‘Manchester: In Residents’ ... #32 John

‘I remember my winter, trudging up to Oldham on two buses, sat in the back room with endless tea and a whole rotisserie chicken…’

What’s your name?

John.

What do you do?

I am a writer, predominantly about clubs and dance music, for several publications including The Guardian, Time Out, Skiddle and The Skinny, for whom I was Clubs Editor, and from where all of this stemmed. When I see distant or elderly relatives, I joke that ‘I write in advance about what most people can’t remember!’ No, they don’t tend to laugh either. It’s a real struggle. I also work for a research company occasionally, and still get my head down with the odd bout of office temping. I am trying to distance myself from the brain prison of data entry.

Where do you live?

For the past year or so, I’ve lived in Chorlton, home to the highest proportional home burglary rate in the UK. So you can assume that if this questionnaire drifts off into the ether before your mind does, I have simply been robbed of my ability to complete it. I had always liked Chorlton even when living in the city centre, but the Metrolink made it much more appealing. Plus there’s cheap swimming and moderately priced ale to offset the constant climate of fear that you could return home any time to nothing but a dope stained set of late 70s upholstery.

Tell us the story of how you ended up in Manchester.

As a teenager in a North Wales village, in no uncertain terms I wanted to get the fuck out, and fast. I considered going to university in Kingston Upon Thames, Derby and a few other spots, but really wanted Manchester (not so) deep down. I just about squeezed in to MMU to study Film and Media, which I screwed up and dropped out of after two years. Somehow, with almost no financial means and only temporary jobs flyering alongside a brief stint as caretaker managing a declining chain of sex shops in Northern satellite towns, I managed to stick around. Soon to be 27, when life still feels uncertain, I remember my winter trudging up to Oldham on two buses, sat in the back room with endless tea and a whole rotisserie chicken, avoiding eye contact with the endless money shots repeated on a first generation plasma screen inches from the counter. The only security I had was a hammer stashed in a small cupboard.

I moved to Manchester for ‘the scene’, although I wasn’t sure what that was at the time. I did stand up for a few years and ended up working on a few writing projects for television and so on. I was much better at the latter side of things. Eventually, my interest drifted more toward music, and dance music especially. I started to DJ (sometimes badly, dropping random Panorama Bar house in between Foals remixes at Now Wave), and somehow kept my head above water. Some best of times, most worst of times.

I have lived in town in pokey student flats with TVs tuned only to Sky Action – on which I watched the finale of Alien Resurrection on a daily basis – then in Rusholme, where a burglar shat in my yard and a DNA officer inspecting the scene asked me if I’d ever met Steve Coogan, ‘and was he a dickhead in reality too?’ I lived above Abduls, on whose food I briefly subsisted, stealing wi-fi from a Chinese exchange student and never having to heat the flat, which was so warm in the summer months, I was physically unable to occupy it most of the time. Eventually I moved to a flat near Piccadilly, and lived with a rotating cast of characters, starring me as landlord and handyman.

What’s great about this city?

It’s a massive cliché, but almost everyone in Manchester loves music, and many more become readily engrossed in the culture surrounding it. Perhaps this is true of any large condensed populace, but the people are largely very funny too. But it’s mainly great for all the brilliant, life changing experiences and opportunities it has afforded me over the years. Or, perhaps I have afforded them to myself? Perhaps the real city, is inside myself…? (It’s not, it’s in Manchester.)

What’s not so great?

I think the city centre as a whole has declined rapidly, and the atmosphere is markedly sour compared to less than a decade ago. The cuts to resources for the homeless or those with mental health or drug problems has disenfranchised people on a huge scale; From a humanitarian angle, it’s unjustifiable, and from a more cynical tourist board perspective, it doesn’t present the city in the best light. Obviously the blame here doesn’t necessarily lie locally, though. I also worry that the city’s small enough to be almost entirely franchised and operated by half a dozen powerhouses across retail, clubbing, dining… It’s great that there’s money and ambition available still, but a streak of independence and even the sort of radicalism that the city’s cultural heritage often trumpets wouldn’t go amiss, albeit from those with far more imagination and conviction than most of us, myself included, are able to offer.

Do you have a favourite Manchester building?

I don’t have much of a taste or sense for good architecture, although I’d like to. I enjoy the corridor of university and residential buildings on Whitworth Street, and the general feel and sights of the Palace/Cornerhouse junction. I seriously hope that the latter building stays put.

Do you have a favourite Mancunian?

