Like so many of us, Paul Grogan spends most of his time at home these days.
With three kids being home-schooled by his wife Marian, they have had to get better at multitasking – sharing the chores whilst running two businesses.
On this particularly wintry January afternoon in Radcliffe, Paul’s got the phone in one hand and cutlery in the other, making his youngest son’s lunch as he talks.
“Working from home with three kids here… there’s always a lot going on as you can imagine,” he chuckles.
For a man who’s spent a huge chunk of his life exploring the outdoors taking photos, the past year has been quite the adjustment for Paul.
The pandemic has domesticated even the biggest nomads – but it’s been particularly challenging for photographers who ordinarily rely on the freedom to roam in return for a paycheque.
“[COVID] has impacted everything quite significantly for me,” Paul tells us.
“I’m quite fortunate in that I own a branding and web design agency, so I have income from there. But I know a lot of photographers who have really struggled.”
“Ever since the tiers were brought in, we haven’t been able to leave our boroughs.
“I know it’s technically work, but I still shouldn’t be going from Manchester to the Lake District just to take some photographs, should I?
“We need to stay local.”
Due to the ongoing national lockdown; Paul is confined to his market town in Bury for the foreseeable future.
For a photographer, there are much worse places to be, of course.
“There’s plenty of really cool buildings knocking about in Radcliffe,” Paul says.
“It’s a place that’s stuck in time a bit.
“It doesn’t have the clamour of Prestwich and Whitefield. That will change eventually, I think, but for the time being we’ve still got these interesting 70s and 80s vibes that make it quite an interesting looking place… especially when the light catches it just right.”
Paul has grabbed some snaps of his local town and the surrounding greenery on his weekend lockdown walks, but many of his most famous images were captured pre-COVID nine miles south in the rainy metropolis of skyscrapers and lights.
For the past twenty years, Paul’s been taking the kind of landscape photos of Manchester city centre that strike a chord with locals and out-of-towners alike – selling hundreds to people right around the world.
Paul’s prints have been sent to addresses in the States, Canada, Australia, States, Spain, Norway and Germany; and copies of his hugely-successful Made of Manchester Photobook were even purchased by airline Virgin Atlantic for passengers taking flights to Manchester.
It’s the kind of track record that puts Paul among the top local photographers of current times.
But his biggest project is only just getting started.
Paul has been given the great responsibility of producing a Manchester edition for Fotovue – one of the most popular, widely-published city and country guidebooks available.
“The book will include lots of things for people to look out for in Manchester,” Paul explains.
“It’s a proper guidebook.
“The whole thing will be done over a longer period of two or three years and it’ll involve going to certain spots at certain times; for example Salford Quays at sunrise or Ancoats in the evening when the sun is coming down the streets.”
Paul refers to these types of areas as ‘Honeypot locations’ – places where there are lots of opportunities for good photos, or ‘more honey for the bees’.
It’s a fitting statement to describe Manchester. Worker bees are a symbol of unity in adversity here; with Mancs prideful hanging images of the yellow and black insects up in their homes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of Paul’s most popular photos is a shot of a bee statue taken from the Town Hall.
“I’d been attending a wedding as a guest, and thought ‘oh, that looks nice’, shot it and carried on,” Paul says.
“I didn’t think it was particularly exciting at the time.”
But this simple shot – dipped in a honey-glazed hue – has become iconic; with copies being shipped off to all four corners of the globe.
A few years prior, Paul also saw huge demand for his bee prints in the midst of the Arena Bombing. But on this occasion he refused to take the money.
“I decided I can’t profit off this,” he stated.
“I donated all that money to the charity set up by Manchester City Council.
“It’s important to do these kinds of things.”
www.paulgroganphotography.com
Paul’s career as a photographer has taken him to almost everywhere in Manchester; up to the roof of Piccadilly Tower; into the city’s nooks and crannies; and even onto book pages alongside the Tony Walsh poem ‘This is the Place’.
But when it comes to defining what makes Manchester quite so photogenic, Paul doesn’t think there’s any single right answer.
