THING OF THE WEEK
A BRUSH OF PRIDE… It is Pride weekend in Manchester and a giant rainbow inflatable has arrived to help revelers bask in the celebrations. The Manchester Accommodation Bid is painting the town rainbow with a massive multi-coloured paintbrush fixed above Tim Hortons on Market Street, which will stay put over the long weekend. Perched above the Canadian coffeehouse, the installation is by artist Filthy Luker, who was also behind the spooky inflatable ghouls that haunted the city’s streets over Halloween. Remember them?
Travis Street Sub Station is one of the architectural gems featured. Credit: Daniel Hopkinson
BUILDING BOOKS… While we all love Manchester Town Hall, Manchester Cathedral, and the John Rylands Library, it’s about time we celebrated the newer buildings of the city. Thankfully, The Modernist Society is up to the task. The group is unleashing its guide to the most notable architecture in Manchester and Salford from the past 23 years later this month. Entitled GMC21, the book puts a spotlight on more than 100 of the cities’ more modern additions, from skyscrapers to tram stops. Among those featured are Walker Simpson’s Travis Street Sub Station, BDP’s Bright Building, and Stephenson Studio’s Chetham’s School of Music. You can pre-order your copy for £18 at the-modernist.org.
Credit: Ahmed Adly on Unsplash
STAYING FRESH… A former Blackpool beauty salon is set to give makeovers of a different kind after the local authority approved plans for an embalmer university to set up shop on Caunce Street. La Calavera College is all set to train the next generation of morticians in Blackpool. The school has had to face stiff opposition to find a new home, after having its first choice rejected after residents protested that it would be too close to a row of homes with children. Although, it does seem a bit fitting, no? From cradle to grave…
Credit: via planning documents
ON SHUFFLE… Greek coffee shop chain Coffee Lab wants to spread its beans overseas and set up shop in Manchester city centre – feta late than never! The company has submitted plans that would see it breathe new life into the grade two-listed Colwyn Chambers, near Piccadilly Gardens. With more than 100 locations in Greece and only three in the UK, the store is famous for its unique roasting process and ability to produce 10 tonnes of coffee per day.
And what better way to release all that caffeine-fuelled energy than shuffleboarding? Also in talks is Electric Shuffle, a bar dedicated to the activity, to open up in the old Evans Cycles shop in Deansgate. Red Engine, the firm behind the trendy darts bar Flight Club, is behind the plans with hopes to enhance Manchester’s hospitality offer further.
Credit: Rohan Reddy on Unsplash
WAR OF THE BIRDS… It’s pigeons be gone for Sefton Council, which has teamed up with high street shop owners at Southport’s Cambridge Arcade to banish the birds that it says are “contributing to a negative public image of the area”.
Driven by the increase in littering, faeces, and pest control issues, Sefton wants rid of the birds and the plan of attack is simple – take away their food source. The authority is urging people not to feed the pigeons and has even gone as far as installing bird-scaring devices around the Cambridge Arcade. Who’d have thought a kite could be so threatening?
Pigeon-enablers could face a fine as well, with Cllr Paulette Lappin warning that throwing food onto the ground is considered littering and could result in a fixed penalty notice. “Not only could people potentially face a littering penalty but that litter, which is often bread scraps and chips, is simply not healthy for the birds anyway,” she said.
