Levenshulme Market rises from the dead

Dear readers — welcome to another Monday in tropical paradise (Manchester when it’s more than 12°C) . Here on the upper floors of the Royal Exchange building sunlight is streaming through our bay windows, the sounds of ice cream trucks and the preparations for St Patrick's Day are rising up from St Ann’s Square and I’m onto my third mojito of the day. I’m in half a mind to fill up the office paddling pool. 

If that description was so evocative and alluring that it made you want to immediately quit your job and come to join us, then guess what? As luck would have it, we’re hiring! We want great freelance editors who have experience working on narrative long reads and investigations and can guide our writers on stories from start to finish. You’ll ideally be based in one of our cities (Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow, London) and have at least three years’ experience of professional editing.

Last week, Ophira had the enviable task of hanging out in the city centre’s DIY skate parks in the sunshine, exploring how Manchester has an opportunity to become the next skate city. We also published a great piece by Jack about a Bolton family who have farmed on the land for 300 years and now risk losing their home, and asked a senior councillor to explain why in the post-Tory austerity era, your local council is still making big cuts (thanks for all the comments on that one — keep them coming).

This week, we’re exploring how four interconnected property companies got rich off the housing crisis in Moston and asking two “activist-architects” who have successfully retrofitted their Chorlton studio how to make your home more eco-friendly. We also have a profile of a chef at a Michelin-recognised restaurant (not that one) who has big dreams around sustainability and healthy eating practices. To read all those pieces, make sure you’re signed up as a paid subscriber.

“The principles of honesty and equity are the only lasting ones”

From today’s sponsor: “[Co-operation] gives men self-reliance and self-control. It gives them something to hope for.” So wrote the 1886 handbook of the Manchester & Salford Equitable Co-operative Society. This wasn’t empty talk; despite “bad trade and the keenest competition”, the society had a turnover of the “large sum of £232,000” in the previous year, directly benefiting its members. “We have every reason to congratulate you and to look hopefully into the future, believing that the principles of honesty and equity are the only lasting ones”, the committee wrote.

Connecting communities with a better financial future and a focus on creating value for local members is at the core of Manchester Building Society. To find out more, and be in the loop when they launch, click here.

⛅️ This week’s weather

Tuesday 🌦️ Feeling chilly with bright spells and a few showers. 8°C.

Wednesday 🌦️ A wintry start with rain, sleet and hill snow followed by bright spells and showers. Breezy. 7°C.

Thursday ⛅️ Mostly dry with plenty of sunny spells Feeling chilly. 8°C.

Friday 🌤️ Bright and mostly dry with good spells of sunshine. 8°C.

Weekend ⛅️ Remaining settled and chilly with variable amounts of sunshine. Temperatures will still be a little below average for the time of year.

We get our weekly forecast from Manchester Weather.

Your briefing

🎪 Levenshulme Market is (sort of) making a return. Last week, Manchester City Council announced that a fortnightly artisan market would return to the car park by Levenshulme train station from Sunday 13 April, with a night market on the last Friday of every month with live music. In July, we reported on the strange death of Levenshulme Market, the buzzy weekly market that was run by a community interest company (CIC) on a council-owned car park. It was such a success that in 2020 the British Market Awards said it had changed the dynamics of the area. But after a fallout over rent with the council in 2021 and an ensuing three-year negotiation process, the market disappeared. Market stalls were replaced by cars and the council roundly got a kicking on Facebook for killing off a popular local event. It was — in the words of local council candidate Jeremy Hoad — “appalling to read that both the council and our Labour councillors have been so unhelpful”. So what’s changed? The new look market will be run by the private events company Independent Street, who are best known as the market operator behind the artisan markets in Poynton and on Chorlton Green. It’s unlikely the announcement will come as an entirely positive one to the diehard fans of the old market though, who were hoping for the stewardship of a CIC who would put all the profits back into the community. Still, it’s probably better than an empty car park… Find out more here.

📚 A few weeks ago, Jack's writer's edition compared the late Sir Howard Bernstein to another famous city builder of recent modern times – Robert Moses of New York. The life of the latter was captured in one of the most lauded biographies ever written (The Power Broker by Robert Caro) and we speculated that a biography of Bernstein might be a good idea (you can read our obituary here). Well, we've heard that such a book is in the works and holding the pen is longtime Mill member and long-standing collaborator of Bernstein’s, Mike Emmerich. Mike is researching his subject over the next few months and will write in earnest later this year and he tells us: "Some parts of Bernstein’s story are clear, but his early life is still a bit opaque. I’m very much in the market for hearing from people who knew the young Howard Bernstein. I’m also interested to really get under the skin of the arguments of those who think my subject and the city took the wrong path – and who would contest the city’s growth narrative and how it did business under Bernstein". If you’d like to contribute your thoughts, you can email Mike direct.

🎓 After weeks of stonewalling, we've finally received confirmation that the UK’s higher education regulator the Office for Students is looking into our allegations of financial misconduct and racist bullying at the University of Greater Manchester. Around midday on Thursday, Lucy Powell, leader of the House of Commons, confirmed that the Office for Students is looking into the allegations and that the police have been notified, saying she recognises the story is of “huge importance” to people in Bolton. The Guardian and the BBC have now picked up our reporting, and Private Eye also just published a new report.

