Manchester weekend - short review.

We had 2 nights in Manchester last weekend.
Short review -
City centre - really good, loads of bars/pubs. Lots to see.
The cathedral is pretty poor.
John Rylands library is really good.
Lowry gallery - far better than expected.
Imperial War Mus. North - shite. Not even worth the free entry.


Longer review.
There really are bars/pubs/clubs every few hundred metres or closer in
the centre. We were walking from bar to bar from 5 until 9, dodging rain
showers. All were good, and most seem to provide decent food. We were
too tired/inebriated to stay out any longer.

The cathedral looks drab from the outside, inside is no better. Pretty
poor, and not worth the 20 minutes we were there.

The John Rylands library is well worth a visit. It has the architecture
of a cathedral, and hosts an amazing collection of books, all available
for viewing if you book a date to visit. The 4 volumes of drawings of
Florence from 1680ish would have been nice to see, so we've took the
details down, in case we go back, then we can arrange a time to view
them.

Lowry Gallery. I wasnt expecting much of this, but it was really good,
enlivened by the talk of one of the curators who explained all about
Lowrys life, and work. (he didnt just do the matchstick men with
industrial backgrounds!)

Imperial War North. I was expecting good things of this. It is crap.
7 large exhibits. Harrier jump jet, small howitzer, barrage balloon,
fire tender, Wellington rear gun turret, and other things I cannot
remember. It is very dark inside, almost gloomy. Static exhibits of
soldier uniforms and paraphenalia in cases. A few rifles and machine
guns. And thats it. If we'd took our time, we would have been there an
hour.

Brittania Hotel, Didsbury. Large, cheap, reasonable for £50 a night for
2. Breakfast really good. Nice pool/jacuzzi/sauna for £2. Paid for 2
nights with £25 of Tesco vouchers, so didnt really cost us anything.

Overall, Manchester is worth a visit if you havent been before.

Alan.

 

We went there last year - and really enjoyed it.

But we do have an extensive collection of Lowry prints on our walls.

I stayed at the one in Bolton last year, due to a colleague having an
argument with the hotel at the Reebok stadium.... it was shite - a 1980s
Holiday Inn which hadn't even seen a lick of paint - just stickers stuck
over any evidence of the Holiday Inn branding.

I was born, lived and worked there, I'd tend to disagree.... but I like
Cardiff these days, so it's probably worth ignoring my opinion of the
place.

Although we're going up for a weekend in December to see James at the
MEN Arena. Got a cracking deal at the Thistle, especially as we have
some Capital Incentives K was given for winning an incentive at work
which we can use to pay for it.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, SteveH

Better hope they don't have someone paying rack rate who wants to stay
an extra night, because Thistle SOP is to **** you off if you've got "a
cracking deal".

DAMHIK,IJDOK?

 

Not a massive problem if they do, I'll just phone my mum and we can stay
in her spare room.

 

On the Manchester topic, I recall stopping off there a few times and
it had some great little pubs in the centre of town.

 

Hmmm, I was in Manchester only a fortnight ago when we dropped the kids
to the in laws there and decided we would do a "touristy" afternoon as
I'd never done this despite going up and down occassionally over 20
years.

Part of this was going to the cathedral which is, well it's a
cathedral. I wasn't unimpressed, a few interesting plaques on the wall,
a few interesting tombs and generally I thought it was nice enough and
well kept. To be fair its in the city and the outside looks "worn" ie
fumes etc will have taken their toll but I would rather see a cathedral
that shows its age than a nice newly sandblasted facade which IMO looks
shite, as for the inside being drab, they don't tend to light them for
shows after all.

Incidentally there was a pair of twats chatting outside when we left
and I had to laugh when one said to the other that it didnt seem very
big for such a big city. Im pretty sure that the city wasnt the current
size when it was built!

 

Just don't ask for a spare pillow.