The Mancunian Way: 'No other place to go'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Keep up to date with all the big stories from across Greater Manchester in the daily Mancunian Way newsletter. You can receive the newsletter direct to your inbox every weekday by signing up right here.

Here's today's Mancunian Way:

By Damon Wilkinson, Thursday June 30

Driven out of the city centre by an array of by-laws and deterrents, Manchester's boarders have taken matters into their own hands by building their own skate park on the site of a derelict shopping centre in Ancoats.

In today's Mancunian Way we'll be taking a look at what the future holds for this DIY set-up and what the skateboarding ban says about a city that often prides itself on its progressive and inclusive outlook.

Elsewhere we'll also be comparing the price of a Tesco big shop with the same items from six months ago to see exactly how the cost-of-living crisis is hitting our wallets.

And we'll also hear how city leaders hope to ban taxis not licensed locally from operating in Greater Manchester in a bid to improve air quality and drive up standards.

A large derelict plot right on the edge of the city centre, the old Central Retail Park in Ancoats is a prime bit of real estate. But, for the time being at least, it's not Fred Done, Urban Splash or any of the other big developers that have got their hands on it, but a group of young skateboarders who have reclaimed it for their own interests.

Driven out of places such as Lincoln Square and Cathedral Gardens by a city centre ban, the boarders have spent the last three months building ramps, banks and obstacles on the old retail park. It feels like exactly the kind of grassroots, DIY movement a young, forward-looking city like ours should be encouraging.

But skater Patrick O’Donohoe says they've only