 🏛️ We got key corroboration this morning when university staff leaked us an email from vice chancellor George Holmes bemoaning “unsubstantiated allegations” in the media and confirming that the Office for Students Regulations Directorate will have oversight of the consultancy PwC’s investigation into the university. Thanks to everyone who has shared our series of investigations far and wide — we have more stories planned in the weeks to come, and if you’d like to pass us some more information, just email Mollie and Joshi.

🏗️ Albert Bridge House, the vacant 1950s former tax office near Bridge Street and the River Irwell, built in a Brutalist style, is set to be demolished by developer Oval Real Estate. Initial plans, drawn up in 2022, consisted of developing a 45-foot skyscraper on the land with 367 homes and 350,000 sq ft of office space. The plans have now been revised to two residential towers rising to 37 and 49 storeys and a 17-storey office block, “to better align with current market needs and community priorities”, according to the developer. 

🎭 Stephen Freeman, chief executive of the Royal Exchange Theatre, has announced he is stepping down after seven years. Freeman said he was resigning due to “personal reasons” but did not address the creative tensions that saw the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream cancelled completely at the last minute. On 6 March, the business management consultancy People Make It Work completed its independent review into what led to the play falling apart, finding no evidence of censorship but citing “significant systemic organisational and leadership failures”. The review has not been made public, despite numerous requests to the theatre from The Stage magazine. Know more about this story? Get in touch.

🏛️ The trial into the murder of Stuart Everett has entered its second week. Everett was 67 when he was murdered and dismembered, his remains scattered across parks, woodland and reservoirs around Salford and North Manchester early last year. Marcin Majerkiewicz, a 42-year-old man who was living with Everett at the time of his death, has denied the murder. In the first week of evidence, the jury heard about Majerkiewicz’s “growing sense of frustration” with Everett. The pair lived with a third man named Michal Polchowski, who was initially arrested in connection with the murder but an investigation found there was insufficient evidence to charge him. In one message referring to Polchowski that Majerkiewicz sent to his partner, he said: “The f***** heard what I’m planning.” The trial continues.

Quick hits

👮 Greater Manchester Police admits it has no way of tracking extremist offences, saying “we do not have any flags or searchable fields on our recording system that would be able to identify” extremist crimes.

🎫 The University of Salford has released new archives showing the price of concert tickets at Maxwell Hall in the 1970s and ‘80s, including 50p tickets to see Wings in 1972 and £4 to see The Smiths in 1986.

☀️ Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far, according to the Met Office, with temperatures between 15 and 18 degrees in Manchester.

Home of the week 

This three-bed terrace in Chorlton caused some furore online over the weekend. Why? It doesn’t exactly look worth the £500,000 its been listed for. But it’s spacious inside and, hey, that’s Chorlton, baby.

Our favourite reads

‘It’s hell on earth for me’: how did Joe Black overdose in a homeless hostel with zero tolerance for drugs? — The Guardian

The Guardian tells the story of Joe Black, a musical prodigy (he was playing at the RNCM aged only seven) who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and substance use disorder later in life. Black was admitted to Holmes Road Studios, an award winning homeless hostel with a zero-tolerance policy on drugs. But he died of an overdose. “It sounded perfect,” writes Simon Hattenstone. “The reality was shockingly different.”

Manchester looks to build on life sciences cluster effect — The Financial Times

The FT takes a look at Manchester’s burgeoning innovation space, where university spinouts and overseas investment into new science campuses has created a research “of a quality that would match anywhere in the world”. But there’s still a long way to go to match the capital. “One building in London will probably have more VC funds than the whole of Manchester,” says James Sheppard, from Dutch laboratory Kadans, which has recently chosen Manchester for its new science campus.

‘Cuckoo’ gangs turn victims into suspects — The Times

“It is still dark when cars pull up to a block of flats and a dozen police officers in plain clothes and stab vests rush their way up to the first floor.” The Times’s Constance Kampfner joined GMP on a dawn raid of a flat in Bolton, hosting an “exceptionally busy” crack and heroin business. But the flat wasn’t owned by the dealer, it was owned by a woman who had been “cuckooed”, when criminals take over a vulnerable person’s property as a base for their enterprise. 

Our to do list

Tuesday

🪡 Crochet, pottery, ceramics, woodwork; 2025 is the year of wholesome crafts. If you’ve been meaning to get in on the hype, we recommend New Dawn Pottery as a place to start. And, as luck would have it, they’re hosting pottery wheel classes for beginners. Book here.

📚 Blackwell's are hosting an evening of discussion around working class stories, with authors Neil Campbell, Jim Gibson and Wayne Dean-Richards all in the house to talk about their collections. Tickets are £4.

Wednesday 

🧱 For those interested in the ongoing renovation of Manchester Town Hall (beyond our long read on the subject), the Manchester Lit and Phil are hosting Jamie Coath, a technical expert working on the renovation. Book here.

🎸 The Eagle Inn are hosting the ninth instalment of their Night Shift series, hosted by Northern Parasol. This week, Bluff., a local four-piece with a gentle rock, Britpop sound, are headlining. Tickets here.

Thursday

🍾 If an evening of champagne and cheese sounds like your normal Thursday night, we salute you. If not, make it so at La Fromagerie, in Urmston. Tribaut-Schloesser are providing the fizz, the Crafty Cheese Man, the cheese (naturally). Book here.

📽️ In partnership with the Manchester Urban Film Series, esea contemporary is hosting a screening of two short films on resistance by Southeast Asian and South Asian communities in the UK. More info here.