Episodes
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How did Afflecks go from a quirky indie bazaar filled with "vulgar tat" to a tourist destination owned by a big property firm? In this week's episode, Mollie and Jack explore the history of a Manchester institution, including the role it played in supporting generations of hopeful artists and entrepreneurs, the myth of two missing Banksys, and the "eccentric hippies" who dreamed it up in 1982.
With thanks to RHS Glow for sponsoring this week's podcast. If you find it a struggle every year to get into the Christmas spirit, we have the event for you. Glow is running at RHS Garden Bridgewater, from the 27th November all the way to the 30th December, with a series of awe-inspiring displays. There’s a brand-new illuminated trail that will enchant visitors of all ages with spectacular light shows every evening. Stroll through twinkling yew domes resembling hedgehogs, follow swirling snowflake lights and watch a thrilling light juggling show. Then kindle your inner glow with a glass of mulled wine and some roast marshmallows. Tickets are now available starting at just £12.95 for adults and £6.95 for children — click here for tickets and more details.
Recommendations:
How Afflecks went from quirky indie to part of a retail portfolio, The Mill
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In this week's episode, the writer Jordon Francis tells us about Manchester’s African and Caribbean Over 50s clubs in Stretford and Moss Side, where dominoes allow members of the Windrush generation to relax, unwind, and share stories of the old days. It's a lovely story about community building, the importance of storytelling and why it's essential to preserve community spaces, filled with great insights about the game of dominoes itself (Did you know the game of dominoes originated in twelfth century China hundreds of years before it became a cultural phenomenon for the African Caribbean diaspora?) and some lovely details about a show at the Royal Exchange set at a dominoes tournament, centered around its cast telling personal stories about their experiences as black people living in the UK. Thanks to Jordon for joining us on this week's podcast.
Recommendations:
At Manchester’s African and Caribbean social clubs, dominoes are both leisure and lifeline, The Mill
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Episodes manquant?
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The Carlton Club, a beautiful social club in Whalley Range, is a phenomenal south Manchester success story, drawing in hundreds of attendees at its wellness, foodie and clubbing events every week. So why has an eviction notice been served to the Carlton Club? And how come some of the social club's own members are behind the eviction notice? Mollie and Jack discuss some of the key points from our two-part investigation into this topic, which you can read in more depth via the links below.
With thanks to Bruntwood SciTech for sponsoring this week's episode. Big ambitions for your business? You need much more than just a place to work. Bruntwood SciTech offers spaces tailored for your team, while connecting you to a 1,100-strong national community of science, tech and innovation-led businesses including the likes of Roku, AO and Deliveroo. Whether you’re growing your team, or looking to make stronger connections within a tight knit community, we can find the perfect space for your business to flourish. See workspaces in Manchester and enquire today.
Recommendations:
What went wrong at the Carlton Club?, The Mill
The Carlton Club saga: The Building Company speaks, The Mill
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In this week's episode, Mollie and Jack talk about his recent long-read about Didsbury - "Village people" takes a look at how residents of Didsbury village are handling their area's changing character, as independent shops fall away and a local pub crawl explodes in popularity.
From today's sponsor: Big ambitions for your business? You need much more than just a place to work. Bruntwood SciTech offers spaces tailored for your team, while connecting you to a 1,100-strong national community of science, tech and innovation-led businesses including the likes of Roku, AO and Deliveroo. Whether you’re growing your team, or looking to make stronger connections within a tight-knit community, we can find the perfect space for your business to flourish.
See workspaces in Manchester and enquire today.
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Manchester Pride, a large-scale music event with huge headliners and a packed schedule filled with music, dance and drag performances, returned last weekend. The city was filled with colour and thousands of people turned up to celebrate in Gay Village. But this year, Manchester Pride also faced fresh criticism over its relationship with Booking.com, a key sponsor of the festival who have faced criticism for listing rooms in the occupied West Bank, and many, including performers, withdrew from attending the festival. The involvement of big corporate sponsors like Booking.com, and the direction that Pride has taken more broadly, becoming more like a festival than anything resembling its revolutionary roots, has raised a crucial question: should Pride be a party or a protest? Mollie sits down with our new editor, Shannon Keating, to discuss.