My favourite living Mancunian is probably Kosmonaut’s bookings manager and former Piccadilly Records staff member, Pasta Paul. Not only is he one of my favourite DJs - which is saying something as he can’t mix for shit - but he loves the city more than anyone I’ve ever met. He’s still dashing around from gig to gig, opening to opening and record shop to record shop without a shred of disillusion, or the usual ego and expectations that consume some ‘local characters’. He has achieved what is surely one of the UK’s largest network of friends without ever succumbing to Facebook, and has not but a bad word to say of anyone. He is an immaculately dressed force for good in what can occasionally feel like a sea of ridiculously attired cynics.

Pasta Paul aside, I would have really loved to have met Tony Wilson, especially as I have a fondness for old Granada TV idents as much as acid house. Like many, I feel like Manchester’s musical heritage has occasionally been frequently pillaged for personal gain by many of those instrumental in it, but in and of itself, Factory is perhaps one of the most important labels of all time, and yes, Vinni Riley is good music to chill out to.

What’s your favourite pub/bar/club/restaurant/park/venue?

I love clubs, and I love them best when they’re dark, loud, full of smoke and not entirely welcoming at first glance. I really think Soup Kitchen’s basement is, on a good night, up there with the best in terms of a space to dance, and definitely one of the few dancefloors I feel most comfortable playing records to. Dan, who books Soup Kitchen’s club, has afforded it an amazing reputation in the face of massive competition, never allowing the listings to go stale, and maintains a wry sense of humour or perspective when I’d potentially be losing my mind.

I really like Albert Hall, which is a great example of what happens when several ambitious organisations take a risk on a venue that probably seemed obvious to a knowing few for so long. I love This and That, which even despite a few dodgy visits of hundreds, will always remain my personal victor in the endless Northern Quarter Rice and Three war. I still love Common, whatever’s on the wall there, and whatever they do to make their fries taste really good.

I enjoy strolling through Granby Row, beneath the railway arches, which feels pleasantly secluded and is as good of a bench sitting spot as any in the city. As well as the Archimedes statue, I particularly enjoy the ‘Vimto Bottle’ monument, which I genuinely thought was a really durable inflatable promoting the drink for far longer than I should have.

What do you think is missing from Manchester?

Following on from the above, I’d love to see more green space, which has always felt exclusive to the greater suburbs. I hope one of the occasional plans to transform Stevenson Square or the like into a greener environment comes through. But that it is genuine green space, not a continuation the council have of adding relatively miniscule patches of grass amid largely stone or concrete areas. I would rather see relatively miniscule patches of stone and concrete amid large areas of grass. I know you’re not supposed to say that sort of thing nowadays, but deal with it, incredibly well paid town planners!

If I was Mayor for a day I would …

Make sure I went somewhere dead nice to get a sandwich at lunch, and then keep the receipt, say I was having a meeting, and claim it back on expenses at a later date.

Who else would you like to nominate to answer this questionnaire?

Mick Hucknall.

‘Manchester: In Residents’ ... #31 Oliver

'Lorenzo offered to walk the elephant back to Manchester, which he did in ten days...'

What’s your name?

Oliver East.

What do you do?

I’m an artist. I write and draw comic books about landscape and walking. They sell about as well as that sounds so I’ve also had a long career as a barman in south and central Manchester – Maine Road Family Stand, Free Trade Hall, Robinski’s, The Drop Inn, Velvet, Matt & Phred’s – before finishing up with seven years as a manager down The Temple. I get the odd illustration gig as well, like two Elbow album sleeves and animation, for instance. The comics are making money now though, so I’ve been bar-free for a while.

Where do you live?

Old Trafford.

Tell us the story of how you ended up in Manchester.

I’m a party baby. Or more specifically a 'cult party baby'. My mum was living in an ashram in Withington, next to St Paul’s Primary (which I later attended) as part of a worldwide cult. Told she couldn’t have kids, she had one nonetheless. Grew up, just the two of us, in a Fallowfield flat. School in Withington then Didsbury. The Didsbury school was a strange mix of working class Burnage and middle class Didsbury. Hated it. Failed most everything and did retakes and such in Heaton Chapel.

