Madchester!!!!

[StephenC]

Spent a great weekend in Manchester and as ever I was hugely impressed by what an attractive city it is. In particular the newly developed Millennium Quarter looks fantastic...some truly original buildings and great public spaces. Top of the list has to be the Urbis buidling which I though looked amazing. The exhibition inside is well worth a look..very interesting. Its amazing to think of all that has been achieved since 1996. Manchester City Council can truly be credited with being visionary.

[d_d_dallas]

Maybe they just looked at Dublins Docklands and used that as the blueprint for what not to do!


[OK it's raining - I'm allowed at least one today ;-)]

[alan d]

Don't you think though Stephen, all the new buildings look the same? The only exception is Simpson's Urbis and N0 1 Deansgate. All the rest are watered down early Stephenson Bell.

Goodness knows what Hopkins was thinking of with his extension to the Art Gallery, bit like an add on to Marks and Sparks

[niamhg]

I also spent last weekend in Manchester and very nice it was too, if a little overrated. Visited Urbis etc etc, and urban splash apartments under the pretext of wanting to buy one. We were only looking to nosey about the showflat and snag the finishes!

No one was available to show us around though and when I requested a brochure with the fancy packaging, they asked could we just take a cd-rom as the brochures cost £25 each to print and were only for display purposes!

Never mind, if I had been going to buy one, that would have certainly put me off. Stayed in the reputedly v. modern 'Lowry' hotel and again, it was nice from the outside but the rooms were a bit bland (bedroom walls definitely needed two more coats of paint). The Clarence in Dublin is much more of my idea of a bit of luxury.

So, overall, quite a nice trip, but not as buzzy / energetic as Glasgow or Dublin.