Gasworks wonders

The disused landmarks are to be demolished but campaigners want to see parts of the structures put in museums

- Ethan Davies

TO some, east Manchester’s gas towers are just relics of a world which no longer exists. They’ve outstayed their welcome, and it’s time for them to go.

But for others - including the residents around Bradford Road - yet to be touched by the billions in investment that’s poured into neighbouring Ancoats -- they’re a symbol of home. Or, as Dr Jenna Ashton puts it, the ‘last reminder’ of a ‘working class heritage which is being eradicated’.

Dr Ashton is now spear-heading a push to ensure that this corner of the city gets to keep some of the towers after the National Grid demolishes them. The lecturer in Heritage Studies at the University of Manchester is keen to keep bits of the structure for posterity.

“I’m doing a project in Miles Platting and Newton Heath around communities and climate resilience, so I’m working in the area and seeing the development around me,” Dr Ashton told the Manchester Evening News. “I have been interested in the gasworks for a long time. So much evidence of working class heritage has been removed from Ancoats.