Barriers to be installed under Mancunian Way to prevent ‘persistent dangerous parking’
The council said that drivers entering and exiting the area to park posed "a clear risk" to other road users due to the obstruction caused to the carriageway.
Manchester City Council has confirmed that barriers are to be installed along the underside of the Mancunian Way to prevent “persistent dangerous parking”.
The decision comes after motorists were found to have been using the land directly underneath the motorway to park for free for a number of months, instead of using dedicated car parks in the city centre.
The council said that drivers entering and exiting the area to park posed “a clear risk” to other road users due to the obstruction caused to the carriageway.
But as “dangerous and frustrating” as this situation was, a legal technicality actually prevented Manchester City Council’s enforcement officers from issuing fines to these motorists as the Mancunian Way overpass and the land underneath is managed by Highways England and is not part of the council’s adopted road network.
This meant that a Traffic Regulation Order could not legally be issued, nor could officers fine offenders.
However, the council said it so “determined” to prevent this behaviour continuing, that since it first came to light all the back near the start of 2020, it has been working to secure funding for a permanent solution.
And so, the council confirmed that work has begun at 5am this morning to install metal barriers along the length of the route to close it off to any drivers attempting to park on it. to install metal barriers along the length of the route to close it off to any drivers attempting to park on it.
ADVERTISEMENT
This temporary measure will be followed up in several weeks time when a permanent wooden rail will be installed.
The council said it will be working with Greater Manchester Police during this period to “prevent any further breach of this new perimeter fencing”.
Speaking on the decision to install the barriers, Councillor Tracey Rawlins – Executive Member for Environment at Manchester City Council – said: “People taking it upon themselves to park under the Mancunian Way were posing a serious threat to other road users and this was something we could not allow to keep happening.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The road is fast moving and leads into other major routes in and out of the city and frankly, it is amazing that a serious accident has not taken place as a result.
“A lot of money has been wasted to rectify damage caused to the landscaping areas, and even more will now be spent to close this area off permanently.
“There are thousands of other car parking spaces in the city centre which I would encourage drivers to use, or, for those who are able, walk, cycle or take advantage of public transport links which run in and out of Manchester.”
The most-read Manchester stories of 2025, from Primark Home to Peter Kay’s sass
Daisy Jackson
It’s been another one of those years in Manchester where a lot of weird stuff has happened – big closures no one saw coming, celebs getting in spats online, and major new openings.
Here at The Manc we’ve done our best to bring you the biggest stories from the North West, and you’ve all lapped it up.
As we come to end of 2025 we’ve been looking back at the stories that caught everyone’s attention this year, from beautiful properties to crazy shopping trends.
Did you remember all of these?
10. Olly Murs says no
Olly Murs addressed his abrupt exit from the stage ahead of his Manchester gig
Olly Murs was back on tour this year, selling out arenas (I know, who’d have thunk it?!) across the country.
But poor Olly got off to a bit a rough start and had to walk off stage after just six shows in Glasgow, then going on to cancel his Manchester gig too.
He did look pretty bereft about the whole thing, to be fair to him.
9. Tommy Robinson getting ‘kicked out’ of Hawksmoor
Back in the summer, acclaimed steak house Hawksmoor had to publicly address a quite viral video which showed far-right activist Tommy Robinson being asked to leave one of its restaurants because staff felt ‘uncomfortable’ serving him.
After the video went viral on X, Hawksmoor went on to share a statement in response, saying that guests and staff had complained but that it is ‘not a political organisation, but a group of restaurants’.
Its CEO wrote: “We’re not trying to engage in a public debate. The team has had to deal with a huge amount of fallout from this, some of which is quite concerning. We would like to get back to focussing on looking after those people, and our guests. Thank you to them, and the many of you who have been so supportive.”
Who do you think was in the right here?
8. Drama Call’s tram-inspired trainers
Streetwear brands take their inspiration from a lot of different sources, but we were in no way prepared for Manchester-based label Drama Call’s spring drop.
The popular brand teamed up with adidas to release a shoe inspired by… a tram.
The Superstar II ‘Drama’ featured teal accents that paid homage to the city’s classic tram design – long before the yellow of the modern era, and Mancs went nuts for them.
