So basically getting rid of our history at any cost disgusted.

Another great video mate

Love your videos !! Me and my girlfriend have been really interested in them as Mancunians

It's the scum bag people that make the city a disgrace. Can you imagine coming through Piccadilly Gardens as a tourist or business person visiting Manc'chester !!!!!

Just been to this festival because of this video. It was a great day! Keep making your videos 👏

Everything is agenda 2030…compact high density

I use this road quite a lot, it's a pretty convenient way for me to get to and from work - I live on the east side of Manchester and work in Trafford, so it's pretty much essential for me, as the only other option is to go round Ancoats and back down Trinity Way. Or I could take the M60 at a push, but if that gets snarled up (as it is wont to do round Stockport) then I'm basically going to be very late for work. Yes, it's prone to getting clogged up, the junction at Ashton Old Road is dreadful and the slip roads are basically a balletic exercise as you dance around the traffic, but without it I'd be looking to move to the Trafford area, and there's no way I'm swapping the lush, rolling green hills of Saddleworth for the urban sprawl...

Could we not just flatten Liverpool and extend Manchester?

The same mass demolition and style of architecture was proposed for Worcester in the late 30 s .A few buildings were built before the war and luckily the scheme wasn’t carried on with after 1945.Sixties redevelopments though did much damage and many historic buildings were lost as was the case in many places sadly,and is still going on with all these huge office blocks and flats going up in city’s. I think Hull was another place a plan for mass demolition was put forward too.

Lovely stuff. Makes you realise just how far from the mark several other youtubers are in their road content.

Cities do need to grow and reform though. I subscribed to your channel to learn more about Manchester and I will keep watching, but I think that final opinion was unpragmatic and euphoric. That plan is garbage nonetheless.

Those c**ts should leave things as they are

With oil money from man city owners

It's painful to imagine Manchester without all that beautiful (and not-so-beautiful) architecture and design. It would have looked so boring and generic. Even if they weren't pretty thatched roofs or flying buttresses, those older buildings still would have had more character and visual appeal than what would have replaced them.

7:20 this comparison doesn't fit. Iraq wasn't a colony of the US that grew unhappy & wanted independence from its mother country. A closer (but not perfect) fit would have been if Filipinos sailed to California during the Philippine-American War (1899-1902), set some ships on fire & made the US shift time, money & effort away from a distant war to defend their own shores in ways they hadn't in a very long time.

The US wasn't "trying to invade." They didn't want to stay. It was closer to a psy op. They were showing that England's coast COULD be raided and wanted England to worry & shift focus, which is what happened.

How about trying to preserve some of its character..its being destroyed...its just high-rise flats and office blocks..it looks soulless.

Acritectural rebalance = more shit architecture to counter balance the well designed architecture…

Another smart city in the making.

A most interesting video, thank you. Your articles are getting better and better.👍👍

I had watched them digging the new culvert for the River Medlock under Downing Street which would divert the river between there and Upper Brook Street. That culvert passes beneath what was at one time the Downing Street round-about - the flyover was built many years later. As a child, I had travelleed with my mother to visit one of her sisters who had lived in Great Jackson Street falts, and one of her brothers who had lived in Bedfoed Street. In my eyes both of their homes a middle-floor flat and a 2-up, 2-down terrace had been nice and Bedford Street was great in summer when we could play out in Bedford Street. My secondary school had been St Gregory's at Ardwick Green and Tipping Street had been my go to place for train-spotting lunchtimes and after school (to see the Mancunian leaving London Road Station - especially on a Friday).

Looking at the concept art, it looks kind of "European" in a way. Civic plazas, wide boulevards, it would be the Paris of the north, except wetter. It would certainly be less claustrophobic especially in areas where skyscrapers are being built, to the point where the portmanteau "Manchattan" has entered the local lexicon. The wide roads might make that an odd comparison, but it's important to remember that road capacity was an issue in cities before the car, you had horse drawn vehicles and trams to deal with, and many cities did widen some of their roads to ease congestion, the car just turbocharged it. Overall I suspect the car dominance would've waned towards the millennium like it has in cities like Paris, with more space taken up for pedestrians, cyclists and modern tramways, so overall it might have worked. Though the railway stations were ridiculously large, were they imagining a massive expansion to the rail network? Kind of wonder why they didn't consider a subway/underground network like in London out to the suburbs, a shame as that would have been really beneficial after the war and a good opportunity to build one while the city center was in ruins. At least an underground cross-city tunnel with a city center station like Picc-Vicc was going to be. As for your last point, I think this is where activist urbanism (which is generally very left wing, though not always) often encounters a conundrum. Manchester is a fairly sprawling city, the city centre is dense but even the near suburbs are dominated by endless victorian and inter-war row houses. They're often very small and there's few gardens or green space. The urbanist might say these are prime locations for "up-zoning" to apartment blocks and 3+ storey townhomes, which would not only increase population density but allow more space for parks and civic areas. And unlike 80 years ago, many of these houses really are in rough shape now without the help of the Luftwaffe. But as you say it is still a form of "slum clearance" with all the political and moral baggage it comes with, even if the people aren't being moved but forced into a different living arrangement.

As pagan britons we revered Water in all her forms, sacred Wells, rivers , sea. Thats why they cover the roots Of our tribe.....

They sold it as a utopian vision… of course it was always a dystopian vision

Very much appreciated this video. It's a shame that modern planning doesn't quite capture how organically places want to grow and change.

