The Hotspur Press

To Manchester this morning for our haircuts. Still the same routine - we are the only customers (although M’s Mum and twin sons came in later), and we are all masked.

My cut is very quick compared to J’s colour and cut, so I went for a walk. I am judging again for some awards so wanted to look at a big project on Oxford Road. An impressive scheme which seems to be working well although with all these things, time will tell.

I returned on a more indirect route, a bit of a walk down memory lane. The blip image is one of my favourite derelict buildings, which deserves saving - although I suspect a property developer has other ideas. It opened in 1801 as a cotton mill on the banks of the River Medlock, and during the early part of the 19th century the wider area was described as “most horrible” by Frederick Engels in “The Condition of the Working Class”. It’s life as a printworks and then artists studios was a later reincarnation.

Construction continues apace in the City Centre, more and more towers are springing from the ground. But I do think a lot of care is needed. These old buildings root the city’s history, the centre’s success means keeping as much of the connection to its past as is feasible. What was “most horrible” can become “most desirable”.