Won’t somebody think of the developers?

Dear readers — we open this week with something remarkable and novel (are you sitting down?). It’s an example of someone talking about us in glowing terms. It comes from Ronee Marie Walsh, who posted these unbelievably lovely words about us over the weekend, which we think — or hope — captures one of our main missions at The Mill: making people feel closer to the places and people around them.

This is exactly what I get from subscribing the Mill Media. I feel connected to the communities of Manchester because of the quality of reporting at both community and city level. Anyone working in media, or interested in engaging people in stories, or place based work - it's worth reading (and that does mean subscribing) to experience the magic of connection through local quality journalism.

We’d also implore you to read over these words from Cameron Barr, our much-loved Investigations Editor, who joined us last year having left the Washington Post (Barr took his ‘Biggest Downgrade in World Media’ Award at the Mill Christmas Staff Do in good spirits). He was commenting on the seizure of Post journalist Hannah Natanson’s devices by the FBI in a raid on her home. “This is what it means to practice journalism under an authoritarian regime. Reporters' homes are searched and their devices are seized by the state. The owners of media companies are co-opted, their journalists forced out or pressured into silence”.

And on a lighter note, we close out this brief introduction with a morsel of poetry. It was commented beneath Jack’s excellent weekend read, about the TikTok influencer Zoë Bread, and her relentless battles with Manchester City Council (do read all of the comments under that one if you haven’t yet). It comes courtesy of Neil, and exhibits insightful commentary on the internet, the future, the present, society, the times in which we live and the world around us.

I Don't TikTok

Around the Clock

I don't believe a word of GROK

The internet is getting SAD

Like my poetry, 'tis bad

Comments in verse on any of the matters raised in this newsletter are more than welcome below.

“Gavin” strikes again

Readers of last Thursday’s piece – on the Vigilante Vandal tormenting local businesses with outlandish accusations – will no doubt be dismayed to hear that our culprit is back on the cans (the spray cans, that is). The latest work by our Outsider Artist, which was painted outside The White Hotel, can be seen below:

“Pedo Alley”. Paint on wood and brick. Artist: “Gavin” (presumably). Photo: The White Hotel

The Mill were sent these pictures on Thursday, the very day our piece on the matter was published. Has Gavin struck again as a direct result of our reporting? We think not, and absolve ourselves, for two reasons: firstly, the tags were photographed on Thursday morning, meaning he likely struck the night before; and, secondly, had he read our piece, he would know by now that that’s not how you spell ‘paedo’.

Meanwhile, in a new first for us, our reporting on the tagger was picked up by Resident Advisor, who praised what they referred to as a “three-year investigation by The Manchester Mill”. Ophira would like to let it be known that her investigation into the matter took all of 48 hours, and had she spent the last three years looking into crap tags done by a solitary vandal, she likes to think the resulting article would have been a little better.

As mental health referrals increase, the doors to Bolton’s counselling centre remain shut

For over 25 years, in an old Methodist church in the middle of Bolton, the Simeon Centre operated out of a few rooms tucked away at the end of a long wing. “It wasn’t pretty but it was charming,” Robert Hurst, its trustee, told The Mill on Friday. Robert had appealed for donations to keep the counselling service going last year, but the funding only allowed it to run until Christmas. Now Hurst, 27, says that at a time in the year when the centre normally caters for a spike in referrals, the impact of its closure is being felt most acutely.

The Simeon was forced to shut its doors following recent changes in how national health commissioning operates, which means that mainly volunteer-run counselling services no longer qualify for NHS funding — which the centre was reliant on. Hurst explained that 600 people received free therapy in Bolton via their services each year, with over 40 qualified therapists giving up their time each week to help residents. From the point of referral, the Simeon Centre usually had a patient assigned to a counsellor within a week, and sessions were offered within four weeks. Now, those patients are joining the back of waiting lists for already overstretched mental-health services at the NHS. “On that individual, one-to-one level, a lot of the people I worked with, if they had to wait 12 to 18 months, I worry that life would’ve gone in a very different direction,” Hurst said.

Beyond the impact on patients, Robert described the “brain drain” on the community, as qualified therapists will now volunteer their time elsewhere or set up private practices. An angel investor is the only way the centre can get back up and running, and Robert warned that “if people think there’s a mental-health crisis now… I dread to think what it’s going to be like in 12 months.”

Think of the developers!

