City of Manchester

Manchester City Centre is at the heart of the City of Manchester, in the conurbation of Greater Manchester. It is in North West England.

Manchester City Centre has been heavily redeveloped in recent years. This redevelopment was prompted by the IRA bombing of the city in 1996. This event and the awarding of the 2002 Commonwealth Games to the city have proved to be the catalyst for much change in the area.

One of the most notable effects of this redevelopment has been a large increase in property development in the City Centre and there are now nearly 5000 residential properties in the City Centre, mostly in the form of apartments. Well over half of these have been built since 1996. Some of the most notable developments are No.1 Deansgate and Urban Splash. The prices of these homes has also risen and the first £2 million penthouse was sold in 2002.

The Castlefield area of the City Centre has seen particular change and now has a vibrant nightlife as well as being home to many houses and offices.

Castlefield

Simply Red star Mick Hucknall is just one of many famous people who have invested in the City Centre. Others include Ryan Giggs and John Thomson.

Manchester City Centre also has many cultural centres. There are two musical theatres, Palace Theatre and the Manchester Opera House which regularly play host to touring West End shows. There are also numerous smaller theatres which cater for drama including the Library Theatre, the Royal Exchange Theatre and the Cornerhouse. The Cornerhouse is home to a cinema and art gallery. Other art galleries in the City Centre include the Whitworth Art Gallery and the newly redeveloped Manchester Art Gallery.

Music is very well catered for in the city centre, with Manchester enjoying its high profile musical past as well as welcoming new bands and musicians to the city. The Bridgewater Hall is one of the country's most technically advanced classical music and lecture venues, with an acoustically designed interior and suspended foundations for an optimum sound. The Manchester Evening News Arena seats thousands indoors and is home to large crowds for popular music and sporting events. The Manchester Apollo and the Manchester Academy accommodate smaller crowds for musical and cultural occasions.

Manchester City Centre has a vibrant nightlife with many nightclubs following in the footsteps of the world famous Hacienda nightclub which has now closed and been redeveloped as a housing complex. There is a large Gay village in the city centre, which plays host to a yearly Mardi Gras, and also the largest Chinatown in Europe offering many opportunities for good eating.

There are restaurants in the City Centre catering for all tastes with eateries owned by world famous chefs Marco Pierre White and Paul Heathcote situated there. There is also a stock of good quality hotels in the area with Manchester's first five-star hotel, the Lowry Hotel opening in the City Centre in 2001.

The City Centre unsurprisingly has good transport links with two major stations, Manchester Victoria and Manchester Piccadilly linking the City Centre to the rest of the United Kingdom. The Manchester Metrolink tram system runs throughout the City Centre. Despite the city's size, it is not provided with an underground train system, such as the famous London Underground and similar systems in Glasgow and Newcastle. The reason for this is the geology of the city; Manchester is built on Clay which is not suitable for an underground system. Therefore, it takes longer to get to the city centre and to the surrounding areas. There are plans to extend the Manchester Metrolink into the surrounding towns and boroughs that help form of Greater Manchester.

A tram in Manchester

Much of the architecture in the City Centre harks back to its former days as a global centre for the cotton trade. Many of these warehouses have now been converted for other uses but the external appearance remains mostly unchanged so the city maintains much of its original character.

The city is rated as the second best shopping centre in England after London. It is home to the world's largest Marks and Spencer and is also home to Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. Deansgate is the city centres principle retail street, and is lined by many well known names in UK retailing. There is also a large indoor shopping mall called the Arndale Centre. There are many leisure facilities in the City Centre also with the recent opening of the Printworks, a large facility containing a cinema (including an IMAX screen), numerous bars, clubs and restaurants and also Manchester's first Hard Rock Cafe, contributing further to this.

The landscaping of the City Centre has also provided many public spaces including the newly developed Piccadilly Gardens, which incorporate fountains, green spaces and a Metrolink station, as well as Exchange Square. This is right by the new Urbis. This is a museum of cities and provides a uniquely modern museum experience. There are other museums in Manchester City Centre including the Manchester Museum which contains many ancient artifacts and natural history items and the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry which includes many hands-on exhibits with families in mind.

All this contributes to making making Manchester one of the most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities in Europe at the present time and this can be demonstrated by the large increase in the numbers of tourists in the recent past.

External links

• Manchester Guide (http://www.manchesterguide.com/)
• Virtual Manchester (http://www.manchester.com/)
• Manchester City Centre Map (http://www.manchester.com/java/guidebook/around/map.html)
• Manchester City Centre Webcams! (http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/webcams/scenic_views/manchester_city_skyline_palace_hotel_oxford_street_webcam.shtml)