Keep up to date with all the big stories from across Greater Manchester in the daily Mancunian Way newsletter. You can receive the newsletter direct to your inbox every weekday by signing up right here.
Here's the Mancunian Way for today:
Hello,
I had an interesting chat recently with a friend who lives in London. They've been thinking about moving back to Manchester, but while their wage would not increase, they wouldn’t be paying much less in rent here. Coupled with the huge demand for properties in Manchester, they're not sure it’s not worth the hassle.
We’ll be discussing the rental market in today’s newsletter, as well as the cafe in the shadow of Strangeways offering a ‘soul-enriching’ Massaman curry and the councillor who used a spooky prop to make a point about voter ID.
The 'unique' Manchester rental market
Last summer, when the average rent in Manchester reached £1,127 per month - Jess Geary warned people not to bother moving here.
"I know there's a housing crisis, it's horrendous, it's horrific. How do they expect us young people to ever save for a house? Don't move to Manchester,” the 25-year-old influencer told her TikTok followers.
Her comments followed a desperate search for new accommodation after deciding to leave her two-bed Green Quarter flat when the landlord upped the rent to £1,300pcm. After a three-month search she concluded the market is ‘ridiculous’. “I can't afford to pay £1,400 for a flat, and that's not even thinking about bills or anything like that," she said.
This week influencer Saskia Marriott gave a similar warning to her thousands of TikTok followers. She has also spent months searching for somewhere new to live after the rent in her current Salford flat increased by 50 per cent. Despite having an above-average salary for someone of her age, no pets, no children, and no parking requirements, the 26-year-old says: "I am so struggling".
Saskia started looking for a flat in the city centre in early February and had 25 viewings booked. But she only made it to two, with all the other flats being snapped up before she could even see them. "It's ridiculous. It's gone mad,” she told reporter Nicole Wootton-Cane.
Anthony Stankard, managing director of Reside Manchester, says demand is far outstripping supply. "Covid is one of the main drivers. When we went into lockdown, most construction stopped completely, and developers and house builders put new builds on hold,” he says. “Then as the world started to open up, when developers did start to press the construction button, most homes took two years to deliver. So those are the ones that you are seeing opening now.”
He adds: “This situation is unique to Manchester. I travel to other cities and speak to experts there, and it’s clearly worse in Manchester than in Leeds, Birmingham, and Liverpool. They don't have the feeding frenzy we have.”
Manchester has had a huge population boom in the last decade. There are 9,500 new homes currently under construction in the city centre - but its population (including parts of Salford and Trafford) is forecast to surge from 60,000 in 2019 to 100,000 in 2025.
Councillor Gavin White, Manchester Council’s executive member for housing, says lack of supply is one of the main reasons rents are rising. The council aims to build 36,000 new homes, including 10,000 affordable homes, by 2032. Coun White says high rises on brownfield land and the regeneration of areas like Strangeways, Ancoats and Victoria North will play a big part in finding a solution to the renting crisis.
The masked councillor
Pat Karney is known to have a fairly self-deprecating sense of humour. And he’s certainly not afraid to pop on a hard hat/Santa hat/novelty Irish hat and pose for a picture - as demonstrated many times over the years.
But the veteran Labour councillor is also deadly serious about council business, which is perhaps why he chose to don a terrifying mask while speaking at yesterday’s Manchester Council meeting.
My colleague Joseph Timan was in the chamber and managed to get some footage of the moment Pat placed the Michael Myers-style mask over his face - and the leader’s reaction. If anyone knows how to get column inches, it’s Pat.
“An ungracious member asked if it was the mask I used after my facelift. Politics can be brutal,” he tweeted to Joseph afterwards.
Despite the theatrics, Pat was making a very good point about voter ID. Unless you have a valid form of photo identification such as a driving licence or a passport, you will be turned away from the polling station on May 4. People can also apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate.
But the new rules affect all council elections in England, and Coun Karney told the meeting only 399 Mancunians have applied for a certificate so far, with just five weeks to go.
“If you come to the polling station and you haven't got facial recognition, if you don't bring your facial identity - and that's everybody in Manchester, every councillor here - if you turn up at the polling station and you haven't got a facial identity, you could be turned away and you won't be able to vote," he said.
You can read all the details from yesterday’s meeting here.