Recommendations:
Alt Pride Festival 2024, Platt Fields Market Garden, 7th and 8th September - tickets here
Should Manchester Pride be a party or a protest? The Mill
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The White Hotel, a world-famous nightclub in Salford that has hosted some of biggest DJs in the world and has been described as a "nurturing influence" on new artists, is every Mancunian's favourite nightclub. But the iconic venue could be facing some complications due to a dispute involving planning permissions, as well as the development of its once-derelict but evolving neighbourhood. What does this all mean for the future of the legendary nightclub? Mollie and Joshi discuss.
With thanks to the Davis Cup for sponsoring this week's episode. Great Britain’s best tennis stars will go head-to-head against Canada, Argentina and Finland at The Davis Cup from Tuesday 10th - Sunday 15th September. Being hosted at the AO arena in Manchester, big names including Cameron Norrie and Milos Raonic will be taking to the court. Tickets are selling for as little as £10, with premium options and hospitality packages available. To find out more about the packages, and book your business in for the best VIP tennis experience, click here.
Recommendations:
He complained about late night noise. Then a city-wide row erupted, The Mill
Exclusive: Salford Council is investigating the White Hotel, The Mill
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It’s mid-August, and the students who buy so many of the tickets for local club nights are away. They aren’t coming back any time soon, and when they do, they’re less likely than their forbears to even go to clubs in the first place (and drinks aren’t cheap anymore).
So how do we keep the city partying hard, and what’s it like to be a DJ right now? Mollie sits down with Finn McCorry, NTS resident, club promoter, and DJ best known for his critically-acclaimed EP Everything is alright. He plays Soup and White Hotel regularly, and he has been described as a music producer who “knows the transformative power of a lean groove and a catchy sample”, whose music feels “alive and eternal” (you can read the full review of this EP in Pitchfork by clicking here). In this episode, Finn takes us inside the city's club scene, and asks: What would it take to safeguard nightlife's future?
Recommendations:
Greatest Hits, Finn
Everything is alright, Finn
Summertime sadness: can Manchester’s nightlife survive the student exodus?, The Mill
Clubland UK: The state of the nation, The Guardian
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Last weekend saw the continuation of violent far-right riots that have erupted across the country in the wake of a devastating attack in Southport that left three children dead and eight injured. A man was pictured raising a Nazi salute in Piccadilly Gardens, where a black man was chased and attacked by a gang of white men and women, protesters in Bolton set off missiles and threw bricks at police, and rioters gathered outside hotels housing asylum seekers in Bredbury and Newton Heath. Greater Manchester Police made 19 arrests in connection with the violence over the weekend, and Andy Burnham has promised that the force will “pursue every legal means to prevent a repeat” of what happened. Some politicians have cast blame on the supposedly-defunct English Defence League, but is there truly one single organiser of the riots?
Recommendations:
Southport mourns. Then burns, The Post
I thought we’d die in Southport Mosque. I almost jumped, The Sunday Times
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Last week, a video emerged of a Greater Manchester Police officer forcefully kicking a prostate man in the head and kneeing him in the stomach at Manchester Airport. The story dominated national news coverage and triggered an investigation by the Independent Office of Police Conduct. But a lengthier video, released over the weekend, has fuelled further debate. It shows the run up to the confrontation, with a man attacking at least two police officers before he was tasered and restrained on the ground. Do we know the full story yet? And what does this story tell us about our instinct to create a simple narrative from chaotic events?
A warning: This episode contains descriptions of violence throughout.
