Defining Moments

The days that changed the city

Manchester keeps getting knocked down. It keeps getting back up. Every time, it rebuilds bigger and better than before.

1819 16 August

The Peterloo Massacre

St Peter's Field (now St Peter's Square)

60,000 people gathered peacefully to demand parliamentary reform. The cavalry charged. 18 dead. Over 700 injured. It changed British politics forever and led directly to the formation of The Guardian newspaper. The site is now St Peter's Square. Most people standing at the tram stop have no idea what happened there.

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1979 8 May

The Woolworths Fire

Piccadilly

A fire in the Woolworths store on Piccadilly killed 10 people. It was Manchester's worst peacetime fire disaster, and it changed UK furniture fire-safety legislation forever. Every sofa sold in Britain carries a fire safety label because of what happened here.

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1996 15 June

The IRA Bomb

Corporation Street / Marks & Spencer

The largest bomb detonated on the British mainland since the Second World War. 3,300 pounds of explosives. 200+ injured. Nobody died. The blast devastated the city centre. Manchester's response? Rebuild it all, bigger and better.

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2011 9 August

The Riots

Manchester & Salford city centres

What started in London spread north within days. Manchester city centre and Salford Precinct were hit hard. Miss Selfridge was set on fire. Footasylum and JD Sports were raided. By 6am the next morning, people were already out with brooms, cleaning up their city before the shops had even opened.

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2017 22 May

The Manchester Arena Bombing

Manchester Arena, Victoria Station

A suicide bomber detonated a device in the foyer of Manchester Arena as thousands of people, many of them children, left an Ariana Grande concert. Twenty-two people were killed. The youngest was eight years old. Manchester's response was immediate, instinctive, and unforgettable.

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