I really wanted to study archaeology, but couldn’t get the grades. I took ‘Classical Civilisations’ for GSCE three times, getting, in order, D, D, E – so Indiana Jones was a no go. I wanted to study something though and so I fell onto an art foundation course. Two and a bit years into an art degree, I fell for art. Moved out of my Fallowfield home at 18 into a Fallowfield student house. Standard fare. Then sublet a one bedroom Northern Quarter apartment whilst courting my future wife and working in Velvet and then Matt & Phreds. It was an illegal let, which would have been okay, but a census was done at the time and there’s only so long you can ignore the door to those guys…

I moved into a Chorlton share with my girlfriend and some numpties who would only ‘let’ us in the front room at certain times of the day. Fucked them off and got our own place, – a flat in Whalley Range. Due to an accident my girlfriend had enough for a deposit for a house in Old Trafford. A year later we got married in Las Vegas in a chapel who said, ‘You just tell us, on the day, whether you want God there or not’. Our son, Hunter, was born five years ago. We were married nine years. She’s no longer my wife but we’re great mates in a ripe-for-mockery ‘North Chorlton’ co-parenting team.

What’s great about this city?

Viewing the city with ‘single’ eyes, it’s a different world out there: terrifying but ever so much fun at the same time. I walk everywhere if I can. It’s cheap therapy. I can be in town in less than an hour and Chorlton in ten minutes. You can walk across the whole town centre in less than twenty minutes, with your beer jacket on. Every parent around treasures the museums. I hope they’re not taken for granted and that everyone chips in on their way out.

One of Oli's beautiful Elbow sleeves.

What’s not so great?

I could fire off many a missive about our misfiring trams. Packed single ones at rush hour and empty doubles during the day. The public transport system as a whole is pretty embarrassing when you talk to other Europeans. ‘What, you mean you can’t use the same ticket on all the buses?’ 

The London Road Fire Station situation is shameful.

Fallowfield has been shat on, bit by shitty landlord bit, over the years. With the students now more likely to live in the centre of town, they’ll have to fill the houses somehow and a once appealing neighbourhood will just get worse.

Do you have a favourite Manchester building?

Central Library, before they gave it a veruca.  The stretch of Whitworth Street, from Palace Theatre to Piccadilly Station looks like a parade of gargantuan gateaux. If you lived in India House or worked at the Palace Hotel, you’d get nothing done, as you’d have your head out the window eating icing all day.

Oxford Road station is the best in town. Love the roof and their stubborn refusal to sort out a lift for years. The egg and toast rack in Fallowfield would have to be up there actually. The residential houses of Whalley Range deserve an illustrator’s attention. I’ll get round to it at some point. Still some grand houses in Fallowfield if you can see past the flyers.

I enjoy running. One favourite route is around Trafford Park, with the warehouses and industrial bakeries, glimpses of The Lowry and a bridge over the quay.

Do you have a favourite Mancunian?

Lorenzo Lawrence. He worked at Belle Vue zoo in the late nineteenth century. The owner of the zoo travelled to Edinburgh, with Lorenzo, to buy a load of animals. The plan was to get them back by train to Piccadilly but the elephant they bought kicked off and smashed his carriage. Lorenzo offered to walk it back to Manchester, which he did in ten days. But the elephant was already trained and had been used to carriages for years. Once Lorenzo had got it on the train that would have been that particular gig over for him. So, a skilled trainer, he somehow gave the elephant a signal to panic. Thus blagging himself an extra ten days work. I’m working on a comic book about the whole thing now.

I worked in Velvet for a couple of years and there was a character, Tony Dean, who used to write poetry for his favourite bar staff. I’ve still got a load now. He wrote a short story about a beauty spot on my cheek. He made me a spoken word cassette (both sides) of him reading sonnets called ‘In Celebration of Oliver’. He was fun.

Bumping into Guy Garvey is the highlight of any day and honourable mentions for Steve Manford, Carol Batton, Emma Jane Unsworth, Hannah Thomas and me Mam.

One of Oli's public wall pieces.

What’s your favourite pub/bar/club/restaurant/park/venue?

My homing instincts always take me down to The Temple (of Convenience). It’s a hole, it stinks, the staff are surly, it’s a nightmare on Saturday nights, but I love it. Having worked there for seven years, off and on, I’ll always find someone down there with whom to over-share. That, and its older sister, Big Hands, are the only two real rock and roll bars in Manchester. Being newly single means I’ve had to broaden my horizons beyond these two, for it not to get too incestuous with the bar staff.

Fletcher Moss Park for nostalgia reasons (mainly sticky fumbles) and the Mersey that runs round to Chorlton and Stretford, via Northenden, which is good for running. Longford Park as I used to take the boy there every day, reading a book while I pushed him around.  He would make his first steps in the avarium there.

