St John's
The Neighbourhood Guide to St John’s
First things first: where exactly is the new St John’s Neighbourhood in Manchester? Bordered by Quay Street to the north, Byrom Street to the east, Liverpool Road to the south, and the River Irwell to the west, it’s between Spinningfields and Castlefield, just below Deansgate. Once home to Granada Studios, nowadays its best-known landmarks are the Science and Industry Museum and, increasingly, the new Aviva Studios where Manchester International Festival is based. If you’ve ever eaten langoustines at Fenix or raced the clock in the Crystal Maze Experience, you’ve been there, probably without realising it. (Continued below.)
As with other ‘new’ districts that have sprung up in Manchester (New Islington, NOMA, the Green Quarter) St John’s came about through partnerships between property developers and Manchester City Council. And like New Islington, which first appeared in records in 1817, the name has historical precedence. It refers to St John’s Street, the only Georgian terrace in central Manchester, and the park, St John’s Gardens.
This was once the site of St John’s Church – and is still home to 22,000 bodies buried beneath the lawns. They include William Marsden who helped establish the half-day holiday on Saturdays for mill workers in 1843. That the creator of the modern-day weekend is interred in a neighbourhood largely devoted to leisure is certainly serendipitous. Marsden died young at just 28-years-old; why not explore it on his behalf? We bet he’d have loved a go in the Crystal Maze.
