g7uk » property

King Street: from Starbucks to no bucks

GS — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 05:22:51 +0000

If you want an example of how the current economic situation is hitting retailers, take a walk along Manchester’s King Street.

How will Manchester fare if there’s a recession?

GS — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:58:11 +0000

Walking around Ancoats recently I noticed how many of the buildings (many old cotton mills) are still empty. Some are semi-derelict, in other cases the shell has been tarted up a little, but not much done inside. It’s hard to know how many apartments in the converted and newly-built blocks are occupied. If it hasn’t been possible to ‘regenerate’ this area completely during the property boom of the last few years the question is: will it ever happen now?

Hacienda apartments

GS — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:53:24 +0000

I saw this sad ad in an estate agent’s window on Deansgate. In case you don’t know, the building that was The Hacienda nightclub was completely demolished in 2002. An apartment block was put up on the site and is now marketed as ‘The Hacienda’.

A property development too far

GS — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 02:06:40 +0000

It seems that Manchester’s Afflecks Palace has been saved.

Fallen trees removed — finally

GS — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 22:59:09 +0000

On 18 January, six trees blew over in the park near where I live. Some of them blocked one of the main paths into the park.

Fireworks on the top of Beetham Tower, but does Manchester really need more city centre apartments for the rich? (VIDEO)

GS — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 21:44:45 +0000

At 9.15pm tonight fireworks erupted from the top of Beetham Tower in Manchester, making it look like an over-sized roman candle firework. A topping out ceremony was taking place, marking the completion of the highest point.

The Tower stands 171m (561ft) and 47 storeys tall, making it the highest residential development in Europe. The first 23 floors will house a four-star Hilton hotel and apartments will fill the upper half.

Some people may wonder if Manchester really needs more apartments for the rich. When so many ordinary people in Britain are absolutely desperate for affordable housing and a large number of relatively well-paid workers are now excluded from ever owning a property of any kind due to high prices.

PFI

At the same time, Manchester City Council is busy trying to force various schemes onto residents of its council (public) housing, some of which is in the city centre. The aim being to pretty much wipe its hands of public housing.

Tenants are being denied a vote on whether housing should be transferred to a PFI (Private Finance Initiative) of the kind that is currently causing disaster in the National Health Service, an Arms Length Management scheme or whether it should remain in Council control.

In other parts of the country, residents have made it clear they want to remain in Council control. Which is something that Tony Blair and his New Labour cronies at Manchester City Council don’t want.

Tony doesn’t like it when people disagree with him and, if residents won’t be sensible and vote the way he wants, the answer is simple… Don’t let them vote at all and leave the decision to people who ‘know better’. In other words, those feeble-minded Labour councillors who have compromised their left-wing principles so much in recent years…

So, the original proposals to give residents a vote on the matter in Manchester are quietly being forgotten about. Instead, local Labour councillors will decide ‘what’s best’.