As for restaurants I have some pretty ingrained phobias about eating, so anywhere where I can order, it comes quickly, and I can pay and leave while still chewing, works for me. This ‘n’ That, where I go with the boy before Bolton Wanderers home games is great. The Mexican stand in the Arndale food market does a massive burrito, a bottle of decent beer and a shot of tequila, for a tenner. Top way to start off a hung-over Saturday.

Rage Against The Machine at The Ritz is always up there as one of my favourite gigs. Used to go to Dance Yer Docs off there as well. It’s a great venue with buckets of sweaty nostalgia.

Whenever tourists would come down The Temple I’d always tell them about The Briton’s Protection. As good as pubs get in Manchester. Ask me again when I’ve been single for a year and I’ll know more places.

What do you think is missing from Manchester?

Humility.

If I was Mayor for a day I would …

Panic. I’m totally unqualified for such a position. But until I was found out I’d get shot of that Simpson character. The architect who keeps getting every gig going in Manchester? Yeah, I’d do away with him. I’d make The Temple and Big Hands rent-free forever more. I’d sort out the road above The Temple so it didn’t leak all the time.

Who else would you like to nominate to answer this questionnaire?

Steve Manford. Filmmaker who works at Afflecks.

All of Oliver’s books can be bought from Forbidden Planet International on Oldham Street but, if you can live with the shame afterwards, they’re also available on Amazon. He also has a website, a Tumblr where he posts process pictures and inspiration, and he also does a bad job of hiding his anger issues over on Twitter.

Manchester coming of age

Summer 2014.  I’m walking down Burton Road in West Didsbury, the street where I’ve lived for almost a year, and I see Vini Reilly standing in the doorway of one of the bars, wearing sandals and smoking a rollie. It’s Vini that you can hear playing guitar on ‘I Know Very Well How I Got My Name’, probably the most-purchased and least-listened-to Morrissey B-side (it’s on the other side of ‘Suedehead’). I must have played it a thousand times, on vinyl and then on my first guitar. (When I was thirteen years old, I really did dye my hair gold). At the bar on Burton Road, Vini looks like he doesn’t quite know if he’s arriving or leaving. We lock eyes for just a second. It’s eighteen years since the IRA bomb went off in town, and I got my A-level results and a place at Manchester University.

Yesterday. I am sitting in my Auntie Dee and Uncle John’s bedroom in Stretford and I can see the gasworks out the window and I’m struggling through the guitar chords for ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ as I have done for twenty years. Outside, dozens of Man United fans file past the house, fresh from a four–nil victory over QPR. Downstairs I can hear Dee, a Dubliner, chatting away with my other half Oisín, whose story started in Australia and came to Manchester via Ireland. This is at once exactly where I think I’m meant to be, exactly where I most want to be, and exactly where I never thought I would end up. It’s eighteen years since I moved to Manchester, half my life ago. I have lived here longer now than I’ve lived anywhere. I did it.

John drives us past the end of King’s Road on the way home and when we get dropped off in West Didsbury we walk along Burton Road again and the sky is criss-crossed with jet trails. I want to write something to mark my coming of age in Manchester because I feel suddenly emotional about it, so at home I start listening to some songs to try and level out my thoughts a bit. Morrissey’s ‘Lost’ is first – ‘jet trails in the sky leave one thought behind…’ – followed by his epic Raymonde cover, ‘No One Can Hold A Candle To You’, which I always used to pester Dave Cottrill to play at the Star & Garter, and he always did. Billy Bragg doing ‘A New England’ at the Kirsty McColl memorial concert, Eddie Reader doing ‘Dear John’ the same night, and eventually back around to ‘I Know Very Well How I Got My Name’, with Vini on the guitar.

So far, nothing in my life, and by my life I mean Manchester, has gone the way I imagined it, and certainly not the way I planned it, since the plan from childhood was to live in Manhattan, hence the portmanteau of my blog. I thought by now I would have at least two novels published and would live off the proceeds and be an activist. Instead, this month I will pay the rent with my fee from being the theatre writer at the Manchester Evening News and with the money I made from the gay RnB night I run. If I was a character in a novel it would be something by Tama Janowitz and everyone would agree that it was interesting but the characters’ lives seemed a bit contrived. We haven’t starved yet.

