Moss Side
Encyclopedia
Moss Side is an inner-city area and electoral ward
of Manchester
, England
. It lies 1.9 miles (3.1 km) south of Manchester city centre
and has a population of around 17,537. Moss Side is bounded by the neighbourhoods of Hulme
, Rusholme
, Whalley Range, Fallowfield
, and Old Trafford, on the north, east, south and west, respectively.
In and around Moss Side are the public parks of Whitworth Park
and Alexandra Park
. The east of Moss Side is close to the Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan
universities and is a popular area for students to live. Between 1923 and 2003, Moss Side was the location of Manchester City
's stadium, at Maine Road
.
a part of Lancashire
, Moss Side was formerly a rural township
and chapelry
within the parish of Manchester
and hundred of Salford
. Following the Industrial Revolution
there was a process of unplanned urbanisation
and a rapid increase in population size. The industrial growth of the area resulted in a densely populated area, so much so, that a part of the township of Moss Side was amalgamated into the expanding city of Manchester in 1885, with the rest joining in 1904.
Mass development in Moss Side occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when large numbers of red brick terraced houses were built, and soon attracted numerous Irish
immigrants
and other working people.
Manchester City F.C.
moved to a new stadium on Maine Road on 25 August 1923, relocating from Hyde Road, Ardwick
; on its opening it was one of the most capacious sports stadiums in the United Kingdom
, capable of holding up to 85,000 spectators. The club would play there for the next 80 years.
During the Manchester Blitz
of World War II
many of the terraced houses were damaged by German bombing on the night of December 22/23 1940.
Migrants from the Indian subcontinent
and Caribbean
settled in the locality during the 1950s and 1960s, and by the 1980s Moss Side was the hub of Manchester's Afro-Caribbean community
.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, Manchester City Council demolished many of the Victorian
and Edwardian terraced houses to the west of Moss Side and replaced these with new residential properties.
In 1981, the Moss Side area was one of England's inner city
areas affected by a series of riots
. Analysts trace the 1970s origins of Manchester's gang crime to social deprivation in the south-central part of the city — Hulme
, Longsight
and Moss Side — where it was claimed to be difficult to make money by legitimate means, despite thousands of people in the area somehow managing it. A parallel trade in illegal narcotics and firearms gave rise to Manchester's nickname of "Gunchester". "Turf wars" between rival drugs 'gangs', resulted in a high number of fatal shootings. During what has been termed the Madchester
phase of the history of Manchester
, narcotic trade in the city became "extremely lucrative" and in the early 1990s a gang war started between two groups vying for control of the market in Manchester city centre
— the 'Cheetham Hill Gang' and The 'Gooch Close Gang', in Cheetham Hill
and Moss Side, respectively. There were several high profile shootings associated with gangs and drugs in this area during the 1990s and into the 21st century, albeit at a declining rate.
Many of the flats in neighbouring Hulme
were demolished in the late 1990s to make way for new low rise homes. Housing on the Alexandra Park Estate in the west of Moss Side has been renovated and the streets redesigned to reduce the fear of crime
.
within the local authority of Manchester City Council
. The ward is represented by Labour Councillor
s Sameen Ali, Alistair Cox and Roy Walters.
Moss Side is part of the Manchester Central
constituency, represented by the Labour Party
MP
Tony Lloyd
.
, the main road out of Manchester towards Northenden
, Manchester Airport, the M56 motorway
and Chester
. Parallel to this is Alexandra Road, which continues as Alexandra Road South past Alexandra Park (Alexandra Road was formerly one of two main shopping streets in Moss Side). Landmarks on Princess Road are the Royal Brewery and the Princess Road Bus Depot, built originally for the tramways
in 1909 and used by Stagecoach Manchester until 2010.
The western border of the Moss Side Ward is bounded in part by Withington Road. Parts of the eastern border are bounded by Wilmslow Road, where it meets Whitworth Park, and Parkfield Street. To the south the border includes Alexandra Park, Horton Road and part of Platt Lane. To the north the ward border mainly runs along Moss Lane East.
The built environment
of Moss Side is broadly characterised as a high-density residential area. This includes mainly Victorian and Edwardian terraces to the east and centre, with more recent developments, primarily the Alexandra Park Estate, built in the 1970s to the west of Princess Road.
The Moss Side Sports and Leisure Complex (north of Moss Lane West) was upgraded for the 2002 Commonwealth Games
and has a gym and a variety of other sporting facilities.
and regeneration over the past ten years (1997–2007) including improvement of the existing housing and residential environment along with several major housing projects currently in process or nearing completion. There has been considerable renovation of existing housing stock, such as local terrace housing and the Alexandra Park Estate, which has been ongoing since the late 1990s.
