Manchester Monday – From Sin Pit of England to Canary Wharf of the North

If you celebrate the holidays, I hope they were as enjoyable as possible under the circumstances.

The next stop for Manchester Monday is Spinningfields, which has been described by the Financial Times as the “Canary Wharf of the North” but 150 years ago, it was known as the “sin pit of England.” For a really interesting article about the area’s history from the Manchester Evening News, click here.

Spinningfields is bordered by Bridge Street (North), Quay Street (South), Deansgate (East) & River Irwell (West). The area took its name from Spinningfield, a narrow street which ran westwards from Deansgate.

In 1842, Friedrich Engels was sent by his father to run the family’s cotton business in Salford. He spent most of the next 30 years in the region and Manchester served as his inspiration when researching his 1st book ‘The Condition of the Working Class in England’. He described the area now known as Spinningfields as:

“The most demoralised class of all Manchester lived in these ruinous and filthy districts, people whose occupations are thieving and prostitution.”

In Summer 2017, artist Phil Collins found a statue of Friedrich Engels dumped in an agricultural compound in Poltava, Ukraine. The Ukraine had outlawed signs and symbols from the Communist era in 2015. As part of the Manchester International Festival, Collins brought the statue to the city (after stopping at other key locations in Engels’ life) and it now stands tall at 1 First Street.

There’s another really interesting article about the development of Spinningfields from a rundown, not particularly loved area off Deansgate in 1997 to “the Canary Wharf of the North” at Place North West.

Located in the Pavilion is a northern outpost of London West End’s iconic celebrity hotspot, The Ivy (see above). It features a ground floor brasserie, first floor private dining room, an opulent Asian bar and restaurant and Manchester’s first roof garden. The Ivy was also the inspiration for a couple of scenes in ‘Happy When It Rains.’ 

The Field in Spinningfields was inspired by Eleanor Byrom (1756-1838), a member of the wealthy Byrom family who used to tend to the native flora in the field opposite her home, which is now the location of Hardman Square. She credited the field with transforming her health and fought for the area to retain its green spaces.

Spinningfields (Official Website)

Check back next Monday for another one of my Manchester highlights and if you want to find out what happens with Emmy and Daniel, you can pre-order ‘Happy When It Rains’ from Amazon (UK / US).