Does Manchester Need Saving?

My mother died in 2008 and even then she said "Give it enough time and all you'll see on the High Street will be charity shops, phone shops and crappy takeaways".

I’m Mancunian, and what amazes me is tens of thousands of apartments have been built in the City Centre over the past 15 years. All these extra consumers on the doorstep and these businesses have still failed.

Google Map's timelapse of different eras is a really cool feature. Only found it out because if this video. Seeing how the nearby towns have changed (declined), and brings back old memories as a kid going to the town centre when it was alive. Takeaways, charity shops, phone shops, Poundland, make up the majority of what's left.

I've just got back to Manchester from a round trip that went to Brussels, then to Ghent in Belgium, then to Wroclaw in Poland. I go on a few European city breaks a year and it's very worrying to see the state of the UK versus other European cities. I notice even more because I'm a shop owner myself. Despite many people thinking its a universal issue, its really not, this is a UK problem. All of the cities mentioned above and all the others I've visited in Europe have been thriving. There's barely any shops to let. There's busy markets full of fresh produce. There's a much greater variety of shops, independent businesses, everything is cleaner. Theres just far more people out shopping. The towns are bustling in comparison to the UK. You don't see streets filled with "to let" signs, charity shops and betting shops like in the UK. I personally dont think it's because retail is becoming obsolete and has to be developed into other things, people still enjoy shopping and browsing, other European cities are evidence of this. I personally think the issue just boils down to the overheads and rent, the running costs of a shop in the UK are astronomical. either makes it unaffordable and/or forces retailers to stock lower quality goods that are sold at a higher price than can be bought online. Amazon, Ali express and companies like temu are thriving because of this. Folk can only run businesses that have very low overheads or running costs to survive snd make profit. Escape rooms are everywhere fir this reason. They cost very little start up costs. just a room, some padlocks, and stuff from thrift stores to create an aesthetic. They cost nothing except from bills and rent to run, and have high profit margins. Food shops are surviving, bars are just about surviving, and clothing shops are just about surviving (but are struggling more because of apps online shopping and apps like vinted) Can already see in picadilly Gardens that almost all the surrounding shops are restaurants. Five guys, nandos, mcdonalds etc. Because foods is one of the only stable trades right now. Other shops that are becoming saturated are barbers, tattoo studios and cosmetics. Again, these places have relatively low running costs to high profit margins. But then eventually the saturation will eventually dilute demand and make those bissinesses unfeasible to leading to them all going private. Setting up home salons etc. UK high streets are really up sh*t creek right now. The only way this will change is if there is a major crash in property values that can make these retail units available and affordable to the working and middle class public to encourage folk to open businesses. Not just the real estate investment opportunities for the wealthy. There needs to be free parking in all city and town centres and better public transport links. They need to scrap business rates based on rateable values, give relief to all small businesses and for larger businesses the rates should be based on a percentage of the yearly profits. We need to get stricter on online only businesses like amazon that virtually pay no tax and use offshore banks. On top of these, ive been saying for a long time, that many of these big empty retail units should be divided into micro units, and those units should be for colleges, schools and universities to utilise, allowing students to operate small businesses, selling products and services being produced by the students themselves. This would be an introduction for students into running retail and businesses in a real world set up. It showcases locally produced, made in the UK wares, and they could use a percentage of the takings to cover the overheads. The rest would be income for the students to cover their own living costs. The aane could be done with other units for small businesses to operate within on a percentage of profit basis, rather than a rental basis. And the way you regulate that is by having a cashless system in place within.

Your reference to "Road to Wigan Pier" is perfect. A housing crisis, wasted public funds, poor food/diets, slums etc; all from 90 years ago. Everything that was achieved by post war Britain, free health care, decent housing, a decent education, employment, is now in ruins or has been wound back to mirror the 1930s. It would be worth following up 'Wigan Pier' with Down and Out in Paris and London. Though the homelessness now is often more complex than the 1930s, some things seem to endure.

