Bizarrely enough given its questionable reputation, my \u2018clambering up the steps\u2019 moment came when I walked over the tram tracks at Piccadilly Gardens<\/a>. Manchester felt like a big place where a lot of things happened.<\/p>\n I waxed lyrical to any non-Mancs who\u2019d listen to how brilliant a city it is, and they\u2019d always ask why. But I never had a succinct answer to that question until another quote came along 10 years later.<\/p>\n “It’s like everyone is plugged into the mains somehow,\u201d said Jeremy Clarkson last December<\/a>, somewhat unexpectedly given the Yorkshireman\u2019s past Mancunian negativity.<\/p>\n He\u2019s right. There is an energy here which people can feel. I know, because I’ve been living and breathing the city centre for 10 years now.<\/p>\n The Cardroom Estate in Ancoats was pulled down in 2005, but the area retained its reputation for dereliction 10 years later when Ethan moved over(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n But that\u2019s a place which has changed beyond recognition, even in a decade. Just look at Ancoats then and now.<\/p>\n In my first couple of years Sankeys in Beehive Mill was the place to be. Ancoats had a gritty edge, which I met first-hand.<\/p>\n After meeting some friends for what you\u2019d call \u2018more than several drinks\u2019 at their halls of residence next to the university\u2019s tired modernist Renold Building near Sackville Gardens, I was robbed inside \u2018old Sankeys\u2019 by two men.<\/p>\n Fortunately, fashion trends of the day dictated that lads must wear the tightest jeans imaginable, so they could only pick-pocket my bus pass and driving licence.<\/p>\n That was summer 2016. Nearly a decade on, I attended an event hosted by Andy Burnham<\/a> in that very same university building, now repurposed as high-tech offices.<\/p>\n Coincidentally I then made a similar walk up to Ancoats, now looking and feeling completely different thanks to thousands of new flats, Neapolitan pizza, and wine bars. I was robbed again last week: A pale ale cost \u00a36.80.<\/p>\n Ancoats today is marked by cool urban living and wine bars(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n A big place going places<\/p>\n Whereas it\u2019s relatively easy to pinpoint when Ancoats began getting some love (2015<\/a>), it\u2019s harder to say when the rest of town started to feel like it does today \u2014 a popular place to visit and live where people want to soak up the vibe, eat well and dabble in the industrial history and cultural heritage.<\/p>\n My best guess is everyone realised Manchester could become a major European destination when Pep became City manager and Mourinho took over at United in 2016. These two giants of football had just battled for Champions League wins in Spain, and now they were sharing a postcode.<\/p>\n While one\u2019s tenure ended far more successfully than the other\u2019s, both clubs attracting that level of talent only pushed Manchester\u2019s prestige up.<\/p>\n (Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n Building the Deansgate<\/a> Square towers in 2018 did<\/a> a similar thing. They showed thousands of people, mostly from abroad, would pay hundreds of thousands to live in Cottonopolis luxury.<\/p>\n Their construction also created the unfortunate side effect of causing numerous near-misses as Mancunian Way motorists gazed out of their windows, transfixed by the steel and glass monoliths. I was one: It felt almost alien to see such tall buildings in a part of the world where we don\u2019t elongate our A\u2019s.<\/p>\n See also Mana\u2019s Michelin star in 2019<\/a>, which I lived almost directly above at the time. And while I couldn\u2019t afford their million-course tasting menu, I now lived in a place where people would come from far and wide to watch its football teams, eat its food, and live in luxury.<\/p>\n Goosebumps<\/p>\n Those things only affected a tiny slice, though. The major change to how everyday Mancunians think about Manchester came on May 22, 2017.<\/p>\n You could taste the shock following the Arena attack. It felt like an entire city couldn\u2019t understand what happened and why it happened.<\/a><\/p>\n Faced with this confusion, leaning into anger and fear would have been the easy option. But Mancs turned away from hate and chose love.