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March 26, 2004
THE ESSENTIALS #29 - The Essentials of Manchester England
Essential Guide to Manchester, England by United Art City
1. Favorite Location to See Street Art
Stickers are everywhere, but especially concentrated around the northern quarter (an area of streets dominated by independent record shops, skate shops, clothes shops, galleries and bars and cafes etc ) and Oxford Road ( the start of the student area.
Manchester has about 60,000+ students). Graff isn't as immediately obvious, though tags are everywhere around the centre. However if you walk though the underpasses off of Oxford Road to Hulme and/or Bruswick there are plenty of large full colour pieces. Rochdale (a borough to the North of Manchester) has legal walls in all of it's underpasses so you can park you're car and walk through here at any time of the day and find someone painting summat. Aside from that, take some public transport somewhere and you'll see something worth seeing.
2. Favorite Art Gallery
The Richard Goodall Gallery. Photo exhibitions and classic rock posters.
The Whitworth Art Gallery - there are a lot of galleries in town, a lot showing edgier work or more famous work but I love
this gallery. On the edge of student land and primarily free this venue hosts a lot of varied shows...always something to
stimulate the mind as well as to look nice. great building too, with huge windows...if the light is in the right place it is
swamped with sunlight and you could be in California and an episode of Columbo.
3. Favorite Place to Buy Paint and Supplies
There is always a debate about this on UAC, but people from all over the north west seem in general to head for Exit - a
skateshop on Oldham street with graff panels outside. You can mail order Graphotism cheap too.
4. Favorite Local Magazine
Magma sells loads of arts magazines, but a new local one has just popped up called Cake (?2.80) that is reporting exclusively on Manchester arts.
5. Favorite Place to Drink
So many choices that this is totally unrepresentative of everyones' tastes but here are some good bars to drop into if in Mancland; Matt & Phreds Jazz bar is either relaxed as hell or full of great music., Cord, BigHands, and both the KroBars,are all worth checking out for an independent non-chain bar experience. And for a scuzzy punk expereice check Grand Central on Oxford Road. (There is even a real Rovers Return in Salford - home of Coronation Street - if you stroll just a few minutes away from the posh shops on Deansgate. )
6. Favorite Place to Eat
Fuel - vegeatarian coffee shop. The food is really good. They have a vast collection of music that they play on random
rotation ( or so they boast...always sounds like coffee background lite to me...but there you go...better than Kylie ). Great
coffee. Definitely don't feel crushed by the forces of corporate globalism or anything like that in here.
Fuel Cafe Address:
448 Wilmslow Road
Email:fuelcafe@bigfoot.com
7. Favourite Architecture
Piccadilly train station - has been renovated and is like a science fiction film set right in the town centre. Old Victorian
architecture - huge cast iron rich green columns and huge skylighted dark roofs - butt right up to 21st century airport chic.
Also right on the edge of Ancoats so leads away from safe town into real Manchester and lovely delapidated warehouses. Light & dark all at once. Also has the only underground metrolink station which feels all ' proper ' big city transport system.
Urbis is our new urban museum, and our show piece building...for the time being, but more stuff is going up all the time. The ground floor hosts art exhibitions - quite often street art based shows.
Posted by marc at 8:13 AM in City Guides | Recommend this! |
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