The Manchester Streets you have probably seen in your favourite movies - but just not realised

Often when you are watching a gritty car chase in New York or a gang of bright young things living it up in London, the TV or movie scene unfolding in front of your eyes is not actually in The Big Apple - or even in The Big Smoke... it’s right here in Manchester, in the streets you shop, drink, eat and work in on a day to day basis.

In fact, a recent study has revealed Manchester has featured in 21,886 films and TV series – most often drama and crime genres - yet it is often the unsung star of the show.

Here’s a few of the streets and buildings you may have missed while enjoying some of your favourite screen time...

Northern Quarter

The authentic redbrick buildings of the Northern Quarter, with its pre-war architecture, have made the area a clear winner with filmmakers over the years who have emulated both London and New York for various movies and shows.

Its gritty, graffiti strewn, urban feel with multiple multi-coloured street art, has made it easy to transform it into a convincing New York in more than one film – with movie giants Marvel using Dale Street as their first-ever location outside the US, turning it into 1940s New York for Captain America.

Scenes from Big Apple-based flick Alfie, starring Jude Law, along with the movie version of Sherlock Holmes have also been shot there. In Netflix Series Safe, actor Marc Warren went drinking with fellow actor Dexter star Michael C Hall in scenes shot on Oldham Street.

Paton Street

Filming took place on Paton Street, near to Piccadilly Gardens and the gay village for scenes of Channel Four’s smash hit series It’s A Sin, starring Years and Years singer Olly Alexander.

The street exterior doubled as the London street where the friends rent a flat together and the Clampdown Records storefront, one of Manchester’s famous independent music shops, remained in shot.

The record shop is often also used for filming old school New York scenes.

The Principal Hotel, Oxford Street

The 1960 black-and-white movie Hell Is A City is a cult classic among Manchester film buffs, who have labelled it Manc Noir. It was filmed all over Manchester and its outskirts, but the most famous scene was shot on the roof of the (then) Palace Hotel, since renamed The Principal. As the film was made in the 1960s, the city looks almost unrecognisable, but the redbrick home to Refuge was as distinctive then as it is now.

More recently Netflix Series Stay Close starring Richard Armitage and Eddie Izzard filmed in the stunning Refuge Bar.

Manchester Town Hall, Albert Square

Manchester’s 19th-century town hall has long been considered an iconic building and beating heart of the city, or ‘the jewel in the crown.’

The imposing Gothic masterpiece has doubled for the Houses of Parliament several times, partly because filming for movies or TV is not generally allowed inside the genuine London venue.

The Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep, Sherlock Holmes (the film), starring Robert Downey Jr, and 2017’s Darkest Hour, starring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, all used the Town Hall to depict Parliament – proving it to be a pretty impressive double for the impressive House of Commons.

Manchester Town Hall was also used to conjure up the Victorian era in the movie version of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein starring Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe and Shameless (another Manchester-filmed show) star James McAvoy.

Victoria Baths

Designed by Manchester’s first City Architect Henry Price, this stunning and much loved Edwardian Grade II*-listed building closed for swimming purposes in 1993 and has since been used for events and filming. The iconic building, built in 1906, appears in two scenes in ITV drama Mrs Biggs, about the Great Train Robber’s wife and starring Sheridan Smith.

The offices where the future Charmian Biggs works when she first lays eyes on Ronnie were shot in Victoria Baths’ wood-panelled rooms with the sensational stained-glass window in the background. One of the three drained pools was also used to emulate the visiting area of the prison where he was an inmate.

The pool, this time filled with water, was also where Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock and Martin Freeman’s Watson confront Moriarty at the end of series one of Sherlock (the TV series) in 2010. Scenes for Peaky Blinders (which also uses London Road Fire Station and other Manchester locations) features Victoria Baths’ glinting green tiles and mosaic floors.

Victoria Baths was also another venue used for scenes in Channel Four hit TV show It’s A Sin.

Salford Lads Club

Salford Lads Club will forever remain etched on Mancunian’s minds as the place The Smiths posed in front of for their LP cover for third album, The Queen Is Dead. But it has been use for filming too - fans of Peaky Blinders may have spotted this famous location in Series 2, Episode 6 of the show. In the scene, Tommy meets with his followers ahead of a major rally.