Stockport born and bred and now living in Altrincham, Manchester has always been my home city and I love it! Infamous for its rain (famous for so much more) a quick Good Friday trip into the city yesterday didn’t disappoint!
Now a regular fixture in the Easter calendar the Duck Race takes part on Good Friday in Spinningfields. Individuals, families and companies alike sponsor a duck to be launched into the River Irwell, the proceeds of which go to charity.
Wandering up Tib Street to the Northern Quarter we passed a gorgeous flower stall under shelter of the Debenhams building before reaching the now famous “on the sixth day…” mosaic on the side wall of the equally acclaimed Affleck’s. What used to be known as Affleck’s Palace houses around 70 independent traders in the old Affleck & Brown department store and is to quote their website “an emporium of eclecticism, a totem of indie commerce in Manchester’s Northern Quarter and above all else a fantastic place to shop for anything from Top hats to tattoos”. Well worth a visit if you visit Manchester. Affleck & Brown incidentally was also THE place to visit in its day, known as the ‘Harrods of the North’, and I remember the ‘claim to fame’ of my childhood neighbour, who worked in the glove department, that she once served Mick Jagger there.
After the obligatory Manchester rain as we passed through Exchange Square and the historic Old Wellington Inn
we were surprised to encounter deckchairs and sombreros, in the form of a Three mobile promotion and finished the trip being coerced into a photoshoot by my lovely son!
