Touring Manchester, England, UK

🔊🔛 I’ve had this theory that Paris, London, New York are not cities of their respective countries, but rather, they are all part of a sisterhood of international world cities. But each country still has its own actual defining city. In the USA, I believe it to be Chicago. France, perhaps Lyon. In England, it’s definitely #Manchester, the capital of English grit, determination, and innovation that’s all spawned from a proud working class. In fact, hard work is so ingrained in the Manchester ethos that a worker bee is the city’s omnipresent symbol. 🐝

Manchester was Britain’s city of industry as factories boomed during the Industrial Revolution. And with the burgeoning working class came unions and the co-operative movement, progressive thinking and inventive engineering, world-class contenders in sport (particularly in football/soccer), and internationally-embraced musical talent, including The Smiths and Oasis. Today, Manchester continues to evolve as more people, particularly the English themselves, are choosing Manchester over London—in fact, the BBC moved there in 2011 in adjacent Salford. Construction cranes dominate the landscape to fulfill the demand, in addition to an underground railway project in development.

Here are scenes of Manchester from two tours, mostly a taxi tour with John of @ManchesterTaxiTours, edited with some additional footage from touring around on foot in redundant locations. First, a stop at the Royal Mills building, once setting of industrial cotton-spinning mills, now a residential, retail, and office hub. Then Etihad Stadium, home of the Manchester City Football Club (the blue team), and the National Cycling Centre, which was unfortunately going under a re-sanding of the track during our visit. Next, an insider tour of Co-op Live, the UK’s largest entertainment arena, with many upscale concessions, an in-house recording studio, plus a special bathroom stall that becomes a disco at the push of a button.

Continuing across town, we passed Piccadilly Gardens on way to Manchester’s Gay Village, neighborhood of LGBTQ+ friendly venues near the statue of famed gay British mathematician Alan Turing, forefather of computer science. Nearby we drove by the University of Manchester, where the atom was first split, and the first data-storable computer was invented. Next, the Castlefield neighborhood, where ancient Roman ruins stand restored, and people walk the Viaduct, a garden path on a former elevated railway, akin to NYC’s High Line. Nearby is the Castlefield Chapel-turned-recording studio-turned office space, once rumored to be where Rick Astley recorded “Never Gonna Give You Up.” (FACT CHECK: Despite information given by our tour guide, he did NOT record his immortal song here. After said fact check, I subsequently swapped out the rickrolling soundtrack of this video.)

Driving into adjacent Salford (which many consider to just be a part of Manchester), we did a quick homage to the iconic photo of The Smiths at the Salford Lads Club on our way to a view of Old Trafford Stadium, home of Manchester United (the red team). Nearby is Media City, the office complex that houses BBC’s HQ, and where John surprised us with the finale of his taxi tour: afternoon tea, right inside his cab. — Touring Manchester, #England, #UK. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧

#theglobaltripmanchester #theglobaltripuk