A large site on Great Western Street is currently being redeveloped by to provide a mix of 2,3 and 4 bedroom properties, with different tenures, some rental and others offered as shared ownership or for sale.
The former Manchester City F.C. Maine Road
site is in the process of redevelopment, marketed as Maine Place, primarily as 2,3 and 4 bedroom houses but including a limited number of flats, for sale or shared ownership, with many homes completed and occupied, along with a primary school, now open, and a health centre.
The Bowes Street area, adjacent to Princess Road, including land formerly occupied by Bilsborrow primary school, now demolished, and the Stagecoach
bus depot
, due to be demolished in 2011, is currently being redeveloped, at the cost of £17 million, including the renovation or transformation, with some new build, of 155 properties in five streets. Reported as being 'built or converted to a very high standard of eco-friendliness, with solar panels, water butts, thermal
“skin” insulation and sun pipes
being used' and aiming to offer 2, 3 and 4 bedroom homes with 'low running costs', the development plan states its aim, along with that at Maine Road, as being to provide mixed type 'higher specification' housing, 'diversify tenure' and promote the area as a 'neighbourhood of choice'.
Marketed as , the properties were launched on the market on 26th February 2011. On May 9th, sales demand was reported as strong, with 60% of the properties having been sold . On 11th May the development was awarded the UK's Best Affordable Housing Scheme at the national .
in Moss Side. The Royal Brewery brewed Kestrel, McEwan's and Harp Lager
, but is now owned by Heineken
for the production of Foster's Lager
. Hydes Brewery brews traditional beers including Hydes
' Bitter and the cask version of Boddingtons
– the latter since the closure of the Strangeways Brewery
in 2005.
The northern England office of , which specialises in the 'supply of fluid pumping equipment to the Building Services, Process and Water Industries', is located in Moss Side .
The , on Princess Road, is a private hospital that provides a range of healthcare treatments.
Moss Side is near the University of Manchester, the Manchester Royal Infirmary
, and further north the Manchester Metropolitan University. In 2009, Manchester Metropolitan University
announced its plan to construct a new £120m campus at Birley Fields in nearby Hulme.
ward profile: Version 2010/1', produced by Manchester City Council
, points to a significant shift in the demography of Moss Side, in terms of age structure, from the middle of the last decade and projected into the middle of this decade, with more in the under 10 and 25–35 age groups, suggesting an increase in families with younger children. Other sources indicate an accompanying change in Moss Side's ethnic population, with an estimated marked percentage increase in the Black African, Indian, Chinese and Other communities between 2007 and 2015.
Source: Manchester City Council
:
community and a number of commercial and social organisations which cater for these communities are based in this area. Social organisations include the West Indian Sports and Social Club, the Chrysalis Project and the nearby Commercial organisations include Caribbean bakeries and patty shops, as well as grocery and clothes shops, mainly centred on Claremont and Princess Roads. The Caribbean Carnival of Manchester is held in Alexandra Park every August.
Moss Side is also home to a population with a keen interest in green politics
and sustainable living
, with initiatives such as the Moss Cider Project which promotes the production of cider
from apples grown in Moss Side and the surrounding area.
Community groups include the located in the area around Cranswick Street and Broadfield Road in the centre of Moss Side. Founded in 2009, its stated aims include community involvement and improvement of the local environment, such as in taking ownership of open spaces. One such space, known as 'The Triangle', involved the community group in regenerating wasteground into a communal garden.
The youth service
caters for 8–25 year olds and includes a music studio, fitness studio, dance studio, sports hall and offers information and advice to young people, including a library, along with recreational and sport groups. The Windrush Millennium Centre, which provides adult education and other community facilities, is on Alexandra Road
with the aim of overcoming barriers to education and achievement faced by young people in the community. In April 2009, the Manchester Evening News
reported the Academy has met with success in raising educational standards in the area and, by 2010, 81% of pupils achieved A*–C grades at GCSE, compared with 13% at the former Ducie High School. In November 2009, it won the at the UK , whilst, in July 2010, Academy pupils were named as national debating finalists at the competition at the House of Lords
. In December 2010, it was reported that this 'once failing school' was 'now named as one of [the] UK's best'.
