Manchester Books

A modern publishing company seeking to inform, entertain and occasionally challenge received wisdom on the city and the north.

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

Tunnel beauty, halcyon days in Manchester and vindictive Gods. https://t.co/lskEbbjo0d

[Manchester Books @McrBooksLtd]

RT @JonathSchofield: New Piccadilly Gardens plans. Well it certainly looks better without that idiot fountain and those raised planters and…

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

Should a left footed player wish to take a corner then he would have to run down the slope of the Neolithic earthwork straight through the Celts, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Normans and so on, passing through the Industrial Revolution and into the 21st century before planting his foot upon the ball and trying to steer it onto the head of a hero from the Hope Valley Amateur League.

That must surely be the longest corner run up in history. It’s 4,000 years long.

Not far off to the North West is the cricket pitch. If you can connect well you can hit that ball for six and 4,000 years.

@peakdistrict

https://t.co/gioveKXYKb

[Manchester Books @McrBooksLtd]

RT @JonathSchofield: Upon reflection….

Late last night, we crossed the footbridge next to Aviva Studios and looked at the reflection in th…

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

The Secrets of Whalley Range & Alexandra Park: crazy suburban tales

10.30am Saturday 14 March 2026

​£20​

This is part of the Surprising Manchester series.
​
The fascinating and stirring story of the creation of a planned posh suburb, the changes over time, its relationship with Alexandra Park, it mighty buildings, its churches and its people. 

There are tales of bravery and of farce, there are laughs and there is drama. There is music of course, and stories of lost aquariums, pleasure gardens and mighty mansions. 

If you live in the area or are looking for a tour that's a bit different and focuses on an area outside the city centre, then this tour will not disappoint. 

Meet: the north-eastern gates of Alexandra Park at the junction of Claremont Road and Smalldale Avenue. Finish: close to the Hillary Step bar on Upper Chorlton Road.

Tickets:
£20 adults
Under 12s free

Duration: most tours last between ninety minutes and two hours
Fully accessible
Totally fascinating

@WhalleyRangeorg @WhalleyRangeTen @thehillarystep1 @muslinheritagecentre @thebhmc @AlexParkMCR @WilliamHulmes

https://t.co/jQwfBQJWta

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

This Sunday at 11am: The Secrets of Chorlton tour, 15 February. A magnificent beast of a tour facing the fascinating stories and facts about this fine suburb. There'll splendid tales concerning dismembered saints, abolistionists, aeronauts and tight 1970s trousers and vegetables. There will be music. Oh there will. Book here: https://t.co/KtlEi2EM3p
@WD_CFC @ChorltonBkshop @ChorltonBrew @MancLibraries @UnicornGrocery @HorseJockey

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

St Augustine's Roman Catholic Church at All Saints in Manchester is plain on the outside, almost factory-like, but on the inside it's a modernist jewel irrespective of whether you are religious or not. The building was designed by Desmond Williams and Associates in the '60s, and consecrated in 1970. It replaced St Augustine's Church on nearby York Street which was destroyed by enemy bombing in December 1940 which also killed a priest. The Christ in Majesty by Robert Brumby provides extraordinary art, the mind-blowingly potent central figure rising upon a wall decorated with tile and brick from the blitzed church. The other fittings, the sweet timber ceiling and the beautiful stained glass encourage a longer visit. This is one building with which one shouldn’t judge the book by the cover. Join me for the Truly, Madly Brutal tours this year or, at one of my Manchester talks. In this case: Arts & Crafts, Art Deco, International Modern, Brutalism. Book at https://t.co/A2BWPyVzyP

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

There’s another lift to Deansgate-Castlefield tram station. This one is off Great Bridgewater Street between Viadux tower and Beetham Tower. So there are now three lifts to help with access to the elevated station. There’s a lift down near the National Trust’s viaduct garden but that one really objects to functioning. There’s the lift at the junction of Deansgate and Whitworth Street West but that can be grumpy. So let’s hope this one manages to perform as it should, working efficiently through all those ups and downs.

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

A perfect last minute gift for Christmas? Tour vouchers open up Greater Manchester with 38 different tours telling the incredible story of the region while featuring a host of people, places and events. This is what Richard Pirouet of the Harvard Alumni Group said in September. ‘ Thank you so much for two great days guiding. We knew you knew lots of things but the delivery with so much humour was simply great. Our group has been meeting very year for over 30 years. We have experienced many different guides but you definitely get the prize for being the best ever!’

@visitmanchester@VisitSalford
Book here: https://t.co/abicgz33lU…

I took this picture of Greater Manchester when flying to Norway.

