Found this interesting bit in the Mirror today, with a smile on my face as I read the article and watched the video. I've known for years that Manchester has a pretty liberal police force, allowing certain activities to go on, because they deem other matters of a higher importance. Such as the Black Market on and around Bury New Road near Strangeways Prison (I know, it's not called that anymore).. Basically, for about a mile from opposite the prison, northwards up to Broughton Lane, scores of Asian men can be seen standing outside what can often appear as closed stores, with the shutters down. All one needs to do is approach one of these men and they will open up the shutter and allow you into their den of counterfeit goods. Jimmy Choo shoes for £10, Nike T-shirts from £2.50 and Beats by Dre headphones for £5 (according to the video, not bought any myself). What's interesting about this black market, is as far as I know it has been where it is all my adult life and perhaps longer, which is basically a good 20 years. So it's hardly top notch journalism at work here, rather some quick story whilst scoring a cheap England top. Around this area on a weekend, there are hundreds of Mancunians coming down to get some cheap clothing, because the irony is that sometimes these counterfeits are cheaper than the own branded clothes in Asda or Matalan. As I've said, the police tend to turn a blind eye on all of this. They know what goes on, but for whatever reason keep their eyes on other matters (until politics forces a quick clampdown) and then the black market opens for trade a couple of days later. Before the regeneration of the City Centre after the IRA bomb, a lot of the black market seeped into the city centre as well. Of course the downside of this was that as a young adult, I recall walking into a store looking for shoes and discovered it was a neo nazi military style shop (cue a quick turn-around). I've also been told that generally speaking, Greater Manchester Police turn a blind eye to people growing and selling cannabis, unless they suspect other crimes are involved (such as people trafficking or guns). There are also a number of shops within Manchester (including the city centre) where counterfeit DVDs can be bought quite cheaply, these can be entire boxsets (even if there is no boxset available), the latest blockbusters and porn. For the most part, these shops have lost out to the Chinese fake DVD sellers who turn up at pubs and stroll the streets of Longsight, Rusholme and other busy areas - but they still exist. Again, generally speaking most Mancunians know where they are. Another side to the black market that is particularly shady is the sale of stolen mobile phones and other assorted personal electronics. Around the City Centre roam gangs of youths who are known to steal phones right out of peoples hands whilst they're talking or texting. They then sell these phones onto shops around the city centre (and some in the suburbs) who will unlock them and basically wipe all data from them. So if you're in Manchester, be careful with your phone (though I guess this is true in any major city). And one last part of the Manchester black market scene that tends to slide as far as the police are concerned is the city's sex trade. I'm not sure how many brothels exist in Manchester, but I heard (or read) that there were about 70 of them at some point. Again, the police tend to turn a blind eye on them unless the owners are gangs, have other dodgy goings on happening (such as people trafficking) or sell drugs from the premises. I once witnessed a police raid on one of these places some years back whilst waiting for a tram to go to work, there was an older gentleman aged about 60+ getting a dressing down by police outside the door of this brothel (which no longer exists, so I think it closed then). Now this was about 7-8 years ago, imagine if this were today! That fellow would have been on Facebook and Youtube... Anyway, I got distracted there. Basically, Manchester was and still is a pretty dodgy place. The powers that be let this carry on so long as they don't know of people getting hurt in the process, but with some other issues they can often be powerless to do much about it.
My ex wifes father took me there many years back circa 1984. There is a name for the market but I cannot remember it. Ducie Street?
It was bugging me. Not Ducie Street. But Gt Ducie Street. I never bought anything there. It was all tat. Normally it is quite obvious when something is a fake. The quality of build and finish normally is lacking.
These days it's hard to tell, literally. That's not always the rule, there are some shabby fakes, but the sellers are used to people picking through their stuff and deciding what to buy; hence only decent quality items are sold now.. At least clothing wise... I think a fool would buy fake after shave or headphones - or anything electrical really. I once was given some fake Hugo Boss after shave as a gift, I used it to clean the toilet.. No way was I putting it on my skin.
