From pet shops to sex shops: how Manchester’s Northern Quarter has transformed over the years

This quarter of the city centre has seen it all! 

The Northern Quarter is Manchester’s Indie haven, where you’ll find everything you need and plenty of stuff you don’t need but definitely want. And the best bit is that it’s almost entirely independent! 

In the early 1970s the area that we now know as the Northern Quarter was massively suffering with neglect, impacted greatly by the opening of the massive corporate shopping centre, the Arndale. 

The NQ quickly lost all appeal and viability as the shopping destination it had been prior. The famous pet shops of Tib Street disappeared altogether – apart from just one surviving at the very top of the road that is still open today.

By the late ’70s the area was pretty much derelict and mostly residential thanks to the new housing estate near Smithfield Market. The old warehouses from the Industrial Revolution became the perfect occupancy for large, cheap storage for clothing and textile wholesalers.

Things stayed much the same for a few years until the ’80s saw a little spark ignite with the opening of Affleck’s palace. A one-stop-shop for all things boutique and independent, Affleck’s Palace became a destination with people flocking from all over to get involved at the new local market for artists. 

Around this time creatives began to flood the area again and those large spaces became studios and practice rooms for the likes of musicians and inventors.

A few boozers worked through the night to keep those in the area from going thirsty and hungry with plenty of cheap ales at the likes of The Millstone, Koffee Pot and Mother Macs – as well as This & That providing a much needed Rice & Three.

Manchester City Council commissioned the regeneration of the NQ in 1993, and Urban Splash moved in and set to work on redeveloping the area, turning it into a residential neighbourhood. If people live here, businesses open – or so the theory goes.

It turns out the theory was correct! The ’90s was a big moment for the NQ, cheap rent tempted just about everybody and as people moved in so did the businesses.

The public started to champion independents again and the plan, overall, was a great success.

Not everyone is quite so positive about the progress that happened to the area though.

Gentrification can often be described as the killer of culture and soul of an area, and people who once lived there are priced out. The NQ in particular is now a ‘party hot spot’ where rent has increased by 40%, and more and more plots of land are being sold to big time investors to create luxury flats that will likely become Airbnb’s.

But it’s not all bad, the Northern Quarter is a haven for artwork, there are parrots on the walls, poets on the floors and ever-changing graffiti that even has entire tours dedicated to it.

And there are still independents to shop at, dine in, drink dry and dance on the tables of.

There is no denying that the NQ is still the place to be – Ancoats might have reached worldly heights but the NQ has the Castle, the Millstone, newbies like Federal, Another Heart to Feed and Feel Good Club, shops like Noma, Blue Rinse and plenty more that keep it the bustling spot all the cool kids hang out.

Even as more and more areas see regeneration, the NQ still comes through with that star quality that some areas will just never have.

You can follow NQmanchester for daily updates on going’s on in the area!