Affleck's Palace

Affleck’s Palace was opened in 1982, in a disused building in a vacant area of the city. It offered cheap rent and long‐term contracts for small stores as an indoor market. Far from attracting the high‐end art crowd (though some are there), Affleck’s gathered second‐hand clothes shops—corsets, tie‐dye scarves, Soviet t‐shirts, greatcoats—crystal‐healing displays, collectors of plastic UFOs, spilled‐ink poster designers, and much, much more. There’s four floors of it, jambed in at every angle, constructed ad‐hoc. When Manchester bands gathered in the 1990’s to become a scene, Affleck’s was the place to buy in, and so became legend. The building has set alight a few times (nobody hurt, thank goodness). It near‐closed in 2008 then, remarkably, the property developer bought it out. So Affleck’s continues as was, outlasting scenes, and still the place to play an ancient arcade game, buy exotic soap, get a butterfly tattoo or browse plastic robots. Useful: there is a lift, if you dare. Affleck’s Palace may not be everyone’s cup of (lemon‐bubble, Manga‐inspired) tea, but it’s where you’ll find the thing that isn’t a sofa, and the soul of the Northern Quarter.