Manchester: street art

57 Comments
The Molly House, Richmond Street, Manchester Gay Village

Manchester is a city with a rich seam of street art to explore. We spotted the mural above, the UK’s largest piece of LGBT street art, on our first afternoon. Organised by Queerchester it depicts some of the city’s LGBT icons including two faces which have already appeared in my Manchester posts, Emmeline Pankhurst (middle left) and Alan Turing (bottom right). I didn’t know the former was a gay icon, but I learned that and more about the mural and its other characters on I♥️MCR.

We found some of the bees remaining from the Bee in the City Trail of 2018: the worker bee is a symbol of Manchester. The Love Bee (left) was outside the Cathedral, while the LGBTQ+ Queen Bee was in Sackville Gardens in the Gay Village.

Love Bee
LGBTQ+ Queen Bee

Sackville Gardens are also home to the statue of Alan Turing which featured in my post about Manchester science and industry, and to the Beacon of Hope (2000) a memorial to everyone lost to HIV and a symbol of solidarity with those living with HIV today.

View of gardens with Alan Turing bench on the left
Beacon of Hope, Sackville Gardens

Another largest, this time the largest digital ceiling in Europe in the Printworks – 1000m² of delights which I could have watched forever. Well, not quite – we had other things to do!

Digital ceiling
Digital ceiling
Digital ceiling
Digital ceiling

It was Eunice of Life in the Mouse House who took us to see the ceiling, and all the murals in the gallery below. I didn’t take notes so offer them without comment, except to say they are all from the Northern Quarter.

Barbie
Dogs

I have to give this little critter in a tiny window a gallery of its own. Mr Smith’s Dream is exquisite.

Mr Smith’s Dream
Mr Smith’s Dream

Still in the Northern Quarter is Afflecks, self described as an emporium of curiosities. It was very decorative inside and out.

Afflecks, Manchester
Afflecks, Manchester
True colours
George
We can do it!
Beware
Cat and bee
Fairyland staircase
Spot anyone you know?

Finally, a few sculptures from various walks around the city. Sheep in Castlefield.

Sheep by Ted Roocroft
Sheep by Ted Roocroft

Chopin on Deansgate opposite John Rylands Library.

Chopin on Deansgate
Chopin on Deansgate

And Paddington in Spinningfields. 23 of these fun statues were installed across the UK and Ireland ahead of the release of Paddington in Peru. Most were temporary, but Norwich won the vote to have a permanent version.

Paddington, Spinningfields
Paddington, Spinningfields

Still a few Manchester themes to go – next up, churches.

England, UK ,

57 Comments »

  1. Pingback: This week’s small pleasures #431 – Thistles and Kiwis

  2. I’m so late here. I’ve been off for a week and wanted to do so much…that didn’t work. I love the walk with the brilliant colours I see here. I read about Turing and how horribly he was treated due to him being gay…very sad. I love The Sheep and that lady with the big teeth(a painting). They are all great.

    Liked by 1 person


  5. hi Anabel – what a great selection … the art work always amazes me; while the sculptures are extraordinary too – Paddington I love – cheers Hilary

    Like

  9. Wow, I love this post and all the colourful street art, especially the big murals on the sides of buildings, the bees and Paddington. I put Manchester on my list of places to visit. Thank you Anabel for your public art share.

    Like

  14. Street art around the world has come up of late on a number of posts I have read. Like many others I appreciate it if it is well done and adds to the city-scape. It most certainly does here and gives me a different and added feeling as to Manchester . . thank you . . . and Banksy is delightful as always . . .

    Like

  21. Well, you certainly found a lot of street art Anabel. I haven’t seen hardly any of those murals! But as a visitor to the city you were on a deliberate quest to find them. Perhaps I need to open my eyes more and get out into a few other parts of the city rather than Oxford Road!

    Like

  22. Good heavens! Thank you for opening my eyes to a new view of Manchester…I’m sure it wasn’t like that last time I called in! Mind you it was some years ago now! Did I read recently that Paddington was stolen?

    Like


  25. What a wonderful gallery of street art! I already knew from Eunice’s post that Manchester was a great place to find it, and seeing so much all together in your gallery really emphasises that! I love ‘Mr Smith’s Dream’ and Afflecks looks like somewhere I could explore for hours 🙂

    Like

  27. You certainly have quite a collection of different forms of street art here and the murals make a very colourful gallery. I like the photo of John in Affleck’s 😀 Nice to see you included the cute Mr Smith’s Dream too, I look through the window every time I’m round that way. I photographed the sheep a couple of years ago but have had no use for them so far, and I’ve still not been to find Paddington though there’s a chance he may not be there now.

    Like

I'd love to hear what you think!