Days after Germans marked 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Mancunians are celebrating the news that their own small version of the hated monstrosity will soon disappear from sight in the city’s main square.
For 12 years a big slab of grey concrete has blocked the view of Piccadilly Gardens from the south-east of the square. The wall, designed by acclaimed Japanese architect Tadao Ando as part of a refurbishment exercise after the 1996 IRA bomb, has long been compared unfavourably with the most visible symbol of the iron curtain.
Earlier this year the Manchester Evening News launched a campaign to get rid of the wall, after three-quarters of its readers said they hated it. The structure was also blamed for Piccadilly Gardens being dubbed one of Manchester’s worst tourist attractions by TripAdvisor.
“Come the revolution, that disgusting concrete wall will be the first thing to come down. Until then I suggest covering it with hanging baskets or creeping plants or something,” grumbled one reviewer on the site last week.
Now city centre councillor Pat Karney has announced plans to disguise the wall by incorporating it into a new cafe and shop development. Asked why the wall could not simply be torn down – or Mancunians allowed to bash away at it with hammers, Berlin-style – Karney said it was more or less indestructible. “It was built to last forever,” he said. “Last year I had a quote for how much it would cost to pull down and it was £50,000-£100,000. It just wouldn’t be economic. The solution is to integrate it as an internal wall in a new development.”
The council has rented out the land – and wall – to property developer L&G on a 200-year lease, said Karney. L&G now wants to build a row of shops, restaurants and bars, plus roof garden along the top of the structure facing into the square. Before the builders start work, it will be painted with a mural, probably of famous Mancunians, said Karney. “We are going to bring some cheer back,” he added, insisting that the wall looked “pristine and white” when it was first built, before 12 northern English winters (and summers) turned it a dull and depressing grey.
The plans were greeted with joy by Manchester residents. “In our darkest hours we can always rely on great leaders like Pat Karney to free us from tyranny and oppression and tear down the wall,” wrote @EddyRhead on Twitter.
But not everyone hates it – notably Sir Richard Leese, the long-serving leader of Manchester council, who commissioned it. Pointing out that the wall is part of a larger structure called the Piccadilly Pavilion, which houses a cafe and a restaurant, he said: “The wall is wonderful,” adding: “It’s not public art, it’s a building, but it’s interesting, elegant and serves a purpose. Doing something with a roof would be good. We did propose a roof garden a few years ago but the previous owner wouldn’t have it.”
