Last week I treated my niece to a trip to Manchester for a few days. I knew the trip would mostly be about shopping, but I also wanted to show her at least a little bit of Manchester’s wonderful street art.
Our first port of call, after getting something to eat, was Afflecks – a vibrant and eclectic market of independent traders, from tattooists to fashion boutiques and more. Afflecks is one of Manchester’s “must-see” places. We spent ages there and even went back the following day. I think we could have spent far more money than we did! This vibrant street art by Katie Scott Creative was right outside the entrance on Church Street. There are also some murals and selfie spots dotted around the inside of the building.
I can never resist visiting Fred Aldous Ltd (a wonderful arts & crafts shop) while in Manchester. This mural was on the shutter of the company next door (I think it’s a bar which opens later on in the day). A street artist was busy working on the shutter next to it.
The mural on the substation at the corner of Thomas Street and Tib Street has changed since I was last there. This one is by Cbloxx and is entitled “Maize God”. Just around the corner, on the same substation, is a mural by The Hammo. It’s described as “A quick Ai generated skating girl”.
Just metres away is this vibrant mural, but I failed to find out who the artist is.
Another mural which has changed since my last visit to Manchester is this one at the corner of High Street and Thomas Street. It is now an advert for Liquor & Burn, a North American road trip-inspired restaurant and bar on High Street.
Another advert can be found on Back Turner Street, this time for Dr Martens! Next to it is this street art by Otto Schade, entitled “Urban Jungle”.
Across the city centre, over at Great Northern Square, is this beautiful “Wilding the Square” mural by Amy Coney. It was commissioned as part of the Manchester Flower Festival. We found this “You Are Loved” mural by Ermitsmoze (a.k.a Mecki Biller) around the corner. The message is that whatever your age, ability, race, religion, size, shape, shade, species or sexuality you are worthy and deserving of love.
Manchester is such a great place to explore. Whether or not you’re looking for it, you’re bound to see an abundance of wonderful street art when visiting the city.
Discover more Manchester Street Art.
45 Comments
Carol
Love the fun and colorful murals
Kelly
I love street art (even as advertising) and we just don’t have enough of it where I live. All of these are wonderful, but my favorites might be the one from the entrance and Urban Jungle.
Nikki
We don’t have much street art here either, although some did appear on a wall in town last summer!
somewhereinireland
Nice and colourful murals, I like them all.
tomthebackroadstraveller
…Nikki, your niece is a lucky girl! I love your post and went to the links that you included. Thanks for taking me along to see the sights.
Shelley Krupa
Wow – I didn’t realize how our small town is missing out on all the street art like you shared. We have some murals, but nothing as extravagant as you found. Thank you for sharing! I agree your niece is one lucky gal to have you treating her to that adventure!
Nikki
The town just down the road from me has just one mural and it’s not been there all that long.
Alan Rolfe
Great work by the artists.
Kris P
I always appreciate your street art posts! Keep them coming, Nikki.
Nikki
Thank you!
John
Lovely art!
Anabel Marsh
Manchester has so much street art, it seems! I see it regularly on Eunice’s blog, yet these are all new to me.
Nikki
It certainly does! You never know what might be around the corner in Manchester.
Eastside Cats
How delightful!
Brilliant artwork; thank you for sharing with us!
CherryPie
There is some great artwork there. I really should go around my local area where murals have been commisioned to deter graphiti.
Natalie
What beautiful murals! I enjoyed seeing some of the street art in Manchester through your lens.
Ginnie Hart
I am a huge fan of street art like this, Nikki, and would be tempted to visit there just for these murals alone. And I’d want to find every single one of them!!! 🙂 Well done to treat your niece to them.
Nikki
I love Manchester. There’s plenty to see and do there and I would definitely recommend a trip there sometime!
Jo
So colourful. Some fabulous artwork.
Aiva Vocisa
This is a brilliant post with many beautiful and colourful street art pieces. Street art can be fun, the best of it can be surprising, fresh, and exciting. I suggest that the majority of people walking down a city street will not be shielding themselves from the artistically challenging – they won’t be feeling that they are in a gallery context so won’t have their learned art-critical shields up – and in the grime and grind of Manhattan or London, Hong Kong or Tokyo or Rio, an interjection of the personal, creatively transgressive unexpected is refreshing.
Nikki
Thank you for your wonderful words!
