Longsight is an

inner city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists somet ...

suburb of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, England, located south of the

city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

. It is bounded by

Ardwick Ardwick is a district of Manchester in North West England, one mile south east of the city centre. The population of the Ardwick Ward at the 2011 census was 19,250. Historically in Lancashire, by the mid-nineteenth century Ardwick had grown f ...

and West Gorton to the north;

Levenshulme Levenshulme () is an area of Manchester, England, bordering Fallowfield, Longsight, Gorton, Burnage, Heaton Chapel and Reddish; it is approximately halfway between Stockport and Manchester city centre on the A6 road (England), A6. Levenshulme i ...

to the south; and

Chorlton-on-Medlock Chorlton-on-Medlock or Chorlton-upon-Medlock is an inner city area of Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, Chorlton-on-Medlock is bordered to the north by the River Medlock, which runs immediately south of Manchester city centre. ...

, Victoria Park and

Fallowfield Fallowfield is a suburb of Manchester, England, with a population at the 2011 census of 15,211. Historically in Lancashire, it lies south of Manchester city centre and is bisected east–west by Wilmslow Road and north–south by W ...

to the west.

Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

, it had a population of 15,429 at the 2011 census.

History

An ethnically diverse area, for many years, Longsight has been plagued by gang related violence, similar to that of nearby

Moss Side Moss Side is an inner-city area of Manchester, England, south of the city centre, It had a population of 20,745 at the 2021 census. Moss Side is bounded by Hulme to the north, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Rusholme and Fallowfield to the east, Whalle ...

. Most of the violence came from tensions between two rival gangs which fought "turf wars" with each other since the 1990s, resulting in many shootings and several deaths. The Gooch Gang, from neighbouring Moss Side, were jailed in 2009, Consequently, gun crime in Greater Manchester as a whole has fallen dramatically, from a high of 120 gang-related shootings in 2006 to just 16 in 2011.

Governance

Longsight (Manchester City Council ward) 2018

Longsight has been in the parliamentary constituency of

Manchester Gorton Manchester Gorton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Labour's Afzal Khan, who was elected at the 2017 general election. It is the safest Labour seat in Greater Manchester by numerical majority an ...

since boundary changes in 1983. The seat has been represented in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buck ...

by Afzal Khan since June 2017. ;Councillors The area is represented on

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three f ...

by three councillors, currently Abid Chohan, Luthfur Rahman and Suzanne Richards. Abid Chohan was initially a Lib Dem councillor but defected to Labour ahead of the local council elections in 2010. indicates seat up for re-election. indicates councillor defected.

Geography

Previously known as Grindlow Marsh, it was incorporated into the City of Manchester in 1890. The district is bordered by

to the north,

Rusholme Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, England, two miles south of the city centre. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorlton-on-Medlock to the north, Victoria Park and Longsight to the east, Fa ...

to the west,

to the south, and

Gorton Gorton is an area of Manchester in North West England, southeast of the city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw. A major landmark is Gorton Monastery, a 19th-century ...

to the east. Longsight is currently defined by Hyde Road, Grey Street, Stockport Road, Plymouth Grove, Daisy Bank Road, Pine Grove, Merwood Grove, Ash Grove, Longford Pl, Ayton Grove, Laindon Rd, Curzon Ave, Richmond Grove, Hathersage Road, Anson Road, Dickenson Road, Beresford Road, Old Hall Lane, Stockport Road, East Road, Pink Bank Lane, Nutsford Vale, Buckley Road and Mount Road. The old

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman R ...

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.A6, Stockport Road) roughly bisects the area.

Demography

Longsight has a very ethnically diverse population. According to the 2011 UK census, 72.9% of the population is from non-white ethnic groups, a 20% increase over the 2001 figure of 52.7%. This includes 55.3% who describe themselves as Asian or Asian British (including 35.7% Pakistani, 11.4% Bangladeshi); and 9.7% Black or Black British. The largest religious group is Muslim with 53.8% of the population, compared with the 2001 figure of 34.7% Muslim and 38.6% Christian. 7.0% of the population declined to state a religion, with 12.7% stating no religion. The census tended to underestimate immigrant communities, and it is likely that these groups in Longsight were underestimated and are now proportionately larger. There are a number of places of Worship in the area, including a large Pakistani community centre, a

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

temple, the

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most C ...

Church of the Pokrov, Saint Agnes' Church, Bethshan International Church, and the British Conference of The Church of God (Seventh Day).

Census table

Economy

The main shopping centre is near the corner of Stockport Road and Dickenson Road, and contains a library and supermarkets as well as many smaller shops. Longsight Market, one of the busiest markets in the

North West of England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,052,000 in 2011. It is the t ...

, is located on Dickenson Road. It can be easily spotted by its brightly coloured profiled roofs. The market hosts a general market every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and a second-hand market every Tuesday and Thursday. There are a large number of takeaway food shops and restaurants and a very wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables and other supplies to cater for the interests of the various immigrant communities in the area.

