Manchester...

I like this picture of Manchester. I like the way the URBIS building ( I refuse to refer to it as the National Football Museum, one of the dullest places I've ever had the misfortune to visit) points along Corporation Street to the Hilton Tower at the other end of Deansgate. You get the upmarket stores around Exchange Square and a bit of the Royal Exchange Theatre.

The building right at the front of the picture, behind the tarpaulins, is the City Buildings. It was one of the first purpose built Victorian office buildings in the city. It's been in a bad state for many years but is about to get a makeover and turned into part of a new hotel, Hotel Indigo. It will be part of the Co-Op's NOMA scheme to revitalise this part of the city centre. The plan began well with the wonderful new Co-Op HQ building on Angel Square but the recession and the financial troubles of the Co-Op Banking arm seems to have stalled the plans.

The sky is a very Manchester one with great banks of rain filled grey clouds coming in off the Irish Sea.