Manchester, England

Manchester is where the modern world got its start.

Manchester, England – April 2016

Manchester is where the modern world got its start. This is the city of cotton mills and canals, and the place where the world’s first intercity passenger railway pulled out toward Liverpool in 1830. Today all that industrial muscle has been turned into hostels, museums, pubs and some of the best beer in England.

Arrival

I came in through the airport skywalk, jumped in one of the classic black cabs on a rainy street, and soon figured out the bright yellow Metrolink trams are the easiest way to get around town.

Long modern glass pedestrian skywalk with arched white ceiling panels, planters, travelers, and a moving walkway.

 

Airport skywalk on the way into Manchester.
A black cab on a rainy Manchester street.

 

A black cab on a rainy Manchester street.
Yellow Metrolink tram to East Didsbury on a Manchester city street.

 

Metrolink tram to East Didsbury.

Castlefield and the Canals

I stayed at YHA Manchester on Potato Wharf, right on the Castlefield canal basin. This is where the Bridgewater Canal brought coal into the city in the 1760s. Today the old wharves sit under a tangle of Victorian railway viaducts, with Merchants’ Bridge arching over the water. It’s a great spot to wander in the evening.

Castlefield canal basin with YHA Manchester on the left and railway viaducts over the water.

 

Castlefield canal basin — YHA Manchester on the left.

St Peter’s Square

In the middle of the city, St Peter’s Square mixes grand stone civic buildings with a couple of classic red phone boxes, about as English a picture as you can get.

St Peter's Square with grand stone civic buildings and classic red phone boxes.

 

St Peter’s Square and its red phone boxes.
Manchester Town Hall Extension on St Peter's Square.

 

Manchester Town Hall Extension.

Town Hall

Inside Manchester’s Town Hall, the Gothic details just keep going, with carved stone balconies and long vaulted hallways that feel more like a cathedral than a city office.

Gothic balcony inside Manchester Town Hall.

 

Gothic balcony inside Manchester Town Hall.
Vaulted hallway in Manchester Town Hall.

 

Vaulted hallway in the Town Hall.

Old Streets

Walking the city center, you pass buildings from Manchester’s boom years, like the old London Road Fire Station and the red terracotta Refuge Assurance building with its tall clock tower, now a hotel.

Ornate red-brick Victorian building with a domed corner tower and clock tower at a busy Manchester intersection with cars on wet pavement.

 

London Road Fire Station.
The red terracotta Refuge Assurance building and clock tower on a Manchester street.

 

The red terracotta Refuge Assurance building and clock tower.

Food and Drink

You can’t do England without a full English breakfast, and I didn’t skip it. Dinner one night was a plate of ribs with a Kopparberg cider. Funny enough, Kopparberg is made in Sweden, not England. If you want local, Manchester has been one of England’s great beer cities since the 1990s, and the chalkboard for Seven Brothers, a brewery from neighboring Salford, fits right into that story.

A full English breakfast on a white plate with toast and tea.

 

A full English breakfast.
Tray of grilled ribs with fries and a Kopparberg cider.

 

Ribs and a Kopparberg cider.
Pub chalkboard listing Seven Brothers beer brewed in Salford.

 

Seven Brothers, brewed in Salford.

Next stop: London