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Manchester is a city of surprises MANCHESTER, England - Midnight in the heart of downtown and on block after block, queues of young adults, punked
out or in cutting-edge fashion, wait for concert doors to open. More queues lead from ATMs and, in between, cell phoners and
texters sit on street curbs updating friends on the latest. Restaurants, upscale bars and ordinary pubs seethe with patrons,
and traffic has returned to Friday afternoon's rush hour proportions.
"Is it like
this every Saturday night?" I ask the security porter who looks at my hotel room card before letting me in the door.
"Yeah, luv, and most others, too.
Gens X, Y and beyond are transforming this stolid Victorian city, once the world's manufacturing center, into one hopping,
happening place. Mancunians might say it's about time someone
noticed: Manchester has long been the Rodney Dangerfield of English cities.
Although set at the edge of the beautiful and oft-visited North Country, the city lacks the cachet of London. It has played
second fiddle to other towns since Roman General Julius Agricola built a fort to the north in what is now the city of Salford.
Manchester wasn't even granted city status until the 19th century.
MUSICAL HERITAGE
Liverpool, its longtime rival, gets credit - thanks to the Beatles - as the U.K.'s
music city. This despite the fact that the first professional symphony was formed in Manchester in 1858, Bob Dylan first publicly
plugged in and was declared "Judas" here and in the '60s, Herman's Hermits, the Hollies, Freddie and the
Dreamers called the city home.
Fomenting the Punk Revolution of the mid-'70s
and the post punk and Madchurian sound of the '80s and '90s were the famed Hacienda Club, the Boardwalk and Tony Wilson's
Factory Records. Along the way came the Bee Gees, the Buzzcocks, Space Monkeys, Morissey and Oasis among others. It is common
to see music fans paying homage to past music history along the streets and canals of Bridgewater and Deansgate.
For those who haven't heard of any group after the Bee Gees, there's more to this city than its music.
FIRSTS
Manchester, like Jacksonville, isn't atop anyone's Must-See travel
list, but like Jacksonville, it has a lot to offer. City fathers seem bent on bringing more residents into the inner city,
but unlike Jacksonville, its downtown and the city itself are vibrant, compact and walkable. Victorian buildings, their ornamentation
and architectural excesses a proud reminder of the city's former wealth, now share sidewalks with contemporary glass and
steel.
It began with the Industrial Revolution,
which took off in Manchester, quickly making it the world's center of cotton, engineering, manufacturing, transport and
mining. This created England's wealth and an impressive number of firsts. The first passenger railway, the vegetarian
movement, the vote for women, the first professional football league and the first computer recently were listed by Andrew
Stokes, chief executive officer of Marketing Manchester.
Rolls first met Royce here
at the Midlands Hotel, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels met to talk communist theory at the 15th century Chatham's Library
and School of Music.
CULTURAL BESTS
Romantics
will love the larger-than-life Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian works at the Manchester Art Gallery, proclaimed site of the world's
first blockbuster exhibit, Art Treasures of the United Kingdom, in 1857. The museum is free and fun, especially the Gallery
of Craft and Design, where you can see how clothes, chairs and even spoons have evolved.
Bibliophiles should head immediately to the John Rylands Library, a temple to the written and printed word. Open to the public
and free, it is a true gem with an amazing collection from first editions of James Joyce and Beatrix Potter to the world's
oldest fragment of the New Testament, Luther's New Testament. Thomas More's anti-Lutheran bible writings and a host
of exquisitely illustrated manuscripts.
Urbanites will appreciate how Mancunians
took advantage of the instant urban clearing produced by a mammoth IRA bomb in 1996 and will love Urbis, a towering glass
museum dedicated to examining what makes a city. Like almost all of Manchester's cultural offerings, it's free.
Kids will love the spurting fountains at Picadilly Gardens and the Museum of Science
and Industry, historians will appreciate the People's History Museum and the Imperial War Museum North and everyone will
find something to enjoy at The Lowry, which brings together just about everything vaguely cultural.