<\/p>\n PC Paul Taylor dances with children at the One Love concert held just over a fortnight after the Arena bombing(Image: PA)<\/p>\n I still get goosebumps when I picture the sea of flowers in St Ann\u2019s Square, think about the police officer playing with children at the One Love concert, or mourners bursting into \u2018Don\u2019t Look Back In Anger<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n By taking this path, it solidified the notion in our collective psyche that Manchester is a welcoming place that would accept you for who you are. One of the bomb\u2019s most obvious legacies is the fact that the bee symbol is everywhere now.<\/p>\n While some argue it\u2019s over-used<\/a>, it means we have frequent reminders to stay strong and be friendly. Another legacy was exposing how poorly run GMP and the fire service were, both of which have dramatically improved to make it feel safer in town \u2014 Piccadilly Gardens is far from perfect, but the noticeable jump in police since the pandemic is welcome.<\/p>\n Puffed out cheeks and \u2018lovely eyelashes\u2019<\/p>\n If you\u2019re going to do a retrospective of the city centre from 2015-2026, you can\u2019t not mention Covid-19<\/a>. I\u2019ll be brief because being cooped in a Salford<\/a> flat meant my pandemic went on torturously long.<\/p>\n It was there where I watched the infamous Andy Burnham press conference<\/a> on October 20, 2020, when he puffed out his cheeks in response to new Covid restrictions without government support. As a northerner, it felt like politicians in London had literally put a price on how much my life was worth, and it was a lot lower than someone in the Home Counties.<\/p>\n Because the government U-turned within a few hours, it meant Manchester\u2019s didn\u2019t change directly. But it gave Andy Burnham a greater national profile as \u2018King of the North\u2019, adding to his popularity.<\/p>\n And in my years as the M.E.N.\u2019s man in the town hall, I\u2019ve been able to see how he can wield his notoriety to get things done. Whatever you think of the man, having a mayor who is well-known across the world (even if it\u2019s for one press conference and \u2018lovely eyelashes\u2019<\/a>) only helps Manchester.<\/p>\n Ethan (red jumper) covered countless Andy Burnham press conferences, holding a ring-side seat to the latest developments in the city(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n The episode emboldened Burnham, as did appointing Caroline Simpson as his chief exec and seeing Bev Craig become Manchester council leader. In a few short years, it feels like you can see the difference in Burnham\u2019s confidence.<\/p>\n My first press conference covering the mayor was October 2021, when he announced the vision for the Bee Network<\/a>. While he was chipper, it was apparent Burnham still lacked the absolute confidence his vision would be delivered in its entirety.<\/p>\n That may have been due to his foresight of battles for funding with the government, legal challenges from bus companies, and convincing council taxpayers to stump up the bill.<\/p>\n But in my last presser, when he announced \u00a3400 million<\/a> of public funding for new housing, transport, and infrastructure for a Ryder Cup bid, the mayor was bullish that he would achieve these projects on time and to the required standards, despite having similar hurdles in the way.<\/p>\n \u201cShall we sauna?\u201d<\/p>\n As town emerged from the pandemic, it just kept getting busier. It still does.<\/p>\n Co-op Live\u2019s eventual opening has changed Manchester city centre<\/a> massively. As soon as it fully got into the swing of things, footfall records in town began to tumble. People started coming from further away (although a lot of them seem to be German, I found out recently<\/a>) for a concert and to soak up the \u2018Manny vibes\u2019.<\/p>\n What are Manny vibes, anyway? Famously we think \u2018a table\u2019s for dancing on\u2019, and there\u2019s no question there\u2019s still space to be raucous in town. But one three-word WhatsApp message in 2024 revealed how Mancs want to spend their time.<\/p>\n \u201cShall we sauna?\u201d<\/p>\n It was a simple invitation to Kontrast, one of a number of new wellness spots which have taken over town along with padel courts. But I wasn\u2019t being invited by a hummus-munching, matcha latte-sipping influencer: It came from my pal from Tameside<\/a> that\u2019s had a City season ticket since David James\u2019 short stint as a striker.