Street Art: The Modern History of the Northern Quarter

This is a tour for those interested in the city's counterculture with an authentic voice from that scene, told through its street art. Discussing not only of triumphs in architecture and heritage but real issues facing the city today from social justice to public spaces. The tour tracks the transformation of the Northern Quarter since the 1970s when it was in decline in the wake of our first American-style shopping mall, the Arndale Centre, opening. The area, the one with the highest density of protected buildings in the city, was cited by cultural icon Tony Wilson in the early 90s as being 'our Detroit' owing to a mass evacuation of businesses. Abandoned and ruined it was the public art that turned the area around from 1998 onwards. The tour discovers that original ceramic art trail and uses more modern street art in order to weave together the narrative. We'll also discuss how the Northern Quarter is used as a film set, and we'll discover the backstreets of the area rather than the major streets and attractions as these are easy to discover on your own (though I'm happy to give you tips on where to explore after the tour, or where to go for lunch etc)