Stony faced friends return to Manchester Town Hall. Hello, friends. It’s good to see you back. This is the tower of Manchester Town Hall, from 1877, and these fine folk have been absent for seven or eight years, hiding behind sheeted scaffolding. But the Roman, the Plantagenet, and the eponymous Elizabethan are back, and it’s very good to see them again. Nor should we forget the saint on the tower, that’d be rude to good old St George. Read more here: jonathanschofield.substack.c… I'll be doing a couple of tours in November and December looking at the Symbols & Statues on Manchester Streets. Book here: jonathanschofieldtours.com/s… @visit_mcr @MENnewsdesk @BBCRadioManc @ManCityCouncil #OurTownHall

'Swiftly and silently, Taylor crept behind Mr Keeling, and in another moment was at the side of the judge’s chair with a loaded revolver levelled at the head of its occupant. Almost the first intimation that the majority of people in court of anything being wrong was the sharp crack of a revolver, repeated twice again in quick succession.' In 1898 Judge Edward Abbott Parry was shot while presiding at Manchester Country Court. This is the story: jonathanschofield.substack.c…

The wonderful Pat Karney and other stories. Pat Karney leaves the Manchester stage As has been widely reported, Councillor Pat Karney has died. Tributes have poured in, including one from Andy Burnham during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons. Anyone who regularly used the city centre knew him; many who visited less often knew of him. The man, and his ebullient support for his city, will be greatly missed. I will miss bumping into Pat while leading groups from around the world and hearing him hail us. He would ask where people were from, then offer a quip and a smile. His ability to put people at ease was a rare gift. As a writer, he never obfuscated: he answered direct questions directly. To borrow a House of Commons analogy, he was the Father of the House of Manchester politics, having served as a councillor since 1979. Of course, he divided opinion: some people did not get on with him, while others regarded him as a motormouth. In that respect, he resembled a very different Manchester figure, the controversial and wonderful broadcaster and music impresario Tony Wilson. Karney was, in effect, Wilson’s council counterpart in his advocacy for the city. Cheeky Pat Karney “Do you know what that building used to be?” Councillor Pat Karney, pointing, asked me in 2007. I was leading a tour of Castlefield for Manchester Confidential after we had written about how rundown this jewel in the city’s crown had become. I had arranged the tour to highlight the problems, and it was clearly going to be an occasion on which Manchester City Council came in for criticism. Pat knew that, but he took his work and his role as an elected representative seriously, so he came along and took the heat. The building he meant was so anonymous that I had never included it on a Castlefield tour. “No, I don’t know what that building is,” I said. He had that familiar twinkle in his eye and the beginnings of a grin. “That was St Luke’s,” he said. I looked at him. “Go on, Pat, don’t keep us guessing. I don’t know what St Luke’s was.” In front of 30 people, their jaws dropping, he replied: “It was the ‘clap clinic’, the VD clinic. Went there a couple of times.” The articles and tour led to a meeting in one of the State Rooms at Manchester Town Hall hosted by Sir Richard Leese and Sir Howard Bernstein and led to the creation of residents and businesses group, The Castlefield Forum. Everybody who knew him has a Pat story. For some more Manchester stories and the remarkable tale of Judge Parry take a look here: linkedin.com/pulse/pat-karne…

Euan Kellie’s then and now pictures They are always a pleasant yet striking distraction every Friday. The affable Euan Kellie of Euan Kellie Property Solutions dramatically captures the changes in the city over the last few decades on his LinkedIn page with ‘then and now’ images. He’s assisted in this by Steve Walsh. I hope they don’t mind me grabbing this image to illustrate their work, which shows how fundamentally the Quays in Trafford and Salford changed between 1983 and 2026. I suggest interested people take a look as well; there are lots and lots of these compare-and-contrast images from across the city on Euan’s LinkedIn. linkedin.com/in/euankellie/ Read more stories from me about the city here. linkedin.com/pulse/picc-gard… @euankellie @visit_mcr

No decent person can vote for the Greens now. I agree wholeheartedly with this article. ‘The Green Party as it is should cease to exist. Let the extremists set up their own group. Polanski can retire to concentrate on his acting and hypnotherapy, and a new party should be created to cater for all of the well-meaning progressive environmentalists who care about nature, which is what most of us thought the Greens stood for.’ thetimes.com/article/dc8effc…

This Saturday 10 October: the greatest pub tour in the land. This is an absurd yet factual roller-coaster staggering across three hundred years of Manchester's drinking history. At the conclusion there’s a daft, very short, pub quiz based on the guide’s commentary with ‘great’ prizes. This is a laughing, learning and slurping exercise in getting to know Manchester through one of its most cherished institutions. The tour visits classic pubs in the city centre and explains the origin of ‘cheers’, the reason behind pub names, the curious sports and games associated with pubs both past and present, the music pubs have hosted and some of the strange clubs that have occupied them. As one guest said: "A wonderful romp through pub history, truly entertaining and informative. My favourite way to enjoy Manchester." Book here or just turn up: jonathanschofieldtours.com/s… @jewlwws @wlj @w @el

