Manchester

(although I didn't have time to actually buy anything, damn you ILE)

I don't look anything like her! We both have the same hairdo that is ALL. Dammit! DAMMIT ALL TO HELL IN A HANDCART.

Are there any mancunians checking this board?
I m this half french guy coming to visit his relatives in manchester, and i would really fancy having a drink with some ilxers tomorrow...

See the fleet of cruising cars
go past the stations and the bars.
Never stop to get out
in case they choose to cruise about.
Well, I tell you, that boy,
he stopped up at the station.
He must be on a mission of passion
Couldn't make out whether he was from
Salford or...ah... Manchester.
And this London visitor had this to say:
"Cheater"
Cheetham Hill.
Only way you stop is for passion at the station.
Why you cruising? To be unfaithful.
You want to settle up, you want to settle down.
And some man really hurt you.
He isn't around in Cheetham.
You cheated.
Well I tell you,
That boy, he stopped up at the station.
He must be on a mission of passion.
Cheater.
Cheetham Hill.
Where you going, boy? Are you cheatin'?
Is that why you come from Cheetham Hill?
When you stopped up at the station
was it an excuse to get away from your wife?
Couldn't make out whether he was from
Salford or...ah...Manchester
And this London visitor had this to say
"Cheater"
Cheetham.
(Cheetham Hill.)
(
customised
intentional
there's no need to go berserk
you don't scratch my nice green Merc
I wont need to go berserk
if you don't scratch my nice green Merc
...)

What was the john peel quote around manchester football teams being crap and the music being fantastic

Here until Tuesday, anybody want to meet for a drink? Staying around the corner from Oldham street...

What's good in terms of places to eat?

...any good arthouse cinemas?

I was pleased with the food and the drink in this place: http://www.marblebeers.com/marble-arch/

Looks good (although that first pic :-))! From the postcode I am staying near there

manchester has a brand new arthouse cinema! - http://homemcr.org/

plenty of good places to eat depending on what sort of thing you're looking for. the armenian taverna is a meat fest in a subterranean grotto, el rincon is great for unpretentious argentine tapas, samsi on whitworth st a v good japanese restaurant...

Thanks ogmor. As to what I'm looking for just recommend anything you really enjoyed and I'll be looking to try.

2nd week here - why is the centre of the city being carved open, roadworks seemingly everywhere. Couple of biblical showers last week but great weather at the start of the week..

Found a shop that does pancakes for breakfast, makes a change from the hotel (LOL bastards can't even do porridge).

Otherwise finding my way - Arndale annoying, otherwise Marblebeers is nice Tim thanks. Thomas Street has that Dalston vibe, reminding me of fkn 'home' - really all that this needed was shit furniture. Will go back for pork pie (which they didn't have when I went in).

Also went to the Armenian and certainly going back. Funnily enough I was reading a passage about Mandelstam's "Journey to Armenia" in another bk. Good place.

Found what seems to be Chinatown in Faulkner Street so working my way.

Found a really nice comics and bookshop - will note its name down for my next update, should I live.

gullivers on oldham st, and the castle across the road are your go-to pubs. often got live music, spoken word, comedy on. friendly mix of old manc & new

Yes NI whilst walking back I took a detour and saw Gullivers and I think the Castle (there was some Karaoke coming out of it), totally going for a drink tonight at the former - looked really good.

no karaoke at castle, it's really not that kind of place! my mate's hosting a spoken word event there tonight, free entry and always great.

Found a really nice comics and bookshop - will note its name down for my next update, should I live.

Paramount books near shudehill bus station/back of the arndale? if not you should definitely visit.

forgot to update this, but other notable eateries - habesha on sackville street, the spiral staircase in the corner of a kebab shop is an inauspicious entrance but this is a pretty great and very reasonable ethiopian&eritrean restaurant.

there are a few good curry houses in the city centre, I'd probably go for rajdoot, which is on the opposite side of albert square to the armenian taverna, but if you can make it to rusholme it's worth a stroll (I like sanam, the palestinian falafel place is also fantastic) and the great kathmandu on burton road in didsbury is probably my overall favourite.

not sure what your plans are but if you're up for a pint ilxmail me!

