“No decent Mancunian should need telling”
07:10, 09 Aug 2025Updated 07:35, 09 Aug 2025
Dianne has written for the Manchester Evening News for almost 20 years across a variety of subjects. Formerly Diary Editor covering showbiz and events in Manchester, Dianne is now Lifestyle Editor, covering travel reviews, food and drink news and reviews and attending many of the biggest gigs across Manchester. Dianne loves a farm shop, and writing about all the great places for families to take children across the North West and beyond.
Kids on the play area at Piccadilly Gardens – but reporter Dianne was left disgusted by what she found there(Image: MEN)
It was National Play Day this week, in case you missed it. I didn’t miss it, in fact I planned a whole day out in Manchester with my kids to celebrate the day aimed at promoting safe, inclusive spaces for children to play freely.
My sons, aged 9 and 5, were full of excitement about visiting the big city during the summer holidays, and so I planned a full route to show them some of the famous sights of Manchester, as well as places I knew they could have a play in the city centre.
Indeed, Manchester Council has been fully supporting the National Play Day with lots of signs encouraging kids to play in its parks around the city.
But I’m now filled with regret after choosing two of the locations to take my children to have a play in the city centre this week – after what I saw there.
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And it’s particularly shameful given the theme of this year’s National Playday was “Spaces for Play” highlighting the need for accessible, welcoming and safe environments where children can connect with their communities.
Because I’m afraid our experiences at Piccadilly Gardens, and the city’s Roman Gardens, were not what I’d call safe spaces for play at all.
It didn’t start well, because as we walked along Market Street, over the tram lines to the former “Berlin Wall” end of Piccadilly Gardens, I heard a voice booming out.
It was a man, who’d wired himself up with some kind of loudspeaker device, shouting an explicit description of sexual intercourse to everyone. At 2pm on a Wednesday.
I don’t know what the, ahem, full thrust of his dialogue was about, because as soon as I heard how graphic he was getting with the body parts, I quickened my step to usher my kids to get closer to our destination of Piccadilly Gardens.
The fountain wasn’t working on our visit(Image: MEN)
Much has been written about the dire state of Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester in recent times, but it remains one of the main gateways and landmarks of our city, visited by thousands of people every day.
It was packed, absolutely packed with families and friends sat on the grass, and loads of people sat around the fountain which wasn’t shooting any water out sadly.
It looked dismal and pathetic and ruined my first plan to get the kids to have a run through the water there.
And so on I walked with the kids to the children’s play area on Piccadilly Gardens. Now it may be tiny, but I’ve always felt this play area to be quite mighty.
It’s got quite an unusual array of play equipment that kids absolutely love, and it was heaving with kiddies when we got there.
Kids love the play area at Piccadilly Gardens with metal spinny things(Image: MEN)
My two soon joined in the merriment, squishing their feet into the soft bouncy astroturf that I’ve always thought to be a good feature of this spot, offering a safe cushion as kids swing themselves about the spinning metal things.
But then, that’s when I noticed it.
A cigarette butt as the little ones were sliding down the snail-like slide. Oh, not just one cigarette butt, two, three, four, five…. I could barely believe it as I started to look closely at the ground and counted just how many were littering a spot intended for small children.
Even worse, I then started to see some spliff ends too. The area was quite frankly a disgrace.
In fuming mum mode, I took several photos of the litter so that I could send these to the council to ask for a response – having counted 15 cigarette butts and several more roll-your-own ciggie ends that, let’s be honest, didn’t just contain nicotine did they?
Cigarette butts and other litter on the children’s play area at Piccadilly (Image: MEN)
I know the people who littered their fag ends here are the first people we should blame, and seriously, who thinks it’s ok to stub their ciggies out in a play area?
You need to have a word with yourself if you do – especially as there were literally four bins with ash trays right next to this spot.
But secondly, why is a high volume public area like this not being more closely monitored and checked for potentially dangerous and unsavoury rubbish on the ground around the play area?
I have such happy memories of visiting Piccadilly Gardens as a child, and I feel annoyed that it’s got into such a state in recent times.
Cigarette butts on the children’s play area(Image: MEN)
In response to my complaint, a Manchester City Council spokesperson said: “We take strong action against littering, including the dropping of cigarette butts, and issued almost 12,000 fines last year – a significant proportion of them in the city centre – to clamp down on the issue and send a message that littering will not be tolerated.
“No decent Mancunian should need telling.
“Cleaning takes place across the city centre between 6.30am and 8pm seven days a week. Piccadilly Gardens has coverage throughout these hours, with extra provision for night-time working.
“It shouldn’t need saying, but smoking is not allowed in children’s play areas and we would urge people to heed that.”
But the Piccadilly Gardens issues would end up being not my only complaint I would have for the council that day.
We also went to the Roman Gardens(Image: MEN)
For another stop on our play day was to the Roman Gardens, to visit the Roman Fort on Liverpool Road.
My oldest son is a bit of a fan of Horrible Histories, and so was keen to visit some Roman ruins and learn about Manchester’s Mamucium history.
And, well, we certainly got something horrible when we arrived at this park, as the first thing I saw was a disgusting pile of rubbish strewn all along the side of the bushes at the park – there were bottles, cans, and small black bags that had a suspicious air of “poo bag” about them.
Kids play as litter seen around the trees at Roman Gardens(Image: MEN)
My eldest child even said he wished he’d brought his litter pickers from home so he could help out and clear some of it up, and maybe next time we could do that when we visit the city.
As my kids larked about around the moats at the site, I heard them ask “Mum, why’s there shoes and a pillow in here”, and I peeped my head in to see a load more rubbish had been dumped in the grassy trench too. We did notice there was a tent set up next to the castle wall as well.
Rubbish in the moat(Image: MEN)
Dragging the kids away from the rubbish, I suggested we walk up the steps to the castle recreation at the site instead.
But, oh, great more rubbish – and this one really got my goat as there was broken glass all along the steps as well as crumpled beer cans.
It was a hot day so we were all in sandals and one of us could have easily hurt ourselves on the glass.
Broken glass (in the left corner on the steps) and beer cans at the steps on the Roman Fort(Image: MEN)
I’ve sent photos of the rubbish at the Roman Gardens to Manchester Council who say they are aware they need to “strengthen cleaning arrangements” at the site, which is positive, and I hope they make good on that.
The spokesperson said: “Litter is regularly cleared from the Roman Gardens area as part of our routine maintenance of the area but we are looking to strengthen cleaning arrangements there.
“Where it is identified that an area is being used by people who are sleeping rough, our homelessness service will engage with them, working in partnership with Greater Manchester Police’s street engagement team, to offer support to get off the streets.”
I want to end this story on a positive though, and say that we ended our day with a visit to Mayfield Park up at Piccadilly which is absolutely everything a civic family park should be – and something of which Manchester can truly be proud.
Mayfield Park was everything you want from a civic park – unlike Piccadilly Gardens(Image: MEN)
I noticed on the way in that there was a sign saying “Mayfield is proud to be Manchester’s first smoke free park” and there was not a trace of rubbish, or any cigarette butts, to be seen here – in fact it was pristine and rubbish-free.
The park was a joy to walk through, felt safe and welcoming, with lots of families enjoying everything it has to offer – all for free.
The next time I bring my kids I know exactly where to head – and until something very meaningful is done to sort out the Piccadilly Gardens problem, I’ll be giving that one a swerve.
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