Affleck’s Palace, or simply Affleck’s (as it is known today), has always been a mecca for Manchester cool. Without it, the Northern Quarter would simply not exist as we know it.
In 1982 when it moved across to the area from a basement beneath Kendal’s, it wasn’t exactly the best of times – especially in this dark corner of the city, described as “bandit country” by Sean Berry of Panic Posters fame.
Opening the same year as The Hacienda, the year The Smiths were formed and a new set for Coronation Street was completed, Affleck’s arrived at just the right time – capturing the start of a new wave of underground alternative culture.
And as the years have gone on, it’s maintained the same level of cool and the same values of community, even as the world outside it has changed.
Here, traders see each other as family. As for the visitors, it’s a safe space where they can always be themselves and not worry about what anyone else thinks. As we’re told time and again, there really is nowhere like it.
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A news clipping from Lady Gaga’s visit to Affleck’s / Image: Supplied
Rave store Cyberdog, a go-to for club fashions. / Image: Supplied
For the past four decades, Affleck’s myriad traders have celebrated individuality, eccentricity, and creativity : attracting intrepid teenagers and big-name celebrities alike to hunt for vintage fashion staples, quirky jewellery, records, and other alt miscellanea within its labyrinthine walls.
Over the years, it’s welcomed the likes of Lady Gaga, Agyness Dean, Debbie Harry, Chloe Sevigny, Bernard Summer, Alice Cooper, Anna Friel and more – but the real stories to be told here are not of the celebrities but of the traders, past and present, who’ve had the privilege to call the place home.
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On the top floor, Affleck’s creative in residence Joy France – also known as Manchester’s battle-rapping granny – can be found amidst piles of papers, guitars, chairs, paints and more.
Affleck’s creative in resident and battle rapping granny Joy France. / Image: Paul Wolfgang Webster
Colin Thompson, owner of The Studio and a resident in Affleck’s for the past twenty years. / Image: Paul Wolfgang Webster
A former teacher and spoken word poet in her sixties, she was originally given the room for just three months but tells us it’s now been seven years. In that time, her little empty space has become so full of things that it’s overflowing to the point it can’t really contain much more.
She tells us: “So it’s actually gonna, I’m gonna close the room and it’s going to go mobile around the building so the same idea but it’ll reach more people and it’s going to go online.”
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“The first five years before lockdown I would just leave it open, and I might be off for a couple weeks doing something, and nothing ever get stolen, just more donations, more poetry, more artwork.
“Sometimes, they might just look like nothing There’s a little scrunchie in here, just someone’s scrunchie, I remember a woman came in, a young woman, and she just said ‘I’ve found the place I need to leave this.’
“‘This was my sister’s, she died a few years ago in Canada and I’ve carried it in my bag ever since but it needs to be here.'”
“There’s tyewriters, there’s books, there’s – I think, we counted up 20 guitars, four ukeleles, just randomly, you know, just, thousands of stories and I’ve never advertised it I’ve just let the world find it and then it’s just word of mouth.”
Asked what she does with it next she tells us, “This is the point I’m at with it now. Anything that doesn’t have a story or isn’t art it just goes outside and anyone can take it away, it just gets a new home. Anything that has got a story or is art, I’m trying to catalogue it and trying to put it online so the stories are all told.”
Elsewhere, we meet Millie Horton, a self-made entrepreneur with her own nail salon.
Millie tells us: “Well i’m quite local originally as well, so I probably started coming to Affleck’s when I was maybe ten or eleven – just to look around, come in with family, friends, I feel like you hit your teenage years and it’s just where you go in Manchester like you have a look around and it’s all different and everyone loves it.
“So that was my relationship, like everyone else with it, before I started working here. And erm, I was twenty-one when I started working here so it was quite early still.”
Image: Supplied
Image: Supplied
“Now I do work here, the community is really what makes it like – everyone says it and it’s so cliche but there is really nowhere like it. I really believe there’s nowhere like it – like a lot of cities think they’ve got an Affleck’s, but they don’t – like, they don’t.
