But now, we’ve got ourselves a new crown… and this is definitely one to wear with pride.
Our city has gifted the world so much throughout history, from the splitting of the atom, the right for women to vote, and the first ever computer, right through to the NHS, the iconic ‘Madchester’ music scene, and even the beloved delicacy that is Vimto, so perhaps it goes without saying that we’d be considered one of the UK’s creative capitals, right?
Manchester has been named one of the UK’s ‘most creative’ cities for 2024 / Credit: Marketing Manchester | Kimpton Clocktower Hotel
The fact us Mancs consider our city to be creative has now been backed-up by a new study carried out by Adobe Express – which has placed us not just within the top 15 or top 10, but in the top five.
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To create the ranking, Adobe Express compared 25 UK cities against each other and looked into factors such as the number of art galleries and museums, creative festivals and events, the amount of art schools, the volume of theatres, and the number of jobs listed in the ‘creative’ field.
Top 10 most ‘creative’ UK cities in 2024
Brighton and Hove
London
Edinburgh
Manchester
Leicester
Coventry
Derby
Bournemouth
Belfast
Bradford
Jobs in ‘creative’ industries currently represent around 7% of the UK workforce, according to recent statistics, and Adobe Express says that living in a city which supports creativity can “significantly enhance” the ability to “thrive and produce innovative work” for creative individuals.
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Our city’s new title is all according to a new study carried out by Adobe Express / Credit: Marketing Manchester
Brighton and Hove has been named the UK’s most creative city thanks to having an unrivalled number of more than 26 art galleries per 100,000 people, while England’s capital unsurprisingly claims the second spot on the list and boasting the highest number of creative jobs in the ranking, and Scotlands stunning capital, Edinburgh, snatching third place.
Manchester follows really closely behind Edinburgh and sits pretty within the top five, scoring an impressive overall 1.910.
The city has 65 art schools, 882 creative jobs listed, and 815 events and festivals to its name.
Some of the other Northern cities making the top 10 list include Bradford and Derby, and elsewhere within the top 15 is where you’ll find Liverpool and Sheffield.
Featured Image – KCH / The Refuge (via Supplied)
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Simon Wood announces gutting closure of Manchester restaurant after seven years
Danny Jones
Celebrity chef and Manchester local Simon Wood has announced that his self-titled WOOD Restaurant has sadly closed its doors.
The Oldham-born chef-owner who won MasterChef back in 2015, revealed the unfortunate news on Wednesday, 2 October, confirming that the First Street site will be closing immediately. Truly gutting.
Wood has remained one of Greater Manchester’s most-renowned chefs for the past decade, not to mention a huge advocate for supporting the hospitality industry, especially post-Covid and during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Sharing an emotional post on Instagram, he wrote: “It is with much regret that I have to inform you that I must close the doors here at WOOD for good, with immediate effect.”
“We have had 7 years as part of the Manchester city dining scene and I’m very proud of what the team and I have achieved”, the 48-year-old continued.
“Sadly with COVID rent arrears now being demanded by our landlord and an increasingly difficult marketplace, energy increases, ingredient costs and soon-to-be spiralling business rates we just cannot make this work.”
“I’d like to thank everyone for your support and patronage over the years. Thank you, Simon.”
It was only at the start of the week that Wood shared a frustrated post about a group of no-show customers over the weekend that failed to even pre-warn that they would no longer be attending one of his most exclusive and costly experiences.
We’re starting to lose count of how many local businesses are unfortunately struggling in the face of the rising business rates and energy bills that all independents are facing at the minute.
It was only last month that we saw Almous Famous had to call it a day with their Withington location and beloved sandwich spot Micky’s sadly suffer the same fate. Even cult favourite Cafe Marhaba looks to have gone up for sale. So tough to swallow.
We’re genuinely gutted for everyone involved with the brand. All the best, Si – we know you’ll be back stronger than ever one of these days.
Featured Images — The Manc Group
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No trams to run through major Manchester city centre station this weekend
Emily Sergeant
Arguably Manchester city centre’s most important tram stop is set to be out of action this weekend, with no services running through it.
In what is another part of Transport for Greater Manchester‘s (TfGM) ongoing programme of works intended to “maintain and improve” the Metrolink system and ensure tram journeys in Greater Manchester remain “safe, reliable, and accessible”, it’s been confirmed that no trams will run through Cornbrook this weekend.
Due to this, there will be a change to operating patterns across the majority of the Metrolink network on both Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 October.
As is often the case in instances like these, disruption to passengers is expected.
On Saturday and Sunday [5 and 6 October], no trams will operate through Cornbrook.
There will be a change to operating patterns and replacement bus services will be in operation.
On Saturday (5 October), the tram service pattern will change to Altrincham – Old Trafford, Bury – Ashton-under-Lyne, East Didsbury – Firswood, Etihad Campus – Bury (peak time only) / Victoria (after peak only), Manchester Airport – Firswood, Rochdale Town Centre – Deansgate-Castlefield (via Exchange Square), and The Trafford Centre – Wharfside.
Similarly, on Sunday (6 October), the only difference to the above service pattern is that the Etihad Campus tram will only run to Victoria, not Bury.
Services will operate every 12 minutes, except for on the Eccles line, where no trams will run at all.
TfGM is also warning that there may be changes to the first and last tram times during these works, but, in bid to help people still get to their destinations, three bus replacement services will operate from Firswood to Victoria, Old Trafford to Piccadilly, and Eccles to Piccadilly.
No trams will run through major Manchester city centre station Cornbrook this weekend / Credit: TfGM
The Old Trafford to Piccadilly bus service will run through Wharfside, while the Eccles to Piccadilly will travel via MediaCity.
“These works are a vitally important part of maintaining a safe and reliable network for all our customers,” explained
Ian Davies, who is TfGM’s Interim Network Director for Metrolink, said these works are “a vitally important part” of maintaining the Metrolink, and that work has been scheduled by TfGM to “minimise disruption to passengers and residents as much as possible”.
Emily Sergeant -
11th June 2024 
