14
What are your first associations that come to mind when hearing the name of England's Manchester? Is it United, the football club? Because for me it is, even though I must admit, I'm not really a football fan. But you don't have to be a big fan around here to know all the Premier League teams, and you would definitely know both, the City and the United, the latest of which would often be referred to as The Reds which in turn refers to the color the team is always recognized by in their own stadium - The Old Trafford - the largest club football stadium in England. So, I guess, if Upland somehow decides to mint that stadium into blockchain at some point, it could turn out to be a strong contestant for the title of the most sought-after property as it would likely grab the attention and interest of a few footie fans.
Old Trafford's tribute to the NHS during the 2020 COVID pandemic. Photo by Ardfern on Wikimedia Commons. Shared here in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
The Article and the Bus
The introduction is done; the blood of every football fan reading this is made racing faster, so now I would like to briefly touch on how I intend to go about this article. If I would be to do justice to such an important city in Britain that is Manchester by writing everything about its landmarks and important points in history, I would end up with at least a few hundred pages. I could do that and sell it on Amazon, or mint it as an NFT, right? But that's not what I'm doing here. Here and now I just want to write a nice and unpretentious article therefore I have chosen to get on the bus No. 23 and write, and show some things I'm seeing from the inside and outside of this bus.
The Journey
There is such a town called Stockport in Greater Manchester, and the bus No. 23 is leaving from its bus station. It is going to be heading towards Trafford via at least 6 towns, all of which are in South Manchester. The journey should take me about an hour to get to where this bus route terminates. After traveling through Heaton Moor we pass the Pars Woods Entertainment Centre, where you can go ten pin bowling or play bingo or watch cinema or eat, or do all those things one after another. We are now in East Didsbury, which is to say, we enter one of the places in Britain where the prices of properties are at the high end of overall country's property market.
The photo above shows the 30's Semis - the semi detached houses you can briefly see on Pars Wood Road as the bus is heading towards the town centre. The houses serve as a prime example of what you would see a lot in South Manchester. Thus if you ever happen to buy a property like this:
either in real world or Upland's digital one, the 30's, or newer, Semis are what you are going to be seeing a lot in surrounding neighborhoods and areas. Well, maybe not in the immediate surroundings though. As far as Didsbury in general goes, you would get a good number of pubs and cafes:
as well as some quiet neighborhoods with the houses you would probably think twice before turning down the offer to acquire:
Leaving West Didsbury. We can now see Manchester's Southern Cemetery.
It is indeed large and quite old. A few monuments and tombstones here form a scenic view a gothic horror film or game would use for its settings. If you are looking for art that has to do with creating monuments for deceased, this is as good a place to visit as any.
The soldiers of both world wars are also buried here. All in all a place very well maintained; perfect for walks and having some meditative, introspective moments with oneself. I have no idea how this would all look in Upland's digital world though; it would feel quite odd to be able to buy and sell a cemetery like that. The more I think about it, the more I realize this would be a property I would attempt to buy in Upland asap, and not ever sell it to anyone. The funds I'd need for maintaining it I would rise by offering services of cremation in cemetery's own Crematorium. If you ever visit the Southern Cemetery then don't forget to walk around the Crematorium; it is a beautiful place. Scenic in its own, graveyardy way.
We continue our journey on bus No. 23. On the left is Chorlton Water Park, which is about 5-10 mins walking distance from Southern Cemetery. You can't see it from where we are, not even from the upper deck of the bus, but the park is there; you'll just have to take my word on this if you've not got Maps open in your smartphone and can't make sure if I'm telling the truth. Anyhow, Chorlton Water Park isn't anything that's artificially built for entertainment; rather a place that resembles a nature reserve. During the summer it's a perfect place for yoga as well as purely physical exercises. If that's not your thing then perhaps counting birds and just getting some sun is..?
We are now in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, or simply Chorlton.
The houses here are cheaper to rent or buy than the ones in Didsbury, but, generally speaking, properties are always in demand in this part of Manchester and the prices reflect that. It also seems to be favoured by younger generation, students in particular as it is close to Fallowfield - traditionally Manchester's student town. Chorlton is relatively close to Manchester's centre with all the transport links being in place by which I mean tram, train and bus. The transport links like those are in most of the towns in Greater Manchester.
Minutes later, as we continue our journey, we see a sign saying "Trafford welcomes you to Stretford". This is the town where both, Old Trafford stadium and Trafford Park, are situated. We won't see the Park from the bus, but it has to be mentioned here. One reason for mentioning it is the fact that what was once "a beautifully timbered deer park" is these days one of the Europe's largest industrial estates. Another reason for mentioning it is the fact that the Park is a symbol of Manchester's prominent industrial status during the Industrial Revolution back in the 19th century, when Park's development began. Trafford Park is situated alongside Manchester's Ship Canal and opposite Salford Quays with MediaCityUK, where media organizations BBC and ITV as well as Salford University have all found their homes.
MediaCityUK, Salford Quays, Manchester, UK. Photo by Sara Bielenkij on Unsplash, shared here in accordance with Unsplash's license at https://unsplash.com/license
Manchester's Ship Canal. Photo by Josh Taylor on Unsplash, shared here in accordance with Unsplash's license at https://unsplash.com/license
We travel through Urmston not long before reaching our final destination - Trafford Centre:
This phenomenal set of buildings with the market value of over 2 billion GBP is essentially a leisure complex and shopping centre situated in the aforementioned Trafford Park, and it is a home to around 200 shops and services. One of its most famous parts is The Orient - Europe's largest food court with 1,600 seats and 31 restaurants, cafes and bars. To give you a further idea of the scale of the whole business enterprise it should be mentioned that approximately 10 percent of Britain's population live within a 45 minute drive of Trafford Centre. I'm also going to add to all that the fact that it is practically impossible to take a photo of the whole Centre without using a drone or helicopter. I'm posting a couple of photos of the estate that are each taken by me at different spots next to it so that you can see what its architectural style is. At this point it should be noted that it's never been a palace as the photos might suggest - it was designed from scratch throughout the 1990s with some parts added later, after it's opening in 1998.
I think, as soon as Upland would add Manchester to its world, Trafford Centre would be one property everyone would strive to get the ownership of.
Some Words About What Hasn't Been Included in This Article
There is a number of historical and otherwise important landmarks in Manchester that can all be found on Google and sites such as Tripadvisor: National Football Museum, Belle Vue, Printworks, Art Gallery, Corn Exchange, Gay Village, Manchester Monastery and others. I hope that, if my article got you hooked for one or another reason, you'd be able to use the best friend of all of us (Google) and find out more about whatever it is you're most interested in because frankly, Manchester has always got something for everyone. I think one thing that reflects the truth of this statement is the number of music venues in the city. To be honest, I don't even know how many venues are there (a lot!), but I have been in at least 10 of them: Apollo, Manchester Academy, Satan's Hollow, Gullivers, Rebellion Bar are the first ones that come to mind. There is always someone playing pop, rock, classical or some other style of music somewhere in the city, and I assure you, despite of what happened at Manchester Arena back in 2017, people never stop enjoying themselves. On the contrary; we will just party harder! So get your t-shirt with the Bee on it and come have a good time with us.
***This article had been written for the MyUplandCity Writing Contest in July 2021. All photos taken by me except where mentioned otherwise.***