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“And it is the people that make it, without a doubt. Looking around it is one thing and you get the atmosphere form it and it is so different, but once you start talking to everyone in the building and everyone is so different to each other, so individual, such characters, that’s when it really like it kicks in, like – ‘oh wow, this is like somewhere really special.'”
“I think it’s quite unusual like that element of it, like it feels, like, the values never change. It’s still got that sort of old-fashioned community feel to it and I feel like that’s really unusual now.”
Each and every person we speak with has the same thing to say: they love the community of Affleck’s and don’t think there’s anywhere else like it in the country – let alone the city.
Colin Thompson, the man behind the ever-busy tattoo studio, a fixture in Affleck’s for the past twenty years, tells us that whilst much has stayed the same over the years, today it’s not unusual to see families in Affleck’s.
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Parents, he explains, are now coming to introduce the next generation to the weird and wonderful bazaar that sells literally everything.
He says: “I started off in the nineties, at some point I had a record shop upstairs called Sabotage Records, did that for about a good ten years then we moved down here and started sharing a shop with the guy who did piercings and tattoos, and then we’ve just taken it from there basically.
“And I’ve been here now for over twenty years, in this shop so yeah, I’ve been here twenty-odd years now in Affleck’s, it’s a great place to work.
“Oh there has been a slow change, not much really to be honest, there has been a gradual change over the years and all that, erm with the styles what have come and gone but you find a lot of styles come back in after a while.
“Also a lot of people bring in like their families now so people who were coming in when they were kids have grown up now and have got their own families, and they’re bringing them in now so it’s quite a little community, to be honest.”
Feature image – Supplied
Art & Culture
A Salford student has made history as BBC Radio 1’s newest presenter
A University of Salford student has made history after becoming the latest radio presenter for mainstream national station BBC Radio 1.
And he’s only 20 years old.
Matt Hallsworth from Harleston in Norfolk has become the first ever Salford student to sign a contract with the station whilst still studying, and is now set to join fellow alumni such as Vicky Hawkesworth and Katie Thistleton in working for the BBC’s biggest radio station.
If that isn’t hitting the ground running in your career, then we don’t know what is.
👏 We are delighted to share that BA Television and Radio Production student Matt Hallsworth has made history as our first current student to sign as a presenter for @BBCR1!
— School of Arts, Media & Creative Technology (@UoS_ArtsMedia) March 27, 2025
Set to host the spin-off online stream ‘Radio 1 Anthems’ – available via BBC’s digital Sounds platform, which hosts live and pre-recorded broadcasts, podcasts, music playlists and more – Hallsworth will be taking charge of several shows in the coming weeks.
The BA Television and Radio Production student, who is currently Head of Radio at the University’s in-house station Shock Radio, has already won a number of awards in his fledgling broadcast career and is now set to present a total of 16 shows through next month, starting from 8am on Tuesday, 2 April.
Matt has already had a glimpse of life at the BBC, having joined in as one of their Christmas Presenters back in December; he won the coveted slot after being crowned winner of ‘Best Presenter’ at last year’s Student Radio Awards (SRAs) and was the youngest out of a total 27 guest hosts that got the chance.
In addition to that accolade, he also collected the Gold Award for ‘Best Chart Show’ at the 2024 SRAs, with his on-air partner and fellow student Issy Brand also joining him in earning the title of ‘Best On-Air Team’ for the second year in a row in the International Student Broadcasting Championship.
Since then, he’s already enjoyed experience as a freelance presenter for nearby Hits Radio, working and is now the lead host officer for The Student Radio Association’s annual conference over in Salford.
Speaking on the unbelievable opportunity, the rising radio star said: “I am so excited to be joining the BBC Radio 1 Anthems family across April! Since the stream’s launch in October, it’s been evident the BBC is using it as a platform to nurture new presenters, and I feel thrilled to be able to join that.