The area has three primary schools: St Mary's Church of England, Claremont, and a new primary school on the site of the former 'Maine Road' Manchester City F.C. football stadium which has been formed from the merger of St Edward's, and Bishop Bilsborrow Memorial Roman Catholic primary schools.
The Windrush Millennium Centre on Alexandra Road provides facilities for courses of college and adult education, including some run by the City College Manchester
and Manchester College of Arts and Technology
. Manchester City Council runs the Greenheys Adult Learning Centre on Upper Lloyd Street.
Christ Church
, Lloyd Street North, is an Anglican church of 1899–1904 by W. Cecil Hardisty and is a Grade II* listed building as of 24 April 1987.
There are two Roman Catholic churches, the Church of Divine Mercy, a Polish church founded in 1961, which is on Moss Lane East; and the Church of Our Lady (founded 1949). The Polish church occupies a former Methodist chapel built about 1875 in the neo-Gothic style and contains stained glass windows commemorating victims of the Holocaust. It is a few yards south of Christ Church.
The former Swedenborgian
Church is also of 1888 and neo-Gothic in style.
's stadium at Maine Road
which on several occasions in its early years drew crowds of more than 80,000. However its capacity was gradually reduced over the years and by the mid-1990s it held just under 35,000 spectators all seated. Plans to rebuild the stadium to seat 45,000 were abandoned in favour of moving to the City of Manchester Stadium
. Maine Road has since been demolished and a mixed development of two-, three-, and four-bedroom houses, flats, a health centre and a primary school has been built on the site.
, although born in Harpurhey
, lived in Moss Side as a child.
The political activist Emmeline Pankhurst
was born in Moss Side.
Wards of the United Kingdom
A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...
of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It lies 1.9 miles (3.1 km) south of Manchester city centre
Manchester City Centre
Manchester city centre is the central business district of Manchester, England. It lies within the Manchester Inner Ring Road, next to the River Irwell...
and has a population of around 17,537. Moss Side is bounded by the neighbourhoods of Hulme
Hulme
Hulme is an inner city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England. Located immediately south of Manchester city centre, it is an area with significant industrial heritage....
, Rusholme
Rusholme
-Etymology:Rusholme, unlike other areas of Manchester which have '-holme' in the place name is not a true '-holme'. Its name came from ryscum, which is the dative plural of Old English rysc "rush": "[at the] rushes"...
, Whalley Range, Fallowfield
Fallowfield
Ladybarn is the part of Fallowfield to the south-east. Chancellors Hotel & Conference Centre is used by the University of Manchester: it was built by Edward Walters for Sir Joseph Whitworth, as were the Firs Botanical Grounds.-Religion:...
, and Old Trafford, on the north, east, south and west, respectively.
In and around Moss Side are the public parks of Whitworth Park
Whitworth Park
See also Darley Dale and Whitworth Park Halls of ResidenceWhitworth Park is a public park in south Manchester, United Kingdom. The Whitworth Art Gallery and some of the University of Manchester student residences, popularly known as "Toblerones", are located there...
and Alexandra Park
Alexandra Park, Manchester
Alexandra Park is a park in the Moss Side/Whalley Range districts of Manchester, England and opened in 1868. The lodge and gateways are the work of Alfred Darbyshire...
. The east of Moss Side is close to the Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
universities and is a popular area for students to live. Between 1923 and 2003, Moss Side was the location of Manchester City
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
's stadium, at Maine Road
Maine Road
Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England that was home to Manchester City F.C. from its construction in 1923 until 2003...
.
History
HistoricallyHistoric counties of England
The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...
a part of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, Moss Side was formerly a rural township
Township (England)
In England, a township is a local division or district of a large parish containing a village or small town usually having its own church...
and chapelry
Chapelry
A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England, and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel which acted as a subsidiary place of worship to the main parish church...
within the parish of Manchester
Manchester (ancient parish)
Manchester was an ancient ecclesiastical parish of the hundred of Salford, in Lancashire, England. It encompassed several townships and chapelries, including the then township of Manchester...
and hundred of Salford
Salford (hundred)
The hundred of Salford was an ancient division of the historic county of Lancashire, in Northern England. It was sometimes known as Salfordshire, the name alluding to its judicial centre being the township of Salford...
. Following the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
there was a process of unplanned urbanisation
Urbanization
Urbanization, urbanisation or urban drift is the physical growth of urban areas as a result of global change. The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008....
and a rapid increase in population size. The industrial growth of the area resulted in a densely populated area, so much so, that a part of the township of Moss Side was amalgamated into the expanding city of Manchester in 1885, with the rest joining in 1904.
