News

Drivers told to ‘plan ahead’ as parts of Mancunian Way will be closed this week

Diversions will be in place.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 23rd January 2023

Motorists in Greater Manchester are being urged to “plan ahead” as parts of Mancunian Way will be closed throughout this week.

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is warning of delays this week as the major road in and out of the city centre, the Mancunian Way, is set to see a series of both overnight and daytime lane closures until Friday (27 January).

The closures are to allow for “planned works”, TfGM says.

An overnight closure will take place on the Mancunian Way eastbound from London Road to Fairfield Street, and then a further daytime closure of one lane will be in place on the Mancunian Way between London Road and Hoyle Street.

Those using the road for access and commuting purposes this week are being urged to “plan ahead”.

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Drivers are being reminded of the overnight diversions in place, and TfGM is encouraging people to find other routes or use alternative public transport methods.

Mancunian Way closures

  • From 8pm Monday 23 January – 5am Tuesday 24 January: Overnight closure
  • From 5am Tuesday 24 January – 8pm Wednesday 25th January: Daytime lane closure
  • From 8pm Wednesday 25 January – 5am Thursday 26 January: Overnight closure
  • From 5am Thursday 26 January – 8pm Thursday 26 January: Daytime lane closure
  • From 8pm Thursday 26 January – 5am Friday 27 January: Overnight closure
The areas set to be affected by Mancunian Way closures / Credit: TfGM

TfGM has confirmed that during the overnight closures this week, traffic will be diverted via London Road, Ardwick Green South, Stockport Road, Devonshire Street, and Chancellor Lane, before the diversion ends at Pin Mill Brow.

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Find out more information about the planned closures on the TfGM website here.

Featured Image – David Dixon (via Geograph)

News

Manchester has been ranked one of the ‘most influential cities’ in Europe

Danny Jones Danny Jones Manchester named one of the most influential cities in Europe

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.

chanel show northern quarter manchester
vogue show manchester
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.

#CityCountry*Fortune 500 CompaniesFashion weeksFilm FestivalsInternational Airports5-Star HotelsHigh End/Luxury Shopping areasMichelin Restaurants
1ParisFrance10677212211134
2LondonUnited Kingdom1232413182581
3MilanItaly1452329522
4RomeItaly2097265421
5StockholmSweden0314212213
6MadridSpain5038142229
7ZurichSwitzerland6010112418
8MunichGermany5010116417
9BerlinGermany1176140221
10HamburgGermany1016217316
11AmsterdamNetherlands4024129130
12CopenhagenDenmark1212112220
13BarcelonaSpain0045147131
14LisbonPortugal1038149120
15AthensGreece0041152212
16ViennaAustria1024124314
17BucharestRomania002221220
18WarsawPoland002221713
19GlasgowUnited Kingdom00172422
20LyonFrance00927016
21PragueCzechia001616012
22BrusselsBelgium0018114129
23OsloNorway01816111
24ManchesterUnited Kingdom00201732
25BudapestHungary001612417
26DublinIreland201611106
27NaplesItaly003415022
28PortoPortugal008128010
29TurinItaly102114010
30SofiaBulgaria002211410
31HelsinkiFinland00511015
32BelgradeSerbia00321901
33MarseilleFrance00514012
34BirminghamUnited Kingdom00121406
35MinskBelarus00111000

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.

That’s according to this study by Sixt, anyway.

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.

Greater Manchester town named one of Britain’s ‘happiest’ places to live in 2026

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Featured Images — Anthony Parkes (via Geograph)/The Manc Group

News

Police ‘delighted’ after Manchester man is jailed for running county lines drug operation

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant John Joyce mugshot

A Manchester man has been jailed for his part in running a county lines drug operation that exploited vulnerable people.

Following an investigation by Greater Manchester Police‘s (GMP) County Lines Team, John Joyce, of Stuart Street in Manchester, was identified as operating a county lines drugs network that supplied Class A drugs across Greater Manchester, and was subsequently jailed for possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and heroin.

The investigation – which uncovered extensive evidence of drug supply – found that Joyce was the controller of the “CEE” line – a mobile number used to distribute crack cocaine and heroin.

Among that ‘extensive’ evidence was more than 31,000 text messages and 8,700 calls linked to drug dealing activity, and ‘flare’ messages advertising drugs for sale sent in bulk, as well as forensic analysis linking Joyce to two personal mobile numbers and vehicles used during the operation.

CCTV footage was also uncovered showing Joyce purchasing top-up vouchers for the drugs line.

And the final nail in the coffin was that a search of the 28-year-old’s Manchester apartment uncovered more than 460g of crack cocaine, heroin, drug paraphernalia, and cash.

Joyce fled the UK and headed to Dubai in an attempt to evade justice, but was arrested upon his return at Manchester Airport in October 2025.

“This case demonstrates our commitment to dismantling county lines networks that exploit vulnerable people and blight communities,” explained Detective Constable Josh Claxton, of GMP’s County Lines Team.

“Joyce’s operation was significant and his sentence reflects the harm caused by class A drug supply in Greater Manchester.

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“He evaded justice for a long time, but now we are delighted to have locked him up so he can no longer cause damage to people’s lives.”

Joyce has been jailed for five years and three months after appearing at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court this week (Tuesday 16 December).

Featured Image – GMP

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