I'm curious. I asked a question about this the other day in another thread and didn't really get an answer.

Why have mancunians taken to referring to the city centre part of manchester (and by that I am including the parts of Salford etc.) as "Central" Manchester. I've also seen North, South, etc. Manchester.

It seems like a rather lame attempt to emulate London which is bizarre for two reasons:

1. You get the impression Manchester wants to be something different from London but yet appears to be setting London 'as standard'.

2. You can realistically walk around 'Central' Manchester. Buses/Trams are designed to get in to the city and out to the suburbs (ok, from a pratical save time point of view taking a bus from extremity city part A to part B must happen) - but in Central London walking from say Scotland Yard in Victoria to say the Gherkin in the city or even Canary Wharf would take hours (if not the best part of a day!) - there is a whole circuluar tube line devoted to getting getting you around west central London and then of course the DLR which connects the docklands to the city without even mentioning the 100s of bus routes purely designed to get people around central london.

Lets not dispute, Manchester is big influential city, but a metropolis it's not. The concept of Greater Manchester is pratical purely from an administrative point of view - its boroughs are very distinct and separate from each other.

So again, why call it Central Manchester? Is this a delusion of Grandeur? What exactly is wrong with just using 'City Centre' terminology? I'm not attacking Manchester or its strides to make progress but attempting to call a litre a gallon when its clearly not doesnt fool anyone (it didnt fool the IOC [twice!] ).

Im interested to hear your opinions....

Strange obsession of yours, Jumble. Why the concern? Now there's an interesting question.

Central Manchester is not a contrived term, it is a descriptive and useful term that denotes the part of the Manchester connurbation that is located.... at the centre. Its centre of gravity. The city centre. End of.

Happy?

"Strange obsession of yours, Jumble. Why the concern? Now there's an interesting question.

Central Manchester is not a contrived term, it is a descriptive and useful term that denotes the part of the Manchester connurbation that is located.... at the centre. Its centre of gravity. The city centre. End of."

It interests me because reading the boards it seems (some) mancunians are the new arrogant londoner. I dont see why.

You havent really answered the question. Of course I understand the concept of centricity but I'm not convinced people aren't using the terminology as attempt (or because they have fallen fool of) the idea of trying to 'big up' the place and emulate london. You don't often hear people talking about central birmingham/preston/cardiff etc.

so you would have all non metropolis cities without city centres? it is central manchester, as sleepyone said, because it is located in the centre of the county. And i disagree with you that 'its boroughs are very distinct and separate from each other' if you look around this forum you will find tons of pics which would prove you otherwise.

"Strange obsession of yours, Jumble. Why the concern? Now there's an interesting question.

Central Manchester is not a contrived term, it is a descriptive and useful term that denotes the part of the Manchester connurbation that is located.... at the centre. Its centre of gravity. The city centre. End of."

It interests me because reading the boards it seems (some) mancunians are the new arrogant londoner. I dont see why.

You havent really answered the question. Of course I understand the concept of centricity but I'm not convinced people aren't using the terminology as attempt (or because they have fallen fool of) the idea of trying to 'big up' the place and emulate london. You don't often hear people talking about central birmingham/preston/cardiff etc.

what you are talking about is insane, the city centre club is not just reserved for the mega cities. if you go to any city, well most, you will find that they refer to the (i don't know what else you would call it!) as the centre.

Jim it does sound a little pedantic what your saying , i personally would say Central Manchester and City centre Manchester are exactly the same thing..
I think its mostly a media term, when they say Central Manchester and not something said by most Mancunians.
I also think the same thing is said in Birmingham,Liverpool,Leeds,,,,
Why does saying Central Manchester make you think that Manchester is trying to emulate London,???,,,its just a word,,London is London and Manchester is Manchester

"so you would have all non metropolis cities without city centres? it is central manchester, as sleepyone said, because it is located in the centre of the county. And i disagree with you that 'its boroughs are very distinct and separate from each other' if you look around this forum you will find tons of pics which would prove you otherwise."

How can you not have a city centre in a city?! Where did you get that question from ?(certainly not my post).

Ok I appreciate your going by the argument 'call it central manchester cos its in the centre of manchester' but I'm asking why has that term been adopted - its a relatively new. Do you think people are trying to big it up and delude us in to thinking its more grand than it actually is?

My understanding of the boroughs is that they are not continuous sprawl. My question is about the terminology though - not boundaries.

