‘I’m 100% confident we will bounce back’
FOOTFALL MAY BE WAY DOWN IN THE CITY CENTRE... BUT LIFE IS SLOWLY RETURNING
WALKING down Market Street on a weekday lunch time, life appears to have returned to something resembling normality in Manchester city centre.
Shops have reopened and the strip is bustling with families and groups of friends enjoying a day out in town.
Buskers are assembling mic stands and laying out their guitar cases ready to catch coins, and street vendors push trolleys displaying face-coverings for sale alongside the usual mobile phone covers.
After months of lockdown that have already left economic scars on the high street, it’s heartening to see people cautiously returning to everyday activities like shopping.
Restaurants and bars are becoming busier too, with many reporting encouraging early trade since reopening on July 4.
But footfall remains severely dented throughout the city centre with many workers yet to return to offices, and none of the crowds usually brought by major events such as Manchester Arena gigs, theatre shows and football matches.
Despite a ‘gradual uptick,’ visitor numbers are still down 56 per cent year on year, according to a council report published last week.
Greater Manchester’s night time economy adviser Sacha Lord said: “I think the biggest, most obvious challenge is immediate footfall. There’s a huge population that’s been taken out of the city centre – that’s going to take the longest to recover.
“At the moment, it’s estimated maybe 20 to 25pc of people will return to the office by Christmas. Office lunches are disappearing, after work drinks are disappearing, pre-theatre dinners and post-theatre drinks are disappearing.”
Restaurant consultant Thom Hetherington said: “I think the issue is Manchester has become a victim of its own success.
“We’ve developed a cultural scene and hospitality scene which has largely been fed by the growth in city centre residents, the growth in commercial population and the growth in tourism which has been unprecedented nationally and internationally.
“We may suffer more than other provincial cities because they are the sectors that have been most affected by coronavirus.”
Thom, who runs the Northern Restaurant and Bar show and Manchester Art Fair, says the lack of an events calendar – from festivals and football matches to conferences and
exhibitions – is also hitting hospitality hard.
Manchester Central – the convention venue that was repurposed as a Nightingale Hospital during the coronavirus crisis – brings in more than £150m to the local economy alone, according to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
“It fills 20pc of hotel beds in the city,” said Thom, whose own events are among those held there.
“As a city we need to be working to restart major events as soon as it is safely possible. They create the raw footfall which fills hotels, fills our restaurants, bars and shops. Events are the engine that drive this. They are an economic generator.”
Gigs and theatres can welcome back live audiences from Saturday – although it may not be financially viable for venues to do so while social distancing rules remain in place.
Sports stadiums will be able to welcome back fans from October, when conferences and business events will also be allowed to go ahead as long as the virus remains under control.
Until then, residential areas of the city with local custom to rely on may prove more resilient.
Walking through the Northern Quarter towards Ancoats, it’s a little more lively – even for a weekday – with pockets of people populating the temporary beer gardens in newly-pedestrianised areas such as Stevenson Square and Blossom Street.
Keith McAvoy, whose family brewery owns the Seven Brothers Beerhouse on Cutting Room Square in Ancoats, said trade had taken a dip at the weekends but weekday trade on the days it is open was up year-on-year.
He said: “I’m wondering whether or not residents – with us being such a large residential area – are staying local for their Wednesday or Thursday drinks rather than travelling a little bit further into the heart of the Northern Quarter.”
Despite the challenges ahead, Sacha believes there are reasons to be optimistic that Manchester’s nightlife will recover.
“The most optimistic thing that I’ve seen in the last 18 weeks was the response to the closure of Deaf Institute and Gorilla – the outpouring from the public and the fact something was done so quickly,” he said.
“That shows to me there’s absolutely demand for those venues to come back.
“I feel more optimistic about Manchester than any other city in the UK actually. We know we are resilient as a city region and we know we have support from its leaders. When you go on holiday and people hear you’re from Manchester you’re always associated with music and nightlife and football – and they are the things that will bounce back.
“I have total, 100pc confidence that we will bounce back.”