Yeah Paramount - paid a quick visit, looks great.

Saw this quickly last night and went to Habesha and that's great - really good local knowledge there, never spot that in a million years.

Been wondering re: curry house. Will try.

Will ilxmail - up for a drink sometime.

Any restaurants in Manchester that you (or rather my sister) would be pleased to get a birthday voucher for? (Meals? Afternoon tea?)

Dough pizza

I would be extremely pleased to visit one of the Simon Rogan places at The Midland, but that may be further up the £££ scale than you had in mind.

yeah for a treat the midland would be good

I hear wonderful things about the lime tree in didsbury as well which would be considerably more reasonable

Going to Rajdoot now and its outstansding.

Also go to Samsi as I stay nearby there - bdesides serving a terrific Katsu cuury it has good ice cream for dessert.

glad you like rajdoot! love a samsi bento box and the sushi must be the best in manchester by quite a way

DEVO MANC

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/call-referendum-over-greater-manchester-10261642#ICID=sharebar_twitter

El Rincon is brilliant tapas place, went last night and it is tough to get a table (and you can only book in advance if its for three ppl at least)

Extra offline recommends from ogmor that I've also checked out:

- Yuzu is an excellent, humble Japanese place in the less busier corner in Faulkner street

- Salvi is a v good Italian on John Dalton Street

For breakfast I settled on Fig + Sparrow on Oldham street - which doubles as a design shop.

Ppl at fig are v friendly although they weren't open at 8am (xmas parties season then?)

Went for some pancakes + berries + yoghurt (er @ that mix) and the jukebox was '97: Manics, Verve, Radiohead, Ash, MANSUN. LOL Indie. What corruption and filth.

I haven't been to Manchester in 24 years, but I'm glad to see some things haven't changed.

http://ak-hdl.buzzfed.com/static/2016-01/1/11/enhanced/webdr15/enhanced-buzz-wide-14156-1451666024-7.jpg

https://twitter.com/search?f=tweets&vertical=default&q=hogarth%20methinks&src=typd

Michael Cawley ‏@cawleym1 Jan 1
Hogarthian in all respects, the pissed bloke getting his beer has poignant poetic majesty.

There is a Buddhist centre and a v gd veg cafe round the corner from there.

just down the road from Paramount Books as well

full sequence of events:

http://i4.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/article10673595.ece/ALTERNATES/s1227b/JS79535758.jpg

http://i4.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/article10673600.ece/ALTERNATES/s1227b/JS79535764.jpg

http://i1.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/article10673597.ece/ALTERNATES/s1227b/JS79535762.jpg

http://i4.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/article10673611.ece/ALTERNATES/s1227b/JS79535829.jpg

http://i3.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/article10673613.ece/ALTERNATES/s1227b/JS79535831.jpg

Get a giggle everytime I walk by Well Street.

Are there any good vegetarian resturants in Manchester?

1847, right in the centre of town, is really good, I went there a few months ago. Excellent organic wine list too.

I'll check it out tx.

what's the deal with Paramount books? that is now only open on Sat and Sun - before xmas its opening hours only included Friday.

Is that the main indepedent bookseller in the city centre?

also: soref, neil s - both myself and ogmor were talking about a Manchester fap sometime (no it won't end like those pics above :-))

Let us know whether you might be around in Feb sometime.

manchester/nw ilx needs to rally together or at least congeal in the NQ somewhere

and one more - otherwise me and ogmor will hopefully get to paint the town do something

Is there a good place for breakfast that might do some nice things? (French toast or pancakes or just nice porridge) and that opens at 7am.

sorry never responded to yr kind invite, I'm actually London-based but am in Mcr to see my brother & my GF's family fairly often, if that coincides with an Mcr FAP then I will give you a shout!