How to celebrate my ‘birthday’? The same way you always should: have a party, look back a bit, and count your blessings. The party has been had, at Festival No. 6, aka ‘Manchester by the sea’. I DJ’d there, partied until my screws came loose with some of the best people who live in this town, heard Weatherall play my favourite Frankie Knuckles edit, and saw Pet Shop Boys perform ‘It’s A Sin’ under the night sky. As for looking back, this is my twelfth address in Manchester and I remember something good and bad about them all. I am very happy where I am. I work in this place all day long looking down Burton Road, and I never get tired of it. Oisín comes home and we make food and we make plans for a future that might or might not turn out a certain way.

Some things never seem to change. Manchester is a city in terrible poverty.  Morrissey has no record contract but he’s still out on tour. The Council’s assault on our architecture makes Manchester feel less like itself to me than ever before – and I arrived on a bomb site, remember. It will always be home here, but I’d move to Berlin or Brooklyn in the morning. I’m saving the blessings bit for when I count backwards from fifteen at Trafford General next week. I won’t run out before I get to zero.

‘Manchester: In Residents’ … #29 Julie

‘It sounds cheesy but I truly started to live my life when I moved to Manchester. It is strange in a way, as I am, and always will be, seen as ‘Frenchy’ in England, and ‘L’Anglaise/La Rosbif’ in France…’

What’s your name?

I have various nicknames, from Big Tasty to Shorty but my real name is Julie. I’ve also been called Fattesti, it’s quite funny I guess, given my family name…

What do you do?

I work as a manager in a language school in Salford, on a beautiful square just off Chapel Street. It’s next door to the New Oxford pub, which makes it very hard to concentrate past 12 o’clock on a Friday! The sound of beer kegs rolling on the floor and patrons getting drunk is usually my daily soundtrack. I’ve also put on a couple of gigs and still occasionally play music in bars with a good friend of mine: our night is called Paris is Burning, in Odd NQ.

Where do you live?

I live in a lovely house in Chorlton, near Beech Road, with another French girl, and two gentlemen, one from Italy and one from Nottingham. It’s a lovely area to live in, as you certainly all know, if you forget about the burglaries and fried chicken shops galore – mostly bad KFC rip-offs. I also spend a fair amount of time at my boyfriend’s place in Ancoats, which also is a great area to live. Both places are dangerously close to several amazing boozers.

Tell us the story of how you ended up in Manchester.

Long story short, I moved to England about three years ago from my native France to work for Islington Mill and the Sounds from the Other City festival. Within my first week here, I managed to stumble over the pavement and end up at A&E. I wasn’t even drunk! It wasn’t great and I wanted to go home at the time, but five stitches and several booster shots later, I gave Manchester another chance and started to really enjoy it. I met some wonderful people, discovered some amazing places, did some amazing things. Manchester, and England in general, became my home and my close friends became like a second family to me. It’s not always easy to be so far away from your close family and friends, but I truly feel like, and it’s going to sound mega cheesy, I truly started to live my life when I moved to Manchester. It is strange in a way, as I am, and always will be, seen as ‘Frenchy’ in England, and ‘L’Anglaise/La Rosbif’ in France.

What’s great about this city?

There is a really long list of things I like about living in Manchester, but to be honest, I think I really like people’s mentality in general here. I somehow feel like I’ve been ‘adopted’ by Manchester and feel now more comfortable here than when I go back to France, where I kind of feel like a visitor. I like the Northern mentality, I like to try and identify all the different Northern accents – ask my boyfriend, he’s probably quite bored of my questions: ‘Where do you think this guy’s from? Sounds Northern…’ It’s great because at the same time, I still see Manchester with the eyes of a foreigner. I was dreaming of moving here, and sometimes, I sit down and start thinking how happy and proud I am to be an adopted Mancunian. Life is good in Manchester, people are relaxed in general - if you forget about that lovely man who called me a ‘foreign bastard ‘ on the train for speaking French... Nevermind. But yeah, people are cool, you can basically do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t bother anyone else. In France, people tend to judge you if you wear double denim or if you have a pint before 6pm…

What’s not so great?

There are a couple of things I’m not too happy about in Manchester. The city centre is really dirty, especially on weekends. Walk along the canals, and you’ll find a blow-up doll, cigarette butts, plenty of beer bottles and probably a dead body or two. The lack of a proper cycling infrastructure is a real shame as well. I really enjoy cycling and would love to commute by bike, but I’m terrified to do so in Manchester. And finally: have you seen the amount of takeaways and betting shops? It’s really depressing!

Do you have a favourite Manchester building?