You and Wendall do great work in this field. Considering the financial weight of UK domestic TV channels, YouTube documentaries like these are often better and without bias. Keep it up. Regards from the south east. 👍

I own a small business retail property since 1987 and ive witnessed the decline. One of the problems not being talked about is barbers shops money laundering. No one can talk about it without getting mafioso style threats. Im selling my building as i did speak out and I've been threatened.

British cities are just misery pits now. I used to spend a lot of time in them in my teens-early 20's to escape my small town and the small town mentality people have here, but now when you go into a city, you constantly get hassled by homeless people and the vibes are sh!t in general. This leaves me in a situation where I don't like the town I live in, but I don't like what cities have become either, so I spend most of my time at home these days.

Having been to christmas markets in several European countries I can confirm that 90% of stalls in all of them sell the same cheap tat, all made in china. The other 10% occasionally includes some nice food. So, overall not worth it.

I’m a retired guy in the south. My family is originally from Yorkshire. I was born in Birmingham. I’m so sad that almost all manufacturing jobs were exported. It was a conscious, deliberate destruction of a society, especially of what used to be called the working class, and we stupid middle classes just took to deflationary gains for decades. Now, the denouement is here. For ALL of us. We’re in full on authoritarian mode and de-civilisation of a nation. I love my country. I’ve advised my young adult kids to emigrate for example to Croatia.

You didn't visit Afflecks and the Manchester Craft and Design Centre- these are a good example of a big building being used consistently long term. It's made up of small individual stores/shops, most of which are owned by independent local people. The Trafford Centre used to have the Marketplace too which was a similar thing. There are probably plenty of small makers there to speak to about Made In Britain too. Also, Lanx shoe makers are a slightly bigger brand or Thunder Egg which started in Afflecks! I wonder how much the death of the railways (and repeated failure of Northern rail) has impacted visitor stats to Manchester? I live about 40 mins away on the train but it is such an unreliable service that other places become more accessible.

I remember dead Manchester City Centre before the IRA bomb, a place that was almost completely depopulated with very few people living in the city centre it was really on its arse in a big way... The determination internationally after that atrocity to rebuild Manchester was the making of the place. Although not as vibrant as it was in the mid-90s and 00s it is a million times better than the city centre of the 70s and 80s. More than any other place in the UK, Manchester shows you what is possible with the right will to create something new out of a decaying mess.

Loving the idea of the Made in Britain idea. I always find it fascinating that they say it would cost to much to manufacture stuff in the UK. Yet the cheapest most reliable hoover is a Henry Hoover and that is all manufactured in the UK and that contains complex to produce parts.

Great channel, no bullshit, just honest and genuine 🙏

The only thing I regularly go into a physical shop for now is food. Everything else is generally easier to do online. A lot of services which traditionally required a brick and mortar location (banks, travel agencies, currency changers, estate agents, internet cafes, ticket offices, post offices etc) can now be done so much more efficiently online. The amount of retail space in our towns and cities is simply too high. Lowering rates isn't going to change the fact a lot of these bricks and mortar businesses are fundamentally unviable. The ultimate solution is to start converting areas to a mix of uses with smaller retail footprints and more commercial, civic and residential space.

I’d love to open a sewing machine/crafting workshop where people who love making things can come and socialise

Intersting about the hospital. Back in the day the MRI was in Piccadilly. Brilliant video - thanks. I studied in Manchester in the late sixties and worked there till the mid seventies. Went back there a few years ago and was shocked when I arrived in Piccadilly Gardens. It was full of drug users wandering around in a trance and the amount of architectural vandalism was beyond belief. The Manchester planners have completely messed up. So sad.

Cool video as always my friend. Some fantastic Victorian architecture. The entire country is on it's knee's and there are issues in every high street up and down the UK David. We were a world leading country, and now we are nothing. A real shame.

I’m an American, active middle aged, and one of my favorite memories is Manchester back in the late nineties. It was magical. And this - it breaks my heart. I wonder about all of the people whom I met - where are they? Are they okay?

I’ve lived in Manchester for years and noticed these changes gradually. Thank you for the excellent work and keep it up 👊🏼👏🏼