Skyliner: Alternative Tours of Manchester
Carmel Smickersgill, Tours & Activities Editor
One of Manchester’s leading local place writers and tour guides is once again setting forth into the cultural nooks and crooks of the Northern Quarter, which is celebrating a big anniversary this year. Skyliner AKA Hayley Flynn is returning to the streets with her highly rated anti-tour, which turns 10 in 2022. This account of the area’s modern history and future development leaves tour guests with questions to think about and interrogates ideas of management, ownership and the responsible development of urban space.
Sustainable and thoughtful tourism.
View the city centre’s street art hub through Skyliner’s unique perspective with each tour managing to find a balanced between architectural art, the people who made it happen and the stories behind each piece. It paints a very raw portrait of a place which has undergone massive change, with more yet to come.
Manchester’s Northern Quarter will mark a significant anniversary of its own in 2022: it will be 30 years since artist Liam Curtain was formally commissioned as the area’s artist in residence, thereby kickstarting the long process of regeneration. Hayley is planning a celebration event in July 2022, so keep your eyes peeled for that!
Hayley fiercely supports the local businesses along the route, donating 10% of her profit to local causes and aims to make all her tours encourage sustainable and thoughtful tourism.
Tours will be taking place within the given COVID restrictions. Obviously, this will change as the government recommendations do, so we advise that you see the latest update on the Skyliner website when you book. Animals and pets are welcome as the whole tour is outdoors. Skyliner tours run whatever the weather, so considering the changeable (read: miserable) climate in Manchester, an umbrella or raincoat is recommended. However, by the end of the tour you’ll thoroughly understand that the amount of precipitation is one of the least significant features of this city.
Due to uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant, dates and times of Skyliner tours will be announced via their website on a weekly basis.