"Jim it does sound a little pedantic what your saying , i personally would say Central Manchester and City centre Manchester are exactly the same thing..
I think its mostly a media term, when they say Central Manchester and not something said by most Mancunians.
I also think the same thing is said in Birmingham,Liverpool,Leeds,,,,
Why does saying Central Manchester make you think that Manchester is trying to emulate London,???,,,its just a word,,London is London and Manchester is Manchester"

Its purely the impression I personally get. I could be misguided of course (which is the point really). Why do you think the media has taken on board the central term then?

sorry i see now, i think people have come up with it purley because it was, or still is, called the city centre. most people see greater manchester as a city. so they assumed it was central manchester.

i dont know jimmy ,,ask ITN ,next time there reporting from Manchester,why they call it Central Manchester ,when they are in the city centre,,,lol

This is so petty, who gives a fuck anyway :laugh:

Wherever you are in Manc, you get on a bus and say "town" and you're taken to the City Centre. Or Central Manc. Whichever way you want to call it. See, the thing that bugs me is Mancs are classed as arrogant for denying things like this. It's not arrogance, most of us just don't care about arguing over such silly things.

Can't we just call it 'town'?

For the real pedants.
Why do those of us who live outside the city center refer to going into the city center as going into town.

Mmmm....

3 of us had the same thought

My understanding of the boroughs is that they are not continuous sprawl.

:laugh: Sorry but that's a load of tripe. You can drive through Tameside, Stockport, Trafford or Salford from Manchester without leaving the conurbation. The gap between Manchester and Bolton is tiny these days too and is shrinking by the day. If you seriously think that most of it is not continuous then you really are deluded.

For JJ who does not seem to appreciate the boundary situation in Manc.

http://************/4g4vm0

The area directly the other side of the canal is Trafford - which goes right up to the crappy big red brick building, which is the boundary for Manchester. The picture was taken from Salford.

You can get similar pictures in the suburbs for just about all the 10 bourgh's (except Wigan maybe).

I can see where Jimbob Walton's coming from. I will freely admit that I use the term Central Manchester all the time. However, I believe it is a term that refers to slightly more than what most would consider the City Centre. For instance, I would not call the University Campus, or the main hospital complexes along oxford road "city Centre". I would call them Central Manchester though. Indeed, the government's own NHS body in this area is entitled "Central Manchester and Children's University Hospital Trust" or summat to that effect.

Salford has the same thing. That part of the City Centre which lies within Salford's administrative boundaries, along with a few other areas of Salford I wouldn't consider as "City centre" such as Crescent Regent Road area and Salford University, I would refer to as Central Salford. It's slightly less confusing in Salford's case because it doesn't actually have a city centre that can be distinguished from Manchester's.

In short, I think that when you refer to a place's "Central" area, it covers an area including, but larger than that place's "City Centre". People are free to disagree with me, but that's the way I see it. And I'm always right. And you're shit if you don't agree. ;)

Oh yeah, and I don't agree that the boroughs aren't integrated. There is a slight "separatist" attitude amongst some OAPs in Rochdale, Bolton and Wigan, but they'll be dead soon enough. They're just too attached to the word Lancashire. They seem to forget that Manchester has Lancashire heritage anyway.

I think DGN made a very good response to the "arrogance" comment. I hadn't even thought of this issue before, so for me at least, it's nothing to do with delusions of grandeur or arrogance. In fact, I can only put it down to my apathy towards such debates, that I wasn't offended by some remarks.

I'm glad wotsisface brought the topic up though, because I've been forced to spend an hour of work time to resolve in my own mind why I do use the term Central Manchester.

Thank you and good night.

My understanding of the boroughs is that they are not continuous sprawl. .......

I've posted this before, a few months ago so you've possibly not seen it....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/andrew8429/Manchesterandtowns.jpg

It seems from "my understanding" that you don't know the Manchester area very well at all. The next time you're in a car (without looking at road signs) or train travelling into "Manchester" try to guess where you cross the City boundary....?

I can see what Jimbo means - there's lots of white in there too, and let's not mention Wigan in Manchester shall we...
"Central Manchester" is an ok description that means from Ancoats across to Salford Quays but the City Centre I think is from Manc Way north up to Victoria.

I can see what Jimbo means - there's lots of white in there too, and let's not mention Wigan in Manchester shall we...
"Central Manchester" is an ok description that means from Ancoats across to Salford Quays but the City Centre I think is from Manc Way north up to Victoria.

Most of the white bits are river valleys or parks etc. You cann't build houses there but the Mancehster conurbation is continuous. ATherton, Astley, Tydlesley, Boothstown etc. come under Wigan MBC and ther are certainly part of Manchester, they even have Mancehster addresses. 2.6 million in Greater Manhester county - largest and most economically important after London. Wigan is no less part of Greater Manchester, than Croydon or Siducp is part of Greater London!!