It might sound quite silly, but I love terraced houses and red brick buildings! Before moving here, it was exactly the image I was making for myself of Manchester, and the places I’ve lived in before were really colourful. These endless rows of terraced houses are what struck me the most when I first moved here, and these massive blocks of buildings in the Northern Quarter, around Turner Street for example, remind me a lot of the old New York. I simply like to wander around and admire the buildings around me, even the scruffiest ones. I love Manchester architecture: no fannying about!

Do you have a favourite Mancunian?

That’s a tough one. I was trying to think of ‘famous people’ at first, since, like a lot a people, I came to Manchester because I was intrigued by its past. But frankly, my perspective changed really fast and Manchester quickly became my home and I sort of lost interest in the past because living here in the present is making me very happy. My favourite people are the ones around me, but none of them are actually from Manchester. My housemate is great, but she is French – she does all the house work in the house and doesn’t mind doing the washing up! My boyfriend is pretty awesome, but he’s a Scouser. I could tell you how he steals bottles of hot sauce from restaurants when he’s had a drink or two, but it would probably only reinforce the stereotype. My friend Camille is gorgeous but she’s French too. So yeah, these are probably my favourite people, they’re like my family away from home.

What’s your favourite pub/bar/club/restaurant/park/venue?

This one is fairly easy: the Crown and Kettle on Great Ancoats Street, just opposite the Frog and Bucket. They have an amazing selection of ales and really friendly staff. I also like 2022NQ, their ‘Beats, Bats and Beers’ night is amazing, and they do Happy Hours! Carringtons in Chorlton is one of my favourite places to buy booze. They sell wine that was made in the vineyard two streets from where I was born!

What do you think is missing from Manchester?

Nice parks in the city centre? Angel Meadow is quite nice but a little bit off-centre. There is also that patch of grass next to the New Islington tram stop but it’s nothing more than a patch of grass…

If I was Mayor for a day I would …

…completely rebuild Piccadilly Gardens. It looks like anything but Gardens, seriously, it drives me mad. It is ugly, grey and highly depressing. What were they thinking when they built that awful concrete wall? I’m sure it has its uses, but it does looks really ugly and it’s a shame as it is the busiest part of the city centre. I also wish it wasn’t so terrifying at night.

Who else would you like to nominate to answer this questionnaire?

Funnier people than me? I’m really honoured and pleased I got to answer to this questionnaire but c’mon, it was probably not the most entertaining entry. [WRONG! – Ed.] Quite a few people I would have nominated have already answered this questionnaire, but I would be interested in seeing what Jackie Hall has to say. She is one of my friends and even though we are not that close, I’d simply be interested in what she has to say, because she is cool and humble.

On May 10th Julie will be moonlighting as DJ Eura-bitch at the you're a vision!: a eurovision party spectacular at Kraak, Stevenson Square from 7pm.

‘Manchester: In Residents’ … #20: Sarah

'Manchester has a fascinating history, artistic integrity, an intellectual legacy, great diversity of people, a lovely self-deprecating sense of humour, it’s not pretentious, and we work hard...'

What’s your name?

Sarah Perks

What do you do?

I hold the super title of ‘Programme and Engagement Director, at Cornerhouse which means I’m in charge of all of the artistic programmes. This cuts across our exhibitions, films, engagement projects (young people for example), lots of events, and much more. As well as all the team management and strategy, I curate exhibitions, produce artists’ films and commissions, distribute artists’ film, programme film seasons, talk constantly and run around after artists. There’s a lot to do, I love it and I have a fab team.

Where do you live?

I live on one of the cheaper sides of Chorlton, opposite the cemetery, near the water park where I walk Benji (my dog) twice a day. I resisted Chorlton at first, then I gave in about a year ago. Some of the stereotypes are unfair, I’ve never even been to Unicorn. I’ve lived in Oldham, Urmston, Prestwich, the city centre, Clayton, and more recently on the Rusholme/Moss Side border where I was chair of the residents association.

Tell us the story of how you ended up in Manchester.

I was born here, and without even a gap year, I have always lived in Manchester. My parents were born here. Further back leads to Ireland (of course) and the slums of Greengate, Salford. Lots of people don’t believe me because I have an accent that seems hard to pin down (I don’t know why, I sound Manc-ish to me). I’ve almost left and then didn’t, though nearly all of my family have left (for as far away as New Zealand). Anyway I’m still here with Benji, who’s also a Mancunian, he’s from the dogs’ home.

What’s great about this city?

