Manchester, 30 years after the IRA bomb

On Monday, the 30-year anniversary of the IRA bomb in Manchester, I shared a post across Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, and added a slightly longer version to the new Stories section of my website.

A lot of the coverage around the bomb understandably focuses on the scale of the damage, the disruption, and the way it became a catalyst for the rebuilding of Manchester. That story matters. The city centre we know today was shaped in no small part by what happened after 15th June 1996.

But I also wanted to look at it slightly differently.

Behind the bigger story of regeneration were thousands of individual lives affected in very real ways. People were injured. Businesses were lost or disrupted. Shop workers, office workers, residents, visitors and emergency services all had to live through something frightening and traumatic. It is easy, thirty years later, to talk about the bomb as a turning point in Manchester’s development. It is harder, but important, to remember the human experience of that day.

I also wanted to question the idea that Manchester’s transformation simply began with the bomb. The city was already changing. The Olympic bids, the growing tram network, shifts in politics and planning, and wider changes in how Manchester saw itself were already beginning to reshape the city before 1996. The bomb accelerated some of that change and made it far more visible, but it did not happen in isolation.

The third thing I wanted to do was place the story within the much longer history of that part of Manchester. The area around Corporation Street, Market Street and the medieval heart of the city has changed many times before. Streets have appeared and disappeared. Yards, shops, houses, markets, churches, offices and department stores have all come and gone. By looking at the area through a series of maps, the bomb becomes part of a much longer story of change, loss, rebuilding and reinvention.

That is really what I am trying to explore through my walking tours and the stories on my website: not just what happened, but how places evolve, why they change, and what gets remembered or forgotten along the way.

You can read the short story here: https://www.here-then-now.tours/stories/30-years-ago

A Father’s Day gift for curious dads

Struggling to think of something for Father’s Day…?

A walking tour might be just the thing. After all, every dad loves wandering around Manchester discovering hidden history, old maps, forgotten buildings, strange details and stories about the city… don’t they?

I’m offering 25% off gift vouchers for Father’s Day, bringing a £20 walking tour ticket down to £15.

The voucher can be redeemed against any scheduled walking tour, so there’s no need to choose a date straight away.

It’s ideal for dads, grandads, stepdads, father figures… or anyone who enjoys exploring Manchester and finding out a little more about the place they thought they already knew.

Buy a gift voucher here: https://www.here-then-now.tours/merchandise

The stories behind the city

I’ve recently started adding stories to the new Stories page on the Here. Then. & Now website.

What began as fairly brief comments and observations on Facebook and Instagram about fascinating places in Manchester - some I cover on my walking tours, some I may include in future tours, and some I may never quite fit in - has gradually become something a little more detailed.

That is partly because no story about Manchester, or any place, is ever quite as straightforward as it first appears. There is always another layer: another building, street, business, map, person, photograph, newspaper article or half-forgotten detail that helps explain how a place has changed over time.

That is really one of the reasons I started doing the walking tours in the first place. I wanted to share some of the things I was finding, noticing and researching as I walked around the city. The stories also help people get a feel for the kind of things I explore on the tours, but they have started to become something useful in their own right too.

Not everyone uses social media - including my mum! - so adding the stories to my own website means they can be shared more widely and found more easily later. It also gives me the chance to expand on the details, include extra photographs or maps, and say a little more than I usually can in a social media post.

With the most recent story, about the 1996 IRA bomb, I have also added something new: a short note at the end explaining why I wanted to cover it in a slightly different way. Not just as a story of damage and rebuilding, but as part of a longer history of change in that part of Manchester, while also remembering the human impact of what happened.

There are already several stories on the website, and I’ll keep adding more over the coming months. I’d really value any comments, memories, corrections or suggestions for other places you think I should look at.

This has also led me to start thinking about bespoke research and stories for other people’s places… homes, businesses, buildings or organisations.

Your Place. Revealed.

I’ll have more to say about that in the next newsletter.


Please check out some of the Stories here: https://www.here-then-now.tours/stories