Architecture and housing

The area of Longsight contains many of the notable buildings of Victoria Park. Daisy Bank Road is a particularly good example, featuring

Edgar Wood Edgar Wood (17 May 1860 – 1935) was a British architect, artist and draftsman who practised from Manchester at the turn of the 20th century and gained a considerable reputation in the United Kingdom. He was regarded as a proponent of the A ...

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ire ...

First Church of Christ, Scientist and the Edwardian art nouveau Chadlington House, as well as the residences of

Charles Hallé Sir Charles Hallé (born Karl Halle; 11 April 181925 October 1895) was an Anglo-German pianist and conductor, and founder of The Hallé orchestra in 1858. Life Hallé was born Karl Halle on 11 April 1819 in Hagen, Westphalia. After settling i ...

and

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst ('' née'' Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was an English political activist who organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women win the right to vote. In 1999, ''Time'' named her as one of the 100 Most Impo ...

. Pankhurst's family house is also situated on the edge of Longsight at Plymouth Grove. Larger Victorian period properties are predominantly clustered around the leafy western parts of Longsight, an area informally known as Westpoint. Many grand Victorian villas can also be found overlooking Crowcroft Park in the most southern part of Longsight. Situated on Stockport Road near the main market of Longsight is Longsight Library. Run by

, it provides services such as borrowing books, adult education services and a child homework centre. Great measures have been taken to make the architectural view of new Longsight Library building aesthetically pleasing. The Apollo Theatre, Longsight Market, Noman Newsagents, Crowcroft Park and new Longsight Library are the important places in the Longsight area.

Transport

Railway

A spur of the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

passes through Longsight, which is located between

Manchester Piccadilly Manchester Piccadilly is the principal railway station in Manchester, England. Opened as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchester Piccadilly in 1960. Located to the south-east of Manchester city ...

and Stockport. The area was once served by

Longsight railway station Longsight railway station was built by the Manchester & Birmingham Railway Company (MBR). History The first station in the area was called Rushford which opened with the line in 1840. It closed in 1843 and was replaced with Longsight. The s ...

, but this was closed in 1958. The nearest station is now at

, which provides local Northern stopping services between Manchester, Stockport and locations in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's coun ...

. Ardwick station is also situated nearby, on the Hope Valley line, but has a threadbare service. Longsight Electric TMD and Longsight Diesel TMD service trains for

Avanti West Coast Avanti West Coast is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) that operates the West Coast Partnership franchise. During November 2016, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced the In ...

, CrossCountry, Northern and

TransPennine Express TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the TransPennine Express franchise. It runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major c ...

. A plan to house

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...

trains at Manchester International Depot was abandoned in the 1990s. The earliest railway works was set up in 1842 by the

Manchester and Birmingham Railway The Manchester and Birmingham Railway was built between Manchester and Crewe and opened in stages from 1840. Between Crewe and Birmingham, trains were worked by the Grand Junction Railway. The M&BR was merged into the London and North Western ...

(M&BR). Little is known about its early history, except that it produced fifteen single wheeler passenger engines to a design by

Sharp Stewart and Company Sharp, Stewart and Company was a steam locomotive manufacturer, initially located in Manchester, England. The company was formed in 1843 upon the demise of Sharp, Roberts & Co.. It moved to Glasgow, Scotland, in 1888, eventually amalgamating ...

. In 1846, the M&BR was amalgamated with the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the ...

(LNWR) under John Ramsbottom. One

0-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. This was the most common wheel arrangement ...

was produced in 1858, but then the works closed down as the LNWR transferred its operations to

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

. The Longsight steam locomotive depot provided engines for express trains to London and elsewhere, and for local passenger trains.

Buses

Bus services in the area are provided by

Stagecoach Manchester Stagecoach ManchesterCompanies House extract company no 2818654

. The

192 Year 192 ( CXCII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aelius and Pertinax (or, less frequently, year 945 ''Ab urbe condita ...

, according to Stagecoach, is the busiest bus route in Great Britain, with around 9 million passengers carried annually. The service runs every 5–10 minutes daily until the late hours. The following routes serve Longsight: * 53: Cheetham Hill – Gorton – Rusholme – Old Trafford – Salford Quays – Pendleton * 150: Gorton – Levenshulme – Chorlton-cum-Hardy – Stretford – The Trafford Centre * 191: Manchester (Albert Sq.)– Longsight – Levenshulme – Stockport – Stepping Hill Hospital – Hazel Grove * 192: Manchester (Piccadilly) – Longsight – Levenshulme – Stockport – Stepping Hill Hospital – Hazel Grove * 197: Manchester (Albert Sq.) - Longsight – Levenshulme – Green End – Stockport

Roads

The A6, which connects Carlisle with Luton, passes through Longsight; it connects the suburb with Stockport and Manchester city centre.

Notable residents

lived at 3 Addison Terrace, on the north side of Daisy Bank Road in Victoria Park, in 1848; he was founder of the Hallé Orchestra. * Artist

Ford Madox Brown Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often William Hogarth, Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his mos ...

lived at the same address as Hallé from 1883 to 1887. *

Edwin Chadwick Sir Edwin Chadwick KCB (24 January 18006 July 1890) was an English social reformer who is noted for his leadership in reforming the Poor Laws in England and instituting major reforms in urban sanitation and public health. A disciple of U ...

