Salford Quays is an area of Salford in Greater Manchester, close to the end of the Manchester Ship Canal. Salford Quays was previously the site of Manchester Docks and following the closure of the dockyards in 1982 became one of the largest urban regeneration projects in the UK.
Your Private Walking Tour of Salford Quays will be led by a local expert. Your tour starts at the Lowry Centre home to theatre, exhibitions and events a charity committed to using performing arts to enrich people's lives.
- Visit BBC Plaza BBC Manchester (often known as BBC Salford) home to the BBC and some of ITV’s studios, including the set of Coronation Street.
- Walk along Manchester Ship Canal a 36-mile-long inland waterway in linking Manchester to the Irish Sea.
- Hear about the history of Salford Quays, previously the site of Manchester Docks
- Football fans will love viewing Old Trafford, home to Manchester United, visible from Salford Quays
- A walk along Centenary Walkway will show you the 24 stainless steel plaques each one telling the history of Salford docks and the loss of life suffered by merchant seaman
Manchester, once an industrial powerhouse, is a major city in the northwest of England with a rich industrial history. During your Private Walking Tour of Salford Quays, you'll learn that it was one of the first urban regeneration projects in the UK. The Quays was originally part of the Victorian expansion of the Manchester Ship Canal which opened at the end of the 19th century to provide improved services for the bustling world trade centre that was Manchester or Cottonopolis as it was known at the time.
There's plenty of history to learn at The Quays, now a bustling area home to the Lowry shopping mall complete with a cinema and shops, the Imperial War Museum, Old Trafford, home to Manchester United, cafés, bars, restaurants and the Lowry Arts Centre home to a large collection of Salford-born LS Lowry (1887 - 1976). The Centenary Walkway which you'll visit, starts near The Lowry and is a poignant point of interest with 24 stainless steel plaques each one telling the history of Salford docks and details of some of the 16,000 men who dug the canal and the hardships they endured while doing so.
They were installed in 1994 to commemorate the 100 years of the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal by Queen Victoria and are the work of poet Su Andi. The BBC's first Big Screen was erected in Manchester and has become a permanent feature of Exchange Square. ITV now also have their base in Salford Quays. The area of Salford was depicted in many paintings by Laurence Stephen Lowry an English artist famous for painting scenes of life in the industrial districts of North West England in the mid-20th-century.
You'll hear stories of regeneration, hardship and celebration from your local expert who has lived and breathed the city making this Private Walking Tour of Salford Quays the best way to get to know the history of this bustling area.