Recommendations:
What we didn't learn from the Manchester Airport police attack, The Spectator
The missing detail: Meet Akhmed Yakoob’s ‘gang leader’ business partner, The Dispatch
Another video of the Manchester Airport police attack — but much remains unanswered, The Mill
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Levenshulme Market was a local success story, cementing a narrative of a neighbourhood on the rise. For ten years, it ran weekly markets on a council-owned car park near the train station serving everything from craft beer to books, cocktails and gifts, and the market became celebrated for its role as an incubator for small businesses that managed to make the jump from a market stall to a spot on the high street. Then, in 2023, the directors announced that the market would have to cease trading for the rest of the year after a "painful planning permission process" made it impossible for them to proceed, but that they hoped that the market could come back stronger in 2024. It's now 2024, and there are no signs of the market returning anytime soon. Manchester City Council and Levenshulme Market both say they want the market to reopen. So why hasn't it?
With thanks to this week's sponsor, The Davis Cup. With unrivalled drama, big names and an amazing wrap-around hospitality offer, there’s no better event for your business than a trip to the Davis Cup. Taking place at the AO Arena in September, packages include premium seating right next to the action, and complimentary drinks. There’s also a choice of tapas-style food or real luxury with a three-course lunch in the Skyline suite. Reward your employees for their hard work this year, or impress your most important clients with an unforgettable day of drama in the heart of Manchester.
To find out more about the packages, and book your business in for the best VIP tennis experience, click here.
Recommendations:
The strange death of Levenshulme Market, The Mill
Battening down the Hatches: We all love a food hall, but does the model actually work?, The Mill
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In this week's episode, Mollie and Joshi discuss the curious case of a semi-detached house in Harpurhey that was bought for £575,000 and sold for £1.8 million on the very same day. Manchester City Council cited the sale as an example of market manipulation, but the property company involved happens to be a major council partner. Mollie and Joshi talk about how the story showed up on our radar, and what the situation tells us about Manchester's housing crisis.
Subscribe to read the full long-read here: https://manchestermill.co.uk/subscribe
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Do Manchester's theatres have a class problem? Robert Pegg, a playwright and police station representative, seems to think so. In a remarkable long read for The Mill, he argues that working-class creatives have been confined to the fringe scene, with commissioning editors mainly looking towards their own narrow class to fill vacancies. So how do we address these imbalances, and how do we ensure we hear from more great working-class writers like Shelagh Delaney and Trevor Griffiths in the future?
Recommendations:
Do Manchester's theatres have a class problem? The Mill
Have the arts been 'colonised' by the middle class? The Mill
How to sell out in the ’70s, The Mill
It's vast, it's beautiful — but does anyone know what Manchester's £210m venue is actually for?, The Mill
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Has the question of whether Manchester or Birmingham is Britain's second city distracted us from another possibility: That Britain doesn't have a second city at all?
David Rudlin, director of urban design at BDP, thinks so. A little-known law states that neither Birmingham nor Manchester are big enough to claim the title of Britain's second city, which brings us onto an interesting question: How have both cities fallen short? And what would it take for them to catch up?
With thanks to Manchester Museum's Wild Show for sponsoring this episode. Wild is a brilliant new exhibition at Manchester Museum exploring how people are creating and repairing connections with nature, from post-industrial urban landscapes like Manchester to Aboriginal-led cultural revegetation projects in Western Australia and the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park in the US.
Many readers have been sending in photos of their favourite wild spaces, if you’d like to join them, just email us a photo and description of your favourite wild space to [email protected]. Our favourite ones will be published in future newsletters and you will get a free curator’s tour of the exhibition. Read more about Wild and plan your visit via this link.
Recommendations:
Britain doesn't have a second city, The Mill
I value Brummie art, but who else does? The Observer
How to invigorate Britain's second-tier cities, The Economist
The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs
The Economy of Cities, Jane Jacobs
Manchester Unspun, Andy Spinoza
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Writer Alec Herron's gran’s house was on the Grey Mare Lane estate in Beswick, east Manchester. He can still remember Sunday afternoons "filled with rice pudding, sucking bone marrow and hours sat around the table hearing stories of tragedy and petty gossip told with the same veracity".
