‘We are always ignored’: What the people of Manchester really think about Burnham’s ‘No 10 North’
On a sunny Manchester afternoon, behind a black door which reads “10 of the North”, the sound of karaoke is booming.
It has just gone 4pm and The Millstone pub, a fixture of this city’s nightlife for 170 years, is packed to the rafters as singers make their way through classics by Elvis and Sinatra - a daily occurrence here.
The pub installed its temporary door, emulating the famous entrance to 10 Downing Street, on 20 July after a host of social media posts suggested it would be the perfect location for Andy Burnham’s Number 10 North.
It’s been “magic” for business, says 83-year-old landlord Gerard Ford.
“It looks a million dollars. I've had so many people coming round taking photographs, it's unbelievable.
“It's been on television, it's been everywhere, and it really took off.”
Though the Millstone’s installation is only temporary, Mr Ford hopes that the real Number 10 North won’t be.
“I think it's fantastic”, he says. “I think it's great for Manchester and hopefully it'll just be great for the whole North.”
Around half a mile across the city centre, next to a Slug and Lettuce bar, is the rather inconspicuous office block that now houses Downing Street’s Northern outpost.
Number 10 North is identifiable only by the police officers standing behind metal railings which separate it from the rest of Albert Square, also home to the neo-Gothic grandeur of Manchester’s Town Hall, which remains under extensive renovation.
But as people make their way past this otherwise nondescript sight, many stop to take photographs and chat to the officers standing guard.
Among them is a man from Liverpool, who says to The Independent as he passes: “We’ve got our boy in there”.
There is palpable excitement around this new symbol of power in Manchester, which northerners hope represents the start of good times, for a change, in their half of England.
Mr Burnham chaired his first meeting in the region he used to run as mayor on 24 July and he will work there every week, pledging that No 10 North will be the “conduit” through which he moves power out of London to the regions and nations.
Unsurprisingly, that move is very popular with those making their way around Manchester.
“I think it is amazing,” says Lesley Jolly. “We are always ignored in the North, ever since Thatcher.”
Ms Jolly, 69, and her husband Den, 72, originally from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, hope that the Merseyside-born former mayor of Greater Manchester – the country’s first Northern prime minister since Harold Wilson – has their interests at heart.
The couple believe he will represent them in a way that so few of his predecessors have.
“They've all talked about doing things in the north, and then Rishi Sunak turns up in his turned-up trousers and posh loafers in Sunderland,” Ms Jolly says. “They just read the room wrong all the time.”
Much is made of the ability of the man nicknamed the “King of the North”, more likely to be found in Adidas trainers than loafers, to connect with voters who have long been loyal to the Labour Party, but whose allegiance has wavered in recent years.
Boris Johnson took down the ‘Red Wall’ in 2019 and, in this year’s local elections, Reform UK took control of councils held by Labour for decades as Sir Keir Starmer’s already-dwindling popularity plummeted further in what were his party’s heartland areas.
Mr Burnham, whose victory over Reform in the Makerfield by-election convinced his party that he was the man to see off the threat of Nigel Farage’s party, speaks of “rewiring the country” to the North’s benefit, borrowing from the German federal system to put power in places that have long been without it.
It is welcome news for Mr and Ms Jolly, lifelong Labour voters who had little time for Sir Keir, who they call a “huge disappointment”.
Comparing the new prime minister with his predecessor, Ms Jolly he is “made of sterner stuff - he will cut through”.
She adds: “They're already picking on him, saying he's a performative Northerner, liking The Smiths and all that.
“But are they not performative Southerners all the time? Can you get any worse than the shower that we had from David Cameron onwards?”
For many here, Number 10 North is the manifestation of something they have long been told they can’t have.
“It’s long overdue”, says entrepreneur and university teaching fellow Kash Haroon, 48, who lives in Wythenshawe, Manchester.
Mr Haroon worked on HS2, which he describes as “very London-centric”, and says the state of the North’s rail network compared with the capital is proof alone of why this new office is required.
“That stretch - Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, it's horrendous. And then you get on the Elizabeth Line in London, we need that here.
“I remember on HS2, it was all about the money and the funding.
“People don't really understand ‘up North’ - when you work in an office in London, you have to work quite hard to explain.
“So I think it's brilliant, because it means that they'll have to get on the same train that we have to get on at Euston, and face those delays and cancellations.”
With Mr Haroon is Giorgos Konstantinou, 23, who is spending his final day as a student in Manchester before heading south.
“There is this feeling among young people that you have to go to London if you want an opportunity”, he explains.
“Not that there isn't growth in Manchester or other places in the UK, but there is a lack of infrastructure and a lack of mindset that we can do something better, because the reality is that there's not enough funding or things going on.”
Avoiding such a scenario will be key to ensuring that Number 10 North achieves what the prime minister wants.
When opening the office, the prime minister recalled his own experience of leaving the North as a graduate in the early 1990s to find work as he promised to make that a thing of the past.
“That really is an experience that I’ve never forgotten,” he told staff. “My generation of people growing up here, and it’s true of places all over the country, to get on in life you had to leave where you were because things weren’t here.
“And the country’s always been a little like that, hasn’t it? Opportunity has not been evenly spread around the country and not all places have felt that they’re part of the national story and that is what this government is going to work every single day to change.”
Scepticism remains, however, over whether Number 10 North will prove to be more than a symbol - whether it means that young people like Mr Konstantinou no longer have to leave the north for greater opportunities elsewhere.
Mr Burnham has rejected suggestions it is a gimmick and has claimed the office will be a “nerve centre” for his “rewiring of Britain”, from where he will work closely with mayors and other local politicians.
The prime minister hopes that devolution will drive “growth in every postcode”, which he says will not be limited to the North.
Ben Lee, 29, from Rochdale, welcomes its presence but yet to be convinced it will make a material impact.
”With Burnham saying that he's going to revitalise the North and might bring more power to the places in the North that are forgotten, maybe it's a good step”, he says.
“I don't know if it's actually going to do anything, but it shows that he's wanting a symbol of what he’s trying to do.”
And though Mr and Ms Jolly have been impressed with what they have heard from their new prime minister so far, they believe the challenge he now faces is turning those ideas into concrete change.
“He's got good ideas, but whether or not he can pull them off, who knows”, Mr Jolly says.
But for now, those who speak to The Independent are happy that the North is the centre of attention.
Mandy Tootill, 55, from Astley and her mother Carol Tallack, 78, from Prestwich have gone out of their way to get a look at Manchester’s new centre of power.
Retired police officer Ms Tootill is somewhat concerned at the level of extra security the office will bring with it.
But, summing up the mood in this city, she asks: “Why’s everything got to be in London all of the time?”