EVERYTHING’S SHIP-SHAPE IF YOU THINK OUT OF THE BOX
her boots lying by the door - she only moved in last month but already seems at home here, surrounded by reams of colourful fabric.
“It’s so handy having 24-hour access and having other creatives nearby,” she says.
“It’s nice working alongside completely different people.”
Calder Taylor and his business partner Dale Gallagher are among the latest to join Pollard Yard, with their clothing brand Ankh & Eye.
Until now, Calder has been working from his penthouse apartment near Deansgate, surrounded by boxes as well as trying to run his photography business from the same space.
“I’m going to use this space as a showroom, where people can come and see stuff. There’s a lot of influencers in Manchester so we want to bring people down and show them what we’re doing.”
Pollard Yard is a saving grace for freelancers who have gone it alone and left the working environment - and chats around the kettle behind. Freelance graphic designer Gemma Thirsk said: “When I was working from home I had a really hard time with loneliness. You go a bit crazy just sitting there not talking to anyone but the postman.” She’s also making her container work for her financially - as the founder of the Ladies Who Trade group, where women can network and skill-swap, she’s renting out a couple of desks to create a female-only co-working space.
In one of the largest units, pink neon signs welcome customers to a feminine beauty salon.
This is the Oh Beauty lash bar, owned by Beth Pashby who left her job in training for a cosmetics brand in May to go self-employed.
“Originally I was going to take a smaller unit here,” she said. “But then I got so busy so quickly, lash extensions have just gone massive.
“I was just booked out solidly. “Now I rent out the rest of the beds in this unit to other girls they’re all self-employed, they don’t work for me, but it gives them a space.
“It’s fab here,” said Beth.