Hayley Flynn is a Manchester tour guide, but she won’t take you to John Rylands library, the Emmeline Pankhurst statue or even Salford Lads Club. Not that these aren’t important entry points for visitors to the city, but Flynn’s tours aren’t really for visitors, they’re for Mancs who might think they’ve seen it all before, but are open to a new perspective on the city they call home.
Writing about Manchester on her Skyliner blog for well over a decade, she’s become the go-to person for thoughtful and critical takes on the city, and the forces that shape it. That means that not every new skyscraper or ‘neighbourhood’ gets a free pass, and every public square, statue or green space is up for scrutiny.
It might sound nerdy (because it is), but it’s absolutely not boring.
She describes the tours as ‘informal but informative, with a focus on critical thinking, especially concerning public art and public realm, and the equity and ethics of cities’. While that could sound high-concept, in reality, the tour is grounded in the fascinating, often overlooked elements of Manchester city centre – and loads of street art too.
Her most popular tour – The Modern History of the Northern Quarter – looks at the creation of an art trail throughout the northern quarter, via mosaics, hidden sculptures and forgotten public squares, telling the story of shifting economic powers and gentrification in a way that is tangible, and endlessly repeatable.
For example, the Kate Malone sculpture of a pineapple on top of what’s now Wolf at the Door. It was put there in the 90s, one of the artist’s signature creations, representing hospitality and friendship. The art trail was a co-ordinated effort designed to bring creative people to the Northern Quarter before it was known for such things. It’s fair to say, the effort was successful.
Another thing she likes to bring people’s attention to at the start of the tour is the iconic, specially-designed street signage of the Northern Quarter (blue-on-white or white-on-blue text, in that distinctively funky typeface). ‘The street signs change based on the direction of the street, and are also symbolic of the warp and weft of cotton’, she explains – a deliberate nod to the city’s textile heritage.
Flynn’s Northern Quarter tour is her most popular, but she does run even more niche ones for those passionate about urban geography, in all its forms – from the history of public benches to the importance of wildflowers in the city. These are available by special request, and they all meet at Shudehill tram stop, and run for a couple of hours. Families and dogs are accommodated for.
‘Part of what I try to do is educate people about the spaces they are welcome in, and what they can do to keep them open to everybody else’, she says. We couldn’t think of a better way for a discerning Mancunian to spend a few hours on a Saturday afternoon.
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