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

My newsletter: Portico Reunited, Buile Hill Hall on the mend, a sweet poem from 1821

Good news: Portico Library project progresses

One of the more elegant buildings in Manchester is the Portico Library. Recently the Portico was given planning permission by Manchester City Council for its Reunited campaign. It wants to be complete once more.

The 1806 neo-Greek building by Thomas Harrison was designed as a subscription library and counted amongst its members just about anybody who was anybody in Manchester through the nineteenth century and beyond.

In the 1920s a cash crisis led to the ground floor being leased to the Bank of Athens. In 1985 there was a further change of use and the bank became a pub. The marketing department of the pub company who took the lease went into imagination overdrive and called their new establishment The Bank. Just The Bank. The Portico now wants to be reunited with its ground floor.

These are key elements in the reunion. ‘Reinstating the Mosley Street entrance and providing step-free access to all public areas. Restoring the historic interiors and glazed dome. Introducing the Northern Bookshop, a new Portico Kitchen, and flexible learning and exhibition spaces. Installing environmental improvements to protect the building and its collections.’

As the Portico says: ‘(We) will now focus on finalising technical designs and preparing its Delivery Phase submission to The National Lottery Heritage Fund in early 2026, alongside an expanded fundraising campaign to raise the remaining £3 million in match funding required to unlock major investment.’

With £11m in total to raise there is still work to do. However the end goal is more than worth pursuing and one that will truly benefit the city’s cultural life. It would be grand to have this fine Age of Enlightenment institution back, literally, in one piece.

Northerly desserts

It’s interesting to hear about the new ‘Portico Kitchen’. Looking forward to that but I hope don’t they don’t change the homely feel of the present catering at the library. I adore what the little kitchen turns out with its British classics and other dishes. I always recall when I dined there with my partner years and years ago and there was a Manchester Tart on the menu. I had a wine for pudding but Sharon had the dessert on offer. There was an older lady serving and when she came into the members’ room with the order she said innocently in a perfect Manchester voice with a lovely smile, “Who’s the tart?”

More good news: Buile Hill Hall to reopen

Buile Hill Hall, Salford, in the park of the same name is to reopen in spring and have a useful life once more. It’s an important building designed by Charles Barry (Manchester Art Gallery, Palace of Westminster) for the energetic Thomas Potter, Manchester’s first mayor from 1838 and earlier a chief sponsor of the Manchester Guardian. Salford Corporation purchased the house and its estate to form a public park in 1902. The hall became a natural history museum, then, a mining museum and eventually, years ago, a derelict disgrace and a stain on Salford’s reputation given its importance.

At last, after too long, the council has found funding to restore it. Buile Hill Hall will become a registry office, wedding and events venue and community space. The messy and derelict outbuildings have inevitably been cleared given their decrepit state. This gives the main house room to breathe in if nothing else.

So it’s belatedly well done to Salford City Council and congratulations to the Friends of Buile Hill Park for their indefatigable efforts to improve the place. Buttress were the restoration architects. This is a practice with a track record of sensitive excellence when it comes to heritage structures. The pictures in the attachments below speak for themselves.

Trees in parks

We all love trees – Sycamore Gap of course - but sometimes we can’t see the view for the trees. This is the case at Buile Hill Park. This is the closest park to the city centre on a hill. Looking at old pictures from when the park was acquired by Salford the view south from the rear of the house down through Salford Docks and deep into Cheshire and west to the Welsh hills was spectacular. I reckon the ridge Buile Hill sits on occupies the highest ground going south for at least twenty miles. That view is now obscured by trees.

This geographical prominence was surely why Thomas Potter chose the site for his house and estate. Couldn’t we lose some of those trees blocking the view and plant some replacements in another part of the 86 acre park? There’s room and those trees blocking the sightlines are probably self-seeded. Having the view would be a real aesthetic boost to the park. The same problem is apparent at The Temple in Heaton Park where self-seeded trees obscure what should be the finest belvedere in the region.

Of course proposing the removal of any trees is fraught. At the very least the legions of Zack Polanski will be waving placards outside your door before you can say ‘vegan substitute sausage’. But surely if there’s a compensatory plan in place it’s not too bad to remove trees especially when they were unplanned and the aim is to improve the appeal of a place.

Jolly poem

Researching something else I found this in my notes. It was written anonymously in 1821 and found in the Manchester coach-office. Subsequently it was published in the Manchester Chronicle.