<\/p>\n Taking care of yourself seems to be the ‘in’ thing these days(Image: Sean Hansford | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n I said yes, and when I arrived I realised hosing your liver down with WKD was no longer trendy: Looking after yourself was. Lads from Miles Platting had cycled down just \u2018chill\u2019 in the sauna and plunge into an ice bath after they \u2018banged gym\u2019.<\/p>\n There were some influencer-types there too, but they were vastly outnumbered by young Mancs who would usually be expected to be out until God knows when. It\u2019s a sign Mancs want to look after themselves.<\/p>\n And I think it\u2019s because they want to be active participants in everything the city has to offer, like run Peel Parkrun, eat Michelin-recommended food at Higher Ground, drink Fort coffee, walk along the canals, see some the eclectic gigs, and find the latest fashions in the Northern Quarter<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to do those things when you\u2019re hungover. I know because I\u2019m trying to squeeze my favourite things in before I leave Manchester next month.<\/p>\n The future<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been asked a lot why I\u2019m heading to Melbourne, and the truth is there are lots of reasons \u2014 but they all come back to one central idea: I want to see if somewhere else can be as good as Manchester.<\/p>\n If it is? Great, I\u2019ll stay down under for a bit. If it\u2019s not? Great, I\u2019ll move back here.<\/p>\n Whatever happens, town will continue to change in my absence. Having spoken to town hall officials, investors, and business owners over the last few years, this is what I think we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n Most obviously, development will start to move outside the inner ring road. Recently-announced blueprints for Water Street<\/a>, next to Trinity Way, are called \u2018the last major city centre regeneration\u2019 opportunity.<\/p>\n We\u2019re already seeing development of skyscrapers<\/a> in Cheetham Hill<\/a>, which will only accelerate when the Strangeways masterplan<\/a> kicks into gear, and the council has massive plans for Holt Town<\/a> (sandwiched between Ancoats and the Etihad) that even include a lido.<\/p>\n That will spread the city centre out more, something the town hall is about to formalise with its new city centre map<\/a> that now calls almost everything from Moss Side<\/a> north to Queens Road town. Inevitably, Manchester will become more suburban \u2014 a bit like London.<\/p>\n The lido planned for Holt Town(Image: Copyright Unknown)<\/p>\n We\u2019ll have greater distances to travel, which might be easier when Bee Network rail gets going<\/a> later this year and is completed by 2028, promising one ticket across the train, tram, and bus. But Metrolink<\/a> keeps having its busiest ever day, the roads can clog up, and Manchester\u2019s got some of the most congested railways in the country.<\/p>\n More journeys on already-busy public transport adds weight to the argument to make the biggest-ever change Manchester\u2019s seen: Tunneling under town.<\/a><\/p>\n Leaders want to see three tunnels (N-S, NE-SW, and NW-SE) by 2050, all centred around a new underground Piccadilly station.<\/a> They\u2019re pushing hard \u2014 at the recent MIPIM property conference in Cannes, Mancs said a subterranean station would create room for 13,000 flats and 40,000 jobs alone.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to say this will massively change Manchester economically. What\u2019s harder to say is how this will affect the vibe.<\/p>\n Town is buzzing at the moment, but a lot of Mancs still can hold a connection to it<\/a>. While the primary schoolteacher isn\u2019t going to Skof like visiting TV execs do, they still feel at home in the Northern Quarter.<\/p>\n Skof, the city’s second Michelin-starred restaurant, is probably priced out of reach for everyday Mancs(Image: Cristian Barnett)<\/p>\n Fundamentally, this place remains northern. If it gets busier and busier with more and more new arrivals, as would likely happen if Burnham\u2019s \u2018growth cluster\u2019 plans become reality as he hopes, the city will feel more international.<\/p>\n Again, that might make Manchester feel more like London, where people from all four corners of the globe come in to make their way in life. Another worry is an influx of development will lead to born-and-bred Mancs being priced out living in the city centre, with the explosion of luxury apartment construction inflating rents, the town hall said in 2024.<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_0022f550.jpg\")
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