DID you know that when scientist Ernest Rutherford split the atom, and paved the way for nuclear fission, he did it while teaching at Manchester University?
No, me neither.
It came as a bit of a surprise to my son, too – and he is studying physics. At Manchester University.
Oh well. At least he knows where in the city you can get a cheap Chinese meal and a £2.50 pint of lager, which helps when you are on a student grant.
Having a child at college in a city you have always wanted to visit kills two birds with one stone.
But, no offence, Ernest, when you think of Manchester three things come to mind – Corrie, footie and music.
As we found out, there is far more to this Northern powerhouse than the likes of Ken Barlow, Sergio Aguero and Liam Gallagher.
Brightonians will feel at home straight away in what is an accessible, friendly and exciting city.
Whether you are exploring its history as a cradle of social justice, experiencing the thriving gay scene and night life or enjoying cutting-edge music and arts, Manchester feels like Brighton’s bigger, louder, friendlier northern cousin.
Manchester was Britain’s textile capital and many of those famously dark, satanic mills from the 18th and 19th centuries survive today.
The Townhouse Hotel in Portland Street is one of them. This former cotton warehouse is now a comfortable, welcoming place to stay, perfectly placed right in the heart of the action between Chinatown and the Gay Village.
Manchester may be a big city but its centre is surprisingly compact and easy to navigate.
If you don’t fancy walking, hop on one of the free buses which loop round the centre or take the Metrolink tram which goes to all the main areas and out to places such as Salford Quays and Old Trafford.
It helps that the city is divided into a series of quarters, each with its own character, which makes it easy to explore.
The Northern Quarter, at the top of Portland Street, is a former industrial area now full of independent shops and quirky bars and restaurants run by achingly trendy hipsters. It is reminiscent of Brooklyn’s bohemian Dumbo and, of course, our own North Laine.
The Civic Quarter, which includes St Peter’s Square and Albert Square, can even feel like Vienna, thanks to the clanking of the trams and imposing buildings such as the town hall, central library and Manchester Art Gallery.
Visit the latter for the work of artist Henry Edward Tidmarsh, who captured the city’s Victorian age in all its grime and grandeur.
It’s not all culture of course. Walk from St Peter’s Square or take the tram one stop to Exchange Square and you have the Arndale shopping centre, with all the high street outlets you could ever want plus upmarket Selfridges and Harvey Nichols.
When you have finished there, pop into the stunning medieval cathedral over the road. It has survived, the Blitz, an IRA bomb – and even seeing its congregation decamp to the Arndale on a Sunday.
Like Brighton and Hove, Manchester is most definitely out and proud. The city has the largest gay community outside London and the action centres around the bars and clubs on Canal Street.
If the beautiful game is your thing, head over the road to the National Football Museum or take the Metrolink to Old Trafford to worship at the home of Man U or up past Ancoats for Man City’s Etihad Campus.
The tram is also the best way to see Salford Quays, formerly the docks on the Manchester Ship Canal. It’s the home of Media City, where the BBC and ITV have new studios and where Coronation Street is now filmed.
Salford Quays also has the Imperial War Museum North (definitely worth a visit) and The Lowry, an arts centre and gallery housing a huge collection of works by Manchester’s most famous artist, LS Lowry (he of Matchstick Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs fame).
Salford Quays has been one of the biggest regeneration projects in Britain over the last few decades and the work goes on.
When we were up there last week, large sections of Manchester were building sites as the city continues to revamp and reinvent areas wrecked by years of post-industrial decline.
There’s not much evidence of decline out in Alderley Edge, 15 miles from the city and the setting for TV’s cringe-inducing but compelling The Housewives Of Cheshire.
The beautiful countryside around this northern Beverly Hills, home to an array of footie and TV stars, is a reminder that Manchester’s centre lacks one important thing – green space.
Well, there is one other thing. As Ian Brown, singer of legendary Madchester band Stone Roses, once said: “Manchester has everything … except a beach.”
I’m in full agreement with him.
But I do have only one minor niggle.
These days with so much going on, Manchester likes to call itself the UK’s second city.
As a proud Brummie, I can’t be having that.
Kate Parkin
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