7. The Victorian Villa
This Manchester house is so fancy, it actually appeared twice on our list of the top stories of 2025 – once when it first went on sale, then when it got re-listed later in the year.
And it’s not hard to see why. This Whalley Range home has some of the most beautiful interiors we’ve ever laid eyes on – we’re talking rich colours, vintage cinema seats, loads of gold, and a show-stopper of a kitchen.
What seemed to keep Mancs reading though was the fact that the house in Whalley Range could go for a whopping £1.75m.
6. The capybara keeper
New jobs simply didn’t come cuter than this in 2025, and when Chester Zoo posted an advert looking for a new keeper for its capybaras, you lot couldn’t get enough.
Responsibilities of the role included caring for the meerkats and capybaras as well as rodents, Xenarthra, Macropods, small carnivores, and the zoo’s free flight bat habitat.
Realistically, only a handful of people locally would have actually been qualified for this job, but that didn’t stop. us all having a nosey at the job description anyway.
ADVERTISEMENT
5. Peter Kay’s sass
Peter Kay is a famously very private man and has rarely even been spotted in public in recent years, plus his social media presence has almost entirely been dedicated to promoting his record-breaking tour.
But the Bolton comedian had plenty to say after a ‘humiliated’ woman was kicked out of his gig at the AO Arena in Manchester.
Addressing the ribbing he gave the lady during the gig, where he compared her to Lisa Riley, Peter Kay’s statement said: “The lady who was escorted out did bear a striking resemblance to Lisa Riley, though I don’t see how that’s an insult.”
It’s no surprise that this was one of the biggest stories in Manchester in 2025, because we simply could not believe our eyes when Almost Famous announced its closure.
ADVERTISEMENT
The burger craze of the mid-2010s may have died down, but this spot had always felt like a Northern Quarter OG with a loyal enough following to stand the test of time.
Alas, it closed its doors very suddenly back in January, shortly followed by its sister smash burger brand Super Awesome Deluxe, with a staggering outcry and a lot of fall-out locally.
Thankfully, a short while later it was rescued by the team behind PINS Social Club.
3. Primark Home arrived
Primark Home is opening this weekend at Trafford Palazzo
Did anyone really doubt that the arrival of a new ENORMOUS Primark store totally dedicated to homeware was going to go a little bonkers?
We practically had people banging down the doors to the massive Trafford Palazzo retailer (the first in Britain) when we were allowed in for a sneak peek before its official launch.
ADVERTISEMENT
It’s a pretty impressive space – get a load of it HERE.
2. Big Night of Musicals
This event takes place basically every year and yet the lure of free tickets seems to catch everyone’s attention year-in, year-out.
The Big Night of Musicals sees the world’s biggest musicals all joining together on one stage at the AO Arena for a bumper night of live entertainment.
Tickets are free for National Lottery players and although the first batch are all gone, they usually release some more in the new year… watch this space.
1. Highland cows
The Highland Cow safari in the Peak District
One very adorable story ended up comfortably on top for The Manc audience this year – a lovely little feature on a Peak District farm where you can cuddle and groom Highland cows (sorry, coos).
ADVERTISEMENT
Highland Cows of the Peak Experiences at Whirlow Hall Farm has loads of activities for all ages, from Highland Cow safaris to cow cuddling.
It’s an absolutely adorable experience and we’ll definitely be back next summer for more – read all about it HERE.
Featured image: The Manc Group
News
Manchester has been ranked one of the ‘most influential cities’ in Europe
Danny Jones
As per a development that we’d consider so obvious it’s barely worth writing about (even though we are), Manchester has been ranked one of the most influential cities in Europe.
In other news, water is still very much wet.
While there’s plenty of it here in Greater Manchester, given our standard rainy forecasts, when it comes to anything besides the weather, we deliver in spades.
Let’s be honest: we know it, you do too, and apparently so do plenty of other folks – and there’s some concrete statistics to back it up.
Case in point – First Chanel, now Vogue… (Credit: The Manc Group)
You’ll find all manner of surveys, polls and studies diving into how Manchester ranks across various categories, but knowing we boast nods such as ‘the original industrial city’, the place that helped split the atom and the place that the first modern computer was born, we know all about our global impact.
