Piccadilly East
A (too) long-forgotten part of the city, Piccadilly East is starting to see some movement, albeit rather slowly to begin with. That doesn’t mean that we can’t get excited with an area that’s seen an influx of independent businesses move in, in particular the city’s beer brewers. The area isn’t short on breweries and tap rooms, as well as some major new housing developments that’ll bring some welcome footfall to the area. Capital & Centric’s Phoenix Apartments are due to go on sale any time soon, and are perfectly placed to be the centre of what looks to become a thriving neighbourhood over the next couple of years.
Mayfield
Perhaps the biggest area of transformation in the city at the moment, Mayfield looks set to become a huge new neighbourhood over the next few years, incorporating office space, retail and entertainment units down Temperance Street and the already rather impressive Depot still blasting out events and gigs. There’ll also be a rather impressive park built on the banks of the Medlock – the city’s first in over 100 years.
First Street
Okay so First Street has been around for a while now but it’s slowly but surely coming a proper neighbourhood, helped in part by the opening of No. 8 and the future phases just behind it on near Cambridge Street. With some fantastic venues such as HOME, Bunny Jackson’s, Indian Tiffin Rooms and WOOD already bringing the crowds in, as the area gets bigger, we should expect many more places opening up and for there to be a real community down there before long.
KAMPUS
Located right at the top of Canal Street, just off Aytoun and Minshull Streets, KAMPUS is a huge development that’s almost purpose-built to be the city’s next and best neighbourhood. They’ve already completed work on their ‘oasis in the city centre’ – a lush, green garden that’s a lovely retreat from the busy city streets. They’re really keen to push the independent and community side of things – and so surrounding the garden very soon will be a range of independent retail units, as well as bars and restaurants.
Angel Square
Jammed between the Green Quarter and the Northern Quarter, Angel Gardens (and NOMA) was little more than a big bit of wasteland and the odd car park until around 5 years ago when the Co-op decided to build a huge spaceship-looking thing in the bloody middle of it. A bit further up, on the site of what was once probably the UK’s most disgusting slum, is Angel Square and developers are bridging the gap between NOMA and the Rochdale Road developments to make one (rather large) neighbourhood. There’s already the very impressive MODA Living here, with plenty more to follow in the future.
Middlewood Locks
I know that we’re ‘Manchester’s’ Finest but I wanted to include Middlewood Locks in here anyway because it’s one of those areas that’s certainly going to help merge the two sister cities together over the next few years. It’s that large development just off Trinity Way, set on the quaint and quiet canal side. Last summer saw them put on a series of canal side Jazz events and Seven Brothers are opening up a new Beerhouse here this week. Expect plenty more in the way of news coming out of this area in the foreseeable future.
Circle Square
The huge development over on Oxford Road, once home to the BBC is now set to be home to Circle Square, a Bruntwood project that’s offering up offices, hotels and apartments all set around a huge public garden. Dotted throughout will also be many strictly independent businesses, from retail units to bars and restaurants. If Hatch nearby is anything to go by – this should be an exciting and above all accessible neighbourhood for the city’s independents.
Granada Studios / St John’s
Located down at the old Granada Studios site, the St John’s development is well under way and certainly looks set to be a great addition to city centre destinations. There’ll be hotels, a Soho House (possibly) and plenty of retails and studio units knocking about. The recent opening of the fantastic Everyman Cinema certainly helps, but expect plenty more openings in the foreseeable future too.