Mass development in Moss Side occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when large numbers of red brick terraced houses were built, and soon attracted numerous Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
immigrants
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
and other working people.
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
moved to a new stadium on Maine Road on 25 August 1923, relocating from Hyde Road, Ardwick
Ardwick
Ardwick is a district of the City of Manchester, in North West England, about one mile east of Manchester City Centre.By the mid-19th century Ardwick had grown from being a village into a pleasant and wealthy suburb of Manchester, but by the end of that century it had become heavily industrialised...
; on its opening it was one of the most capacious sports stadiums in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, capable of holding up to 85,000 spectators. The club would play there for the next 80 years.
During the Manchester Blitz
Manchester Blitz
The Manchester Blitz was the heavy bombing of the city of Manchester and its surrounding areas in North West England during the Second World War by the Nazi German Luftwaffe...
of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
many of the terraced houses were damaged by German bombing on the night of December 22/23 1940.
Migrants from the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
and Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
settled in the locality during the 1950s and 1960s, and by the 1980s Moss Side was the hub of Manchester's Afro-Caribbean community
British African-Caribbean community
The British African Caribbean communities are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background and whose ancestors were primarily indigenous to Africa...
.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, Manchester City Council demolished many of the Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
and Edwardian terraced houses to the west of Moss Side and replaced these with new residential properties.
In 1981, the Moss Side area was one of England's inner city
Inner city
The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis. In the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland, the term is often applied to the lower-income residential districts in the city centre and nearby areas...
areas affected by a series of riots
1981 England riots
In 1981, the United Kingdom suffered serious riots across many major cities in England. They were perceived as race riots between communities, in all cases the main motives for the riots were related to racial tension and inner-city deprivation. The riots were caused by a distrust of the police...
. Analysts trace the 1970s origins of Manchester's gang crime to social deprivation in the south-central part of the city — Hulme
Hulme
Hulme is an inner city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England. Located immediately south of Manchester city centre, it is an area with significant industrial heritage....
, Longsight
Longsight
Longsight is an area of Manchester, England, about south of the city centre. Its population is about 16,000.-History:Longsight has been known over the past for its gang related violence, similar to that of nearby Moss Side. Most of the violence came from tensions between 2 gangs; The Longsight...
and Moss Side — where it was claimed to be difficult to make money by legitimate means, despite thousands of people in the area somehow managing it. A parallel trade in illegal narcotics and firearms gave rise to Manchester's nickname of "Gunchester". "Turf wars" between rival drugs 'gangs', resulted in a high number of fatal shootings. During what has been termed the Madchester
Madchester
Madchester was a music scene that developed in Manchester, England, towards the end of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The music that emerged from the scene mixed alternative rock, psychedelic rock and dance music...
phase of the history of Manchester
History of Manchester
The history of Manchester encompasses its change from a minor Lancastrian township into the pre-eminent industrial metropolis of the United Kingdom and the world. Manchester began expanding "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century as part of a process of unplanned urbanisation...
, narcotic trade in the city became "extremely lucrative" and in the early 1990s a gang war started between two groups vying for control of the market in Manchester city centre
Manchester City Centre
Manchester city centre is the central business district of Manchester, England. It lies within the Manchester Inner Ring Road, next to the River Irwell...
— the 'Cheetham Hill Gang' and The 'Gooch Close Gang', in Cheetham Hill
Cheetham Hill
Cheetham Hill is an inner city area of Manchester, England. As an electoral ward it is known as Cheetham and has a population of 12,846. It lies on the west bank of the River Irk, north-northeast of Manchester city centre and close to the boundary with the City of Salford...
and Moss Side, respectively. There were several high profile shootings associated with gangs and drugs in this area during the 1990s and into the 21st century, albeit at a declining rate.
Many of the flats in neighbouring Hulme
Hulme
Hulme is an inner city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England. Located immediately south of Manchester city centre, it is an area with significant industrial heritage....
were demolished in the late 1990s to make way for new low rise homes. Housing on the Alexandra Park Estate in the west of Moss Side has been renovated and the streets redesigned to reduce the fear of crime
Fear of crime
The fear of crime refers to the fear of being a victim of crime as opposed to the actual probability of being a victim of crime.The fear of crime, along with fear of the streets and the fear of youth, is said to have been in Western culture for "time immemorial"...
.
Governance
Moss Side is a wardWards of the United Kingdom
A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...
within the local authority of Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council is the local government authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of 96 councillors, three for each of the 32 electoral wards of Manchester. Currently the council is controlled by the Labour Party and is led by...