I can gush forever about Manchester and often do, particularly if someone mentions Liverpool... Manchester has a fascinating history, artistic integrity, an intellectual legacy, great diversity of people, a lovely self-deprecating sense of humour, it’s not pretentious, and we work hard. Wherever you go people know Manchester and are positive about it (I don’t even mind if football comes up on occasion). This city has a different energy and attitude that’s not afraid to do something else, be brave and ambitious, and just get on with it. It’s small enough to be friendly and easy to get around, yet there’s great culture and lots to do. I’m not entirely sure a working class over-achiever like me would have got such amazing opportunities in London.  We need to keep an eye on the young talent though and make sure they keep up the spirit.

What’s not so great?

For a city of over two million people, there are not enough visible hot single straight men and those that disagree should make themselves known. Also, on occasion there’s a little too much sentiment for ‘Madchester’ and certain people from that era. I’m not saying it wasn’t important but it’s only a small part of the story and most kids don’t care about it now. I think The Smiths will endure beyond all that, and Take That probably.

Do you have a favourite Manchester building?

There are so many amazing buildings all over the city – visiting artists often want to research them and are continually impressed by wealth of architecture styles and influences – that’s what makes the city special. Chetham’s Library is a particular gem. I also love the view from Peel Tower (Ramsbottom). Recently, with an artist, we looked into the old Salford Cinema at the top of Chapel Street out of curiosity, and ended up attending an entire evangelist Christian service.

Do you have a favourite Mancunian?

I think Dr CP Lee is a city treasure. Some others are Emmeline Pankhurst, Morrissey, Davy Jones and everyone that makes Coronation Street so great. And Friedrich Engels, though he wasn’t born here. I would like Nick Grimshaw to smash the R1 breakfast show… Mark and Lard didn’t, although their afternoon show in the early noughties was genius, I still often think about Halon Menswear...

What’s your favourite pub/bar/club/restaurant/park/venue?

I’m always in Cornerhouse bar because I love it, not about promoting it at all, it would be weird if I didn’t like it and didn’t talk to people there! I like traditional pubs like Britons and the Peveril Of The Peak, and unless it’s cocktail time, I like more relaxed bars like The Gas Lamp and Common. Myself and Benji frequent many Chorlton bars including The Parlour and The Spoon Inn. A Chinese hotpot with a big group of friends at Red‘n’Hot on Faulkner Street is the best – I’m particularly crazy about the spam and frog legs bubbling in hot chilli.

What do you think is missing from Manchester?

See the first line of ‘What’s not so great’...

If I was Mayor for a day I would …

Give myself a full 4 year term. Seriously, I’d arrange a doggie day across the centre, bring your dog to shops, pubs, restaurants, galleries, museums, promoting both adoption from the dogs home and responsible ownership.

Who else would you like to nominate to answer this questionnaire?

Dr CP Lee and Jason Singh.

Sarah is Programme and Engagement Director at Cornerhouse.

Manchester: In Residents … #4: Dee

‘I remember having just visited and saying to my husband, ‘Why aren’t we living here?’ So we moved here…’

What’s your name?

Dee.

What do you do?

I work in an office. It’s large, open plan, 1960s style with harsh lighting. There are no plants on the desks but there is an air of muted desperation (then again I’m writing this on a Monday morning). The other three temps and I sit in an area by the lifts, together with the only permanent PA (they seem to hate the word ‘secretary’ these days). It’s almost ten o’clock in the morning and I’m on the north side of the second tallest building in Manchester, bored out of my mind. Who was it that said ‘Only the boring get bored’? Bollocks. I challenge anyone not to be bored in my place.

The views here are amazing though. On a clear day you can see to the Peaks, the Pennines, the moors, everything. Of course, if you lift your head the lawyers see you and stare at you balefully. They don’t give you anything to do, that would be too direct and honest, instead they gripe and complain and say we’re not up to scratch. As far as we’re concerned, since we’re agency paid (and low paid at that; I calculate we’re earning a third less than any ‘PA’ in the company) we’re doing okay. You could say, ‘Pay peanuts, get monkeys’ but that would be unfair not only to me but to the other women here who, like myself, are ‘of an age’ and are coincidentally at the crossroads of major life changes. We have at least one hundred years of secretarial experience between us, and apart from the occasions when we get a little menopausal on each other’s asses, we get along just fine.

