Manchester Northern Quarter
Morning saw me continuing my exploration of the Northern Quarter… or should I say ‘Eastern’ Quarter? Because amidst all the hurly burly of the place I’d discovered a little oasis of oriental peace and tranquillity. The Manchester Buddhist Centre, run by the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. It’s not a temple but a centre open to anyone interested in Buddhist principles, so you can just drop in and use one of the meditation halls. Or, as I did, nosey round the bookshop and have breakfast in Earth, their vegetarian café. A poster on the wall told me that Buddhism offers practical teachings to help us contact the clarity, contentment and understanding that lie within us all.
All I can say is that I came out feeling very contemplative, and as if fate had taken a hand I was led into another eastern setting where the creative force is revered. The Chinese Arts Centre. The clue is in the name – it’s the international agency for promoting the work of contemporary Chinese artists, and amongst a great many other things it stages exhibitions, festivals and tours. All this was explained to me by a dazzlingly elegant Chinese woman, who went on to tell me that Manchester has the second largest Chinese community in the UK, before leaving me free to wander round. Incredible stuff. Not delicate watercolours of sampans in the sunset, but huge room sized installations that wouldn’t look out of place at Tate Modern. But if you have a taste for tradition you’ll love their Tea House, which serves far more exotic brews than your usual cuppa.
Seeing as it was nearly one o’clock, I needed something more substantial. First though, I needed to freshen up, so it was off to the City Inn where I’d be overnighting later. It’s on the new Piccadilly Place landmark development – which last time I’d been in Manchester had been the site of a scruffy car park and a miserable looking curry house. The transformation is unbelievable, and so is this hotel come to that. There’s a real buzz to the place, and it’s almost opposite the streamlined new Piccadilly station, which would be handy for me. But the tracks I made were to the Northern Quarter Restaurant and Bar. The owners call its style ‘funky but not frightening’, while the Sunday Times Style magazine described it as: ‘The place to people watch’. I should add that it’s also the place to get an excellent meal, the frequently changing menu using prime local ingredients with added flavours of the Med and beyond. That’s what the chef told me, and I could taste he was right. By coincidence, this place is built on the corner of what was once Smithfield Market, where greengrocers and butchers would come at the crack of dawn to buy their stock.
A fragment of the old stone façade survives, just outside the restaurant. Intrigued, I wandered round the block, and guess what? There, completely intact, was the original Victorian fish market, crowned by a huge glass roof. Somewhere you can trawl for all sorts of original ideas, because it’s now the Manchester Craft and Design Centre. Two floors of curiosity-shop studio spaces where you can see an innovative hand-made creation being crafted… and if you like it, buy it.
One marine creature I bet they never netted there in the old days was the walrus. But this is new Manchester, and things don’t come much newer than the nearby Walrus Canteen and Bar. It may have been a speccy scouser – or was it Edward Lear? – who first explored the psychedelic dimensions of our favourite toothed marine mammal but the Walrus has taken it to its vibrant conclusion. A kaleidoscopic explosion of electric colour, pop art, zany lighting and rubber flooring. The cocktail menu is equally off the wall, listing the flavours in each drink – so you have to work out the ingredients. Which made me think, the whole Northern Quarter is itself like a giant cocktail. Part Soho, part Camden Lock, part Covent Garden… and part downtown Manhattan. That’s right. Such is the resemblance, it convincingly stood in for the Garment District of New York in the 2004 remake of ‘Alfie’ starring Jude Law. So if you fancy a stroll on the set and some of the action, come and join the fascinating cast now thronging Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
