Northern Quarter Car Park – Manchester

Here we am again two years on, following my previous visit.

It seems that you are not long for this world – destined for an ultra elevated multi-storey heaven.

An eyesore Northern Quarter car park is to be demolished to make way for a new development. Four new public squares will be built, the council has announced.

MEN

Glenbrook’s proposal for the 1.5-acre site, designed by Tim Groom Architects, will feature 20% affordable provision, in line with the city council’s aspirations.

The new neighbourhood will also feature four public squares and green spaces, a flexible community and gallery space, and commercial units for local independent businesses and food and beverage outlets.

“The Church St site represents a unique opportunity in the heart of the Northern Quarter, a neighbourhood and community that is alive with energy and creativity, and Glenbrook is delighted to play an important role in its future growth,” said Ian Sherry, director at Glenbrook.

Place North West

In this bang up to the minute computer generated image, it seems that the art work Big Boys Toy will be preserved.

Taken down from its top spot above the Tib Street stairs and service tower.

The remainder, one assumes, descends to the ultra modern land of land fill.

Here’s one that someone made earlier.

Ta-ra my aromatic and neglected old pal.

Other Manchester car parks are available.

Stafford Station Multi Storey Car Park

Stafford Station – Multi-Storey Car Park Station Road ST16 2AA

Arriving by train one Saturday morning at the Stafford Station, with time on my hands, I thought to take a look at the adjacent multi-storey car park.

As a pedestrian I found it to be first rate, clean and well signed and designed, easy access by both stairways and lifts, affording panoramic views of the town.

The motorists however have mixed opinions.

Parkopedia

Maid Marion Way Car Park – Nottingham

Maid Marian Way Nottingham NG1 6AE

This has narrow ramps up and down, and narrow parking spots.

One ticket machine upon entry wouldn’t dispense – the other was covered with a bag but did work, very weird.

Becky T

Anyway, a way must have a name, so why not Maid Marion?

Olivia De Havilland

Maid Marian is the heroine of the Robin Hood legend in English folklore, often taken to be his lover. She is not mentioned in the early, medieval versions of the legend, but was the subject of at least two plays by 1600. Her history and circumstances are obscure, but she commanded high respect in Robin’s circle for her courage and independence as well as her beauty and loyalty. For this reason, she is celebrated by feminist commentators as one of the early strong female characters in English literature.

Wikipedia

Robin Hood and DH Lawrence apart it seems most apt – so Maid Marion Way it is then.

In November 1945, the city council decided to ask Parliament for the go ahead for a scheme likely to cost more than half a million pounds.

However, it would cut a swathe through medieval streets, wiping some from the map and spelling the end of a community life which had thrived for centuries.

The arguments, discussions and negotiations rumbled on for years. It would be 1963 before work finally got underway and the new road was built.

Less than two years after it was completed, it was given a label that has stuck over the past four decades — the ugliest street in Europe.

Nottingham Post

Dual carriageways mean cars, cars mean car parks and car parks mean business.

Whether you’re visiting a student or are one yourself, parking at our car park on Maid Marian Way gives you easy access to the University of Nottingham.

For those who want a bit of retail therapy, look no further than the Intu Victoria shopping centre. Located within easy walking distance of our Maid Marian car park and right in the heart of the city centre, you’ll have a choice of over fifty shops to browse.

If you’re a bit of a history buff then Nottingham Castle should definitely be on your ‘to do’ list. Park near the castle at Maid Marian Way, and you’re just minutes away from reliving tales of the past as you explore the original hidden caves equipped with a dungeon. Make sure you don’t leave without taking a picture with Nottingham’s most famous resident, Robin Hood, found just outside the castle. 

NCP

Had a lovely conversation with a lady in the machine after my parking ticket was swallowed and learnt lots about the poor acoustic in car parks. They charged me twice to park my car which made me feel lots of negative emotions towards them. So all in all, a bit of rollercoaster. Highly recommend this experience for anyone looking for somewhere to park that enjoys conflict and has lots of money they don’t need.

Mappcouk

Manors Car Park – Newcastle upon Tyne

Brims and Co. Limited

Manors Car Park’s distinctive form derives from the constraints of the train line to east which collided with the new Central East Motorway A167 M which dips beneath, shaping the car park between these constraints. The curvature of the concrete decks sweeps uniformally across the site, interrupted only by the circulation ramp. The car park was the first multi-story car park in Newcastle and marked the beginnings of Wilfred Burns car-centric plans for the modernisation of the city through the Central East Motorway Plan – 1963.

Burns plan aimed to increase the economic growth of the city through greater convenience for an emerging car owning populace and even went as far as to incentivised cars travel by offering limited free parking in the city centre.

Manors car park connected and accompanied by an equally dramatic and elongated pedestrian footbridge from Manors Train Station – today Manors Metro, touching the car park for access before swooping under Swan House on Pilgrim Street Roundabout. The bridge takes what feels like the longest imaginable route over the motorway, allowing pedestrians to bypass Northumberland high street and take in the theatrics of the swooping concrete forms and motorway traffic.

Something Concrete +Modern

Newcastle Libraries

In the early 1960s, under the leadership of T Dan Smith and his chief planning officer Wilf Burns, Newcastle city council undertook a comprehensive re-planning of the city centre that, had it been carried out to its full extent, would have led to the construction of underground motorways and a series of raised pedestrian decks running along Northumberland Street in the main shopping zone. The plan was that the new city would encircle the historical core, which would be preserved; meanwhile vast swathes of Georgian housing to the east would be razed. There were also plans for high-rise towers in the centre, only one of which was built.

The Guardian

This tendency in town planning was due in part to the publication of H. Alker Tripp’s book of 1942.

Along with Traffic in Towns an influential report and popular book on urban and transport planning policy published 25 November 1963 for the UK Ministry of Transport by a team headed by the architect, civil engineer and planner Colin Buchanan. The report warned of the potential damage caused by the motor car, while offering ways to mitigate it. It gave planners a set of policy blueprints to deal with its effects on the urban environment, including traffic containment and segregation, which could be balanced against urban redevelopment, new corridor and distribution roads and precincts.

These policies shaped the development of the urban landscape in the UK and some other countries for two or three decades. Unusually for a technical policy report, it was so much in demand that Penguin abridged it and republished it as a book in 1964.

Wikipedia

In a one man war against the segregation of traffic and pedestrian I often walk car parks, ramps and all.

Stockport Asda, Piccadilly Manchester, Merseyway, Heaton Lane, Hull, Red Rock, Grimsby, and Margate.

As a non-driving militant pedestrian I assert my right to go wherever I wish to – within reason.

Okay let’s go.