It will all be coming down soon. The regeneration of Grey Mare Lane estate was initiated after a 2017 public consultation concluded the estate was being “left behind”. Late last year, a £70 million masterplan for the area was withdrawn, two years after being first presented to residents. Three weeks ago a new masterplan was released. 124 social rented homes are to be demolished, and at least 550 new homes built — more than double the number of the previous masterplan.
In this week's episode, Alec discusses his memories of the estate — some happy, some painful — and why this area is ripe for regeneration, and asks whether the same community can live on after the demolish-and-rebuild scheme is complete.
A warning: this episode contains a description of physical violence.
With thanks to Manchester Museum's Wild Show for sponsoring this episode. Wild is a brilliant new exhibition at Manchester Museum exploring how people are creating and repairing connections with nature, from post-industrial urban landscapes like Manchester to Aboriginal-led cultural revegetation projects in Western Australia and the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park in the US.
Many readers have been sending in photos of their favourite wild spaces, if you’d like to join them, just email us a photo and description of your favourite wild space to [email protected]. Our favourite ones will be published in future newsletters and you will get a free curator’s tour of the exhibition. Read more about Wild and plan your visit via this link.
Recommendations:
Clinging on in east Manchester, The Mill
Estates, Lynsey Hanley
Reclaiming East Manchester, Len Grant
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It’s been a frantic few days of political shenanigans as Sir Keir Starmer’s ruthless operation in London moves to impose its favoured people on the safe seats that are up for grabs in Greater Manchester, the Lib Dems attempt to remove any Tory blue from the Greater Manchester map and the Tories fight to hold on in Bolton. So who are the people vying to be the next MPs of Greater Manchester, and what's going on with Labour's candidate selections? Mollie and Jack take a look.
Recommendations:
‘It’s basically a f*** you to the left’: Labour’s candidate selections are going down well, The Mill
Yes, Galloway won Rochdale. But it’s the runner up who really tells us about politics in the town, The Mill
After Labour blows up in Rochdale, George Galloway seizes his chance, The Mill
Why Labour stormed local elections across the country - but lost ground in Greater Manchester, The Mill
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Last Thursday, The Mill revealed that Primary Security, a company controlled by Sacha Lord, had obtained more than £400,000 of public money from an Arts Council scheme that was supposed to support culturally significant organisations during the pandemic. Our story presented evidence that the application was deeply misleading and that Sacha Lord’s company Primary Security had recently changed its name to Primary Events.
Fast forward to 5.04pm on Friday, and an expensive law firm in the capital sent a letter threatening to sue The Mill. Our story was defamatory, the letter said, and “factually wrong”. We had until 4pm on Tuesday to publish an apology and take down the story. Instead of complying with this deadline, we dug deeper. After we discovered new details, the Arts Council and the GMCA launched an investigation into the funding application, and as of yesterday evening, Sacha Lord has now withdrawn his legal threat against The Mill. In a lengthu public statement, which you can read in full here, Lord denies all of the allegations.
In this special episode of The Manchester Weekly from Mill, Joshi Herrmann and Jack Dulhanty take you behind the scenes of our reporting and we sit down with the original source for the story, Mark Turnbull, the former director of Primary Security.
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Co-op Live is finally live! Bury rock band Elbow performed at Manchester's new £365 million arena to a crowd of thousands on Tuesday night, after a series of disastrous mishaps where gigs were postponed or cancelled and an air conditioning vent fell from the ceiling. What was behind the delays in the first place, and what does Co-op Live have to do to win back the public's trust?
With thanks to Manchester Museum for sponsoring this week's episode. Manchester wants to become a 'greener' city that embraces nature, but how can that be achieved given the scale of new development? That’s one of the many questions explored by a fascinating new exhibition called Wild, which opens at Manchester Museum on 5 June. Wild will explore how people are creating and repairing connections with nature, from post-industrial urban landscapes like Manchester to Aboriginal-led cultural revegetation projects in Western Australia and the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park in the US.
