Manchester

September 19, 2018.

PICCADILLY STATION, MANCHESTER, LONDON ROAD, CANAL STREET, PORTLAND STREET, PRINCESS STREET, ST PETER’S SQUARE, MANCHESTER TOWN HALL, BRIDGEWATER HALL, G-MEX EXHIBITION HALL AND CONFERENCE CENTRE, CASTLEFIELDS, ROMAN FORT, DEANSGATE, THE NORTHERN QUARTER, CABANA CURRY HOUSE

PUBS VISITED: THE APE AND MONKEY, THE CROWN AND ANCHOR, THE MOON UNDER THE WATER, MR THOMAS’S CHOP HOUSE, SAM’S CHOP HOUSE, THE CIRCUS TAVERN AND THE WALDORF

Distance: 4-5 miles.

Difficulty: Easy.

Weather: Cloudy and Windy but Dry.

Walkers: Alastair Cairns, Tom Cunliffe, Mark Gibby, Alan Hart, Chris Owen and George Whaites.

Apologies: Mickey Barrett (preparing for hols the next day), Peter Beal (Greek island-hopping), Colin Davison (rambling round Kinder), George Dearsley (in Turkey), Lawrie Fairman (preparing for knee op), Hughie Hardiman (filial duties), Steve Kemp (recovering from bone-marrow op) and Julian Ross (w*^king)

Leader: Owen. Diarist: Hart.

Starting point: Piccadilly Railway Station.

Starting time: 1020am. Finishing time: 5.30pm.

In a break from our normal routine those interested assembled at Manchester’s main station for a hike to coincide with a promotion of sculpted bees which were displayed at sites around the city centre. It was the last chance to see this urban art exhibition which began on July 23 and ends on September 23.

Local schools, assisted by professional and emerging artists, had collaborated to create a swarm of more than 100 giant-sized colourfully-decorated bees on pavements and squares throughout Manchester. It was a joint production by Wild In Art and Manchester City Council designed to stimulate interest in the city. Bees, indicating hard-working creatures, are incorporated in the city’s coat of arms.

Each of the bees was themed to illustrate different aspects of Manchester’s contribution to the world of art, culture, music, sport, television, technology and science. The quality of the exhibits and the imagination and innovation involved was outstanding.

We did not, however, make the most auspicious of starts as your diarist had advertised a rendezvous – Wetherspoons on the station’s first floor – which no longer exists !  It is a tribute to the enterprise of the Wednesday Wanderers that despite the misinformation we all managed to find each other, only to suffer from premature evacuation.

An announcement on the Tannoy system advised all passengers repeatedly to leave the station immediately. Only as we were exiting the front door were we informed that it was in fact a drill and we could return inside. We were left to wonder how many passengers missed their trains as a consequence.

Chris, who had suggested the walk and was leading it, then produced maps in plastic weather-proof folders along with coloured marker pens so we could tick off the bees we encountered en route. If only we had also been issued with clipboards we would have been a match for the parties of schoolchildren enjoying the same adventure.

As we set off from the concourse we emerged on London Road (the station’s  former name as I recall) and turned left towards Whitworth Street, passing the handsome Fire Station, built in 1905, on our right. We turned right and made our way to Canal Street in the city’s gay quarter as Tom took a succession of selfies which showed him gurning for his phone-camera with the individual bees in the background.

Chris led us past the Town Hall and Library Theatre via St Peter’s Square, scene of the Peterloo Massacre in 1819.

This was the site called St Peter’s Fields where an estimated 70,000 people had gathered to hear a radical orator called Henry Hunt demanding reform of parliamentary representation in the era of rotten boroughs and MPs appointed by patronage. Magistrates called for the Manchester And Salford Yeomanry to arrest Hunt. They charged into the crowd, knocking down a woman and killing a child before apprehending the celebrated speaker.

A magistrate then ordered the 15^th Hussars to disperse the angry crowd. With sabres drawn they charged into the terrified throng, killing an estimated 15 people and wounding 500. Hunt and eight who shared his platform were charged at York Assizes with sedition. Five were found guilty. Hunt was jailed for 30 months and the others for lesser terms.

A civil case brought on behalf of a wounded weaver against four members of the Yeomanry was dismissed. The court ruled their actions had been justified. The site was then renamed Peterloo as an ironic comparison with the Battle of Waterloo which had been fought four years earlier. This happened, lest we forget, less than 200 years ago !

We then headed past the magnificent Midland Hotel towards the GMex exhibition centre and conference hall, which was once Exchange Station. We crossed Deangate and headed for the Castlefield area with its Museum of Science and Industry. Beyond the ruins of a Roman fort and a recently installed replica of its main gateway, we passed Barca Restaurant by the side of the canal.

Returning via Knott Mill Station we walked along Deansgate, passing the imposing John Rylands Library on our left before turning right on to John Dalton Street for the first of the day, Joseph Holts’ cask bitter at £2-75 a pint, at The Ape and Apple (115mins). Suitably refreshed, we turned left on to Cross Street and right along Church Street, where the barrowboys used to have their stalls, before heading for the Kabana Curry House  at the junction of John Street and Thomas Street.

Here we enjoyed an exotic change from Pietime (130mins), although Alastair made the schoolboy error of sitting opposite Tom. As the latter tried unsuccessfully to perform the simple task of filling a glass with water, he released a tsunami all over the table and Alastair suffered from soggy chapattis.

The spicy meal had prepared us for our second drink of the day which we enjoyed, after passing The Printworks on Withy Grove (formerly Thompson House, where your diarist worked for 13 years) and headed past Hanging Ditch, The Old Wellington and Sinclair’s Oyster Bar on our right  to reach the Crown and Anchor at the rear of Manchester Cathedral (145mins) for more pints of Joey Holts. From here we returned to Deansgate for one in The Moon Under The Water (165 mins), a Wetherspoons’ pub dispensing Ruddles for £2-25 a pint.

The pubs now came thick and fast as we had single pints in Mr Thomas’s Chop House (168mins), walked along King Street to turn left at Pall Mall and call at Sam’s Chop House, where there is a statue to its former customer, the artist LS Lowry (180mins). From here we headed to The Circus Tavern on Portland Street for pints of Tetleys in the city’s smallest pub (190mins).

Our final port of call was The Waldorf on Chatham Street (200mins) before returning to Piccadilly for our trains home (210mins).

Next week’s walk will start at 9.35am from the car park of Sutton Hall in Sutton, Macclesfield. Chris will once again lead us on a walk which will take us along the Macclesfield Canal and up Teggs Nose before we descend to The Ryley Arms for a livener around 12.30pm. We expect to retrun to Sutton Hall for a last pint at about 2.15pm.

Happy wandering !