. The ward is represented by Labour Councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
s Sameen Ali, Alistair Cox and Roy Walters.
Moss Side is part of the Manchester Central
Manchester Central (UK Parliament constituency)
Manchester Central is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. The constituency has always been a safe Labour seat...
constituency, represented by the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Tony Lloyd
Tony Lloyd
Anthony Joseph 'Tony' Lloyd is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Manchester Central since 1997.-Early life:...
.
Geography
Moss Side lies either side of the A5103 (Princess Road)A5103 road
The A5103 is a major road in England. It runs from Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre to junction 3 of the M56 motorway and is one of Manchester's principal radial routes.- A6 to the A57 motorway :...
, the main road out of Manchester towards Northenden
Northenden
Northenden is a suburban area and electoral ward of the city of Manchester in North West England. It lies on the south side of both the River Mersey and the M60 motorway, west of Stockport and south of Manchester city centre. Northenden is bounded by the districts of Didsbury, Gatley and...
, Manchester Airport, the M56 motorway
M56 motorway
The M56 Motorway, also known as the North Cheshire motorway, is in Cheshire and Greater Manchester, England. It runs from Junction 4 of the M60 to Dunkirk, Cheshire and is in length. It is often busy with long-distance commuter traffic towards North Wales...
and Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
. Parallel to this is Alexandra Road, which continues as Alexandra Road South past Alexandra Park (Alexandra Road was formerly one of two main shopping streets in Moss Side). Landmarks on Princess Road are the Royal Brewery and the Princess Road Bus Depot, built originally for the tramways
Manchester Corporation Tramways
Between 1901 and 1949 Manchester Corporation Tramways was the municipal operator of electric tram services in Manchester, England...
in 1909 and used by Stagecoach Manchester until 2010.
The western border of the Moss Side Ward is bounded in part by Withington Road. Parts of the eastern border are bounded by Wilmslow Road, where it meets Whitworth Park, and Parkfield Street. To the south the border includes Alexandra Park, Horton Road and part of Platt Lane. To the north the ward border mainly runs along Moss Lane East.
The built environment
Built environment
The term built environment refers to the human-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from personal shelter and buildings to neighborhoods and cities that can often include their supporting infrastructure, such as water supply or energy networks.The built...
of Moss Side is broadly characterised as a high-density residential area. This includes mainly Victorian and Edwardian terraces to the east and centre, with more recent developments, primarily the Alexandra Park Estate, built in the 1970s to the west of Princess Road.
The Moss Side Sports and Leisure Complex (north of Moss Lane West) was upgraded for the 2002 Commonwealth Games
2002 Commonwealth Games
The 2002 Commonwealth Games were held in Manchester, England from 25 July to 4 August 2002. The XVII Commonwealth Games was the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the UK, eclipsing London's 1948 Summer Olympics in numbers of teams and athletes participating.After the 1996 Manchester...
and has a gym and a variety of other sporting facilities.
Redevelopment and regeneration
Moss Side has benefited from very substantial redevelopmentRedevelopment
Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses.-Description:Variations on redevelopment include:* Urban infill on vacant parcels that have no existing activity but were previously developed, especially on Brownfield land, such as the redevelopment of an industrial site...
and regeneration over the past ten years (1997–2007) including improvement of the existing housing and residential environment along with several major housing projects currently in process or nearing completion. There has been considerable renovation of existing housing stock, such as local terrace housing and the Alexandra Park Estate, which has been ongoing since the late 1990s.
A large site on Great Western Street is currently being redeveloped by to provide a mix of 2,3 and 4 bedroom properties, with different tenures, some rental and others offered as shared ownership or for sale.
The former Manchester City F.C. Maine Road
Maine Road
Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England that was home to Manchester City F.C. from its construction in 1923 until 2003...
site is in the process of redevelopment, marketed as Maine Place, primarily as 2,3 and 4 bedroom houses but including a limited number of flats, for sale or shared ownership, with many homes completed and occupied, along with a primary school, now open, and a health centre.
The Bowes Street area, adjacent to Princess Road, including land formerly occupied by Bilsborrow primary school, now demolished, and the Stagecoach
Stagecoach Group
Stagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Sir Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her former husband Robin...
bus depot
Bus garage
A bus garage or bus depot is a building where buses are stored and maintained. In many conurbations, bus garages are on the site of former car barns or tram sheds, where Streetcars or Trams were stored, and the operation transferred to buses...
