Top 30 Most Read Stories 2016

SO there goes 2016, a year which shall forever be known as The Year Gordo Fell Off The Back Off The Stage In Front Of 350 People At Manchester Food & Drink Awards (missed it? No worry it's right here).

Elsewhere, we had 1073 new restaurant and bar openings, new property developments sprouting from the ground like mushrooms, and a bloke with a moustache asking us to strip in Northern Quarter.

Below you'll find the most read, shared and talked about stories from Manchester Confidential in 2016, just in case, lord forbid, you missed any:

Manchester escort offers student discount – “University students are my biggest customers” says porn star (2 Jan)

Manchester house price map: where can you afford to live? – We reveal the cheapest and dearest Metrolink stations to live close to (4 Jan)

Would you pose naked for a stranger with a camera? – There’s a mysterious moustachioed man asking people to strip in Manchester (8 Jan)

 Ikem Starr asks Manchester women to bare all for The Naughty Index

New 64-storey tower plans for Manchester – just nine floors shorter than The Shard, this would become the second tallest building in the UK (14 Jan)

46 photos of Manchester slums 1969-72 – “The poverty and terrible conditions I witnessed shocked me to the core” (9 Feb)

Valentine's flash mob proposal - Man enlists local dance school for an unconvential marriage proposal (12 Feb)

Nick Hedges captured scenes of the deprivation across the region throughout the late-60s and early-70s

12 Manchester festivals you’ve probably never heard of – From Cosmosis to Kinofilm, here’s a list of the city’s lesser-known fests (22 Feb)

35 new openings to look forward to in 2016 – But how many actually opened? (23 Feb)

Could Spinningfields be getting a new skirt? – Are they really going to knock down the Oast House? (17 Mar)

Earlier this year Allied London floated plans to replace The Oast House with 'The Skirt'

Are McDonald’s new ‘Signature’ burgers any good? – We head to Openshaw to test the fast food giant’s McResponse to the gourmet revolution (24 Mar)

First look inside London Road Fire Station - neglected landmark is opening its doors to the public for the first time in 30 years (20 Apr)

20 striking visualizations of Manchester’s future skyline – We envisage how the city may look should all proposed schemes be realised (28 Apr)

.Manchester's skyline is set to be radically transformed over the coming years

60 never-before-seen photos from inside Granada Studios – Project aims to capture the 'spirit, history and architecture' of the former TV complex before redevelopment begins (10 May)

Manchester’s Best Nail Salons – The ones that nail it every time (15 May)

Four Manchester Restaurants Close Within One Week – Quill, Splendid, Grinch and Khan Baba all call it a day (14 Jun)

Quill bit the dust on King Street in June

Manchester’s top 37 outdoor drinking spots – Your ultimate guide to suppin’ in the sunshine (republished 18 July)

Abercromby pub to be demolished: Confidential barred from meeting – Here’s the money men putting two fingers up to democratic debate (28 July)

Ode to Wythenshawe: Manchester’s greenest neighbourhood – The increasing draw of this once desolate urban backwater (8 Aug)

Wythenshawe’s M22 postcode was second only to Chelsea in property price growth nationwide last year

Could the new £1bn Manchester-Sheffield tunnel feature clouds, trees and sunrise? – Government take inspiration from Norway and China in order to prevent ‘psychological difficulties’ (19 Aug)

60 photos which sum up Manchester Pride – From Edwina Curry to snogging policemen and Will Young’s maxi dress (29 Aug)

53Two: Manchester’s new hidden arts – Iconic former car showroom turns arty (6 Sep)

The former Ferrari garage is now a hub for the arts

Sir Howard Bernstein: The Legacy – The significance of Manchester’s departing chief executive (16 Sep)

Altrincham Market heading to the city centre – Exciting food market plans for the Mackie Mayor (27 Sep)

Did Manchester finally get its Michelin star? – An in-depth look at the city’s Michelin problem (3 Oct)

Michelin and Manchester have a mutually 

Homelessness in Manchester – Have We Reached Crisis Levels? – 5000 individuals approached the council to declare themselves homeless over twelve months in 2015/16 (10 Oct)

Meet Ged King – Manchester’s street barber to the homeless – “It’s not anything to do with the hair you take off, it’s more about the human contact and someone giving a shit” (11 Oct)

White Elephant: How Manchester avoided a London mistake – As the London Stadium fiasco rumbled on, Confidential recalls Manchester’s easier route (4 Nov)

Homelessness is the most visual issue facing the city

Piccadilly Gardens: Is More Grass Really The Answer? – We say dig up the grass and pave the lot (9 Nov)

Brexit, Trump & Parallels From Manchester’s Past – A nation never so divided, a world turned upside down, we’re all going to hell in a handcart (11 Nov)

Manchester chefs hit back at Michelin star chef’s ‘sleazy’ slur – it’s like saying all chefs are arrogant, insecure, grumpy arseholes (23 Nov)

Legal & General plan to pump £10m into Piccadilly Gardens

Rice ‘n’ Three: A Manchester Cheap Eats Institution – We explore the city’s best kept food secret (7 Dec)

Altrincham is reborn – but the job isn’t over – This once struggling satellite town – revitalised by a European-syle food market – should not take its success for granted (8 Dec)

The all-new Altrincham Market has transformed the fortunes of the town