The skyline of Manchester is one that changes rapidly, and constantly, with new skyscrapers creeping ever-higher every year.
Cast your mind back a few short years and it was Beetham Tower that dominated the skyline.
Now, that familiar skyscraper has been dwarfed and joined by others, all towering several hundred feet above the city centre‘s streets.
And there are more on the way, if current plans go ahead, including the city’s tallest skyscraper yet at 71 storeys.
We’ve taken a little tour down memory lane to remind you just how different Manchester looked a decade ago, and see how some of the city’s modern landmarks sprung up from nothing.
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One Angel Square
One Angel Square in 2011. Credit: Google MapsOne Angel Square in 2021. Credit: Google Maps
Easily one of Manchester’s most attractive examples of modern architecture, the cruise-ship-like structure of One Angel Square is home to the Co-op and is one of the most sustainable buildings in Europe.
Its construction was only just underway a decade ago – and back then, the inner ring road followed a totally different route.
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It’s now being joined by several other new glassy buildings as this part of town is developed at a rapid pace.
St Peter’s Square
St Peter’s Square in 2012St Peter’s Square in 2012
St Peter’s Square is one of Manchester’s most attractive areas, but it’s almost unrecognisable from 10 years ago – and a little less green.
You used to be able to drive through St Peter’s Square – then the tram stop got shifted over, the cenotaph relocated, and the roads replaced with a pedestrianised square.
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Modern office blocks have also popped up, replacing the legendary Dutch Pancake House (RIP).
Kampus
The area that’s now Kampus in 2011. Credit: Google MapsThe area that’s now Kampus in 2021. Credit: Google Maps
10 years ago, Manchester Metropolitan University has its Aytoun campus slap bang in the middle of the city centre… but it was looking a little tired.
Along came Capital & Centric with their ambitious plans to create Kampus, a cluster of five residential towers.
The development now centres around a gorgeous garden, with food and drink operators gradually moving into the units that surround it – like Pollen, Nell’s, and General Stores.
Deansgate Square
It’s the big ones. Literally.
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The Deansgate Square towers have quickly become one of the most photographed landmarks in Manchester.
Six short years ago, this was a regular old car park, where you could stay all day for £2.50 on the very edges of the city centre.
Now? It’s some of Manchester’s most luxurious accommodation, with state-of-the-art facilities and some bright new food and drink operators moving in too.
MODA
A few short years ago, this patch of land off the inner ring road was a carpark.
Now one of the city’s most prominent skyscrapers stands on the patch of gravel.
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This is MODA, a towering block of stylish apartments with a sports pitch on the roof and an amazing gym, Hero Training Clubs, on the ground floor.
Circle Square
Circle Square is still in the making, but its structure has now taken shape enough to give a pretty clear idea that there are big changes afoot.
The plot of land just off Oxford Road used to be home to the BBC – now it’s a brand new neighbourhood with restaurants, retailers and a boutique gym.
It’s all centred around Symphony Park (hoorah, green space!).
Meadowside
This cluster of residential skyscrapers seem to have sprung up from nowhere.
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The Meadowside residential towers now stick up on the edges of Angel Meadows park, with the tallest standing at 22 storeys tall.
They’ll be joined by a gigantic 41-storey tower at the northern edge of the park.
Featured image: Google Maps
Feature
Football fans are debating whether Manchester City made a mistake selling Cole Palmer
Danny Jones
Football clubs are always going to have to roll the dice on players as we all know promising players who went on to become stars: Kevin de Bruyne, Gerard Pique, Mo Salah and so on just to name a few from the Premier League – but is that what Manchester City have done with Cole Palmer?
The 21-year-old from Wythenshawe was sold to Chelsea back in September 2023, having only managed to make a few scattered but impressive appearances for Man City, scoring crucial goals in the Community Shield and the UEFA Super Cup, but was still ultimately deemed surplus to requirements.
Shown the exit through nothing other than the sheer quality of Pep Guardiola‘s starting XI, not to mention plenty of strength in depth and quality off the bench already, the West London club paid what looked to be a handsome £42.5 million for the still relatively unproven youngster at the time.
However, with another hattrick to his name – a perfect one scored all inside half an hour, no less – and a fourth for good measure thanks to a penalty against Everton, he’s quickly become by far and away Chelsea‘s star man.
In the same breath, many are now naturally wondering why he was sold in the first place. It’s no secret that City are spoilt for choice when it comes to talent amongst their ranks and certainly didn’t need the money from his sale; it was simply a case that Palmer wanted more minutes that Pep couldn’t promise.
