The Mayfield site is where Manchester’s first city centre park in over 100 years now lies.
A new podcast, Park Life, takes an in-depth look at its cultural legacy and uncovers the secret stories hidden within the area’s forgotten past.
Now the host of the iconic Warehouse Project, the site was a key cultural centre during the Industrial Revolution, housing some of the rowdiest pubs of the day.
The site is situated close to Manchester’s famous Gay Village, and the producers of the podcast have been given access to Manchester’s audio archives, which has uncovered lost gems from the voices of LGBTQ+ club goers, telling the story of the area’s nightlife and a changing city from the 1960s-1990s.
The park is now part of the larger Mayfield development, which has transformed this forgotten part of the city. It’s the home to buzzing venues such as Escape, Freight Island and the Depot.
In the three-part series of Park Life, the legacy of these institutions is explored. It features author Robert Graham who, during the 1980s, interviewed iconic Manchester artists like The Smiths and Simply Red before their rise to fame.
There’s also archive audio from early 90s ravers, Hacienda legend DJ Paulette, who explains the excitement around house and electronic music during the peak of Manchester’s club scene, and how these spaces provided refuge for those on the fringes of society. You’ll also hear about the future of Mayfield, and the cultural legacy it plans to continue.
Park life was produced by Reform Radio with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and continues the arts organisation’s ambition to document local cultural history by engaging young people in the audio production process.
The series was produced by young producer Jamie Green, who joined Reform on a Kickstart placement. He used onsite audio recordings, vox pops and interviews conducted by a group of Manchester Adult Education Service participants.
There are plans for the podcast to have its own legacy within the site, with QR codes to be placed on windows, allowing visitors to listen to episodes whilst immersing themselves in the park.
The first two episode of Park Life are available on all podcast platforms, with the final episode released this Friday, 21 October.
