30 years on from the bomb – reflections from OBI

Saturday 15 June 1996 was a momentous day for Manchester. The massive IRA bomb that blasted apart a chunk of the city’s retail core has in the years since been held up as a turning point, something that triggered a regeneration success story that the city just kept building on, and to this day shows no sign of stopping.

In truth, the city’s post-industrial rebirth was already in motion. Civic figureheads Howard Bernstein and Richard Leese, who would later be knighted and would lead Manchester for the next 20 or so years were already showing their abilities. The hosting of  the 2002 Commonwealth Games, another key stepping stone on the journey, had already been secured.

But there’s no denying that the bomb provided a blank slate for regeneration, an opportunity to bring new and daring architecture and ideas into an urban realm that hadn’t changed much for years. June 1996 is a crucial point on the timeline of Mancunian history.

Ten years ago, OBI made ‘Beyond the Bomb’ a video to mark the 20-year anniversary, speaking to various movers and shakers around the city.

We looked at the day and its immediate aftermath, the planning of a new quarter of Manchester, how the city grew as a whole from the experience, and how the momentum was continued. You can view the video here.

OBI TV | OBI

There’s a lot of great insight here, with input from property pioneers such as Nick Johnson, the media in the form of Janine Watson and Michael Taylor, and the night-time and events economy in Hacienda veteran Jon Drape.

Mike Ingall, soon to be drawn to Manchester to deliver the game-changing Spinningfields, observes how the speed the city acted at to get on the front foot was “by any standards, outstanding”.

Tom Bloxham notes the urge to not just replace things, but to do them better – the reinvention giving Manchester architecture firm now known as SimpsonHaugh its big break. Joined-up development became a Mancunian speciality.

Our pundits also speak of Manchester’s ability to make public-private partnerships work effectively, how it strived to be known as business-friendly, and how it saw the value in developing areas of character like the Northern Quarter.

As to where our 2016 interviewees saw the future going, our own Will Lewis stepped forward, predicting the emerging importance of both St John’s as a reinvention of the former Granada Studios area; and St Michael’s, noting also the blossoming of tech and science as sectors that have been particularly vital over the last decade, and continue to be so.

Manchester in 2026 looks very different from Manchester in 1996, and has moved on plenty even in the short time since 2016. It’s important to take stock every once in a while to consider how we got here, as we all work together to see where we’re going next.