We ask you to spare a thought for Manchester’s property developers. Last week, the city council’s planning committee did something — to quote the MEN — “for the first time in years”: it denied a developer the chance to build another skyscraper in the city centre. Could you imagine? Over the last few years, the city’s development has meant a glut of swanky high-rise apartments but much less affordable housing. Indeed, companies like Renaker, the city’s most prolific skyscraper-merchant, haven’t built any.

While this has raised more and more questions about the council’s priorities in recent years, no one expected Liquid Funding Business’s plans for a 50-storey tower of 750 flats by Piccadilly to be treated any differently. Sure, there were snags: it was expected to make a £13m loss, exceed the storey-limit for that part of town, and had no affordable homes in it, but the committee has looked past things like that before. After all, this kind of development does attract the kind of investment that has contributed to Manchester’s economic boom. But this time it voted unanimously against the development: “We should not be seeing fancy yoga rooms. We should be seeing affordable housing,” councillor Angela Gartside told the committee. Does this signal a step change in how the council’s planning department works? Let’s wait and see. What has caused the committee to act this way is also something of a mystery, though people online have a theory: “Zoe Bread strikes again”.

And speaking of Renaker, its owner Daren Whitaker found himself in the Telegraph over the weekend (derogatory). Whitaker has funded virtually all of his developments with some £700m in loans from the GMCA’s housing fund. Companies House showed that, over a span of two years, Whitaker took £40m in dividends from one of the projects backed by those loans. The loan agreement agreed for the project said that Whitaker could only take dividends with the GMCA’s consent as a lender. But the authority wouldn’t confirm to the Telegraph whether it granted that consent, only that Renaker had repaid the loan.

Open Newsroom: There’s ENO place like HOME

We want to do a little digging on the progress being made by the English National Opera in their Manchester relocation. You might remember this as a personal obsession of Joshi’s from a few years back when there was much debate about whether it was wise for ENO to head north (Joshi continues to personally credit himself with securing the move) but what’s happened since? Ophira wants to know — you can contact her here.

We’re also still eager to speak to anyone working at (or simply with insights into) HOME. Our piece is due to come out pretty soon so if you think you can help us out, get straight in touch with Jack. He’ll be waiting by the telephone, twirling the cord.

It's a new year, and we're really keen to hear what you, our readers, think about The Mill. We've set up a short survey where you can tell us what you like, what you don't like, and a bit more about you as well. It only takes 5 minutes and it really helps us to improve what we're doing - many thanks.

Take the survey

This week’s weather

Tuesday🍃Windy & mostly dry with bright spells. Max 10°c.

Wednesday 🌦️Dry with bright spells at first, turning cloudy & damp later. Max 9°c.

Thursday 🌧️Cloudy & breezy with outbreaks of heavy rain. Max 9°c.

Friday 🌦️Limited bright spells fading to showery rain. Breezy. Max 8°c

Outlook 🌦️ Remaining unsettled and gradually turning cold into next week as easterly winds dominate.

Home of the Week

For £220,000 you can count L. S. Lowry, Tony Wilson, legendary United manager Sir Matt Busby and Yorkshire-born radio presenter Wilfred Pickles as your new neighbours — by purchasing this two-bed flat on the corner of Southern Cemetery.

What our writers are up to this week

🐴 The Royal Nawaab are hosting a Year of the Horse-themed Paint and Sip. While we haven’t exactly been effusive in our praise of the venue before now, Ophira and Jack were thinking of showing face, tails between legs and olive branches in hand. After all, who are we to argue with Jay Rayner, who called the establishment “classy” last year.

🎞️ The Mill team have been looking for a new Quiz Night since our crushing second-place finish (out of three teams) at Sam’s Chop House last year. Perhaps we’d have more luck at The Light in Stockport, which is best suited to “film fanatics” (Jack Dulhanty is our resident film buff, and recommends: Pulp Fiction).

📽️ Lucy is beating the Monday blues by heading to a cinema club for people in their 20s and 30s at the Foundry Project. Each social mixer starts with the screening of a new indie film by local producers, before the evening transitions into a DJ set to really dispel that start-of-the-week slump. They’re hosted monthly by Monday Feels and you can join the mailing list here to stay in the know about future events.

It's Blue Monday, yes, but it doesn't need to be that blue. If you want to give yourself a little lift, and to help us keep going in 2026, why not take out an annual subscription to The Mill. With a year-long subscription you get two months free, and you'll know everything there is to know about Manchester for the whole of the year, including in-depth local politics coverage, beautifully written features and deeply reported investigations.

You'll also get access to our entire back catalogue of scoops, stories, history-pieces and juicy features. Just click the button below.

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