Theater buffs should take themselves to The Royal Exchange. Once the world's largest commercial trading floor, half was
demolished during World War II, but it marketed on until the demise of cotton trading forced its closing in 1968. You can
still see cotton prices written on the walls high overhead. Visionaries saw it as a locale for first-class theater and succeeded,
but that 1996 bomb forced actors and audiences into a tent outside while a new theater and a studio space for new work was
built. Surrounding it inside the cavernous space are excellent coffee houses, a bar, restaurant and craft gallery.
BEST SHOPPING
A hopping music scene fertilizes fashion designers like rain pushes
up mushrooms. What's hot now won't be next month or week. Hit the university area by day and city streets after midnight
to get a head start on what might cross the Atlantic in a year or s
SPORTS BESTS
Start with two professional soccer teams, Manchester United and Manchester City, both
with huge stadiums. City is more local, Man-U is universal. As one Mancunian said, "There are two football teams in the
U.K., Manchester United and whoever is playing them."
The Commonwealth Games
played here in 2002 left behind Sportcity, home of the National Squash Centre, the Regional Tennis Centre and the Manchester
Velodrome.
The Manchester Climbing Centre has one of Europe's largest climbing
walls - in a former church! - and there's the Lancashire County Cricket Club if you're into that. The newest sport
center, the Chill Factor, is an indoor ski center with alpine-styled village. Manchester is big on rugby, League and Union
styles, and claims many clubs, including the Manchester Village Spartans, a gay team.
BEST SUSTENANCE
Atmosphere-loving Yanks will enjoy hitting the ale at Thomas's
Chop House at St. Anne's Alley and Cross Street. The Old Wellington Inn and Sinclair's Oyster Bar are said to be the
city's oldest, although both have been moved from original locales. Britons Protection on Bridgewater Street called to
us. Could it have been the sign out front promising more than 230 whiskeys in one place or the jolly atmosphere inside?
Pub grub is everywhere but so is more upscale fare, be it continental, ethnic, fusion
or modern British. Whatever the persuasion, expect side bowls of potatoes and "veg" to be added. No one goes home
hungry unless you give up waiting for a table on a busy night.
"Locally sourced"
are the primo buzz words; obtaining seafood, meat and veggies in the neighborhood is the in thing. "Organic" is
catching up, both good omens for foodies. Michelin hasn't awarded a star here yet but we had good luck at the Lowry Hotel's
River Restaurant and pals raved about the Chinese food at the venerable Yan Sing. Heat seekers will aim for the Curry Mile
along Oxford Road starting at the Whitworth Art Gallery.
Best late night clubs?
Just pick the longest queue and get in line. Like it or not, you'll have some great stories to tell back home.
If You Go Getting there: BMI, Virgin Atlantic and Delta fly directly from the U.S. to Manchester; British
Air and most other lines connect through Heathrow.
Getting started: Make a beeline to the Visitors Information Centre in St. Peter's Square. Bruce and his colleagues
will equip you with free maps, up to date info, tips and directions. Tourist season in the countryside runs from Easter to
(and sometimes through) October, but the city's always open.
Getting around: Piece o' cake, luv. When you tire of walking, Manchester Metroshuttle is a free, three-route
service that connects downtown areas.
City sightseeing:
Manchester has hop on-hop off double-decker buses with recorded commentary on what you're passing. Tickets are 7 pounds
for adults; 6 pounds for seniors age 60 and students ages 16-22; 3.50 pounds for children ages 5-15 and 17 pounds for families
(two adults, two children or one adult, three children). They are good for 24 hours, and the buses circulate every 45 minutes.
www.city-sightseeing.com.
Web sites to hit first - www.visitmanchester.com
- www.manchester2002-uk.com
- www.manchester.com
- manchesteronline.co.uk
- www.manchestergalleries.org
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