We’re all used to seeing pigeons scattered all over Manchester.
Piccadilly Gardens is a haven for the feathered beasts, you can barely walk down Market Street without getting hit in the face with a bird, and they love picking through your McDonald’s leftovers at St Ann’s Square.
But commuters this morning were surprised to find themselves quite literally face-to-face with a pigeon.
A mystery man boarded a Metrolink tram heading between Chorlton and Manchester city centre with his feathered friend in tow.
The passenger was photographed with an actual pigeon perched on his shoulder, like a greyscale chubby parrot.
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The man was spotted riding the Metrolink with his pet pigeon in tow. Credit: Submitted
One eye-witness who got in touch with The Manc said that people ‘barely batted an eyelid’ at the strange sight.
They added: “I saw a video of him the other day when he goes in a shop he puts the pigeon down and it waits for him like a f***ing dog.”
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The man, and his pet pigeon, are often spotted out an about around Manchester, but seeing the bird quite that close on your morning commute is a bit of a surprise.
Someone who saw presumably the same pairing (unless there’s two of them, which we doubt) earlier this week tweeted: “It’s too early for a man to get on the tram with a pigeon on his shoulder.”
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A spokesperson for TfGM said: “We are planning a pilot to allow dogs on trams but sadly there no plans to expand this to pigeons.”
Metrolink recently revealed plans to test dogs being allowed on the tram network for the first time since 1992.
Currently, all animals are banned from the service, apart for service animals.
Featured image: Submitted
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The first images from Netflix’s new Harlan Coben series filmed around Greater Manchester have been revealed
Danny Jones
Netflix’s latest Harlan Coben adaptation, which has been filmed all around Greater Manchester over recent months, has officially wrapped principal photography.
Following the success of the best-selling British thriller author’s previous shows on the streaming platform, both of which were also filmed at least in part around the region, they confirmed that a further two shows would be coming too and one looks to be pretty much done.
The drama series is called Missing You and is based on Harlan Coben’s 2014 novel of the same name. Believe it or not, this is the NINTH time that Netflix has adapted one of his books (yes, nine!), with this being the third time they have filmed one of his works in and around Manchester.
Much like the story itself, the trio seem to have a bit of a love affair going on between them – though we promise you this one will be much more complicated…
You won’t want to miss these first looks at Harlan Coben’s newest thriller MISSING YOU.
Starring Rosalind Eleazar, Richard Armitage, Ashley Walters, Lenny Henry, and Jessica Plummer, coming soon to Netflix. pic.twitter.com/IAcClK1rJQ
Set to release sometime in 2025, Missing You stars Rosalind Eleazar in the lead role as Kat Donovan, a detective specialising in Missing Persons.
Starring alongside other big British names like Ashley Walters, Richard Armitage, Sir Lenny Henry; Steve Pemberton, Jessica Plummer and James Nesbitt, the series is once again produced by Quay Street Productions (part of ITV Studios).
Without giving too much away, here’s the synopsis: 11 years ago, Detective Kat Donovan’s fiancé Josh – the love of her life – disappeared and she’s never heard from him since. Now, swiping profiles on a dating app, she suddenly sees his face and her world explodes all over again. Creepy, right?
Josh’s reappearance forces her to dive back into not only his life since going missing but the mystery surrounding her father’s murder and uncover long-buried secrets from her past too.
Although many of Coben’s stories take place in the US, the Netflix adaptation is also transposed to a UK setting and so filming took place all over Greater Manchester, including the city centre, Le Mans Crescent and Victoria Square in Bolton, as well as various other spots around the North West.
Coben serves as executive producer through his company, Final Twist Productions, with help from the likes of Danny Brocklehurst (Brassic) and Guy Hescott (The Red King, Without Sin); Victoria Asare-Archer from Stay Close is the lead writer and directing is split between Nimer Rashed (Fool Me Once) and Isher Sahota (Ridley, Grace).
Set across five hour-long episodes, if Netflix’s follow-up to Fool Me Once – which was recently named the most-watched show on the platform in the first half of 2024 – is even half as popular as its previous programme, it’ll still be a huge success.
As for Quay Street, the locally-based production house has a long track record of delivering top-quality drama thanks to its founder and multi-award-winning producer, Nicola Shindler OBE, who set up the company back in 2021.
Her credits have included Fool Me Once, It’s A Sin, Stay Close, Ridley Road, Finding Alice, The Stranger, Happy Valley and cult favourite Queer As Folk (1999-2000).
With a pedigree like that, we’re confident the latest Harlan Coben adaptation from Netflix will be just as good as the last one, and we can’t wait to play another round of ‘guess where in Manchester that was filmed’. Speaking of, it’s not the only local production of late.
— Barefoot Spooky Bartender 👣💀🍹 (@barefoottiki) October 10, 2024
“Be assured there won’t be 14408mph winds, hurricane force winds or overnight temperatures of 404°C.
“It is being looked at and hopefully sorted asap.”
BBC Weather shared: “You may have noticed some data issues on our app and website. We are working hard to fix it quickly. Sorry – please bear with us.
“In the meantime here are Thursday’s weather headlines: -Colder, clearer air moving in -Rain and drizzle in south -Blustery showers near east coast”
And national treasure Carol Kirkwood said live on air: “We are having a technical glitch at the moment. It’s showing wind speeds far too fast, in fact, hurricane strength and that is not the case at all.
“Please don’t be alarmed. We are aware of it and on it.”
At the time of writing, the BBC Weather forecast service is still predicting hurricane force winds for the UK. Eek.
BBC issues statement after UK forecast shows ‘hurricane force winds’ up to 14,000mph
Daisy Jackson -
5th May 2022 
