Sleuth is a sideways glance at the city every week, it's the truth, but Sleuth's truth. He's several people all at once. Sleuth sometimes even gets serious @mcrsleuth 

CAPPUCCINO NO NO NO

Sleuth is overjoyed a new coffee chain has opened on Cross Street. This is Coffee Republic and it sells curiosities and eccentricities such as cappuccino, latte and americano coffee. Sleuth hopes more of these types of places open so the city can fill all the empty shop units. Nothing quite adds diversity and interest to the street scene like a chain coffee shop.

 

...speaking of coffee, Sleuth hears, in the most detached marketing exercise he's seen in Manchester for some time, international under floor heating manufacturer Polypipe is to open a new 'pop up cafe experience' at 57 Oldham Street, Northern Quarter, this Saturday. The Off The Wall Café will be dishing out free coffee from midday to 6pm to demonstrate the 'design freedom you don't get with radiators, while supplying a consistent even heat across the room'. No kiddin'.

 

THE PAST IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY, THEY DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY THERE

The editor-at-large is writing another bookie-wookie. He's found a 1963 plan for Deansgate which demolished everything on each side of the road right back to Knott Mill Station (now called Deansgate Station). There was naturally going to be a heliport - every plan of the time incorporated one - but better was the 'proposed travelling pedestrian way protected from the weather' that would have run at first floor level from the station to Peter Street and then in subsequent years up to St Mary's Gate and beyond. Best of all this 'moving pavement' was to be four lane, two in each direction. Outer lanes would run at 2.5mph, inner at 3.5mph. Genius. Pedestrian motorways. Sleuth has no idea why such a practical and non-hazardous mode of city traversing was never built.

 

POSH CITY CENTRE LIVING WILL NEVER CATCH ON

In the 1963 plan there was another ambition. The Civic Trust for the North West wanted 'the centre of Manchester enlivened by the return of business executives to first class city centre accommodation'. Thus three twenty-storey blocks of flats would be built to provide for them. These would have largely obliterated the Museum of Science and Industry site but hey, the plan was ahead of its time, so futuristic. Now we have thousands of flats and while the business executives have stayed in Hale, a younger more mobile population in the city centre has arrived. In 1963 the Civic Trust wanted to boost the population in the centre to 1,100  - there are now 25k. Which is almost enough to fill all the chain coffee shops.

 

TONY WIL...SON OF A BITCH!

Sleuth loved this story about Manchester polymath Tony Wilson in Daniel Taylor’s excellent piece in the Guardian this week. Discussing the ‘tribalistic rivalry’ between Manchester United and Liverpool, Taylor recounted how Wilson, a big United fan, used to sneer every time he had to mention Liverpool while presenting regional news show Granada Reports (remember Liverpool was half of his audience). Having slagged Liverpool off one too many times, Wilson emerged one morning to find his brand new Jag had been nicked. Later that day the police called to tell Wilson his Jag had been found in Liverpool. So off he went to pick it up. Later that day he gets another call, asking him why his Jag was still in the same spot. The Scouse scallies had watched Wilson pick up his new Jag, followed him back to Manchester, then nicked it again, parking it back at the same spot in Liverpool - just to inconvenience him. “Gotta say,” remarked Wilson, “good scam.”

 

GREY GRAFFITI

So Sleuth sees a newly formed graffiti collective are stalking the mean streets of Levenshulme, spraying up surfaces in the area at will. They’re calling themselves ‘Grey Graffiti’ and their target… pavements. Sleuth hears the group are aiming to prevent the elderly from going arse-over by ringing tripping hazards with bright green spray paint. Good idea. Folk taking ownership of their neighbourhoods, helping each other out. Sleuth likes that.  Though Sleuth hopes the group don’t turn belligerent like Manchester and Salford's infamous ‘Wanksy'. Then again...

MORE SCHEMING

Sleuth spotted a series of tweets from Allied London chief Mike Ingall this week that intimated he was up to something on Whitworth Street, which runs from the Palace Theatre to London Road Fire Station (which Allied acquired in November last year). Ingall’s calling Whitworth Street the city's ‘new spine of activity, experience and culture’ and Manchester's ‘new major project’. What are they up to? Sleuth is unsure, but the Spinningfields developer looks set to unleash this one at the MIPIM international property event in Cannes in the next few days. Sleuth will keep an eye on it.

Though one word on the proposed 'Whitworth Street Corridor' marketing spiel. Corridor? Corridor? It's a street... Whitworth Street works just fine. 

 

TOILET HUMOUR OF THE WEEK

Sleuth is a collector of many things. One of his more bizarre passions lies in recording supposedly humorous toilet signs. But occasionally some are genuinely smile-inducing such as the one in the gents at The Salisbury pub, off Oxford Road. This reminds men that boys' toilets can become slippery 'at peak times' which is why Sleuth always wears hiking books on Saturday nights in the city. It advises 'ninja moves' to combat this but discourages dancing. The killer line is at the bottom of the sign which reads: 'Caution. This is Sparta.' That made Sleuth laugh out loud unnerving the old lag nearby in the gents, who in his shock made the floor slippery at a non-peak time.

 @mcrsleuth