“Manchester’s definitely got something special… but there’s so much about it,” he says, racking his brains.
“We’re the first industrial city. We invented the global economy. A lot has changed here since the late eighties early 90s with the music which obviously started it all. But it’s retained a lot of its decrepit, decaying stuff, too.
“If you go to Spinningfields at the right time of day you can pick out the juxtaposition between new and old; a shiny building close to a shutter that hasn’t been open for 30 years.
“But then, there’s the industrial heritage in Ancoats, too, and the gorgeous old buildings still standing. St John St Hotel is one. And the Hatters Hotel – that’s a stunning building. In another city it would be a boutique hotel that locals couldn’t afford to use. It’s great that it’s retained a degree of its authenticity.”
www.paulgroganphotography.com
Hopefully, it won’t be too long before Paul is allowed to venture back out into the city and snap more photos for the world to feast their eyes upon.
When he does, he’ll be considering the same ingredients as always: Looking; lighting; and luck.
“Getting good photos is a mix of knowing what you’re looking for and getting the right light,” Paul tells us.
“That photo caught on the corner of Deansgate – Manchester in the rain – is a perfect example of right place, right time. It’s a fantastic photograph.
“That’s the thing about Manchester. There are proper little nuggets you can find everywhere.
Five Manchester artists we’ve been listening to this month | June 2025
Danny Jones
Hello there. That greeting may be giving Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars vibes, and we can’t lie, we have listened to some cantina music while working this month… but not as much as we’ve been immersing ourselves in more new Manchester artists.
You should know the drill by now, and it is very much a what-it-says-on-the-tin scenario, but every few weeks, we round up some of the music – all crucially hailing from the Greater Manchester area – that we’ve been listening to of late.
We don’t discriminate when it comes to genre either. There’s only one simple rule: if it’s good, then we listen to it and then, hopefully, so do you.
Get your playlists at the ready.
Five Manc music artists we’ve been listening to recently
1. Arkayla
First up for June are relative newcomers Arkayla, whose name is inspired by “a terrible Oasis demo” from 1991 (their words, not ours – thought it is…) of the same name, a.k.a. ‘I Will Show You’, in which describe Liam Gallagher’s now legendary as once sounding “like a dodgy Ian Brown impressionist.”
However, there’s nothing dodgy about these lot and, thankfully, they’re in an era when you don’t have to hand out tapes recorded in the Boardwalk basement on the street to be heard. The Manchester band, which only formed in 2020, may be Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, but they’ve already got a sound.
There’s an unmistakable British indie element to them and hints at everything from The Kooks to The Lathums, but most notably, there are ’60s guitar notes and some real maturity already. Standouts include ‘Ella Malone’, the acoustic version of ‘Lost In a Valentine’, where the lead singer, Cal Blakebrough, really shines, and ‘Rita’ is such an addictive track.
They don’t get more unknown, undiscovered, but sure to be up-and-coming than iNNAFIELD, who are a female-fronted psychedelia-forward five-piece with roots in Brighton but building a career in 0161. Having recently shone at The Deaf Institute playing a support slot at Academy 1, they have our interest.
If a glimpse of lead singer Jessie Amy Leask’s curly hair, 70s belts and long, flowing skirts plants Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac in your mind, you’d be right in thinking so; a listen to their other live tracks scattered across their socials confirms there’s plenty of other influences going on too, though.
Now, they’ve only got one proper recording out on Spotify called ‘Tell Me What’s On Your Mind’, but we’ve had it popping up on our algorithms everywhere, and we can see why: there’s soft, twinkly strumming, soft almost sleepy vocals before a nice big breakout at the end. Glorious stuff.
No, not that one, the Princess of Monaco isn’t back from the dead, but ‘r Grace Kelly, who is based right here in Greater Manchester, is playing her part in the ongoing country revival taking place across the music world, offering her soulful voice and faux American-folk vibes to our ears.
She may not be a Mancunian by birth, having moved from New Zealand to our shores back in 2022, and although the weather change might have been a big sea change for her, there’s no culture shock to be found in her style; from the audio to the aesthetic, it still somehow feels pretty authentic.