Scouters rejoice! They have been wanting this for years!

Missed the Hillsborough disaster…..

Just brilliant.. what else do I need to say? Answer... nowt!

Yeah mmu staff just lie when asked questions it so bad 2 communities staff have left mmu

And again MMU exclude public from open green spaces at all saints park

Manchester has something old and something new all into one and is a beautiful place and the skyline is looking great I think it’s looking pretty much great but northern quarter canal street, the old bars and clubs comeback especially on canal street

I’ve been here for 30 years and that was one of the best potshot histories of central Manchester - starting with a pub and ending with the pub as it should be done - with great tangents in all directions. Congratulations 💪👏😄😙mate

Manchester metropolitan University is stealing public green spaces all saints Park and locking the community out of it out of term 10 day over the winter holidays 2 staff just left mmu over lies and misinformation

A lot of city centres were re-developed in the 60s. Newcastle's Dan Smith wanted to make his city the ‘Brazilia of the North'. It never happened. And he was mocked for his ambitious plans. What's wrong with ambition in this country?

Brunnanburh can not possibly have been fought at the Wirral. Read the contemporary poem. The Wirral theory is up there with flat earth. The Ox stone overlooking South Yorkshire in Dore parish where King Ecgbert was crowned, have Athelstans initials in runes and his footsteps carved upon it. Why would Athelstan make his mark on that stone with a vantage point from where you can see all the way to the Humber if not in memorial. South Yorkshire had endured a hundred years of battle between English and the Brittons and their Norsemen allies. Wirral was firmly in Dane hands. South Yorkshire is littered with archaeology from the era. Brunnanburh was the culmination of the war in the region. Wirrel has none of that. Maybe a skirmish, probably between Danes.

The Mancky Way used to be an urban motorway and the authorities still ban cycles and pedestrians from it. But the speed limit has been reduced from 50mph to 30mph. Surely its status as a motorway should now be changed as well. Its a dual carriageway with an armco barrier separating the carriages. Why in God's name is its speed limit 30mph unless its a cash cow for fines? Most of the time the actual speed achievable is 10mph because of the traffic lights at the end causing jam ups. Not exactly a flagship.

Manchester is a strategic center and it makes sense for the Romans to build a garrison there in order to reinforce defenses in the north and the Roman excursions into North wales to put down those pesky Celtic rebellions. Whatever the Romans called Manchester the Anglo Saxons called it Man meaning man or main and ceaster meaning center or city later morphing into chester.

Looks like they took the design for the new town hall and built it in Swinton instead.

Manchester just needs better boulevards that can drive both vehicle and pedestrian traffic between the main areas around the city centre. Manchester has fantastic mix of retail, nightlife, shopping, culture but getting between them can feel like diving into a rabbit warren of high rises. Wider open spaces especially greener spaces would help make Manchester that little bit better.

Suburbs should also had been planned better.

British cities should have gone the way of simple GRID SYSTEMS that the British planned for overseas cities yet not their own!! DUMB!!

Brilliant documentary, I really appreciate the considerable research and production you have cleary put in. I was born in Radcliffe and lived in Whitefield and remember trips into the city and the bomb damaged buildings still awaiting clearance /rebuilding and that was 1952-65. What a shame that plans for a larger, accessible Piccadilly / London Rd station did not eventuate - we need that now !

Brilliant video. I visited Manchester for the first time last November and loved it. Manchester is nice and bustling. A true city.

Used to deliver to the pharmacy on the Bull

Content good enough for TV👏🏻👍

Great content 29:26

Manchester city centre along with all of our city centres need PEOPLE to live and work in the centre and not just a few apartment blocks, it's not rocket science, just go to any Spanish city and see how they do it!

Manchester has always had a deep cultural tension between the working class, salt of the earth Mancunians and the elitist, chest puffing civic class of business folks, media folks and academic classes. Their obsession with promoting the city in order to compete with London is and has always been cringey. It smacks of inadequacy, inadequacy that the working classes traditionally don't have; they know who they are, they love who they and they don't need to compete with folks from other places. Tony Wilson is an interesting case in point; a well educated, local entrepreneur whose cultural efforts undoubtedly put Manchester on the map and gave the nation and abroad some wonderful musical legacies, but also the epitome of a big fish in a small pond. Coming from Manchester. but having lived in London, it grates to see the same self-promoting civic classes push Manchester into some sort of imagined international city that is on a level with the likes of New York, London and Paris etc. A bit of humility and a lot less of that capitalist, competitive and posturing mindset would go a long way. My aboding memories of living in London for a decade was of the culture there not needing to 'compete' it was seen as passe and embarrassing to do so. Manchester and Mancunians have a rich history and culture, but the civic chamber of commerce types ruin it. The mass of glass and steel buildings which have no purchase on the history and culture of Manchester are a case in point. A good start to make things better would be something being done about the Dickensian hangout that Piccadilly Gardens remains, despite the 2002 makeover and also getting rid of that massive 'Primark' sign near there. Manchester has so much more to signal to newcomers than Primark.

Re-build Manchester? Why not? It was the first big city of the Industrial Revolution which took place in Britain. it was originally a small village of a few score people. Rebuilding it would allow it to catch-up with modern urban planning etc. it could be a very exciting venture.

It definitely needs a migrant hotel there. Besides you can build the most beautiful houses in the world but it’s who inhabits them that causes the issues