No worries I'll hopefully get to firm up a day and revive this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRCcGUvmZDE

Get a giggle everytime I walk by Well Street.

there's also helmet street

http://i.imgur.com/2NvsK30.jpg

I'd really like to just go and lie in that, go to sleep, and then they can bring the water back.

nice ground is Spotland, been there a few times. the Science Museum is underrated, but probably full of dangerous hordes of vicious killers during half term.

Andy Burnham beside me in Temple talking about Sex Pistols and R.E.M. haha.

So Marvel are filming in Manchester today - Oldham street. They moved all the homeless and have replaced them with actors dressed as homeless people.

— Lily (@lilyhuggins) March 26, 2019

They filmed Captain America a small block away from me. You can still see some of the 'stuff' they did in the actual street; blackened out painted windows, remnants of the old fake posters etc. Also Peaky Blinders and the uh.. remake of Alfie. The Northern Quarter has been a bit of a hot spot these last 10 years.

https://assets.confidentials.com/uploads/imported/Assets/1/157225036.jpg

get that fucking marvel shite out of this country pls!

we need to monetise our urban decay somehow!

We should be creating a hostile environment for hollywood cunts bothering homeless people.

Samir's in Stretford is so fkn good. He had a restaurant in Syria and he's been open a few months on Chester Road now in the place that Sip Club had previously been putting on pop-up restaurants in. Everything is much cheaper and better than it needs to be but the mutabal in particular is glorious & the nutty kebabs are really rich and delicious. They cld do with some more business, strongly recommend it

Thanks for the suggestion!

My favourite Ethiopian in Manchester, the Blue Nile Cafe in Stretford sadly closed a couple months ago. Haven't really explored anything else in the area yet.

yeah it's so sad, the woman that ran it was a total sweetheart, said she loved having the restaurant but seemed to undercharge us every time and was always struggling with the bills. habesha is still good tho!

Yeah - Tiggy is amazing, she's pretty much the reason I went hiking in Ethiopia last September which was my favourite ever holiday.

Habesha is v good but the injera leaves a lot to be desired. Also when I was in the other week it seemed like they had stopped doing the raw kitfo!
The Eritrean on Port Street is pretty great, as is Merhaba - though I never find myself in Rusholme.

very nice! whereabouts did you hike? went to ethiopia a few years back, got hooked on doro wat in particular and had a similarly amazing time, we had planned to go hiking in the simien mountains but then decided to go to axum instead and can't say I regret it but wld love to go again if circs permit.

For me it was all about the gomen tibs! Ah, I wanted to visit the monuments up at Axum and the Danakil Depression but couldn't fit them into my itinerary! Next time!

I spent a couple days in Addis for the new year celebrations, and H from here suggested Fendika which was a great way to experience the music. Then flew up to Lalibela which was actually my favourite bit. The churches are something else with a bit of beautiful hiking/hospitality in the surrounding area, and I even ended up as guest at a fab two day wedding. From there I went on to Bahir Dir and the Simien mountains/Ras Dashen for a further 5 days of hiking. Just unbelievably beautiful up there - though I basically had to reteach myself to breathe every morning ha.

that sounds suitably incredible. likewise we had a great time in addis, in large part due to H, then went to bahir dar, gondar, axum and lalibela. lalibela exceeded my very high expectations and was intense to go round again first thing in the morning when no one was around. couldn't really get over how gorgeous the landscape was. we were there at the same time of year as well and everything was fantastically green, meskel flowers in bloom, lightning storms over lake tana in the evening... yeah, next time

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/oct/21/welcome-to-manc-hattan-how-the-city-sold-its-soul-for-luxury-skyscrapers

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/developer-behind-city-centre-flats-17099872

everyone knows it and is still shrugging

28 affordable homes. Fuck me

"Posters have already appeared announcing the birth of “Manc-hattan”. But the truth is we are a long way from that uplifting skyline. This is more like something you’d see on the outer ring road of a third-tier Chinese city."