The morning ticks by, people tap on keyboards, drink lukewarm machine-bought drinks and wait for lunchtime. It’s enough to make you want to take up smoking again. I’ve recently (very nearly) given up and although it’s hard, it’s not been as difficult as I thought. After almost forty years (Jesus! I should be dead already…) I imagine my lungs are shot. A recent episode where I found I couldn’t breathe at all gave me such a fright. There’s also the fact that pretty soon I’m going to be a foster parent. I don’t want to smoke around children.

Later I look out of the window as the sun is setting and the whole of South Manchester looks afire as the sun dies, shortly before a great grey bank of cloud sweeps in to bring what the weathermen like to call ‘blustery showers’. Manchester is just lighting up; a ribbon of red lights show cars beginning to leave town. Buildings are aglow and although I’ve always thought of it is as a small city, I realise how wrong I am. Manchester is huge. The centre itself is negotiable in thirty minutes or so but the outlying areas spread on and on…

Where do you live?

I live with my husband and two cats in Chorlton-cum-Hardy which to my mind is just the nicest place to live. We’re in a neat little cul-de-sac with neighbours who seem to have come straight from a Sunday evening serial. I think we’re the second oldest residents on the street but we get along well with all the thirty-something couples of many persuasions who populate the tiny houses. We are all cat people; the felines themselves are friends too and pop in and out of each other’s houses with abandon.

Tell us the story of how you ended up in Manchester

It’s a sweeping tale of epic proportions. Two young star-crossed lovers meet at Blackpool Tower in 1982 and the rest, as they say, is geography... Actually, we moved to London first and stayed there until the commuting and stress got the better of us. We decided that being close to the people you love beats the hell out of spending up to four hours a day getting to and from work. We came back up North, moved close to our respective families and got back in touch with our nieces and nephews. That was the deal right there, having those kids in our lives made everything good, and now that they’re starting to have kids of their own the joy is unbounded. We moved to Manchester in 2003 having visited our niece and nephew while they were studying at the University. It was love at first sight. Everything about the place seemed right; the size of it, the places to go, the people. I remember having just visited Chorlton and saying to my husband, ‘Why aren’t we living here?’ So we moved here. We haven’t regretted a day of it.

What’s great about this city?

I’ve always liked urban life and though I don’t do as much socialising as I once did, I like the fact that when I do want all that, it’s right outside my door. Restaurants, bars, parks, you name it, they’re a five minute walk from where I live and I show the place off to visitors as if I built it myself. I love Manchester for the light rain-shine on the dark night streets, the sudden squeals of young girls on a night out, the lovely young faces on the tram first thing in the morning. I love the markets, the chats you can have in any shop, whether it’s a newsagent and a prince of the East selling you ten fags and bemoaning the fact that he can’t give them up either, or the sweet young girl in the Craft Centre in the Northern Quarter who tells you all about her cat so before you know it you’re showing her the photograph of ‘your Lily’ watching telly.

What’s not so great?

Crime. Sorry folks but a great many people out there think it’s okay to nick your stuff and right now they seem to regularly target Chorlton. Our house has managed to escape so far in our eight years here but my husband’s car has been broken into twice. Four of our neighbours have been burgled though, and one has been burgled three times!

Do you have a favourite Manchester building?

Probably the John Rylands Library. I love the fact that it’s in the middle of Deansgate amongst all the brash new stuff in Spitalfields but stays aloof and apart. I do like modern architecture but I don’t get the Urbis Building. Chetham’s Music School is a favourite too. Ordsall Hall in Salford is fabulous. What was I saying about modern architecture...? I love Salford Quays too but to my mind Manchester does the old stuff much better.

Do you have a favourite Mancunian?

My favourite Mancunian is my nephew Greg who is a proper genius and a decent human being to boot. Although not born here, he loves the place. He is also one of the main reasons we’re in Manchester and he’s helped us to appreciate the city more and more.

What’s your favourite pub/bar/club/restaurant/park/venue?

In Chorlton: Bar 480 for the model soldiers, Dulcimer for the roaming band of musicians who play Irish music there occasionally and Escape for a last tipple before going home. When we do venture into Manchester for a drink we like The Peveril of the Peak, The Briton’s Protection and Sam’s Chop House. The Deaf Institute is also a favourite. We don’t eat out much, but Leo’s in Chorlton has some of the best Italian food I’ve ever had – including in Rome. We live near Chorlton Park, which is just lovely and we’re not far from the Water Park which is also amazing.

What do you think is missing from Manchester?

Can’t think of a thing, honey.

If I was Mayor for a day I would …

Make all the Public Transport free.

Who else would you like to nominate to answer this questionnaire?

My friend Karen and my husband John.