I arrived in a shower, in the wet now set off,
Eight days in the place I remained:
Seven days, seven nights and a quarter, I vow,
By Jove! it incessantly rained.
What then? not a day nor an hour was I dull:
The Lancashire lads played their part:
I found every friend of politeness brim full,
And myself in the midst of the arts.
May Manchester flourish! and if once again
By chance I should ere be brought hither,
I hope that from weeping the clouds may refrain,
And grant me a peep at fine weather.

Prince to toad

Perhaps the strangest about turn in Manchester architecture this year came with the proposed new MMU library on Oxford Road.

It’s as though you leave the house intending to buy a pair of flamboyant Jeffrey West brogues and come home with a pair of Primark crocs. The new MMU Library design has diminished from a zany but polka dot stepped tower to a silvery square lump. The budget has been reduced from £90m to £80m which is no doubt the underlying reason for the change. Both designs come from architectural practice Hawkins\Brown which has certainly proved its flexibility. That must have been an interesting presentation as the design moved from a flirty ‘look-at-me’ tower to a frumpy box. Prudence it seems won out, no doubt sensibly, in these straitened times.

Dressing for the office and…er…the moors

Speaking of brogues. As a guide sometimes you have to leave work in the city and plot a route through open moorland, up about a 2,000 foot hill. On one occasion in summer I had an important meeting in Manchester city centre and then had to scope out the route for a walk the following day to the 1948 crash site of the B-29 bomber above Glossop, a healthy nine mile walk or so. It was a lovely day and had been dry for weeks. So I went straight to Glossop in a pair of brogues, trousers, a nice suit jacket, an old-fashioned umbrella with my computer in a leather manbag. It quickly gets wild up there when you get past Old Glossop. Striding up to craggy Shelf Benches I encountered two women in full all-weather mountain gear complete with trekking poles walking in the other direction down from the summit at Higher Shelf Stones. We nodded to each other and I stepped aside on the narrow path to let them pass. The older woman had been looking me up and down, and with a smile said, "I think when you get to your office at the top you'll find the photocopier’s broken."

Fanatic fans
There was an odd guest on a recent music tour. He was Russian, about 32, living in Edinburgh with his Scottish partner. Half way through the tour he was walking with me and saying in a strong accent: “This is a pilgrimage. I have always dreamed of coming to Manchester.” “That’s lovely,” I said. “It’s the music from here, I love the bands, especially The Smiths, Joy Division/New Order,” he said. “They’re coming up soon on the tour,” I said and then politely asked, “When did you get down to Manchester?” He grinned hugely and nodded in a strange way, semi-closing his eyes, before saying: “I came down last night and I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour but heaven knows I’m miserable now. Actually that’s wrong, I feel so extraordinary something’s got a hold on me. But after this tour I’m going to the shops because I would go out tonight because I haven’t got a stitch to wear…” “That’s gruesome,” I said interrupting him as I arrived at the next guiding point. “You’ve certainly proved your love of Manchester music.” “I’ve been practicing those sentences,” he said, “there is a lot more where that came from.” Other guests took my attention between other stops but I could see my Russian guest reciting to other people in the group.

And finally, a little sales pitch for the tour gift vouchers. There are over 40 public tour themes and seven talks in 2026 across ninety dates. Here’s the list to which more will be added. Gift vouchers with deals for these are available up to Christmas Eve at 6pm so very last minute if that is your modus operandi. It is mine.
The vouchers can be personalised and are very handsome. Take a look at the attached example. You can book the vouchers here: https://t.co/4sJBart4uv

@ThePortico @BuileHillMA @BBCRadioManc

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

A perfect gift for Christmas? Tour vouchers open up Greater Manchester with 38 different tours telling the incredible story of the region while featuring a host of people, places and events. This is what Richard Pirouet of the Harvard Alumni Group said in September. ‘ Thank you so much for two great days guiding. We knew you knew lots of things but the delivery with so much humour was simply great. Our group has been meeting very year for over 30 years. We have experienced many different guides but you definitely get the prize for being the best ever!’

@visitmanchester@VisitSalford
Book here: https://t.co/4sJBarswEX

I took this picture of Greater Manchester when flying to Norway.

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

Manchester Town Hall completion date now spring 2027. This from @ManCityCouncil

'The project completion has now been set for spring 2027. This is later than the previous estimated date, but with more certainty. To overcome the final obstacles, a budget increase of £95 million will be required, taking the overall project budget to £524.8 million. As well as existing costs, the increased budget includes a substantial to contingency to support a spring 2027 completion. The Council’s Executive will be asked to approve this increase, which will be funded by borrowing and not impact directly on services, when it meets on 10 December.'

The refurbishment will have taken as long as the initial build time from 1868 to 1877. Mind you as the City says: '(The) Town Hall is the largest and most complex heritage project undertaken in living memory anywhere in the UK.'