, due to be demolished in 2011, is currently being redeveloped, at the cost of £17 million, including the renovation or transformation, with some new build, of 155 properties in five streets. Reported as being 'built or converted to a very high standard of eco-friendliness, with solar panels, water butts, thermal
Thermal break
A thermal break or thermal barrier is an element of low thermal conductivity placed in an assembly to reduce or prevent the flow of thermal energy between conductive materials....
“skin” insulation and sun pipes
Light tube
Light tubes or light pipes are used for transporting or distributing natural or artificial light. In their application to daylighting, they are also often called sun pipes, sun scopes, solar light pipes, sky lights or daylight pipes.Generally speaking, a light pipe or light tube may refer to:* a...
being used' and aiming to offer 2, 3 and 4 bedroom homes with 'low running costs', the development plan states its aim, along with that at Maine Road, as being to provide mixed type 'higher specification' housing, 'diversify tenure' and promote the area as a 'neighbourhood of choice'.
Marketed as , the properties were launched on the market on 26th February 2011. On May 9th, sales demand was reported as strong, with 60% of the properties having been sold . On 11th May the development was awarded the UK's Best Affordable Housing Scheme at the national .
Industry
There are two breweriesBrewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
in Moss Side. The Royal Brewery brewed Kestrel, McEwan's and Harp Lager
Harp Lager
Harp Lager, is a pale lager brand created in 1960 by the Guinness Brewery in their Dundalk brewery. It is a leading lager brand in Ireland, and is also popular in Australia, Canada, Africa and the United States...
, but is now owned by Heineken
Heineken
Heineken is a Dutch beer which has been brewed by Heineken International since 1873. It is available in a 4.6% alcohol variety in countries such as Ireland. It is the flagship product of the Heineken company and is made of purified water, malted barley, hops, and yeast. In 1886 H...
for the production of Foster's Lager
Foster's Lager
Foster's Lager is an internationally distributed Australian brand of 5.0% abv pale lager, It is a product of Foster's Group brewed under licence in several countries, including the U.S. and Russia...
. Hydes Brewery brews traditional beers including Hydes
Hydes
Hydes is a family-owned and -managed brewery in Moss Side, Manchester. They have been brewing real ale on the same site since 1899. They own over 80 managed and tenanted pubs, mainly in North West England, but also in North Wales.-Regular beers:...
' Bitter and the cask version of Boddingtons
Boddingtons
Boddingtons Bitter is a bitter ale originally brewed at the Strangeways Brewery, Manchester, England. It was promoted as The Cream of Manchester from the late 1980s until 2004, when the Strangeways brewery was closed and production moved to Magor, South Wales and Salmesbury, Lancashire...
– the latter since the closure of the Strangeways Brewery
Strangeways Brewery
Strangeways Brewery was a landmark in Manchester, England. Located just north of the city centre, it was famous as the home of Boddingtons Bitter. It closed in 2006 and was demolished in 2007.-History:...
in 2005.
The northern England office of , which specialises in the 'supply of fluid pumping equipment to the Building Services, Process and Water Industries', is located in Moss Side .
The , on Princess Road, is a private hospital that provides a range of healthcare treatments.
Moss Side is near the University of Manchester, the Manchester Royal Infirmary
Manchester Royal Infirmary
The Manchester Royal Infirmary is a hospital in Manchester, England which was founded by Charles White in 1752 as a cottage hospital capable of caring for twelve patients. Manchester Royal Infirmary is part of a larger NHS Trust incorporating several hospitals called Central Manchester University...
, and further north the Manchester Metropolitan University. In 2009, Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester Metropolitan University is a university in North West England. Its headquarters and central campus is in the city of Manchester, but there are outlying facilities in the county of Cheshire. It is the third largest university in the United Kingdom in terms of student numbers, behind the...
announced its plan to construct a new £120m campus at Birley Fields in nearby Hulme.
Demography
In 2007, the Moss Side ward was estimated to have a total population of 17,537, of which 8,785 were male and 8,752 were female. Moss Side is noted as an area with a greater population density and a faster population growth than other areas of the city of Manchester, with an increase of 17.4% between 2001 and 2007. The 'Moss Sideward profile: Version 2010/1', produced by Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council is the local government authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of 96 councillors, three for each of the 32 electoral wards of Manchester. Currently the council is controlled by the Labour Party and is led by...
, points to a significant shift in the demography of Moss Side, in terms of age structure, from the middle of the last decade and projected into the middle of this decade, with more in the under 10 and 25–35 age groups, suggesting an increase in families with younger children. Other sources indicate an accompanying change in Moss Side's ethnic population, with an estimated marked percentage increase in the Black African, Indian, Chinese and Other communities between 2007 and 2015.