We’d love you to take part. Just email us a photo and a short description of your favourite “wild” space in the local area, whether it’s the site of an abandoned mill or a lovely spot in your local park. Our favourite ones will be published in future newsletters and you will get a free curator’s tour of the exhibition. Read more about Wild here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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On Friday 22nd March, tents started gathering under the porticoes outside Manchester Town Hall in St Peter’s Square. An activist named Emma was protesting the government not halting arms sales to Israel, and seeing the sleeping bags under the porticoes gave her an idea. Within a few days, dozens of tents were outside the town hall and there was a waiting list of rough sleepers hoping to join the camp. Manchester’s most pressing social problem was playing out right in front of the council’s nose.
Now, Manchester City Council says the camp is over. 51 people from the camp have accepted a place in temporary accommodation, while five chose to remain. Deputy Council Leader Cllr Joanna Midgley said in a statement that “we cannot welcome an environment where vulnerable people are put at risk and others feel intimidated”, adding that “this camp is clearly untenable and not in the best interests of either the vulnerable people in it or the wider community who are impacted by it”, while the offer will remain open to those five people who initially refused temporary accommodation. Were the activists doing more harm than good? And what does this story tell us about the complexity of trying to help rough sleepers get off the streets?
With thanks to Manchester Museum for sponsoring this week's episode. Manchester wants to become a 'greener' city that embraces nature, but how can that be achieved given the scale of new development? That’s one of the many questions explored by a fascinating new exhibition called Wild, which opens at Manchester Museum on 5 June. Wild will explore how people are creating and repairing connections with nature, from post-industrial urban landscapes like Manchester to Aboriginal-led cultural revegetation projects in Western Australia and the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park in the US.
We’d love you to take part. Just email us a photo and a short description of your favourite “wild” space in the local area, whether it’s the site of an abandoned mill or a lovely spot in your local park. Our favourite ones will be published in future newsletters and you will get a free curator’s tour of the exhibition. Read more about Wild here.
Recommendations:
Manchester's new homeless camp has good intentions. Is that enough?, The Mill
Manchester has a homelessness crisis. But it's not the one you thought, The Mill
Months after a violent attack on a homeless man, the police are still trying to rebuild trust, The Mill
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In late 2021, a noise complaint filed to Manchester City Council about the iconic Northern Quarter venue Night & Day Cafe caused a city-wide row that lasted more than two years. In today's episode, Jack and Joshi discuss Jack's recent piece, that took a deeper look at what, until now, had been quite a simple story.
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When a video emerged of a Greater Manchester Police constable kicking and stamping on a homeless refugee, there was a huge public outcry. Andy Burnham demanded an internal investigation and homelessness charities called it "appalling, unacceptable and degrading". What does this incident tell us about the police's attitudes to the homeless community in Manchester, and what will it take for the authorities to regain the trust of some of society's most vulnerable? Mollie speaks about her reporting on this topic and reveals that Greater Manchester Police still haven't sent their review of their decision-making in the aftermath of this incident to the GMCA.
With thanks to The Hallé for sponsoring this week's episode. We're offering our listeners 25% off tickets to the world-class Hallé orchestra's performance of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra at Bridgewater Hall on Thursday 18 April. It's an opera built around intrigue and revenge, featuring abductions, murders in the palace and a plot to overthrow the aristocracy. They will be under the direction of the legendary Sir Mark Elder, providing one of the final chances to see Elder in action before he steps down as Music Director after 24 years. Click here to get your tickets, and make sure to enter themill18 in the promo code box to get 25% off.
Recommendations:
Months after a violent attack on a homeless man, the police are still trying to rebuild trust, The Mill
Jordan Neely’s Death and a Critical Moment in the Homelessness Crisis, The New Yorker
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