Piccadilly Gardens

The Ruins of Manchester City Centre

This entry was posted in Ancoats flickr Manchester Northern Quarter photography Piccadilly Gardens Spinneyhead Spinneyhead Shop on August 3, 2019 by Ian Pattinson

As yesterday was the first day for a week where it wasn’t pouring down, I grabbed the chance to head into the city centre and do some writing. Once I’d got a thousand or so words out, it was time to take the new camera, and have a walk through the back streets on the edge of the centre. There are still some run down buildings in the Northern Quarter, but also a number of more surprisingly unused ones nearer to Piccadilly. I also found an industrial age chimney, rising up out of a building halfway between a couple of the busier streets, that I swear I had never even noticed before.

Enjoy the gallery (you may have to click on the image to see it at Flickr). I have also added some of the images to the Ruins of Manchester collection in my Redbubble shop, so you can get prints, cards, and other items with them on.

What Is The City But The People

This entry was posted in flickr Manchester International Festival Piccadilly Gardens on June 30, 2017 by Ian Pattinson

This year’s Manchester International Festival opened with What Is The City But The People? Created by the same guy who did the original Manchester Day, it was a wonderful slice of city life, weaving narratives around shared and separate experiences.

I had the camera in the phone on burst shots- five of everything- and I hope I’ve picked the best of them for the album.

Just your average Saturday in the city

This entry was posted in flickr graffiti Piccadilly Gardens racists on August 24, 2015 by Ian Pattinson

The National Front were in town on Saturday, all ten of them. I went along to get some pictures. Mostly, I needed shots of Police doing crowd control, as reference for a planned book cover, but getting some images of the white shame parade was also a plan.

I ended up wandering around for a while, before the yobs finally came out of the pub. I saw a, completely unrelated, gathering of- I think- Palestinians; a wedding party on a vintage bus; some graffiti; and (though I didn’t get any pictures) a junior athletics event.

Finally, the knuckle draggers made their way toward Piccadilly. Here, they met a much, much larger group of anti-fascists, and had their speeches drowned out by a sound system. After an hour or so of posturing, they were ushered onto a double decker (they didn’t fill it) and taken away.

These ‘White Pride’ marches seem to be happening more often, but the turnout is dropping incredibly each time. Those of us who go along to take photos or chant are really giving them more attention than they deserve. But, hey, I had an interesting afternoon out around town.

Taking to the streets

This entry was posted in flickr Green Party Piccadilly Gardens on May 24, 2015 by Ian Pattinson

Anti Austerity demo Manchester, May 23rd 2015

I’m not one of life’s chanters. I get all self conscious about it and it never feels comfortable*. Nonetheless, this feels like a year where I need to be in the demos, part of the numbers swelling the crowd, if not part of the noise it makes.

So, yesterday, I was part of the anti austerity demo which assembled in Piccadilly Gardens. Police say there were 500 of us, the organisers claim 2000. I always presume the truth is halfway between the two claims.

I was there with some of Salford Greens.

There were speakers and singers, and, in smaller groups, we headed to the homeless camp on St Ann’s Square. This is one of the reasons it’s hard to get a solid turnout figure, because the demo was fluid, with break aways heading down Market Street or off to Albert Square, and returning, all the time.

Just to make things more interesting, the Green mini-march bumped into a Hare Krishna procession at the bottom of Market Street.

And, just as we were entering St Ann’s Square, these guys were coming out. I don’t know if they were associated with the demo in Piccadilly, or doing their own thing.

This is, mostly, the Manchester Green Party contingent of the demo.

Ding Dong. I promised this guy I’d crop his face out if I posted the picture online.

There are a few more photos in the album at Flickr.

*I have weird boundaries. I’ll happily cycle through the city centre without clothes on as part of the World Naked Bike Ride, but I have a hard time talking to new people- no matter the state of our attire- or shouting out rhyming couplets about what I’m doing.

May Day Parade

This entry was posted in flickr General Election 2015 Green Party Piccadilly Gardens Salford on May 3, 2015 by Ian Pattinson

I joined other Greens, union members and left wing types for a little march from Salford to Piccadilly Gardens yesterday to mark May Day.

St. George’s Parade 2015

This entry was posted in flickr Piccadilly Gardens St. George on April 27, 2015 by Ian Pattinson

Photos from yesterday’s St. George’s parade. Be warned, there are a lot of pictures of scooters. Because there were a hell of a lot of scooters. And scooters are cool.

St. George’s parade 2014

This entry was posted in flickr Manchester Piccadilly Gardens St. George on April 27, 2014 by Ian Pattinson

The scooter rally that led the parade was worth turning up for all by itself. You can scroll through the pictures above. There are a few before the one I chose to start on, but they have dimensions and would have made viewing the rest awkward.

Piccadilly Gardens is looking rather pretty tonight

This entry was posted in flickr Piccadilly Gardens on January 7, 2014 by Ian Pattinson

Piccadilly Gardens is looking rather pretty tonight, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

Love the lit fountain. Is this a new feature, or has it always been able to do this?

Feed the 5000

This entry was posted in flickr Piccadilly Gardens on June 15, 2013 by Ian Pattinson

Feed the 5000, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

Free food and an important message about food waste. I am now eating a rather nice vegetarian curry.

Piccadilly Skyline

This entry was posted in Architecture Architecture wander flickr Piccadilly Gardens on February 11, 2011 by Ian Pattinson

I went into town last Sunday to get pictures of the Chinese New Year celebrations. None of the pictures I took were all that good. However, wandering back to Piccadilly Gardens, I looked up and spotted the disco ball atop 21 Piccadilly. Then I looked all around and decided to take a wander and get pictures of the skyline around the Gardens.

I wonder if that water tower is still in use?

Long, long ago, when I was living in Surrey but occasionally visiting the Manchester office, I think the Gardens Hotel was one of the places I got to stay.