, social reformer and liberal politician, was born in Longsight. He was later partially responsible for the ''1848 Public Health Act'' and then the succeeding ''1875 Public Health Act''. A

Wetherspoons J D Wetherspoon plc (branded variously as Wetherspoon or Wetherspoons, and colloquially known as Spoons) is a pub company operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company was founded in 1979 by Tim Martin and is based in Watford. It o ...

pub in the area was named the 'Sir Edwin Chadwick', but was closed within three years after custom failed to live up to expectations. *

Jason Garrity Jason Garrity (born 9 November 1993) is an English motorcycle speedway rider who won the British Under-19 Championship and the National League Riders Championship in 2011. Biography Born in Longsight but now living in Droylsden, Greater Man ...

, speedway rider. *

John Thaw John Edward Thaw, (3 January 1942 – 21 February 2002) was an English actor who appeared in a range of television, stage, and cinema roles. He starred in the television series '' Inspector Morse'' as title character Detective Chief Inspector ...

, the television, stage and cinema actor, was born in Longsight in 1942. * Ethel 'Sunny' Lowry, the first British woman to swim the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or (Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kan ...

, was born in Longsight in 1911. * Former

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

footballers

Danny Welbeck Daniel Nii Tackie Mensah Welbeck (born 26 November 1990) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for club Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., Brighton & Hove Albion. Welbeck m ...

and

Wes Brown Wesley Michael Brown (born 13 October 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender. Brown began his career with Manchester United, joining the club's academy at the age of 12 in 1992. After turning professional ...

are both from the area. * ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students a ...

'' star Afshan Azad was born in Longsight. * Keith Bennett, one of the

Moors murders The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around Manchester, England. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward E ...

victims, was from Longsight. He was 12 years old when he disappeared on his way from his house to that of his grandmother on 16 June 1964. His disappearance was reported to police the following morning but, in spite of endless police searches, he was not found. 22 years later, in November 1986, Moors murderers

Ian Brady The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around Manchester, England. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward E ...

(who had also lived in Longsight when he was younger) and

Myra Hindley The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around Manchester, England. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey, and Edward E ...

revealed that he was one of their victims, just as police had first suspected after arresting them for three other murders in October 1965. Despite numerous searches for his body on

Saddleworth Moor Saddleworth Moor is a moorland in North West England. Reaching more than above sea level, it is in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District National Park. It is crossed by the A635 road and the Pennine Way passes to its eastern side. Geo ...

, it has yet to be found. His mother Winnie Johnson continued to live locally until her death in August 2012; she made constant calls in the media for help to locate her son's body. *

Faisal Islam Faisal Islam ( bn, ফয়সাল ইসলাম; born 29 May 1977) is a British political and economics journalist who is the economics editor of BBC News and the occasional presenter of '' Newsnight''. He was the political editor of Sky ...

, of

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, grew up in Longsight and attended the local private school. *

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Liam Liam is a short form of the Irish name Uilliam or the old Germanic name William. Etymology The original name was a merging of two Old German elements: ''willa'' ("will" or "resolution"); and ''helma'' ("helmet"). The juxtaposition of these eleme ...

and

Noel Gallagher Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed ...

were born in Longsight, but later moved to

Burnage Burnage is a suburb of the city of Manchester in North West England, about south of Manchester city centre and bisected by the dual carriageway of Kingsway. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, the population of the Bu ...

Cultural references

Longsight was immortalised in song by local singer

Ian Brown Ian George Brown (born 20 February 1963) is an English singer and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead singer of the alternative rock band The Stone Roses from their formation in 1983. Following the split in 1996, he began a solo career, re ...

formerly of

the Stone Roses The Stone Roses were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. One of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist Ian Brown, ...

on his album ''

Solarized Solarized is a color scheme for code editors and terminal emulators created by Ethan Schoonover. The scheme is available in a light and a dark mode. Packages that implement the color scheme have been published for many major applications, with ...

''. The song was titled "Longsight M13" reflecting the

postcode A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal ...

of the area, which begins with M13.

Graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

appeared locally saying 'Stone Roses RIP' when the band split up, and 'Free Ian Brown' when he was jailed.The Greatest (CD) - Ian Brown - sleevenotes The song was written with Brown's former bandmate, guitarist

Aziz Ibrahim Aziz-Ur-Rahman Ibrahim (born 16 March 1964) is a British guitarist. He was born in Longsight, Manchester to Pakistani parents. He is best known for his work as guitarist with Simply Red, The Stone Roses (post-John Squire) and their former v ...

, who still lives in Longsight. Brown also mentions the area in

song "Daybreak" which contains the line "From

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

, to Longsight,

References

External links

Longsight Local Services Directory

Our Manchester {{Authority control Areas of Manchester Manchester City Council Wards History of Manchester