Permanently Closed

I moved to Manchester in 1999 and left in 2009. In that time I lived in Salford, Eccles, Fallowfield, Didsbury and Ancoats. During that decade I saw a lot of change. Manchester was growing. But that expansion is nothing compared to what's happened since I moved north.

I currently travel to Manchester at least once a week. On the short walk from Oxford Road Station to Amaze, I usually see something new — vape shops, gin parlours, hipster bowling alleys, crazy golf for grown-ups. I know it's a cliché to say “I don't recognise this town anymore” but christ… I really don't recognise half the places I see.

The thing is, the area around Amaze — Oxford Road, Princes Street and beyond — really was my ‘old stomping ground’. My first gig, first fight, first mugging (me getting mugged, not the other way round), club nights I ran with mates, first date with my now wife - all happened within spitting distance of Amaze. But when I started to reaserch into these place, I was in for a shock. Pretty much all of the venues where these things happened simply no longer exist. Search for them on Google and you'll be met with a stark two word response - Permanently closed.

I wanted to make a map of these places - lost places, but places that meant a lot to me. Manchester might have forgotten them, but I needed to document each location before they fall from my memory.

So I visited these locations, and recorded what memories I could recall. And then, to make a mark, I attached a sticker to their facades which read "Permanently closed". Gone but not forgotten, these places are plotted on the map below…