''City Life'' was a

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

-based news, arts and listings magazine that was published between December 1983 and December 2005. It was a distinctive blend of radical politics and coverage of the increasingly exciting Manchester youth culture scene of the early 1980s, coinciding with the rise of

Factory Records Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Durutt ...

and

The Haçienda The Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, North West England, which became famous during the Manchester years of the 1980s and early 1990s. It was run by the record label Factory Records. The club opened in 1982, eventually ...

History

The magazine was started by a small group of former

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

students, Ed Glinert, Chris Paul and Andy Spinoza, on a shoestring budget in a run-down building in Portland Street in the city centre. When launched in 1983, the magazine was in a strong tradition of "alternative2 Manchester publications that included (in reverse chronology), ''City Fun'', ''Manchester Flash'', ''New Manchester Review'' and ''Mole Express'', all of whose approach was to publish political and cultural content not reflected in the mainstream media of the city. Despite ''City Life''s shoestring beginnings, it developed rapidly in professionalism and grew in prominence and influence in Manchester and beyond. Its life can be divided into two distinct periods, the first being the period 1983–89 when it was run as a workers' co-operative which grew from the initial founding trio to 16 staff at its peak. There is a consensus that this "independent" period was when the title had a rawer and radical edge than under its later ownership. Its political stories caused consternation and complaints - there were numerous spats with councils, quangos and occasionally blank spaces where legal injunctions had caused stories to be pulled just prior to printing. Similarly, its arts writing can be seen as a vibrant record of a ground-level cultural renaissance taking place with the opening of new facilities as the Hacienda (1982), the Green Room performance venue (1984) and the Cornerhouse visual arts centre (1985); this upsurge was typified by the imaginative re-using of old and vacant city centre buildings for arts and leisure, and can be seen as a key building block of what was later hailed as the physical regeneration of Manchester city centre through widespread commercial investment and property development.

Acquisition by Guardian Media Group

In 1989, it was bought by the

Guardian Media Group Guardian Media Group plc (GMG) is a British-based mass media company owning various media operations including ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer''. The group is wholly owned by the Scott Trust Limited, which exists to secure the financial and e ...

(GMG), publishers of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and ''

The Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 201 ...

''. GMG changed the style of the magazine, focusing more on listings and interviews, and branching out into publishing guide books and sponsoring events such as the ''City Life'' Food and Drink Festival and the ''City Life'' Comedian of the Year competition. ''City Life'' formed a loose association in 1984/5 with some other regional listings magazines including ''

Due South Magazine ''Due South'' was a British listings magazine which covered the region containing the Hampshire cities Southampton, Portsmouth and Winchester and the Dorset town Bournemouth. ''Due South'' was among a number of provincial what's-on/entertainmen ...

'' (

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

), ''

Venue Venue is the location at which an event takes place. It may refer to: Locations * Venue (law), the place a case is heard * Financial trading venue, a place or system where financial transactions can occur * Music venue, place used for a concer ...

'' (

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

), ''

Coaster Coaster (stylized as COASTER) is a commuter rail service in the central and northern coastal regions of San Diego County, California, United States operated by the North County Transit District (NCTD). The commuter rail line features eight s ...

'' (

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

), and '' The List'' (

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

). Of these only ''Venue'' and ''The List'' survive, having been continually published since 1982 and 1985 respectively. In November 2005 it was announced that ''City Life'' was to end publication, with the final edition published on 7 December.

Supplement

''City Life'' now lives on as a 20-page supplement every Friday within the ''

Manchester Evening News The ''Manchester Evening News'' (''MEN'') is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in North West England, founded in 1868. It is published Monday–Saturday; a Sunday edition, the ''MEN on Sunday'', was launched in February 201 ...

'' and continues to be the most read ''Whats On'' guide on the North of England (333k readers. Source: JICREG April 2014). Its website http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/ regularly generates over a million page views every month from more than 250k unique users (Source: Omniture September 2014) CityLife's sister title ''CityLife Extra'' is a Free solus publication delivered every Thursday to 16k City Centre apartments and a further 6k copies handed out with the Manchester Evening News. More than half of its 64 pages are devoted to "Urban Life", advertising property for sale in the city.

Notable people associated with ''City Life''

Writers: *

Dick Witts Richard "Dick" Witts (born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire) is an English musicologist, music historian, and ex leader of 1980s band the Passage. He attended Clee Grammar School for Boys. He studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music and b ...

* Kevin Cummins *

Mark Kermode Mark James Patrick Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter and podcaster. He is the chief film critic for ''The Observer'', contributes to the magazine ''Sight & Sound'', prese ...

* John Robb * Daniel Brocklehurst * Louise Rhodes *

Jon Ronson Jon Ronson (born 10 May 1967) is a British-American journalist, author, and filmmaker whose works include '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'' (2001), ''The Men Who Stare at Goats'' (2004), and ''The Psychopath Test'' (2011). He has been desc ...

Henry Normal Henry Normal (real name Peter James Carroll, born 15 August 1956) is a writer, poet, TV and film producer, founder of the Manchester Poetry Festival (now the Manchester Literature Festival) and co-founder of the Nottingham Poetry Festival. In Ju ...

Melvin Burgess Melvin Burgess (born 25 April 1954) is a British writer of children's fiction. He became famous in 1996 with the publication of '' Junk'', about heroin-addicted teenagers on the streets of Bristol. In Britain, ''Junk'' became one of the best-kn ...

External links

Article on ''City Life''s closure
at ''

Guardian Unlimited TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and ''Guardian Unlimited'', is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', ...

'' (requires registration)
City Life (Manchester) Website

''Manchester Evening News'' Website
{{Trinity Mirror 1983 establishments in the United Kingdom 2005 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Cultural magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct political magazines published in the United Kingdom Listings magazines Magazines established in 1983 Magazines disestablished in 2005 Magazines published in Manchester