Sheetal
Very colorful art and beautifully captured by you, Nikki.
Astrid
What a great find all those wonderful murals, Nikki. To have a few days to roam around the city and see these is a real treat for you and your niece. In Our town slowly some murals are appearing but not as good as these masterpieces you show.
rashbre (ed adams)
Joyous!
rashbre (ed adams)
BTW the one you didn’t find an artist for is, I think, Mr Cenz.
https://mrcenz.com/murals/
Nikki
Thanks!
Across The Great Planes
Ooh I love this! I haven’t visited Manchester before but this has made me want to – there’s so many vibrant pieces of street art! I love the message behind the You Are Loved one, that’s really lovely. Thank you so much for sharing x
Ann
Amazing street art, Nikki! I do hope to make it to Manchester one day! xxx
Anca
Manchester is pretty amazing at street art. I love seeing these. I never did a walk specifically for the art, just admired it when I went to MCR on a day out.
Marty
Those are such great choices to share with us. The “You Are Loved” one is especially good. I hope the shopping also went well!
Ashley
Manchester really is the best place for street art. I am only recently starting to open my eyes and notice it xxx
lisl
This is really quality stuff, Nikki. Very different from the other excellent work I usually see in Bristol
Eunice Ratcliffe
It’s nice to see the mural outside Afflecks without any scaffolding. I photographed it one day in January and a week later it was surrounded by the stuff and has been on and off until just recently. The one near the Tib Street substation has been there since March last year and ‘Wilding the Square’ since May 2021. The one on the shutter next to Fred Aldous, is the only one I’ve not yet seen – the previous one had been there for a couple of years. It’s strange how some murals stay around for ages yet others are changed within just a few weeks – there are some though that really do need changing as they are very much past their best and have been for some time.
Did you miss the continuation of the Urban Jungle one? It goes right round the corner and has a snake and a big tiger – I photographed it in April 2021. Right next to it is a recent one by Liam Bononi which is on my last street art post.
I’ve had a change of location recently with a couple of trips to Liverpool – definitely street art overload there! 🙂
Nikki
Yes, I did miss the continuation of the Urban Jungle one, but I did see it a week or so ago.
Johanna Bradley
So much variety, isn’t there? I particularly like the works of Otto Schade, some of which I’ve seen before, and Wilding the Square is such a nice contrast.
Allie Mackin
I have heard about this! Wow so much wonderful artwork here. Just wonderful. And love that saying “Not beer & tacos” LOL. Thanks for posting!
Allie of
http://www.allienyc.com
Lisa's Notebook
What fabulous street art, so vibrant and uplifting – my favourite is the Wilding the Square mural, the insects are fab!
Felicity Grace Terry
Despite long having wanted to visit Manchester {for yes, the shopping } I had no idea that street art was such a big thing there. Another reason to visit, thank you for sharing some impressive art work, I particularly liked “Wilding the Square”.
Yvonne @Fiction_Books
Never visited Manchester, but love the look and vibes of ‘Afflecks’, just from visiting the website. I’ll bet your niece was happy with that choice!
We too, don’t have street art around my local area, or indeed in our local cities of Wells, Salisbury or Bath, they all consider themselves a bit too ‘upmarket’ for such things, although that doesn’t seem to deter the less talented graffiti artists, who really should learn to at least spell the words they want everyone to see!!!
I particularly like the work of Katie Scott and Amy Coney. Katie’s art is definitely more suited to a large space, whereas any dismal area, no matter how small, would be cheered up so much by one of Amy’s designs.
Looks as though you had a great trip, thanks for sharing 🙂
chickenruby
Love the vibrant colours and the artists are so talented, we saw a lot of street art in Australia
Beverley
After my blog hiatus, I am now back with a lot of catching up to do.
How lovely that you were able to catch up with a friend that you haven’t seen for a long time and had such a great holiday in Finland. I really enjoyed seeing all of your photos. I also loved seeing all the Dahlias, such amazing colours, shapes and sizes.
Thank you for sharing more Manchester street art. They are real artworks and so varied. Such talent.
Hoping life stays good for you.
Beverley (formally meandmysmallcorner)
Nikki
So glad to see you’re back!
Sharon
There is so much vibrant street art in Manchester, so much more than there used to be. Great photos!
TAN JU-LYN
What a fun and diverse range of street art! I particularly like the Beer & Tacos quip … so funny!
Rehoboth
Wonderful post