empty concrete/glass monoliths, Giggsy, Neville and Fred Done running roughshod over a corrupt planning dept - what a fucking dystopian shitshow! Hasn't Burnham got anything to say about this?

did shaun ryder die for nothing

I've Northside Towers is ready to break ground!

heard

This is a knock-on effect of austerity, right? Massively reduced central government funding -> councils desperately need to increase their tax base -> developers have them over a barrel? This is without me knowing anything about the ideological bent of individual Manchester councillors obviously.

Leaving aside ongoing gentrification + the effects of the BBC in Manchester, the people most in need get fucked twice, once with slashed government support and again with rising housing costs and consequent displacement.

yes that's otm. the mayor's role is v vague and weak atm hence him getting ppl to sign his campaign for 18 new powers and this is currently outside of his purview. owen hatherley reckons we need a haringey style coup, idk how that worked in practical terms and ppl in haringey still seem pissed off about corporate regeneration schemes and social cleansing. the council are inexplicably feeble at enforcing social housing quotas on developers, I think they have the worst record in the country, and I doubt the entirety of the property boom can be put down to this slackness, but without reversing the cuts I'm not sure how much could be improved

It mentions one of the projects couldn't get planning permission previously because of its height and now an even taller version has been green-lighted, it all comes down to reduced central gov funding, be nice if they'd admit this rather than barely credible speak of "robust assessment"

I'm looking forward to a really measured and thoughtful counter piece in the Graun by Giggsy on this.

the bbc is ofc in salford, which from the little I know seems like a better council despite being poorer and having had I think the worst cuts in percentage terms of any council

The BBC's in Salford but I guess a lot of the people who work there live in Manchester and these developments are there to service that demand?

the ppl I know who work round media city live in trafford or salford, which is more suburban. I'm sure there are plenty in the city centre but part of the problem with the new developments is they're not v family friendly (neither is the city centre) and I'd imagine it's only a fraction of the overall demand and a lot of the developments are happening over the other side of town, are aimed at rich foreign students etc.

some very small scale local property developer fuckery that pissed me off in recent years is a row of beautiful cottages that were built in the 1650's and would have only required minor refurbs to make them good, that were bulldozed down, and the space they inhabited has sat empty/become part of some developers land collection ever since. An early 1800's derelict building with a handsome (but broken and stopped for years) clock-tower recently demolished and the ugly ass wooden/breeze block flats construction they are putting in its place would have caused Nairn to have a stroke.

Free ticket to see Earth at Gorilla tonight if anyone wants it - won it in a competition and one of my pals has dropped out

Ten years on, @owenhatherley considers again Manchesters 'New Ruins' and asks, what is the legacy of the Leese leadership?https://t.co/VQBhxqaDDX

— Greater Manchester Housing Action (@gmhousingaction) June 4, 2020

some juicy stuff in there. I think development has been increasing, there's so much still going up, & I wonder how much it'll be impacted by the current shitshow and whether it will all get finished. there have been a few aborted projects that were left barely started for years before getting demolished, you'd think shit like the big circle square development on the site of the old bbc on oxford road is too far along to meet the same fate but who knows

Thinking of making a rolling list of (good) places that are closing down, it's depressing af. So far I've heard about: Lunya, Nexus, Deaf Institute, Gorilla

Sad about Nexus.

Know it's London but just saw a tweet by Cafe To who are hiring out their venue as rehearsal space to stay afloat :-(

Apparently ~90% of music venues are looking like the might close

That's really sickening.

(That should be *Oto, above)

Coincidentally, 90% of live music I've seen in the last 5 years has been at Cafe Oto.

Mariam Rezaei + Odie Ji Ghast at the Peer House - 28th April 2022

Some pals have formed a DIY collective to get more experimental/Avant-garde music gigs to Manchester. Should be a fun first event.