h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Manchester's mostly` back to normal now, Corporation Street is busy to cross again..."

One consequence of the Manchester bomb was the death of the Corn Exchange as most of us knew it. This was a busy and thriving indoor market where anyone was welcome, you could buy second-hand books, records, clothes, Tarot cards, et c, meet friends, slurp coffee, enjoy the day. Like Affleck's or the Coliseum, only bigger.

Then the people who owned the place saw the bomb as the chance to throw out all the scruffs and go upmarket. All the old traders were excluded, and the building was turned into a Yuppie nightmare of expensive shops and boutiques and things. We went there once, but it kind of killed our memories of what it was; I think we ended up heckling the yuppies.

It felt like our memories and our desire (to see the place return the way it was) had been trashed as if they didn't matter.

Still, the joke's on them as I hear the new Corn Exchange isn't thriving as well as they'd hoped....

Does anyone else have good feelnigs for the old C.E.?

A friend of mine used to have a stall in there. I liked walking round the stalls looking at some of the unusual/quaint/wierd stuff they had in there. I agree that the place isn't the same anymore.