Manchester’s Northern Quarter has received a street art makeover as street artists from around the World descended on the city to take part in the Cities of Hope festival.
The area was already a good little spot to see street art in the city but since Cities of Hope, a number of giant murals have appeared which would rival some of the best in the country. What’s more they are all only within a few minutes walk from Piccadilly station.
The festival sought to transform an area of the Northern Quarter in Manchester by creating street art which would focus on some key global issues. The artists were then asked to create murals which were inspired by those issues which ranged from environmental issues to world conflict and the tragedy of child soldiers. We’ll cover more about this in a separate post.

Street Art in Manchester’s Northern Quarter
Artists such Argentina’s Hyuro, South Africa’s Faith 47, Spain’s Pichiavo, the UK’s Phlegm and Dale Grimshaw, Norway’s Martin Whatson, France’s C215, Switzerland’s Never Crew, and Germany’s Case were all invited to take part. The works would join pieces from the likes of Mateus Bailon, Tankpetrol and the Nomad Clan who already had pieces in the area.
So anyway, this post features some of the work created for Cities of Hope as well as some of the pieces created beforehand and not only that we’ll tell you where to find them too. A good wander around the Northern Quarter should take around two hours and it’s only a short walk from the station so below are some of the streets you should visit and the art that’s there at the moment.
Street Art Locations in Manchesters Northern Quarter
Back Piccadilly



Little Lever Street

Nightingale Street

Port Street





Tariff street


Gun Street


Addington Street

Cable Street



Tib Street



Edge Street

Brightwell Walk



Spear Street









Faraday Street







Hilton street


Great Ancoat’s Street



The Northern Quarter Street Art of Manchester was visited on the afternoon on 10 June 2016 and all pictures were taken on the same day. The Cities of Hope festival happened between 21-29 May 2016. To explore the street art of other cities in the UK click on the links to take a look at the art of Liverpool, Sheffield, Bristol, Brighton, London and West Didsbury.
Great article . I plan to visit Manchester in a few weeks . Here’s my last article about Akse p19 . Street artist from Manchester https://streetart360.net/2017/01/17/akse-p19-master-of-hyperrealism/
https://streetart360.net/2017/01/17/akse-p19-master-of-hyperrealism/
Do any other cities in the UK compare to Manchester’s amazing selection shown here?
Manchesters pretty good and there is some really high quality stuff there but London is probably the main place along with Bristol
Sheffield is right up there with the top cities for it
I’d really like to get up there soon to check it out, some great stuff coming out of Sheffield
Love the photos..I am searching for some graffiti in Manchester, it is of an eagle’s head in black and white outlined in red and underneath reads “HAPPINESS WILL BE OUR REVENGE”. I really would like to see it for myself if possible, it has much personal significance ..Can you help me find it. I have a picture I can send you
Hi Lynn sure can you send to inspiringcityuk@gmail.com and I’ll take a look