Visit Urbis on a sunny day in 2002 and you were only ever a wallet chain and a pair of baggies away from really feeling your feelings.(Image: Manchester Evening News)

Cathedral Gardens – or Urbis as it has long been known to Mancunians – is a curious part of the city centre. Part gothic, part modernist, it sits in a space that is unencumbered by the chaos of Piccadilly Gardens or the bustle of Market Street.

Flanked by Chetham’s School of Music, Victoria Station and the Corn Exchange and with the Cathedral in clear view, it is steeped in history.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels developed a habit of studying together at a table in the Reading Room at Chetham’s Library in 1845.

Chetham’s Library

But gaze from the window of that library today and you can see one of the city’s most recognisable landmarks – Ian Simpson’s Urbis building.

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A grand feat of architecture, it was developed as a museum and exhibition centre intended to showcase inner-city life – a symbol of regeneration after the IRA bombing.

But it became something of a white elephant when it failed to attract visitors and ended up dropping its admission fee.

Urbis from Cathedral Gardens

It was eventually transformed into the National Football Museum – much to the annoyance of the people of Preston, who used to house the attraction in their city.

History aside, Urbis and the surrounding area has always been a pretty delightful place to meet a friend, or enjoy a meal deal sandwich on your lunch break. And of course at Christmas, it’s a winter wonderland.

But during a recent rainy day visit I was alarmed by the absence of something I’d always considered a fixture.

Urbis was once THE meeting place for Manchester’s alternative scenesters. But when I sauntered down last week, there wasn’t a black varnished nail in sight.

The cathedral in view

It was the preserve of the city’s moshers, emos, goths and skaters for the longest time.

Visit here on a sunny day in 2002 and you were only ever a wallet chain and a pair of baggies away from really feeling your feelings. Perhaps it was the music, perhaps it was the fug of smoke.

A cursory glance on Reddit and it appears many have similar memories.

“I used to hang around there with my friend to meet boys,” one person wrote in a thread.

“We’d also go to Affleck’s Palace to spend our pocket money on stripey hair clips and sweat bands haha.

“There is still a handful of young kids and skaters there, they hang out around the door way of Chetham’s.”

Skater Scott Kane in Cathedral Gardens in 2014(Image: Manchester Evening News)

Those caught up in the reminiscence mention spending the day there after the Jilly’s Rockworld allnighter, meeting friends they have kept ever since and the perpetual presence of soapy bubbles in the water feature.

But all this was missing on my recent visit. In fact, it is pretty dead.

As the gothic architecture of Chetham’s casts a shadow over the manicured grass, a lone balloon bounces along the stream.

A man plays with two yappy little dogs, a dad shadows his toddler as he weaves along the grassy knolls and a group of friends laugh as they lie on the grass.

The area known as Cathedral Gardens aka Urbis

Three teenagers play on a roundabout that they are very clearly too big for and cackle. A little boy screams with joy as his dad whizzes him around on the roundabout.

A group of Chet’s students glide past like a waddle of ducks. Among the chatter a teacher’s voice rings out: “Have you got anything from this afternoon’s trip?

“No,” says a girl, with certainty. “I’ve got Maths and Practice.”

The Urbis building behind a water feature

There is a Hermione Granger-like tone to her voice. She’s busy and she hasn’t got time for any nonsense.

When they’re gone, all I can hear is the leaves of the silver birch dancing in the wind, tram wheels rolling heavily over tracks and water gurgling beneath the metal grills.

Quite by accident, I have found one of the most peaceful spots in the city. And it’s still as good a place as any to feel your feelings.

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