Changing age structure of the population
| Estimated change in age groups for 2011 and 2015 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moss Side | All persons | Change 2007–11: | Change 2011–15: | |||
| 2011 | 2015 | Number | % change | Number | % change | |
| All Ages | 18,745 | 19,794 | 1208 | 6.9% | 1048 | 5.6% |
| 0–4 | 1,841 | 1,995 | 317 | 20.8% | 154 | 8.4% |
| 5–9 | 1,317 | 1,551 | 116 | 9.6% | 234 | 17.8% |
| 10–14 | 902 | 959 | -133 | -12.8% | 56 | 6.2% |
| 15–19 | 1,445 | 1,332 | -149 | -9.3% | -113 | -7.8% |
| 20–24 | 2,898 | 2,770 | 146 | 5.3% | -128 | -4.4% |
| 25–29 | 2,483 | 2,643 | 414 | 20.0% | 160 | 6.4% |
| 30–34 | 1,759 | 2,103 | 394 | 28.9% | 344 | 19.5% |
| 35–39 | 1,098 | 1,244 | 6 | 0.5% | 147 | 13.4% |
| 40–44 | 1,052 | 1,057 | 46 | 4.6% | 5 | 0.5% |
| 45–49 | 863 | 899 | 67 | 8.4% | 36 | 4.2% |
| 50–54 | 668 | 724 | 31 | 4.9% | 56 | 8.4% |
| 55–59 | 476 | 528 | -36 | -7.1% | 52 | 10.9% |
| 60–64 | 524 | 493 | 90 | 20.8% | -31 | -5.9% |
| 65–69 | 460 | 537 | -23 | -4.8% | 77 | 16.7% |
| 70–74 | 383 | 368 | -27 | -6.6% | -15 | -3.8% |
| 75–79 | 284 | 294 | -22 | -7.1% | 10 | 3.6% |
| 80–84 | 177 | 174 | -28 | -13.4% | -3 | -2.0% |
| 85+ | 115 | 122 | -1 | -1.0% | 8 | 6.6% |
| Manchester | 492,800 | 520,500 | 34,664 | 7.6% | 27,700 | 5.6% |
Source: Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council is the local government authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of 96 councillors, three for each of the 32 electoral wards of Manchester. Currently the council is controlled by the Labour Party and is led by...
:
Sociology
Moss Side and neighbouring Hulme traditionally constitute the heart of Manchester's Black CaribbeanBritish African-Caribbean community
The British African Caribbean communities are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background and whose ancestors were primarily indigenous to Africa...
community and a number of commercial and social organisations which cater for these communities are based in this area. Social organisations include the West Indian Sports and Social Club, the Chrysalis Project and the nearby Commercial organisations include Caribbean bakeries and patty shops, as well as grocery and clothes shops, mainly centred on Claremont and Princess Roads. The Caribbean Carnival of Manchester is held in Alexandra Park every August.
Moss Side is also home to a population with a keen interest in green politics
Green politics
Green politics is a political ideology that aims for the creation of an ecologically sustainable society rooted in environmentalism, social liberalism, and grassroots democracy...
and sustainable living
Sustainable living
Sustainable living is a lifestyle that attempts to reduce an individual's or society's use of the Earth's natural resources and his/her own resources. Practitioners of sustainable living often attempt to reduce their carbon footprint by altering methods of transportation, energy consumption and diet...
, with initiatives such as the Moss Cider Project which promotes the production of cider
Cider
Cider or cyder is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from apple juice. Cider varies in alcohol content from 2% abv to 8.5% abv or more in traditional English ciders. In some regions, such as Germany and America, cider may be termed "apple wine"...
from apples grown in Moss Side and the surrounding area.
Community groups include the located in the area around Cranswick Street and Broadfield Road in the centre of Moss Side. Founded in 2009, its stated aims include community involvement and improvement of the local environment, such as in taking ownership of open spaces. One such space, known as 'The Triangle', involved the community group in regenerating wasteground into a communal garden.
