History

Manchester as the naughty boy

As a little caveat to all this glory, Manchester, it must be remembered, has also been a model of how not to do things for many visitors. Given the shocking rise of industrialised society, its growth in the first half of the 19th century was characterised by uncontrolled development. In 1835, visiting French writer, Alex de Tocqueville observed: ‘A sort of black smoke covers the city. Under this half-daylight 300,000 human beings are ceaselessly at work. The homes of the poor are scattered haphazard around the factories. From this filthy sewer pure gold flows. In Manchester, civilised man is turned back almost into a savage.’ He wasn’t kidding. Estimates vary, but infant mortality hovered around 57%. While mill owners promenaded in newly built parks and libraries, their workers lived, worked and died in dire conditions. You can go to Angel Meadow in the northern end of the city centre today and stand over the cholera pits where thousands of bodies lie, victims of a water supply poisoned by industrial and human effluent.

After the World War

Manchester’s place as an industrial powerhouse was already under threat by 1945. By the 1980s it had largely disappeared. The textile industry disappeared under the pressure of cheap imports, and heavy manufacturing was stifled by a lack of enterprise and investment, and a decision during the Conservative administration of Margaret Thatcher to downgrade the costly role that manufacturing played in the UK. The result was that between 1970-1990, Manchester was in negative equity. There could be no investment because the place was handicapped by unemployment and the disappearance of the industries that had created it. By 1985, the population of 457,500 was 41% lower than its peak in 1931.

Attitude again

At its lowest point in the 1980s, the Council and key public and private sector leaders shook themselves and stirred. The city began to think in an expansionist way that its Victorian city fathers would have approved of, and over the past 20 years, Manchester has transformed itself. Whole new areas such The Quays, Castlefield, the Gay Village, the Northern Quarter, Spinningfields and SportCity have sprung up. Key moments in Manchester’s renaissance were its successive (if fruitless) Olympic bids, its triumphant hosting of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the dreaming up of Manchester International Festival and the re-positioning of the University. There has been something else, too: Manchester rediscovered its can-do attitude.

As an interesting aside, in popular and sporting culture Manchester suffered no decline. Granada TV churned out successive hits between the 1960s and 1990s (such as Brideshead Revisited and Coronation Street), while the city’s music continued to resonate around the world (think of The Hollies, 10cc, The Buzzcocks, Joy Division, The Smiths, The Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays to name a few). In dance and electronica, the Hacienda changed the way people went clubbing. Peter Saville argues that Factory Records changed not just music but the canon of contemporary urban art and design. And Manchester United, meanwhile, became the super-power of English football.

The bomb and beyond

We’ve left out the bomb. In 1996, the IRA exploded 1700kg of fertiliser and Semtex in the city centre, injuring dozens and causing half a billion pounds-worth of damage. It was a miracle nobody died. The bomb allowed much of the city centre to be re-built, but it was not (as some believe) the catalyst for the re-born Manchester. The city had already changed its mindset. All the bomb meant was that some streets got physically turned over, and for once Manchester did a proper bit of urban planning.

In 2009, the challenges remain, but there has been a vast improvement in city life. According to a recent report from MIDAS, the Manchester city region generates over £50 billion of GVA (Gross Value Added) and contributes 5% of the UK’s total economic output. The result of this resurgence has been a closing of a circle. Manchester has become a model of the post-industrial city, just as it was the model industrial city. It is now a European centre for conventions, conferences, classical and popular music, sport and academic endeavour. It’s airport, the heir of Manchester Ship Canal, is an essay in progressive infrastructure provision.

As writer Jim McClellan wrote in Esquire Magazine a decade ago: ‘Manchester’s size makes the social processes more visible. You can see how things are developing. Where they might end up is another matter. Perhaps it’ll be the first place to show us whether our new cities work. Manchester, as Mancs love to tell you, has always been ahead of the game.’

Image of The Lowry courtesy Len Grant.

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