury Market, back in 2021, when he was still Chancellor, Mr Sunak appeared to confuse Bury with Burnley during an interview with BBC Breakfast. Burnley is 20 miles north of Bury.
Earlier today, Mr Sunak was faced with a rather embarrassing silence when he opened up the floor to questions from students following a speech about studying maths. Shame really. All he had to do was let us know where he was and we'd have been only too happy to lob a few questions his way.
Faceless voters
It appears Pat Karney’s thirst for a terrifying stunt cannot be quenched. Not satisfied merely with producing this frightening mask during a council meeting last month, he’s now taken it to the streets. And he co-opted two more councillors to join him during campaigning in Harpurhey yesterday.
But there is a very good reason for it. Coun Karney has been using the masks to remind people about voter ID. ‘Faceless’ voters without a valid form of photo identification, such as a driving licence or a passport, will be turned away from the polling station on May 4.
You’ve got until 11.59pm tonight to register to vote, if you haven’t already done so. The deadline for postal or proxy votes - which doesn’t require photo ID - is tomorrow. Register to vote online here.
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Weather etc
- Temperatures: Sunny intervals. 15C.
- Road closures: M67 Eastbound entry slip road closed due to long-term roadworks at J2 A57 Hyde Road (Denton). Until December 1, 2025.
- Trivia question: When did Manchester Oxford Road railway station first open?
Manchester headlines
The Ponderosa: Plans to build 30 new affordable homes on a much-loved field in the heart of an estate are dividing a community. The proposals would see rental housing ‘for local people’ built off Borrowdale Road, in Langley, Middleton. The land is known locally as ‘The Ponderosa’ - also an old colloquial name for Langley itself. The project is being driven by Big Help Langley Developments - a community interest company formed by Langley Community Benefits Society and charity The Big Help. West Middleton councillor Sue Smith - a founder member of the benefits society - has been instrumental in bringing the partnership together, and says the area is crying out for social housing. But some locals insist The Ponderosa is not the place for them.
Protest: Hundreds of angry residents and politicians took part in a protest against communications firm IX Wireless over the weekend. The firm is erecting hundreds of wooden and metal masts across the north west under 'permitted development' rules. It means they don’t have to seek planning approval when erecting the posts on residential roads. The programme of works, which the firm says is to introduce cheap and powerful internet coverage, has infuriated householders who have been powerless to act. Many gathered for a protest in Bolton town centre on Saturday afternoon.
Stepping down: PrettyLittleThing founder Umar Kamani has announced he will be stepping down as CEO after 12 years of running the fashion empire. The businessman, 35, who is from Manchester, first set up the fashion company in 2012 alongside brother Adam and has overseen the brands' growth over the years, creating a global empire now estimated to be worth billions. Kamani shared a lengthy statement to his Twitter profile on Sunday, announcing the 'difficult decision' to step down as CEO and his hopes to 'build new brands' in the future.
Rubbish: Residents in Bury say they are becoming increasingly frustrated with the level of fly-tipping in the area. Emma Simms has been trying to sell a property near Manchester Road for the past two years but potential buyers have repeatedly refused to purchase the house because the land behind the property is used by fly-tippers to dump rubbish, she says. “There’s rats that eat the rubbish, there’s been human waste found, furniture that’s been left - like toilets - and it’s even been set on fire,” she says. Bury Council says the site has been cleared three times under the H&S statutory nuisance environmental powers.
Worth a read
Last week’s rooftop protest by Strangeways inmate Joe Outlaw brought the issue of Indeterminate public protection sentences into sharp focus.
Introduced by the Labour government two decades ago and described by some as a 'scandal', former Home Secretary Lord David Blunkett last month admitted he made a mistake when he brought the legislation in.
Though the sentence has since been abolished, the move wasn't retrospective and by 2019 there remained 2,489 prisoners still locked up on IPP sentences.
IPP prisoners were not given access to courses that would prove they had been rehabilitated. As such, when Outlaw appeared in court last week, his barrister said he felt there was ‘no light at the end of the tunnel.
Neal Keeling has been looking at the piece of legislation which has proved a ‘costly waste of money, and more importantly of human lives’. You can read his fascinating piece 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: It opened in 1849 and was rebuilt in 1960.