The youth service
Youth club
A youth club or youth social club is a place where young people can meet and enjoy activities such as football, soccer, basketball, table tennis, or video games, and other religious, sports activities are frequently sponsored by a community center....
caters for 8–25 year olds and includes a music studio, fitness studio, dance studio, sports hall and offers information and advice to young people, including a library, along with recreational and sport groups. The Windrush Millennium Centre, which provides adult education and other community facilities, is on Alexandra Road
Education
In 2003, the Ducie High School was replaced by the independently run Manchester AcademyManchester Academy (Moss Side)
Manchester Academy is a non-selective co-educational secondary school within the English Academy programme, in Moss Side, Manchester.-Admissions:It is run by the United Learning Trust, a subsidiary of the United Church Schools Trust...
with the aim of overcoming barriers to education and achievement faced by young people in the community. In April 2009, the Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
The Manchester Evening News is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. It is published every day except Sunday and is owned by Trinity Mirror plc following its sale by Guardian Media Group in early 2010. It has an average daily circulation of 90,973 copies...
reported the Academy has met with success in raising educational standards in the area and, by 2010, 81% of pupils achieved A*–C grades at GCSE, compared with 13% at the former Ducie High School. In November 2009, it won the at the UK , whilst, in July 2010, Academy pupils were named as national debating finalists at the competition at the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. In December 2010, it was reported that this 'once failing school' was 'now named as one of [the] UK's best'.
The area has three primary schools: St Mary's Church of England, Claremont, and a new primary school on the site of the former 'Maine Road' Manchester City F.C. football stadium which has been formed from the merger of St Edward's, and Bishop Bilsborrow Memorial Roman Catholic primary schools.
The Windrush Millennium Centre on Alexandra Road provides facilities for courses of college and adult education, including some run by the City College Manchester
City College Manchester
City College Manchester was a network of further education campuses in Manchester, England.It was the largest provider of "Offender Learning" in the Greater Manchester region.-Merger with MANCAT in 2008:...
and Manchester College of Arts and Technology
Manchester College of Arts and Technology
Manchester College of Arts and Technology was a network of further and higher education campuses in the city of Manchester, England specialising in courses in the Arts and Technology, however courses in many other fields were also offered...
. Manchester City Council runs the Greenheys Adult Learning Centre on Upper Lloyd Street.
Religion
The original St James's Church (Church of England), Princess Road, was built in 1887–88 (architect John Lowe): of red brick in the Perpendicular revival style. This has now been replaced by a modern brick building which also contains offices used by local community groups.Christ Church
Christ Church, Moss Side, Manchester
Christ Church in Lloyd Street North, Moss Side, Manchester, England, is an Anglican church of 1899–1904 by W. Cecil Hardisty. It was designated a Grade II* listed building on 24 April 1987....
, Lloyd Street North, is an Anglican church of 1899–1904 by W. Cecil Hardisty and is a Grade II* listed building as of 24 April 1987.
There are two Roman Catholic churches, the Church of Divine Mercy, a Polish church founded in 1961, which is on Moss Lane East; and the Church of Our Lady (founded 1949). The Polish church occupies a former Methodist chapel built about 1875 in the neo-Gothic style and contains stained glass windows commemorating victims of the Holocaust. It is a few yards south of Christ Church.
The former Swedenborgian
Swedenborgian
A Swedenborgian is the doctrines, beliefs, and practices of the Church of the New Jerusalem, and is an adjective describing a person or an organization that understands the Bible through the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg....
Church is also of 1888 and neo-Gothic in style.
Sports
From 1923, Moss Side was the location of Manchester City F.C.Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
's stadium at Maine Road
Maine Road
Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England that was home to Manchester City F.C. from its construction in 1923 until 2003...
which on several occasions in its early years drew crowds of more than 80,000. However its capacity was gradually reduced over the years and by the mid-1990s it held just under 35,000 spectators all seated. Plans to rebuild the stadium to seat 45,000 were abandoned in favour of moving to the City of Manchester Stadium
City of Manchester Stadium
The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England – also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship purposes– is the home ground of...
. Maine Road has since been demolished and a mixed development of two-, three-, and four-bedroom houses, flats, a health centre and a primary school has been built on the site.
Notable people
The author Anthony BurgessAnthony Burgess
John Burgess Wilson – who published under the pen name Anthony Burgess – was an English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic. The dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange is Burgess's most famous novel, though he dismissed it as one of his lesser works...
, although born in Harpurhey
Harpurhey
-Landmarks:Harpurhey Edwardian Swimming Baths, situated on Rochdale Road was built between 1909-10 by Henry Price, Manchester's first City Architect. Listed grade II in, the baths were closed to the public in 2001 after serious defects were discovered and the entrance building is currently being...
, lived in Moss Side as a child.
The political activist Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst was a British political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement which helped women win the right to vote...
was born in Moss Side.