IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Portland Street, MANCHESTER, M1 6DN

The first group of the 33,000 runners waiting for the start of the Manchester 10k race in Portland St.

There are several grade II listed redbrick buildings along this street, but the one in the midground is not among them.

Another super example of Manchester's warehouses. A rich concoction of orangey-red brick with stone dressings, striped on the ground floor, carved panels, oriel windows and a lively roofline of hipped gables crowned with finials. By Pennington & Bridgen, 1887. Grade II listed. It is one of a sequence of particularly fine warehouses on this street. This one currently serves as housing, offices and bars.

Another deserted streets in the centre of Manchester.

Near the junction with Princess Street.

Built as a paper warehouse in the late C19th. Of plum-red brick with impressive arcades in the upper storeys and pilasters adorned with swags. Grade II listed. For how long has it been empty? A small wood is developing above the cornice.

A footballing celebration in Manchester with no red in sight? Shome mishtake, shurely? Well, no, for it was City's turn to celebrate with the traditional run round the city centre in a bus having secured, in perhaps the most thrilling denouement of any title race anywhere ever, the Premiership title the day before, their first title since 1968. A minute into injury time in their final game, not having lost all season at home, they were losing 2-1, at home, to relegation candidates QPR. A minute later they had drawn level and in the fifth minute of injury time they conjured up a winner, frustrating their only rivals, the red half of Manchester. The figure on the extreme right brandishing a camera is the manager Roberto Mancini.

Another fine Manchester warehouse, built c1860. Predominantly red brick with less stone dressings than other examples, but some Italian Gothic details - see the treatment of the windows. Note particularly the top-floor windows and cornice. Grade II listed. The left-hand section was largely converted into galleries in 1998 for CUBE (Centre for Understanding the Built Environment).

A sublime stone-faced warehouse, by Clegg & Knowles, 1880. The windows are treated slightly differently on each floor. Grade II listed. It is one of a sequence of particularly fine warehouses on this street, each occupying a whole block. At the time of the photo it was occupied by a hotel, Roomzzz. In fact, it styles itself as an "Aparthotel" so presumably it is both a hotel and apartments.