Art & culture

For an alternative perspective of Manchester, the underground tour offers an unusual opportunity to see what lies beneath the well-trodden streets. Accompanied by an informative guide and an eager tour group, we all trundled in unison through the secret doorway which led to a seemingly never-ending stone staircase.

Lit only by the flicker of light offered by our torches, we descended into the depths of the city before emerging into a large, slightly sinister chamber. The sound of our voices echoed eerily, and the cold chill of the Autumnal air seemed somewhat poignant now having plunged into a new Manchester I had not witnessed before. This appeared to accentuate our sudden departure from the hustle-bustle of everyday life going on in the streets above.

An enlightening insight into the history of Manchester and the tunnels ensued as the tour guided us through tunnel after tunnel, each offering a new story, an interesting fact or a fascinating anecdote. After a thorough exploration of the tunnels the tour continued by returning to street-level, which evoked a feeling I imagine to be analogous to stepping out of a time machine.

Acclimatising once again to 21st century life and the realisation that what I had just witnessed wasn’t merely an illusion, I followed the tour guide as we now traced the tunnels from street level. Once again this was punctuated with historical updates and little-known nuggets of information before the tour concluded – a two hour Manchester enlightenment for me!

The Police museum is a little known attraction tucked away on the edge of the North Quarter. Only open on Tuesdays the museum is an unusual and interesting place to wile away a few hours in the company of the highly knowledgeable and enthusiastic curators who have an abundance of hilarious true stories to relay to amuse (and shock!) visitors.

Aptly housed in an Victorian Police station, it is possible to venture into the cells, which, tiny as they are, would have held up to twelve prisoners at a time. To say the cells were merely simple would be an overstatement, with the wooden pillows still present to accentuate their meager state.

The old charge office is accessible and provides details of how prisoners would be booked in, as well as the forensic science opportunities (or lack of!) available at the time. Police uniform and memorabilia are on display, in addition to a selection of historic Police vehicles used. A wealth of information about the history of the Police Service and the evolution of forensic science are also contained in this small museum, with a separate room housing an assortment of weird and wonderful weapons that have been seized over the years.

Presumably for kids but seemingly just as appealing to adults is the dressing up room containing various items of historic Police uniform for those wannabe Inspector’s. Don’t worry, you’ll be in good company if you do decide to partake as the curators also don the uniform!

One of Manchester’s prestigious older buildings, a grade 1 listed building opened in 1824, Manchester Art Gallery, offers a free opportunity to obtain a culture fix. With over 25000 items on display it would be hard not to find something of interest in this huge collection.

Along with permanent exhibitions including paintings, sculptures, and photographs across the years, there are regular events, many of which are scheduled for Thursday evenings when the gallery has late night opening. The events are diverse and encourage not only art lovers due to the selection of activities on offer. These have included honey tasting from the galleries own hives, jewellery making demonstrations, and talks by artists, authors and professional lecturers.

The emphasis is firmly on embracing all forms of art which also serves to make the gallery more accessible. I personally love the photographic exhibitions as well as the many informative Thursday night talks where I am guaranteed to obtain some artistic insight, which, given that I am the most artistically challenged person I know, is an achievement in itself!

I always like to advertise that Manchester is a city of firsts. As a proud Mancunian anything that gives us a leg up over London is a great thing. Alas, this particular moment in history may not be looked upon as a positive thing in worldwide politics, but we probably couldn’t live in this modern age without it.

The New Zealand born Ernest Rutherford came to be a professor at Victoria University (now Manchester University) and worked together with Hans Gieger to find the structure of atoms in 1909. Eight years later he split the atom in this fair city .

In the beautiful surroundings of the university campus just off Oxford Road is a beautiful red brick building that stands in row with many other Victorian red brick buildings and seeps history unknowingly to fellow students, residents and bystanders.

Not everyone will agree with what went on in this building, but it is now stamped in history.

One of my favourite open spaces in Manchester has to be St Ann’s Square which is situated between Deansgate and Market Street, two of the cities busiest shopping streets.  I love this area due to its varied use. One week it will be an open space open to buskers and street performers, and then it will be used for various types of markets including book stalls, food fairs, craft and gift markets. The weekend I passed through quite recently they were holding a Moroccan fair. It regularly changes and there is normally something fantastic to buy.

Another favourite of mine are the surrounding buildings. This is a largely untouched area with amazing Victorian facades. Also spotted was a selection of blue plaques and one in particular caught my attention. This was of Robert Owen who was the founder of the Co-operative movement.

At the far end is St Ann’s church which will celebrate its 300 anniversary this year which is definitely worth a look after a restoration is complete this summer.

At the open end you have the amazing Royal Exchange theatre with its spaceship looking theatre space and then directly opposite you have the amazing Barton Arcade which reminds me of a Victorian greenhouse. This area really does have the best of the cities architecture in such a small space.