The Mancunian Way: Drama on Albert Square

David Fox is fed up of the same demoralising view. Each day on his way into work, the restaurant owner is greeted by portable cabins piled high on top of each other in Albert Square.

Behind them, the iconic architecture of Manchester Town Hall is shrouded behind white sheets and scaffolding. For the past four years, the ongoing building works on Manchester's central square have obscured any view from, and of, David's restaurant Tampopo that he proudly established in his home city 26 years ago.

They have had a costly impact on his business - and others all around the civic square. Not least because Albert Square has been unable to hold the big public events that had, in the past, drawn huge crowds to this part of the city.

The Manchester have not been held there since 2019, although council bosses have said they hope they will make a return next year.

Manchester council announced last week that the ongoing Our Town Hall works, due to have initially been complete in December 2023, are delayed again - and will now take another two years.

The latest delays have left David, and a host of fellow business owners fuming. He is now demanding the council do "everything in their power" to get Albert Square clear of the portable cabins and cordons to ensure it is back in use as soon as possible - and most definitely in time for next year's festive run-in.

"I think we can all agree we need to get the wretched cabins removed and the square reopened as soon as is possible,” he told Lifestyle Editor Dianne Bourne.

"It's a waste of space for the city, it's a waste of space for the operators around the square and it's a waste of space for the council in terms of the money it can generate from hosting events there. There needs to be some