A warning from 1754, let it cool, mate Some time ago while doing some Manchester research about something else (isn’t that always the way?) I came across this tragic snippet. The capitalisation reflects the original passage. ‘Mr Powell, the Fire-Eater, who lately exhibited his Performances, had the Misfortune to burn his Mouth in a terrible Manner, not in performing any of his various and amazing curiosities, but in eating of a hot Apple-Pye to his supper.’ Come on Manchester City Council that’s surely inspiration for one of your top tips. See some of my earlier newsletters for some of those gems. York tour anyone? I know this is outside my ‘home’ region of the NW but I really enjoyed conducting a tour around York a couple of weeks ago. The stories are fabulous and strange from Romans and the dawn of a new era in human history (yeah it’s that big) through to the modern day via railway engineers, mad arsonists and loads of executions including a particularly weird and gruesome one. The date would be Wednesday 25 November at 3pm. Guests would have to make their own way to York and I would take over there for a couple of hours. I’ll be taking the train. You can book tickets jonathanschofieldtours.com or tell me this is a daft idea. Read more here: jonathanschofield.substack.c…

The old Sheena Simon building, aka Manchester College, is to be converted into a hotel by Manchester entrepreneur Oliver Cookson. The building was originally known as the Central School and designed by Potts & Pickup who were something of school specialists. It opened in autumn 1900. The hotel will be called The Oliver, after Mr Cookson himself, very modest. It will work as part of the Curio Collection by Hilton hotels and aims to be a ‘lifestyle hotel’. This is explained as being centred around ‘immersive guest experiences’. It’s reported in The MEN that it will ‘support local culture’ rather than delivering ‘a standard corporate offering’. Ummm, let’s hope that goes beyond some posters of Manchester bands, rain references and the Tony Wilson quote he never said, ‘This is Manchester, we do things differently here’. Still, good luck to Oliver Cookson and to the hotel. It’s not the first time the place has been used accommodation. Read more here: jonathanschofield.substack.c…

Last in the series. Don't miss out. Tomorrow 1.30pm. Exclusive: Ruined St Luke’s Church, Cheetham Hill, a very special tour for 2026. In association  with the North West Heritage Trust, a third of the fee goes to the Trust. 1.30pm Sunday 27 September. Book here: jonathanschofieldtours.com/e… Imagine this as a tour. ​A ruined church, an overgrown graveyard, a gloomy crypt. ​A church that overflows with significance, where one of the world's most famous composers, Felix Mendelssohn, played the organ. A church and graveyard that provided a key scene in the Granada production, Prime Suspect, with Helen Mirren. Now add to the mix one of the most colourful nineteenth century characters, Thomas Witlam Atkinson. He was a bigamist, an explorer, a romantic, a dreamer and a complete rogue. The overgrown tombs in the graveyard include other individuals with fascinating stories. There has scarcely been a more intriguing, interesting, and haunting location for a tour than St Luke one full of dramatic silhouettes, a fabulously gloomy crypt and accounts of incredible individuals. There will be music and projections. This will be very very special.

Good this from Cyanlines. Especially if you have a bike. CyanLines and @ManCityCouncil have teamed up with a bunch of partners to bring a bucket full of nature, wellbeing, active travel and community activities to a couple of city centre streets which are being closed to traffic by Manchester City Council. There will be FREE activities from 8am until 6pm each day on Nicholas Street (just off Mosley Street and next to the Manchester Art Gallery) and on Tib Street in the heart of the Northern Quarter. You’ll have the chance to enjoy: o    a free bike health check with Dr Bike o    do some planting with PLANT Co-operative o    collect a FREE active travel goody bag o    grab FREE bulb and seed packet giveaways o    have fun with our giant outdoor games @TomBloxhamMBE @LisaAshurst

Manchester Museum puts mummy into 'storage'. 'The museum has constructed a grievance, found people who agree with them and agreed with the people who agree with them and answered their own question.' jonathanschofield.substack.c…

The saddest story in a Manchester church. jonathanschofield.substack.c…

The Secrets of Chapel Street tour THIS Saturday 19 September at 3pm. It’s just £4. This celebrates the changes on Chapel Street during the centenary of Salford's city status. Chapel Street and Greengate are the centre of old Salford with an outstanding history including invading armies, dole protests, novelists and songwriters, elegant generals, important newspaper editors and huge 21st century re-invention. There are love stories, ghost stories, drunk stories, atomic bunkers and, of course, penalty shoot-outs from 1906 at the famous Flat Iron Market. There are also new plans and new buildings and new squares. This area has come vibrantly to life once more and we’ll look at all of it on this tour. The price is a bargain £4. Just turn up on the day outside the Sacred Trinity church, Chapel Street, or book here: fatsoma.com/e/emw0b2uz/sacre… @VisitSalford @sftoc @porta_salford @kingssalford @fromtheother._

Another superb Matthew Syed article. ‘The alliance between the progressive left and radical Islam should be impossible: one claims to worship freedom, and the other demands submission.’ thetimes.com/article/0823410…

Anita’s streets ahead with a sweet truth. The real story behind one of the best known little Manchester facts. jonathanschofield.substack.c…

Excellent news. I’ll mention it on my Didsbury tour on 3 October. jonathanschofieldtours.com/s…