Is skyman EB in disguise?

It's amazing how anyone who is pro manc gets accused of being me these days... :laugh:

He's a little excitable isn't he? He must be a new recruit EB and still wet behind the ears lol!

Good god what a load of rubbish jimbo, I live in Central Manchester but I don't live in the City Centre, The City Centre is just that...the very centre of the city. Central Manchester includes areas such as Moss Side, Whalley Range, The Cresent area, Cheetham Hill, Ancoats, Ardwick, Rusholme, even Old Trafford to some degree these days as it is slowly drifting towards the City Centres borders. Look at the BT phone books, Central Manchester is the one that drops through my door, there is also, South Manchester(because its the South of Manchester) North Manchester(for the same reason but only NORTH), West Manchester(West) and so on.

Ive always said South Manchester for as long as I can remember, I lived there for a long time, now I live less than 5 mins from the centre of the city I live in Central Manchester.
As for Mancunians being arrogant with dillusions, I think your way off the mark. For a long time Manchester has lived in the shadow of London, economicaly and from a point of status, this is slowly changing for at last the City is on its way up. Its a sad day when people from outside Manchester get so jealous of our good fortune(which hasn't just come by accident) I would be interested to know where you come from as it doesn't show next to your username, I'm guessing its not Manchester or London for if you were you would have better things going on in your life than to worry and nit pick about a term that everybody but YOU seems to think is quite acceptable.
Get a life pal. :weirdo:

Yours Sincerely
Rolybling
Central Manchester.

I'm listed in the North East Manchester phone book... lol

EarlyBird
North East Manchester :)

"Its a sad day when people from outside Manchester get so jealous of our good fortune(which hasn't just come by accident)"

Golly, it seems you've walked right in to what I'm saying about arrogant attitudes of deluded grandeur.

" I would be interested to know where you come from as it doesn't show next to your username"

Wokingham, Central Surrey :P .

"I'm guessing its not Manchester or London for if you were you would have better things going on in your life than to worry and nit pick about a term that everybody but YOU seems to think is quite acceptable. Get a life pal."

Sorry, I was under the impression this is a forum to ask and discuss such things. Christ, I pity to think the response to you would give to your children in reply to what you think are such "simple" questions e.g. 'Why don't you put petrol on a fire to put it out?' - a sense of understanding and empathy wouldn't go a miss.


Thanks to everyone else for their responses. I understand the logic of calling it central manchester and its not (as I thought) a misguided attempt to be "O look at us, aren't we all like London now". I will pay more attention to the scenary next time I'm up on the way to Picadilly via Stockport with regards to the continuous sprawl.

The boundaries commision have constituency call Manchester Central, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2005/html/394.stm

But is Manchester Central the same as Central Manchester? ;)

Because I care so much.

He's a little excitable isn't he? He must be a new recruit EB and still wet behind the ears lol!

You're a bit of a saddo obviously. I can understand why it would be difficult for anyone to muster any enthusiasm for Brumhole (999 trades i.e. ex Rover), but Manchester is a city region to get excited about.

Oh god he's off again.

Skymann, you have the same persuasive skills as EB.

" I would be interested to know where you come from as it doesn't show next to your username"

Wokingham, Central Surrey :P .


The last time I looked Wokingham was in Berkshire....... unless it's moved?? Or you don't know where you come from....?

Or perhaps it was a joke........

I often think that a certain No1 shows up a lot less under his old guise on the Manchester pages recently, however, we seem to be getting a lot of new WUMs. Coincedence I'm sure.

whats so arrogant about saying people get jealous?
Does jealousy not exist? I think it does and I see it on here all the time especially where Manchester is concerned.
As for me telling my kids not to put petrol on the fire, Im not quite sure where your coming from with that one, besides, I'm a big poof, I don't want any rug rats running around my feet asking me about fire and petrol..oh lordy lordy

Most of the white bits are river valleys or parks etc.

Yes, a lot are Golf courses too. Look at the big white stripe south-east of the city centre between 'Central Manchester' and Wythenshawe/Altrincham, if you look at the same area on a road atlas or something like that you can see that the only reason it isn't built up is because of about 5-6 golf courses in the area.

Bolton, Bury and Rochdale have a slight drop in density between them and the centre of the conurbation but you could hardly call it rural, one field then the suburbs start again on the other side.

Wigan is seperated from the rest of Greater Manchester but towns like Wigan and Warrington would probably come under Manchester if you were calculating a US style 'metro' population as Watford or Windsor would come under London.