Uplifting acoustic guitars, drum brush strokes, solos, Southern-twang harmonies – you name it, all the ingredients are there. The thing is, if you spend enough time immersing yourself in a genre, you can still pull off tracks like ‘Carry On’, ‘San Jose’ and the intimate ‘For Us To Change’.
We’re really lane switching when it comes to genre this month; maybe it’s because festival season is in full swing and we’re just being exposed to so much different stuff in a short space of time, all we know is we’re not complaining about it.
And neither should you, especially when you’ve got names like hip-hop, grime, soul and flag-flying Afrobeats rising star, Prido, being platformed. Blending all the above with R’n’B and a sprinkling of not just Northern but easily detectable Manc slant, it makes his music stand out in the ever-thriving space.
‘Free Ur Mind’ was the first track we ever heard, so we’ve struggled to shake that as our favourite, but ‘DND’ is a supremely dancey but chill example of laid-back of the genre that you need in your mixes this summer, and we also have a soft spot for his verse on the sensual ‘Lifeboat’ by Prima.
Last but not least on our list of new Manchester artists for this June, we’ve got local DJ Josh Baker, whose name you might recognise from the headlines surrounding Parklife 2025, as his set was unfortunately cancelled due to problems out of his control.
Festival-goers flocked to The Matinee Stage for a highly anticipated back-to-back bill of Baker followed by Dutch counterpart Chris Stussy, both of whom have thrilled some of the biggest club crowds in the country – sadly, he didn’t get to do so this time. That being said, we thought we’d give him a shout-out.
We’ll confess to only having got around to his discography following this news, but ‘Back It Up’, ‘Something To Me’, and ‘You Don’t Own Me’ with Prospa and RAHH are all bangers. We’re looking forward to listening to more.
And that should just about do you; there are five artists and, at the very least, 15 new tracks for you to give a go – there should be at least of few of them you like.
But, let’s be honest: be it unheard, new, current, old or anything in between, Manchester music very rarely ends up being filed in the skippable category.
Then again, you can always check out last month’s list of Manc artists from last month and see if you get a better hit ratio.
Featured Images — Prido (via Facebook)/Arkayla (via X)/Grace Kelly (via Facebook)
Feature
You can sleep in a luxury train carriage at an old railway station in Greater Manchester
Thomas Melia
There’s an Airbnb listing in Delph where you can stay in a classic converted train carriage, and it’s even situated in an old train station, so someone buy my ticket ASAP.
Get ready to have the best train experience of your life, as the only cancellation you have to worry about is booking the day off work.
The Carriage at The Old Station is a two-person character property in Delph, Saddleworth that offers you the chance to live out your vintage fantasy by stepping back in time on a luxury static train coach.
It may be situated at an old station, but the interior is refreshing and light with mint blue beams, fuchsia cushions and a royal red carpet and curtains.
As well as a majestic interior, this carriage has an equally impressive amount of amenities, including a Bluetooth sound system, board games and its own indoor fireplace.
This Airbnb is fairly new too, with only 44 reviews to its name – the first only dating back to September of last year; don’t say we don’t find you some absolute gems.
Inside the Airbnb that’s an old converted train carriage.The interior of this Airbnb listing is bold and impressive.
One user even stated, “We regularly stay in five-star locations and this surpassed five-star easily! We highly recommend a stay here.”
While another opened her review with three simple adjectives that we also feel perfectly sum up this train carriage property perfectly: “Opulent, indulgent, extravagant”.
It should come as no surprise that this place is beautiful inside and out, as in the description, host of the property Nigel states he’s a retired designer.
The train carriage stay is also close to a proper country pub, The Old Bell Inn, as well as the Diggle canal walk if you fancy a stroll and a pint before tucking into bed in your old train carriage for the night.
Even the bathroom has pops of colour throughout.You could stay in this train carriage at an old train station.
If you’re after boarding The Carriage at The Old Station and having a fabulous overnight stay or mini holiday of your own, you can find the Airbnb listing and everything you need to know HERE.
The Manc -
29th January 2021 
