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Why are there no cashpoints in the Northern Quarter?
Simon Binns is out of cash and suffering financial cataplexy in the NQ
I WAS stood outside Kebabish in the Northern Quarter and I wanted some lunch. But I had no money, and they don’t take cards. And then it occurred to me. Why are there no bloody cash machines in the Northern Quarter?
‘All I want is a hole in the wall. But if I’m being greedy, a couple of freestanding cashpoints in Stevenson Square would be better.’
There’s Tesco and the Co-op near The Unicorn. Apart from that, if you’re in the Northern Quarter and you need cash, you’re screwed.
Shudehill has a couple, at the bus station and the convenience store near Café North. But Thomas Street, the teeming hub of the NQ, N4 or whatever you want to call it, is barren. So are Tib Street and Oldham Street, two other bustling thoroughfares.
Why are there no cashpoints anywhere near Stevenson Square? If you need to reload the pockets in the middle of the Northern Quarter, you’ve got to walk to Nationwide and Natwest on Piccadilly Gardens. It’s too far.
It’s not that I’m being lazy. From a business point of view, it forces you out of the Northern Quarter. Surely bars and shops in the area would want to keep people in and spending? So give us some cashpoints please.
All I want is a hole in the wall. But if I’m being greedy, a couple of freestanding cashpoints in Stevenson Square would be better.
The Northern Quarter is an all-night kind of area now, opening until 5am in some places. So why is the only option to load yourself with cash on Shudehill before you enter.
Banksy street art in London
It’s like a weird cash-free zone. I know the NQ is boho, retro and achingly twee in places but surely it hasn’t done away with the concept of cold hard cash altogether has it?
I’ve jumped in cabs a few times to get to the Northern Quarter then realised I’ve had about 56p in my pocket; which means being dropped somewhere you don’t want to be just to be able to jump out and get some money for the driver, or mounting a ridiculous diversion through the one-way roads, adding extra to your fare.
Am I out of touch? Should I just forget the idea of money and just use my card for everything? I sometimes like tipping bar staff though, so how am I going to be able to do that?
What if I want to offer some cold comfort to a gentleman of the street? Should I ask him if he’s got a PDQ machine?
Sometimes, you want to buy things costing under a fiver. Sometimes, you need money to pay into a bar, get a late night Hunters or grab a taxi home. Sometimes, only cash will do. But there’s nowhere to get any from. And it’s really annoying.
Follow Simon on Twitter @simonbinns
PICTURE CREDIT: Creative Commons
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AK Convenience, 58A, Oldham Street (between Mint Lounge and The Castle) has a cash machine next to it, but you'll be charged £1.50 for the privilege of using it.
No. That doesn't count. I want free cash. AK Inconvenience if you ask me.
Spar, new George street, free cash point outside
That's the one I'm referring to near Cafe North, and I'd say that was almost Shudehill.
There's a clump around there, then nothing for miles and miles...
Yes is a bind and it has spread into Ancoats. Used to be a cash machine in Central Retail park but got taken out. You would think with the success of Urban exchange and shops moving back into area it could be put back in. The HSBC next to Wing Yip on Oldham rd used to have security door late access to ATM, then reduced to 8pm and now seems access only when bank open. Crime, rough sleepers? ....Or maybe the banks are so bust they do not have enough money anymore to fill their cash machines. Could we borrow cash machines from Germany?
Agreed Simon - it is a pain that there's a lack on machines in the NQ generally.
But just for future reference; from Kebabish on Hilton st you could have walked 90 seconds/2 mins to Tesco opposite the Piccadilly tavern. Free cash machine inside the door.
That would have been your closest....
Yes, but it takes you out of the NQ and into the arms of a rival food and drink offering.
Cheers though.
Ten years ago it could have sounded: no cashpoints in Castlefield! What does that tell us?
Wot, no creative commons image attribution (again)? Tut tut
Terribly sorry - we had no idea where it came from. Credited now.
Just walk you lazy bastards.
Very conicidental this conversation as twenty minutes ago I was left cursing as I was denied the use of paying with a card at 'The Eatery in Stevenson Square and had to travel to the Nationwide in Piccadilly Gardens to enable me to pay for my lunch.
I was up at La Rosa pizza place on Great Ancoats the other day and had to walk all the way to the Yorkshire Building Society on Piccadilly to get cash to pay for my pizza. I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds it annoying!
Well I for one won't be going back until there is one. The cretinous bastards
Yes, something must be done!
How hard is it to pre-plan a night out without needing a cash point?? Hate to play the oldster card, but Manchester was a thriving nightlife city in the 1960s and the nearest cash point to the Twisted Wheel was a twenty year wait away.
You do sound like an oldster. Nowadays people just expect there to be convenient cash points in all areas of a city, so we don't bother carrying enough cash for a full night out. It's not 'hard' to pre-plan, but most people don't expect it to be necessary.
Anon. Nowadays, people just expect everything to be there for their selfish convenience. It's not hard to pre-plan but most people are just too lazy or caught in their own little bubble, to do so.
It's expected because it's usually... expectable. It's not 'hard' but it's not normally necessary to pre-plan. Being lazy or selfish hasn't got anything to do with it. It's called living in the modern world.
Yep. But the modern world has created lazy and selfish people who expect everything and everyone to be at their beck and call
It's lazy and selfish to expect there to be cash points in a city center? What the funk are you on about? Zzzzzz.
There are cash points in the city centre, you just have to be really motivated, physically at your peak, and do something quite unusual. That is walk a few fucking yards.......
Addiction may prevent pre-planning
if, as this website was claiming, the soon to be Brewdog Bar is classed as being 'located in NQ', then surely tesco, co-op and nationwide also have to be classed as NQ. I mean, you're probably never more than 100 seconds walk from a cash machine.
I think the NQ ends at Dale Street. The rest is Piccadilly I reckon.
There is a free cashpoint in the excellent Superstore on Tib Street, although you can only use it while the shop's open (midnight Mon-Sat/10pm Sunday).