I don't really see how it can be 'arrogant' or 'copying London' to describe your city as having a 'Central area', Surely this is just the area in the centre? I've heard the same term used for lots of cities central areas.

I'm curious. I asked a question about this the other day in another thread and didn't really get an answer.

Why have mancunians taken to referring to the city centre part of manchester (and by that I am including the parts of Salford etc.) as "Central" Manchester. I've also seen North, South, etc. Manchester.

It seems like a rather lame attempt to emulate London which is bizarre for two reasons:

1. You get the impression Manchester wants to be something different from London but yet appears to be setting London 'as standard'.

2. You can realistically walk around 'Central' Manchester. Buses/Trams are designed to get in to the city and out to the suburbs (ok, from a pratical save time point of view taking a bus from extremity city part A to part B must happen) - but in Central London walking from say Scotland Yard in Victoria to say the Gherkin in the city or even Canary Wharf would take hours (if not the best part of a day!) - there is a whole circuluar tube line devoted to getting getting you around west central London and then of course the DLR which connects the docklands to the city without even mentioning the 100s of bus routes purely designed to get people around central london.

Lets not dispute, Manchester is big influential city, but a metropolis it's not. The concept of Greater Manchester is pratical purely from an administrative point of view - its boroughs are very distinct and separate from each other.

So again, why call it Central Manchester? Is this a delusion of Grandeur? What exactly is wrong with just using 'City Centre' terminology? I'm not attacking Manchester or its strides to make progress but attempting to call a litre a gallon when its clearly not doesnt fool anyone (it didnt fool the IOC [twice!] ).

Im interested to hear your opinions....

This is a nonsense thread. Manchester nowadays includes all the satellite towns and suburbs which HAVE amalgamated into one big metro area. This is true whether you like it or not.
I used to live in a high apartment in the inner city and I had almosy 360 degree views of Manchester which stretched as far as the airport, the Penines, Ramsbottom and Cadishead.
To me, that is the metro area which isnt just an administrative district but an actual city with suburbs.
Your attitude is one typically old time British. Many say, what are suburbs? :bash:

To me, that is the metro area which isnt just an administrative district but an actual city with suburbs.


What makes Greater Manchester different from Leeds, which is unsuccessfully attempting to restyle West Yorkshire as Greater Leeds, is that it is like LA ie. polycentric. For the last 250 years everywhere has been dependent on 'Central Manchester' but amassing satellite central clusters.

I think the rise of the term "Central Manchester" is symbolic of a serious change in the city, partly real and partly an aspiration.

For the last century or so most large English cities have broadly been divided into 3: - the "city centre" (a few streets of shops and offices), surrounded by the "inner city" (increasingly wrecked and impoverished industrial wasteland), surrounded by "suburbs" (reasonably nice but boring areas of houses with gardens). Only London, Edinburgh and Glasgow really had the sort of dense, reasonably affluent mixed use areas that you get in large continental cities, that are in the centre of the city but aren't really "city centre" in the CBD sense.

If Manchester wants to grow this sort of area (which it seems to be starting to do remarkably successfully) it needs a name for it, and "Central Manchester" sounds as good as any. If you don't like it, what do you propose calling it instead?

It's not arrogant, it's ambitious - and it's a good ambition to have, IMO.

Yes, a lot are Golf courses too. Look at the big white stripe south-east of the city centre between 'Central Manchester' and Wythenshawe/Altrincham, if you look at the same area on a road atlas or something like that you can see that the only reason it isn't built up is because of about 5-6 golf courses in the area.

Bolton, Bury and Rochdale have a slight drop in density between them and the centre of the conurbation but you could hardly call it rural, one field then the suburbs start again on the other side.
Thats a good point about golf courses. Most of the 'rural' gap between Manc and Bolton is a golf course in Westhoughton.

central manchester is like manhattan in nyc. thats it. no more arguments.

agreed?

You're a bit of a saddo obviously. I can understand why it would be difficult for anyone to muster any enthusiasm for Brumhole (999 trades i.e. ex Rover), but Manchester is a city region to get excited about.

Who said that certain Manc forumers were arrogant? And spiteful it seems.
I wouldn't want to wish 6,000 people in a suburb of Manchester to lose their jobs just like that - like blowing out a candle. Also I wouldn't want to wish another 18,000 suppliers job losses across the city neither.
I was being playful. You're just being a plain spiteful twisted fuck.

morestoreysplease, please ignore this idiot.

He is probably some kid who thinks it cool to insult other people.