Stars lead lineup for this summer's Pride
Scissor Sisters’ frontman Jake Shears, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner Danny Beard and Brazilian drag sensation Pabblo Vittar are all set to perform at Manchester Pride. Also joining the line-up are Steps star Lisa Scott-Lee, Natasha Bedingfield, BIMINI and Cheddar Gorgeous.
This year’s line-up is made up of 96 per cent queer performers, who will take to the stage at Sackville Gardens during the August bank holiday weekend. A big focus has also been given to women, people of colour and those in trans and non-binary communities.
You can read all the details from our LGBT reporter Adam Maidment here and you can sign up to his weekly LGBT newsletter here.
Snake Pass one of most dangerous
Snake Pass has been named on a list of the most dangerous roads in the world. StressFreeCarRental.com has placed it seventh on a list of ten, between the 11,500ft Zojila Pass, in India and Route 1, on the East coast of America.
They say the 26-mile route, which stretches from Glossop to Sheffield, is a challenging drive, with ‘blind summits and difficult bends’ and is a ‘hotspot for fatal accidents’.
The charm of Fenway Park
Manchester United's powerbrokers are in favour of renovating Old Trafford, despite exploring options to build a new stadium.
As Samuel Luckhurst writes, amid the possibility that the Glazer family could retain a sizeable portion of the 69 per cent stake it currently holds, United co-chairman Joel Glazer's preference is to preserve the heritage of the 113-year-old stadium. It’s a view believed to be shared by senior club figures who are based in Manchester.
Glazer is understood to have likened visiting Old Trafford, where United settled in 1910, to attending baseball games at Fenway Park, the storied home of the Boston Red Sox. One of the reservations United have about building a new Old Trafford is it could become soulless within a certain period.
United have been informed the cost of rebuilding Old Trafford or building a new stadium is roughly similar. However it’s thought building a new stadium could take six years, while revamping Old Trafford could take a decade.
A postcode lottery
There’s a shocking disparity in life expectancy across Greater Manchester. Children born in some areas are predicted to live ten years longer than in others.
The national average life expectancy is 81. But in South Manchester, the lowest life expectancy is in M13 (Longsight, Ardwick and Chorlton-on-Medlock) where people are expected to live to be 77. That’s five years less than the M21 area that includes Chorlton-cum-Hardy, according to campaign group Health Equals.
Reporter Maisie Lawton has been speaking to people in both these postcodes about why they think life expectancy differs so greatly.
In Longsight, trader John Hoover pointed to a line of takeaways and bookies. “There are more takeaways than foodbanks, and more betting places than essential shops,” he says. “In an area already struggling with deprivation these places act as a gateway to a downward lifestyle. Longsight has needed to change for a very long time.”
Mrs Ahmed has lived in Longsight all her life and sells fresh produce at the market. She thinks there is a strong relationship between life expectancy, deprivation, and poverty. “I think a massive factor is a poor diet. This dietary life stems from people’s culture and economic circumstance in the area - and with rising costs of our living crisis it’s threatening to widen the health gap between the rich and poor even further,” she says.
Meanwhile, in the leafy suburb of Chorlton, people are expected to live five years longer than their neighbours in Longsight.
Liz Cole has lived in Chorlton since 1986. She tells Maisie she has and watched the growth in sustainable lifestyle stores, organic delis, and independent bars and restaurants.
“You rarely need to commute into the city centre because there's everything here in walking distance,” she says. “There are plenty of commodities and modish places to eat, drink, and socialise. I volunteer at Longford Park and we are surrounded by Chorlton Meadows, Chorlton Water Park, Turn Moss Playing Fields and Sale Water Park - we have the nickname 'Leafy Chorlton' for all the street trees surrounding residents' homes.”
'I just couldn't believe it'
I really enjoyed this story about Lamaar Manning, who went from dancing on tables at his nana’s pub to working as a backing dancer for Dua Lipa.
Lamaar, from Moss Side, was just five when he had every punter in the Beehive pub on their feet dancing. Two decades on, he’s contemplating a move to the US.
“Growing up, I had to make sure I was strong, I could stick up for myself and I had a confident personality. But behind that, I wasn't really a confident person - I had to put that on to get through it. I never knew that one day I would be able to step on a stage,” he tells reporter Paige Oldfield. “I used to daydream about being on stage, that's why I used to pretend I was on a stage at the pub.”
