{"id":1068376,"date":"2026-07-04T17:10:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T17:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1068376\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T17:10:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T17:10:36","slug":"the-manchester-neighbourhood-that-could-become-the-new-downing-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1068376\/","title":{"rendered":"The Manchester neighbourhood that could become the new Downing Street"},"content":{"rendered":"

Works are underway on the building that could become the centre of UK politics. But what do locals think?<\/p>\n

Ancoats is used to change.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Manchester\u2019s prime example of a phoenix rising from the ashes of post-industrial decline – transformed from neglected old cotton mills into swanky wine bars, Michelin-recommended restaurants, and million-pound apartments housing footballers and property developers.<\/p>\n

Now the neighbourhood could be hurtling towards another massive revamp.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, presumed Prime Minister-in-waiting Andy Burnham<\/a> announced plans to create a \u2018Number 10 North\u2019, moving some functions of government 200 miles away to Manchester.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cue jokey speculation about where this new Downing Street of the North should be located – from Oxford Street McDonald\u2019s to Sacha\u2019s budget hotel. Unfortunately, Mr Burnham\u2019s team have already set their sights on a different long-term spot: the new Manchester Digital Campus currently being built opposite New Islington Marina.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A sign pinned to the gates around the new government site in Ancoats. <\/p>\n

The new government building was only confirmed in March this year, with work beginning in June. The former retail park opposite Ancoats\u2019 Aldi is intended to house almost 9,000 civil servants from different government departments once it\u2019s completed in a few years time.<\/p>\n

Not everyone in Ancoats and New Islington is as enthused by the idea, however.<\/p>\n

\u201cGross,\u201d Rue Aza-Vieria, 27, said when she heard about the plans. The IT-worker grew up in East Manchester, and says she\u2019s seen the area \u2018change, grow, and flourish\u2019. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t do that if I knew I was surrounded by government buildings. It wouldn\u2019t be the same,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just going to ruin the vista for Ancoats marina. It\u2019s not what we want. This is a place where people can enjoy themselves and relax. \u201cThere\u2019s apartments, there\u2019s cafes, bars. People live across the water. We don\u2019t want it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though she now lives in Deansgate<\/a>, she still comes to sit by the marina and draw or read on occasion, and soak up the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\"Rue<\/p>\n

Rue Aza-Viera is not convinced. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt will one thousand percent change the character of the area. People won\u2019t want to come here. It\u2019s just going to become an epicentre of something Ancoats marina isn\u2019t about. There\u2019s other places in Manchester that would be more suitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denzel, a 24-year-old artist who hails from Rome but has lived in the city for five years, is also sceptical. He thinks it’s a massive shame the government building was approved on the site of a former community-made skatepark.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just don\u2019t feel right,\u201d he said, while enjoying the shade under a patch of trees on Cotton Fields. \u201cWe\u2019re all for progress, but it needs to serve the locals who live here. This place already feels a bit dystopian, because you have these million-pound houses on one side, council housing on the other. Adding [Manchester\u2019s political centre] to the equation will make it even more detached from the people of Manchester.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Denzel,<\/p>\n

Denzel, a locally-based artist, thinks the new plans don’t serve local people. <\/p>\n

He also thought it would drive rents up further, and attract more southerners to the area, pushing locals further out of the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few of my friends have already been bought out of their homes round here,\u201d he said. \u201cOn the other hand this is all speculation, and Andy Burnham has his own ideas. Though it seems like his idea for this is \u2018f*** around and find out\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

Denzel isn\u2019t the only one worried about the influx of southerners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s already a lot of southerners around here,\u201d said Krislynn Antal, a 21-year-old biomed graduate. \u201cMe and my friend always put on a southern accent when we\u2019re here because we think it\u2019s hilarious – literally everyone here has one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, Krislynn supports the idea of a Number 10 in the North. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool, and it will put more focus on the North and bring jobs here,\u201d she said. \u201cAncoats has recently become more of a hub so I can see why they\u2019ve chosen here. But I think a lot of people from Manchester would probably rather it wasn\u2019t in Ancoats. Maybe if they put it more central, or near the universities that would be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Krislynn<\/p>\n

Krislynn likes the plans, but thinks there’s already a lot of southerners in New Islington. <\/p>\n

Elsewhere people see the need to begrudgingly move aside for progress. Ralph Kennedy, 50, works at an arts company on Blossom Street, and stopped to chat to the LDRS on his way to pick up his daughter from school.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about it in the office all day,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of funny. You\u2019re going to see all these big companies and lobbying firms move in around here, of course, – at the end of the day, that\u2019s good for the city. But that\u2019ll be the end of this place for us. No way we can afford the rent increase. We just moved here from Hulme<\/a> six months ago – I suppose we\u2019ll be moving back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not angry, not super happy either.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ralph<\/p>\n

Ralph thinks his company will have to move when the political bigwigs move in. <\/p>\n

Steve Porter, 70, is out walking five-year-old Tyke, his West Yorkshire and Schnauzer mix – apparently known as a \u2018Wowzer\u2019. The former property developer, originally from Halifax, retired to New Islington and is the only one to be unambiguously positive about the development – even though his penthouse apartment overlooking the marina will face directly towards the new governmental building.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was all going to be government office,\u201d he said. \u201cI think they\u2019ve chosen this spot simply because it was being paid for by the government anyway. That makes sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good idea, because the north-south divide has been there for decades. I was aware of it as a young boy, and it\u2019s still true today. Even though we\u2019re starting to see a shift – with some of the financial sector moving to Leeds, the BBC<\/a> moving to Salford<\/a>, and now parts of Whitehall being moved here.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

Steve Porter thinks the plans are alright – and he’s their neighbour. <\/p>\n

\u201cManchester is the fastest growing city, it\u2019s time we had more political weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the LDRS wrapped up for these interviews, horns blared from Great Ancoats Street in the rushhour traffic, yuppies and dinkies walked their immaculately groomed sausage dogs along the canal, or sidled onto benches outside natural wine shops and craft beer pubs, and houseboats filled the air with the smell of woodfire and petrol. Youngsters from the estate raced break-neck along the marina on bikes, or cast fishing lines into the canal.<\/p>\n

The area already seems unlike any other part of the city. It\u2019s hard to predict what will happen when Whitehall descends on it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Works are underway on the building that could become the centre of UK politics. But what do locals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1068377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8813],"tags":[8830,8916,748,393,4884,2465,101945,285,16,15],"class_list":["post-1068376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manchester","tag-ancoats","tag-andy-burnham","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-manchester","tag-new-islington","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116862822415448499","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1068376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1068377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1068376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1068376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1068376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}