This autumn, Manchester Wire has teamed up with historian, author and tour guide Jonathan Schofield for a trio of walking tours exploring some of the city’s most intriguing cultural histories.
A registered Blue Badge Guide of thirty years and official tour guide for Manchester International Festival since 2015, Schofield has written several books on the North West, worked as a broadcaster, public speaker and city identity consultant, and received the University of Manchester Medal of Honour in 2021 for his contribution to the region.
From Manchester’s musical mythology to its peculiar architectural ambitions and enduring presence on the page and screen, these tours offer a unique chance to see familiar streets through a fresh, fascinating lens and fall in love with our city all over again.
On this fascinating tour of the city’s overlooked midcentury landscape, Schofield explores the bold visions and strange detours behind Manchester’s attempt to reinvent itself through a series of architectural experiments after the Second World War.
From the CIS Tower and Piccadilly Plaza to Manchester’s own little Brasilia, the tour takes in some of the city’s most imposing examples of concrete, glass and steel, alongside unsung artworks and detailed stories. The route also maps the ambitious 1945 Manchester Plan, a grandiose vision that could have transformed the city into a regimented concrete metropolis, but never came to fruition, as well as the personalities behind the gambit.
Meet outside New Century House at 5.30pm. Book your spot below.
The legendary literary and cinematic figures of our locale intertwine on this tour, with a route moving between the writers, filmmakers, actors and other cultural titans who played a foundational part in Manchester’s rich creative heritage.
Expect tales and quotations from Elizabeth Gaskell, Friedrich Engels, Charles Dickens, Frederick Douglass, Anthony Burgess, Howard Jacobson, Carol Ann Duffy and plenty more.
Film and TV fans can also trace locations from Hell Is a City, Coronation Street, Darkest Hour, Cracker, Fool Me Once, Anatomy of a Scandal and Peaky Blinders, with Coldplay and Captain America among the other unexpected connections.
This tour departs from St. Ann’s Church and ends at HOME. Book below.
www.jonathanschofieldtours.com
- Words:
- Wolf McFarlane
- Published on:
- Mon 24 Aug 2026
Departing from the Bridgewater Hall, this tuneful trundle captures Manchester’s musical legacy in vivid detail, with a route that charts the city’s popular music scene from the 1960s to the present day. Each checkpoint stops at an iconic venue or landmark connected to the city’s lyrical history, while a playlist sent out ahead of the tour provides an appropriately Mancunian soundtrack for the journey.
Participating walkers will hear stories about The Smiths, The Bee Gees, The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Oasis, New Order, Joy Division, 10cc, The Hollies, James, The Fall, Elbow and John Cooper Clarke, alongside a few surprises and pointers towards the next generation.