Infernal memories of Manchester – a city most foul and fabulous

Manchester, the infernal city of my youth and memories.

Rainy, grainy, dingy, dirty, derelict, drugs and drink.

Dougie Flood, the Quality Street Gang, Peter Tut-Tut, Giant Haystacks, the Circus Tavern, blob shops, the King Cotton bar … Rafters, the MSG. The Magic Village.

And despite everything, way back then, Manchester was my magical city.

Bunney’s on Oldham Street, Affleck and Brown, Lewis’s, the UCP cafes and the thunder of print inside the blue glass of the Crusader building. The rumble under Withey Grove.

Slack Alice and George Best, The Grapes and Coronation Street… Tony Wilson, the Hacienda, Granada Reports and pissed-up Bill Grundy. Ray Gosling trying to fly despite all his broken wings.

Foo Foo Lammar…

I’ve been lucky since I swaggered out the City of Tall Chimneys, tenements and terraces in the mid-Eighties – the grittiness of Manchester is said to have rubbed a rough edge into my writing. It’s taken me all around the world boys.

But I’ve always found myself looking back.

Here are some of the stories The Society has published recently about my ‘hometown’.

CLICK THE LINKS BELOW

Hough Hall should become a monument to Manchester’s towering infernal chiefs – The Leigh G Banks Preservation Society

A visual tribute to Manchester’s victims of the Arena bomber – The Leigh G Banks Preservation Society

Let’s stop them stealing any more of North Manchester’s history – The Leigh G Banks Preservation Society

Why we love you Manchester – The Leigh G Banks Preservation Society

Moston’s tombstone blues … plea to reunite family with their ‘stolen’ statue of memory – The Leigh G Banks Preservation Society

HOUGH HALL … AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF MOSTON – The Leigh G Banks Preservation Society

How the magnificence of Moston’s cinematic history is being replaced with ‘little boxes’ – The Leigh G Banks Preservation Society

On the way to bed and I hear a noise … 22 men women and children dead in city I love – The Leigh G Banks Preservation Society

#Manchester #moston #crime

#DougieFlood #QualityStreetGang #GiantHaystacks #CircusTavern #blobshops