“I was working on some university assignment work in January when I got the text and call from Aled [Hayden Jones, Head of Station at BBC Radio 1], with feedback from my Christmas show and offering the opportunity.
“The shows have the best playlists, full of songs that I grew up with, forgot about, and play anyway. I can’t wait for people to hear them.”
As for UoS‘s Programme Leader for BA TV and Radio Production, Louise Ready-Syrat, she says: “I’m hugely proud and pleased for Matt, he is such a lovely person and a huge talent that will be amazing in every capacity.
“Watching his development over his time with us on the BA Television and Radio Production course has been a privilege and a real inspiration to his fellow students.
“Always quick to help out on our Open Days, award shows and as Head of Shock Radio, he has proven himself to be a true professional and a genuinely great guy! Super pleased for him, he will smash this!”
Lyndon Saunders, Senior Lecturer and Subject Group Head for Broadcast Media, went on to add: “As soon as we heard Matt take to the student airwaves at Salford, we knew he would be snapped up by somebody big before too long. It’s just amazing to discover that he’s going national on BBC Radio 1.
“He’s so hard working, so determined, but so humble about his on air talent. I’ve worked with Matt in a producer capacity as well and he has an incredible work ethic – a gift for the journalism and storytelling side of radio too. In short, radio is in his veins, and we’re thrilled he’s making his dream a reality.”
You’ve done your department, Salford and Greater Manchester as a whole proud, Matt – we look forward to hearing you on the airwaves for years to come!
As far as universities go, UoS continues to be a brilliant proving ground for up-and-coming media talent.
Tim Burgess, frontman of legendary band The Charlatans, is set to launch a one-off ‘Merch Market’ event, and its core purpose is to support bands.
He might have a ‘Jesus Hairdo’ but he’s currently serving as a good Samaritan as The Charlatans‘ Tim Burgess is putting on an event solely focusing on funding bands via gig merch and other apparel.
Running across a variety of live music locations within Manchester city centre, the day-long event is called ‘Merch Market’, and it’s encouraging music lovers and bands alike to tag along.
Although ticket sales, album sales and streams are critical in funding the careers of all the artists we know and love, one key drive in securing actual revenue in the music industry is merchandise.
Expect to pick up some rare finds and own some limited edition collections.Band merch will be front and centre at this event which is hosted by The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess.Credit: The Hoot/Audio North
‘Merch Market’ is taking place at O2 Ritz as well as adjacent venues Gorilla and Dog Bowl across the road with a special appearance from ‘Tim Peak’s Diner’, the caffeinated brainchild of Tim Burgess.
The whole point of this event is to make sure that bands can receive the full 100% of merch sales without any cuts from any third party.
Fronted by The Charlatans lead singer Tim Burgess, ‘Merch Market’ is building off his 2021 gathering, which had a similar initiative with ‘Vinyl Adventure’ encouraging the sale of physical music and media.
Alongside stocking up your wardrobe with all the latest band t-shirts, hoodies and everything in between, there will be an array of interesting performances and talks happening throughout the day.
Entry to this incredible celebration of bands is completely free of charge and, better still, there are chances to win some seriously cool prizes – including some tasty festival tickets.
Gorilla is one of the live music venues that ‘Merch Market’ is taking place at.The Manc and Antony Szmierek outside O2 RItz, another venue which will be taking part in ‘Merch Market’.Credit: The Manc Group
Expect stalls, live DJ sets, interviews, panels and even a chance to bag yourself VIP tickets for UK festival, Kendal Calling, which Burgess will be returning for 2025.
Burgess is a man of many talents as he will not only be hosting this fantastic initiative, but he will also be hosting a stall of his own and singing a couple of his biggest hits.
Bands don’t have to worry about forking out a fortune for renting a stall either as tables at ‘Merch Market’ are free, the only thing musicians have to bring is their merch and charming personalities.
So whether you’re an artist with leftover stock from your last tour or a music lover who just missed out on snagging a snap back, head down to these three venues on 25 May.