![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1_Carmine-Grimshaw-Lord-Mayor.png\")
Carmine Grimshaw in his full regalia as Lord Mayor(Image: Manchester Council)<\/p>\nMeet Carmine Grimshaw, who’s had an unlikely rise to the top of the city – and it all started because Manchester let him downCarmine Grimshaw in his full regalia as Lord Mayor(Image: Manchester Council)<\/p>\n
For years, he was one of Northern Quarter\u2019s everyday Mancunian heroes.<\/p>\n
Now Carmine Grimshaw is Manchester\u2019s \u2018first citizen\u2019 and holds one of the most important jobs in the city.<\/p>\n
Councillor Grimshaw is the city\u2019s 127th Lord Mayor, being installed earlier this week (May 14). Over the next 12 months, he will attend hundreds of important civic engagements, chair full council meetings, and be a figurehead for hundreds of thousands of Mancs.<\/p>\n
And it all started because Manchester let him down.<\/p>\n
Born and raised in Ancoats, Carmine grew up in a close-knit family, attending Saint Michael\u2019s RC Primary School and later Saint Luke\u2019s Secondary School in Beswick.<\/p>\n
Once he left the classroom, he trained as a sewing machine mechanic for Raffles & Co in the late 1970s.<\/p>\n
But by the early-80s, Raffles & Co went bust as Manchester\u2019s industrial decline was in full flow. Across the city, manufacturing and industrial jobs dried up in their thousands, leaving many like Coun Grimshaw forced to change careers.<\/p>\n
For Carmine, that meant heading into the world of street trading \u2014 setting up as a fruit and veg stallholder on Thomas Street in the Northern Quarter<\/a>, before it was even called the Northern Quarter.<\/p>\n From his start in 1983, Carmine quickly became a well-known presence in town, especially after forming the Manchester Street Traders Association in 1990, to try and stop a move to dismantle street markets.<\/p>\n He established a corner shop in Newton<\/a> Heath with twin brother Brian in 1993, and again brought together the industry by chairing the A-5 Off-Licence Forum to promote responsible licensing and community safety.<\/p>\n Eventually, a career in politics beckoned, and Carmine became Coun Grimshaw in 2012, representing Miles Platting and Newton Heath<\/a> for Labour<\/a> ever since.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also chaired the licensing committee while serving on the council, but has given that role up for his new big job.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all worth it so he can \u2018give back to the city that has given me so much\u2019, said Coun Grimshaw.<\/p>\n He added after being sworn in as Lord Mayor: \u201cManchester has shaped me, and I want to give back to the city that has given me so much.<\/p>\n \u201cMy upbringing and experiences have instilled in me a deep appreciation for hard work, resilience, and giving back to your community.<\/p>\n “As Lord Mayor, I aim to champion local causes, particularly those supporting dementia and cancer care, and make a meaningful impact in the lives of the people who call Manchester home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meet Carmine Grimshaw, who’s had an unlikely rise to the top of the city – and it all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,8086,8828,9158,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-111219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-manchester-city-centre","13":"tag-manchester-council","14":"tag-northern-quarter","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114527873298352307","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111219","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=111219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_Manchester-housing-1960s.jpg\")
(Image: Mirrorpix)<\/p>\n