With that in mind, when we saw that Sixt had recently named us as one of the most influential cities in all of Europe, we couldn’t ignore the well-deserved pat on the back.
That’s right, although you might not associate the car rental company with this sort of stuff, as part of their new exclusive ‘Sixt Ride’ offering (think a posh taxi service), they looked into which cities have the most luxuries, tourist attractions and other cultural bonuses to their name.
Per their recent research, Manchester city centre didn’t just break into the top 100 but found itself among the 30 most influential cities in Europe.
You can see the full rankings table down below.
#
City
Country
*Fortune 500 Companies
Fashion weeks
Film Festivals
International Airports
5-Star Hotels
High End/Luxury Shopping areas
Michelin Restaurants
1
Paris
France
10
6
77
2
122
11
134
2
London
United Kingdom
12
3
241
3
182
5
81
3
Milan
Italy
1
4
52
3
29
5
22
4
Rome
Italy
2
0
97
2
65
4
21
5
Stockholm
Sweden
0
3
14
2
12
2
13
6
Madrid
Spain
5
0
38
1
42
2
29
7
Zurich
Switzerland
6
0
10
1
12
4
18
8
Munich
Germany
5
0
10
1
16
4
17
9
Berlin
Germany
1
1
76
1
40
2
21
10
Hamburg
Germany
1
0
16
2
17
3
16
11
Amsterdam
Netherlands
4
0
24
1
29
1
30
12
Copenhagen
Denmark
1
2
12
1
12
2
20
13
Barcelona
Spain
0
0
45
1
47
1
31
14
Lisbon
Portugal
1
0
38
1
49
1
20
15
Athens
Greece
0
0
41
1
52
2
12
16
Vienna
Austria
1
0
24
1
24
3
14
17
Bucharest
Romania
0
0
22
2
12
2
0
18
Warsaw
Poland
0
0
22
2
17
1
3
19
Glasgow
United Kingdom
0
0
17
2
4
2
2
20
Lyon
France
0
0
9
2
7
0
16
21
Prague
Czechia
0
0
16
1
60
1
2
22
Brussels
Belgium
0
0
18
1
14
1
29
23
Oslo
Norway
0
1
8
1
6
1
11
24
Manchester
United Kingdom
0
0
20
1
7
3
2
25
Budapest
Hungary
0
0
16
1
24
1
7
26
Dublin
Ireland
2
0
16
1
11
0
6
27
Naples
Italy
0
0
34
1
5
0
22
28
Porto
Portugal
0
0
8
1
28
0
10
29
Turin
Italy
1
0
21
1
4
0
10
30
Sofia
Bulgaria
0
0
22
1
14
1
0
31
Helsinki
Finland
0
0
5
1
10
1
5
32
Belgrade
Serbia
0
0
32
1
9
0
1
33
Marseille
France
0
0
5
1
4
0
12
34
Birmingham
United Kingdom
0
0
12
1
4
0
6
35
Minsk
Belarus
0
0
11
1
0
0
0
Read it and weep; we Mancs landed 24th on the leaderboard, just behind Norway’s capital, Oslo, and ever so slightly ahead of Budapest in Hungary.
As you can see, to identify the ‘most influential European cities’, they broke down how the 35 most populous cities on the continent and here UK (barring Russia and Ukraine) and what noteworthy cultural touchstones they possess.
For instance, did you hear that our very own Warehouse Project recently found itself breaking into the top half of the best nightclubs on the entire planet?
Going on to analyse everything from the number of Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the city, their connections to film, fashion, fine-dining and more, they found that Paris, London and Milan were the most influential (no surprises there), but we’re glad to be keeping such good company.
After all, in the last couple of years alone, Manchester city centre has welcomed the Metiers D’art fashion show, opened one of the biggest indoor entertainment venues in all of Europe, and still takes eternal credit for giving the world Oasis and, therefore, the Live ’25 reunion. Again, you’re welcome.
What do you make of Sixt’s study, and do you agree with their findings on the whole?
It goes without saying that we’d probably put ourselves higher on the list if anything, but then again, maybe we’re getting too used to being told how brilliant it is to live in this region.
The Manc -
15th September 2021 