Shouldering the responsibility for the decision at the time, Guardiola said he completely understood the Manchester-born and bred star’s drive and ambition, admitting that “[With] young players, we always want them to stay but this is normal.
“After one season it is nice, and the second season, but the third season it is, ‘Oh guys, I want to play, I don’t want to sit on the bench’. It’s normal. We understand as a club. We got an offer from an incredible top club like Chelsea and I’m really happy for him. In all clubs these types of things happen.”
However, we dare say that if you were to tell the Catalan coach that same hungry prospect would end up being joint top-scorer with his Erling Haaland the following season and being, we think it’s fair to say he might at least hesitate before green-lighting his departure – and there are plenty more stats to boot.
Now, it’s impossible to know whether or not having the knowledge he has now would have made Pep second-guess his decision and take a chance on integrating Cole Palmer into City’s first team more regularly but put it this way, 25 goals and 13 assists in all competitions is hard to ignore.
Cole Palmer's 20th Premier League goal brings him level with Erling Haaland in the race for the Golden Boot 🤝 pic.twitter.com/8Nq2Bn5bLH
That’s all inside what is for all intents and purposes his full debut season as a first-team starter (which isn’t even over yet), let’s not forget, and while they’ve had similar situations play out with the likes of Jadon Sancho in the past, it must be a little frustrating to see him playing this well in the same only league only in a darker shade of blue.
On the other hand, it’s still early days Palmer could also follow that same narrative even further and see that huge momentum trickle out depending on how his sophomore season goes. He’s also a boyhood Man United fan and not that we’re saying we can see him make that move down the line, but we all know how that switch sadly ended up for Sancho.
For many fans, City or otherwise, the logic seems to be that letting him go was the right decision for everyone, as it’s allowed him to get that crucial playing time and shine like he has this season, which may not have happened while waiting to grab his opportunity off the bench at the Etihad.
Moreover, it’s not like the treble-winners aren’t still looking like they could defend all three of their trophies this year – although it would be interesting to see what impact Palmer has when he comes up against his former club in the FA Cup semi-final this weekend.
What do you think, were City right to sell Cole Palmer or should they have held on to him and given him the minutes he was clearly more than ready for?
Remember when the Manchester Marathon used to be too short?
Danny Jones
One of the most popular runs in the UK returns this weekend as the 2024 Adidas Manchester Marathon gets underway on Sunday morning, but did you know the famous race was once too short to count as the full shebang?
Yes, it may very be one of the flattest and most accessible races anywhere in Europe but once upon a time the Manchester Marathon was technically a marathon, as those in charge of measuring the thing up didn’t quite nail it.
One job, guys. You had one job…
Here’s the story of for three whole years, tens of thousands of runners sadly didn’t technically complete the Manchester Marathon.
The 2024 Manchester Marathon boasts a record 32k racers.A 2013 finisher. We’ve got some bad news for you, mate…Manchester Marathon now and then (Credit: Supplied/Wikimedia Commons)
Manchester Marathon: The ‘ish’ years
As was widely publicised at the time, in 2016 it was found that roughly the three previous years of the race course that runs throughout Manchester city centre, into the likes of Trafford, Chorlton, Altrincham and beyond didn’t actually fulfil the complete distance needed to qualify as a marathon.
While the race route has to stretch for 26.2 miles, or approximately 42.195 kilometres if you prefer metric (always one that splits the crowd) to count as an official marathon, it turned out that in 2013, ’14 and ’15, Manchester’s biggest running event fell just short of that mark.
Due to a measuring error – for which blame was placed on the Association of UK Course Measurers (AUKCM), who said an accredited measurer had ridden the course in 2013 but fell foul to an error in the calibration of the bicycle wheel – those three years ended up being 380m too short.
As a result, roughly 24,000 runners who ran the Manchester Marathon during this three-year period essentially had their races voided, including plenty of elite athletes, as the official UK Athletics governing body simply could not recognise their times. How fuming would you be?
Speaking in an official statement at the time, AUKCM said they regretted the mistake, confessing: “Significant errors in measurement are rare – our procedures are designed to find them at the reporting or checking stages”.
Xtra Mile Events, who were still the organisers of the event at the time, went on to add: “We all understand the anguish and huge disappointment this creates and want to assure our runners that we share the upset and emotion from the AUKCM news regarding the race distance.”
Thankfully, such mistakes haven’t been suffered since and now under the umbrella of sporting giants Adidas, you won’t catch them making the same slips-ups.
Best of luck to all of you racing this Sunday and rest easy in the knowledge that while you might be absolutely dying by those last few miles, at least you can be sure those every one of those final yards is going to count. Now go and smash it!
Daisy Jackson -
10th February 2023 
