The Quays Greater Manchester’s partial success story
The waterside district of Salford Quays, or The Quays, is regarded as one of Greater Manchester’s regeneration success stories.
But EOM believe the success is only partial.
In Salford Quays - or - The Quays - you can shop at the Lowry Galleria shopping mall with its discounted stores and boutiques. You can see a play, show or exhibition at the Lowry arts centre, one of the most striking and controversial pieces of modern architecture in the UK.
You can cross the footbridge to the Trafford or Stretford side of the Manchester Ship Canal and visit the equally striking Imperial War Museum North, and experience how ‘War changes lives’. There’ s a fantastic view from the Air Shard viewing platform towards Manchester city centre.
Manchester United ground with its shop and museum are just a short walk away.
People live and work in Salford Quays. There are office buildings, some impressive and some less so, and residential developments, both 80’s style low-rise and 2000’s style high rise.
Salford Quays is one of the most visited and most photographed places.
But EOM finds there is something lacking. The open expanses of water are spectacular, but it would be great if there was some traffic on the water, as in London Dubai, or Tokyo.
When the former Manchester Docks was developed in the 80’s and 90’s, jetties were installed, but there are few if any boats moored at them.
The only boats are rowing boats from Salford Watersports Centre, the occasional Mersey Ferry doing the Ship Canal Tour, and that’s it.
There is not only a lack of water traffic, but a lack of people. No bustling crowds on the waterfront as in Hong Kong or Shanghai. A lot of the time, the only company is the occasional swans or Canada goose.
And much the architecture in Salford Quays from the 80’s and early 90s is less than impressive. In those early days, the idea of developing the former Docks was still a leap of faith, and there wasn’t the economic drive to support high rise development.
Today that’s changing and groundbreaking new developments are appearing at the water’s edge - the biggest is likely to be the Media City, set to be built on disused land beyond the Lowry arts centre.
Other areas, like the Pomona Docks district, remain entirely undeveloped. And it’s a pity that the area along Trafford Wharf was allocated for industrial use. It would have made a great waterside park or the site for an impressive building for public use.
Salford Quays was rebranded as ‘The Quays’ so that the Trafford side could be included, forming a unified tourist destination. The term ‘Trafford Quays’ has been coined, though where exactly this refers to isn’t clear. A tourist destination brand name without a location identifier can cause problems, especially with a word as common as ‘Quays’. A Google search will also list a development called ‘The Quays’ in Newry, Northern Ireland, as well as others.
Maybe they should have tried to overcome local allegiances and instead of ‘The Quays Greater Manchester’s Waterfront’, the name could simply have been: The Manchester Quays.
EOM believes that the Manchester conurbation should have a single, unified local authority and branding.
For more info on… that place… visit www.thequays.org.uk.
The Lowry arts centre is at www.thelowry.com.
For the Lowry Outlet Mall go to www.lowryoutlettmall.com
Use the Lowry Outlet Mall postcode M50 3AH for satnav and Multimap
The Imperial War Museum North can be found at north.iwm.org.uk.
See my EWM photo feature Stunning Views along the Quays and do search for Salford Quays in the aidan.co.uk photo portfolio.
Photographs capture, article written and post uploaded from Salford Quays - The Quays 1pm Sunday 10 September, 2006.