Manchester Northern Quarter Street Art

Introduction

Yesterday I took Cal into town for a 3.5 hour hair appointment. What’s a man to do on a chilly, but gloriously sunny January morning – can’t just hang around in St Anne’s Square amongst the Chinese lanterns.

Well, it so happens I’d done some pre-planning. I’d occasionally seen works of street art when in Manchester, so a little internet searching revealed a blog and travel website dedicated to international examples of city street art. Manchester, it turned out, is one of the featured cities.

For those who travel much more widely than I do, the site , which includes 56 cities, from Aberdeen to Amsterdam, Zadar to Zagreb is:

https://www.blocal-travel.com/ Huge thanks to Giulia for inspiring this walk.

The walk was 2.5 miles, though it only measured 1.5 miles on the OS map! There was a bit of toing and froing to discover the works at each stopping point. It took me an hour and a half to reach The Crown and Kettle, just in time for opening!

Dog walkers – for this walk, leave your dog at home!

And here is Giulia’s BLocal map which you can access by signing up to her free blog and newsletter. The dark blue points with a white spot indicate the locations of the works.

The Route and The Works of Art

I made my way along Cross Street, up Shudehill and into Thomas Street. The first piece of art is on a nondescript low building at the junction with Tib Street, next to an ugly yellow tiled NCP Car Park, and features a face that will forever by associated with the Covid 19 pandemic.

I walked on through Stevenson Square to Little Lever Street.

I continued down Hilton Street to the next two images just into Port Street. The blue tit is stunning.

Moving on down to Tariff Street, I loved this moody piece, which seemed to be accentuated by the scaffolding.

Opposite , this thought-provoking work with citizens falling from the city was tricky to photograph, half in sun, half in shade.

A short walk took me to the junction of Faraday Street and Port Street, and this striking bird image.

Heading up Port Street, the Ian Curtis mural is a wonderful tribute to a troubled icon.

Across the road at the car park there are another two interesting pictures.

This one is clearly quite old, and overlain with graffiti.

I now headed over Great Ancoats Street, and struggled to find my next destination. I eventually located a couple of interesting works down Blossoms Street, near the Edinburgh Castle pub.

The next few works were hidden around small streets near Newton Street and Oldham Street. The first is brilliant, the shadows painted such that the Manchester Bee appears suspended in space away from the wall.

I couldn’t really see this one due to a large van parked next to the bins, plus the graffiti!

The next two paintings are next to each other.

The first is another Manchester icon, Anthony Burgess, painted with a quote from A Clockwork Orange:

“We can destroy what we have written, but we cannot unwrite it”

Boy tied to a Kalashnikov – gets you thinking.

I now crossed the Ring Road again. Another great painting on Oldham Road. The detail in the hands is wonderful.

I made my way along Cable Street to find the last two pieces.

Find your own message in the bottle.

Two rather aggressive looking albatrosses to finish.

And so, I headed to the Crown and Kettle!

And Finally…..

Only one song to finish with – Ian Curtis’s finest!