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

Free tours? I received an email yesterday from a company asking if I do free tours. I asked if they provide free services and they said, of course not. Indeed. This is why I don't conduct free tours. https://t.co/HTZjAP42Q5

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

Manchester tours
Friday 31 October
4pm 6pm 8pm Halloween: The Ghosts of Manchester
A rip-roaring and fascinating tour of the haunted areas of Manchester, finishing in a dark place for a surprise.

Saturday 1 November
10am Secrets of Stockport
We go up and down and all around exploring the great stories of this sandstone town. Fine buildings to see, music to listen to, tragedies to weep over, tragedies to weep over and how to count your life by moons. 

Every Saturday
The Saturday Walkabout Series
The Manchester Music Walkabout 1pm every Saturday; The Manchester Pub Walkabout 3pm every Saturday.
Total entertainment, brilliant stories, great fun.

Saturday 8 November
10.30am Kimpton Clock Tower Hotel Tour (Refuge Assurance)
The most spectacular terracotta building in the North of England. The Kimpton Clock Tower Hotel is a beauty and on this tour you learn its secrets.

The Saturday Walkabout Series
The Manchester Music Walkabout 1pm every Saturday; The Manchester Pub Walkabout 3pm every Saturday.
Total entertainment, brilliant stories, great fun.

Saturday 15 November
The Saturday Walkabout Series
The Manchester Music Walkabout 1pm every Saturday; The Manchester Pub Walkabout 3pm every Saturday.
Total entertainment, brilliant stories, great fun.

Saturday 29 November
10.30am Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx in Manchester
Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx were the fathers of communism. Engels lived, on and off, for 22 years in Manchester and during this time Marx would stay with Engels for long periods. The remarkable tale of two men who changed the political world is told on this tour - five days before Friedrich Engels birthday.

Book here: https://t.co/5H1vql0UYI

[Manchester Books @McrBooksLtd]

RT @JonathSchofield: One of Manchester's most bizarre court cases. Joanne Roney and MCC absolved completely from a plainly and frankly weir…

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

Afflecks is the heart of Manchester. Why not get the book with all the stories as a gift this autumn?

The book is a beautiful and vivid celebration of this Mancunian retail treasure featuring interviews with people who have shopped there and traded there over the last four decades. There are fabulous stories and wonderful images taken by Paul Wolfgang Webster.

People featured include Rowetta, Peter Hook, Sophie Willan, Mike Joyce, Wayne Hemmingway, Guy Garvey, Lemn Sissay, Elizabeth Alker and many more. And Leo B Stanley explains how 'that' t-shirt came about.

You can buy it here: https://t.co/SXjo2NWQyX

@afflecks_palace @BBCRadioManc @ladygaga

[Manchester Books @McrBooksLtd]

RT @JonathSchofield: Piccadilly Gardens plans announced. Sort of. First impressions. It's a shame there's no real timeframe and unfortunate…

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

Sunday 12 October
10.30am Suffragettes, Women & the City: A Manchester Anniversary Tour
On 13 October 1905 the Suffragettes raised their first ‘Votes for Women’ banner. This was an epic moment in the fight for equal rights, this tour marks that and so many other heroic moments. @BBCRadioManc @MENnewsdesk https://t.co/k4s3mC7CuL

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

It’s great to have the Power Hall back @sim_manchester. I’ve really missed the eloquence of mighty engineering. It opens to the public on Friday 17 October.

[Jonathan Schofield @JonathSchofield]

Old Trafford Tour: it's not all football and cricket. £15. 2pm Sunday 28 September. This Sunday.

The Greatest Art Exhibition ever, Botanical Gardens and Mighty Sport.
Old Trafford may be known the world over for football and cricket but there is much more to this incredibly significant suburb. At one time it was Manchester’s 'West End', a Bowdon before Bowdon, and it hosted two of the greatest exhibitions ever held on these islands including the 1857 Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition, which remains the largest temporary art exhibition ever held on the planet - as featured on Mary Beard’s BBC2 episode of Civilisations. On the tour there are also tales of war time bombing, botanical gardens, regattas, eccentric scientists and a woman who would write 101 Dalmations. There are grand ideas and great locations.
Of course, football and cricket are mentioned, but guests will discover that Old Trafford has a world of history, present and future,beyond the mighty institutions of Manchester United and Lancashire County Cricket Club.

Meet and finish at: The Tollgate Pub, Seymour Grove, Old Trafford. M16 0LN.

@BBCNWT @BBCRadioManc @oldtrafford @lancscricket