{"id":237307,"date":"2025-07-04T11:45:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T11:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/237307\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T11:45:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T11:45:12","slug":"campaigner-launches-petition-to-bring-back-northern-quarters-most-bonkers-landmark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/237307\/","title":{"rendered":"Campaigner launches petition to bring back Northern Quarter’s most bonkers landmark"},"content":{"rendered":"

– Advertisement –\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Manchester\u2019s Northern Quarter may be famous for its street art, indie shops, and creative energy, but for long-time residents, there\u2019s still something missing. A much-loved trombone-shaped sculpture, affectionately known as The Big Horn<\/a>, once loomed large over Church Street like a surreal brass beacon. Now, one determined local is leading a rallying cry to bring it back.<\/p>\n

On Friday 4th July at 10am, city centre resident and community campaigner Fiona Moinuddin is launching a petition calling on Manchester City Council and the future developers of the Church Street multi-storey car park to reinstate the ten-metre-tall artwork to its rightful place.<\/p>\n

Bringing back the Big Horn!<\/p>\n

\"\"Fiona Moinuddin<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Big Horn is more than just a sculpture, it\u2019s a symbol of our community\u2019s history, creativity and identity,\u201d Fiona told us. \u201cWhen you arrived in the Northern Quarter, it was the first thing you saw, a bit bonkers, but brilliant. Its absence has left a giant horn-shaped hole in the skyline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally installed in 1999, The Big Horn was created by Cornish sculptor David Kemp and funded by a partnership including the Arts Council, Manchester City Council, and the Northern Quarter Association. Positioned above the old Rylands & Co hat factory ruins, it celebrated the city\u2019s industrial roots while injecting a splash of whimsy into the urban streetscape.<\/p>\n

But in 2017, the horn was silenced. During redevelopment work by Salboy (part-owned by businessman Fred Done), the sculpture was taken down and put into storage. It\u2019s been missing ever since.<\/p>\n

In a video launching her campaign, Fiona asks a pointed question: \u201cThis is about who gets to shape our city centre. Is it big greedy developers, or is it the people that live in Manchester?\u201d<\/p>\n

A petition to bring back The Big Horn<\/p>\n

The petition lays out three simple demands:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Reinstall the Tib Street Big Horn<\/strong> in a prominent and publicly accessible spot on the redeveloped Church Street site.<\/li>\n
  2. Fully restore the sculpture<\/strong>, including conservation work and a plaque explaining its origins.<\/li>\n
  3. Involve the community<\/strong> in deciding where it goes and how to enhance the public space around it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Fiona will also be meeting with local councillors and Manchester City Council\u2019s leadership to hand in the petition and push for the horn\u2019s triumphant return.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt was joyful, playful, and totally Northern Quarter,\u201d said one passerby who remembered the sculpture from its heyday. \u201cI used to meet mates under it before a night out, now it\u2019s just flats and blank walls.\u201d<\/p>\n

    You can add your name to the petition by clicking here<\/a> and follow Fiona\u2019s campaign on her social media channels.<\/p>\n

    – Advertisement –\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"– Advertisement – Manchester\u2019s Northern Quarter may be famous for its street art, indie shops, and creative energy,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,9158,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-237307","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-northern-quarter","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114794799241805496","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237307","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=237307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}