A Walk Around Some of the Best Street Art in the Northern Quarter of Manchester
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The Northern Quarter (NQ) is a jumble of streets with a lot of ceramic street art and murals. Some of these change on a regular basis.
The George Floyd mural by local artist Akse has already been replaced and is part of the Outhouse project.
The Outhouse project and Cities of Hope project from 2016 are behind many of the pieces of street art in the area.
The Northern Quarter is a compact area and it's fun to wander round but without a route you may miss some of the great street art.
This suggested route takes in many of the best sites but once you’ve found your bearings there are many more streets to explore. The streets have doubled for New York in film and TV, e.g. Netflix's The Crown.
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| Street Art route around the Northern Quarter (Google Maps) |
From Piccadilly Gardens Metrolink (A) walk up Lever Street until you reach Stevenson Square (B).
To your left in the middle of the square are three small brick outbuildings that were once a public toilet. These are regularly updated with street art and you might be lucky enough to see an artist in action.
This is just one of the areas in the Northern Quarter where you’ll find outdoor cafes and bars.
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| Folie working on Street Art |
Take the left down Stevenson Square which becomes Hilton Street until you reach the Northern Quarter multi storey car park (C). A small outbuilding on this corner is regularly updated with street art.
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| Captain Tom NQ Multi storey car park |
Turn left down Tib Street and you will reach Afflecks, a shopping centre full of independent and quirky shops. Walk on past Afflecks where you will see street art on the walls. On the left after the building is Short Street (D) with the famous On the Sixth Day ceramic.
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| Ceramic street art On the Sixth Day God Created Manchester |
Walk back up the side of Afflecks and turn left to continue walking round the back of the multi story car park onto Church Street (E)
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| Church Street The Wall by Subism collective. |
Carry on walking round the multi storey car park and go down Red Lion Street (F) to Turner Street (G). Turn left and after a short distance take a right down Brick Street.
Turn left on Back Turner Street to reach High Street (H). Turn right and after a short distance on your left you will see the old wholesale markets.
Walk up High Street in front of the markets and on the opposite side, a short distance past Copperas Street, you will see a street art site.
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| High Street. Akse mural celebrating healthcare heroes |
Retrace your steps a short way and on your left go down Copperas Street (I) and past the mural of Eleven.
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| Copperas Street mural of Eleven by Akse |
At the end of this street take a left on Oak Street crossing Tib Street where the road is now called Warwick Street.
At the end of this street you reach Oldham Street (J) and should be able to see a couple of murals behind the bus stop. A development in this area is starting to hide them from view.
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| Building development obscuring street art on Oldham Street |
There are 22 bees painted by Qubek. These were commissioned by the Manchester Evening News as tribute to those killed in the Manchester Arena attack on 22nd May 2017.
Carry on down Warwick Street until you’re back at Lever Street which is the road you started on. Walk back down Lever Street to finish in Piccadilly Gardens.
To extend the walk turn up Lever Street, away from Piccadilly, and walk towards the Art Deco Express Building on Great Ancoats Street. Behind the Express Building is the Ancoats area.
For more detail try these links.
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