As well as travelling the world performing on a cruise ship, Lamaar has supported Kylie Minogue, Pixie Lott and The Pussycat Dolls. He describes the tour with Dua Lipa as an overwhelming experience, but one he could adapt to quickly.
"Coming from where I come from, you have to be strong-minded. On the road, you're always tired. It's long hours and you're always travelling. Sometimes, people's mental health can get a bit low. But for me, I was good. I could cope,” he says.
"I'm really proud of myself. When we performed at Lollapalooza in Chicago, there were 200,000 people in the crowd. The next day you get overwhelmed and you can't take everything in because it's so fast. I used to wake up and bawl my eyes out because I just couldn't believe it.”
Sign up to The Mancunian Way
Has a friend forwarded you this edition of The Mancunian Way? You can sign up to receive the latest email newsletter direct to your inbox every weekday by clicking on this link.
Weather etc
- Temperatures: Overcast. 13C.
- Road closures: M67 Eastbound entry slip road closed due to long-term roadworks at J2 A57 Hyde Road (Denton). Until December 1, 2025.
- A662 Pollard Street Westbound closed due to roadworks from Pollard Street to A665 Great Ancoats Street. Until April 13.
- Trivia question: Which historic Cheshire property was used as Pemberley in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice?
Manchester headlines
Legal action: Parents of devastated kids at a private school in Trafford say they are considering legal action in a bid to stop it from closing. The 114-year-old Loreto Preparatory School, in Altrincham, announced last week it would be closing its doors for good at the end of the current academic year. Bosses at the independent Catholic primary school say they are facing 'unprecedented financial challenges' coupled with a decline in student numbers. The school has 120 pupils aged between three and 11, including some with special educational needs. Parents claim they were informed of the news just over a week ago via an e-mail marked 'urgent.' And they say they now have just 12 weeks to find their daughters' places at alternative schools. A committee of parents trying to save the school has been formed and say they are now 'contemplating legal action against the school's owners' as part of their fight to prevent its closure. More here.
Rent row: Students who occupied University of Manchester buildings in a row over rent say the decision to forcibly remove them is ‘shameful’. "They have decided to spend money on taking this to court to regain possession of their building. They should know that even if we do not have an occupation, that will not stop us escalating further, and taking action, until they have agreed to listen to our concerns and demands.” Uni bosses sent bailiffs to remove the protesters last week. Footage showed them lifted out of the buildings. You can read more about the long-running row here.
Night & Day: The long-running row between Manchester Council and Night & Day cafe stems from claims that club nights at the Oldham Street venue frequently go on into the early hours, are so loud that water in toilet bowls vibrates and that the lyrics of Eurythmics hit Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) could be heard by council officers from a nearby flat. After yet another court appearance last week, further acoustic testing is due to take place. Ethan Davies has been looking at how the row has unfolded for both sides.
Parking: Plans have been lodged to build a huge new car park with more than 1,000 spaces at a popular national park just outside Greater Manchester. A planning application has been submitted by Land Studio Ltd, working with the National Trust, to relocate the car park at Lyme Park and to improve access and facilities for visitors. The new car park would be situated to the west away from the hall in an area known as 'The Knott' which is the park's former Dressage area. The area is currently a mixture of grassland and moorland. A planning statement says a new car park is needed to accommodate the 'enormous pressure' of more than 330,000 visitors that come to the park each year.
Worth a read
That’s Thai might not be in the prettiest location, but what it lacks in aesthetics it more than makes up for elsewhere. It’s tucked away at the bottom of Cheetham Hill Road, next to an MOT garage and behind an all-night snooker place.
“On a good day with the right wind, the smell of sweet Thai basil and fish sauce must drift across to the exercise yards of Strangeways,” Ben Arnold writes.
He says you’d struggle to find a better Thai offering in the city centre - and certainly not at the prices offered here.
“It’s the kind of menu where you have to make a long list in your head first, and start paring it down, dish by dish, until you’ve got something resembling an acceptable amount of food, otherwise it involves lying about how you’ve ‘got people coming over’ when in fact it’s just you,” writes Ben, before waxing lyrical about the ‘soul-enriching’ Gaeng Massaman and ‘exemplary’ pad thai.
You can read his full review here.
That's all for today
Thanks for joining me. If you have stories you would like us to look into, email beth.abbit@menmedia.co.uk.
If you have enjoyed this newsletter today, why not tell a friend how to sign up?
The answer to today's trivia question is: Lyme Park.
