JONATHAN SCHOFIELD TOURS
Upcoming public tours
Every Saturday
The Saturday Walkabout Series
The Manchester Music Walkabout 1pm every Saturday; The Manchester Pub Walkabout 3pm every Saturday.
Total entertainment, brilliant stories, great fun.
Saturday 31 January
10.30am Secrets of Ancoats and New Islington
Has any area of the UK been transformed so utterly than this fascinating area of mills, canals, new development and controversy? The answer is no. So join me for a stroll around the most interesting urban story in modern Britain with an extra special visit inside an 1820s mill.
Saturday 7 February
10.30am Sleazy, Sinister and Haunted Manchester
A tour highlighting the darker side of city history in all its craziness including delving into the supernatural.
Wednesday 11 February
4pm Treading the boards: Manchester's Theatreland
Fabulous tales of theatres and performers as Ian Nickson's Shakespeare and Manchester: A Victorian Powerhouse exhibition opens at Manchester Central Library.
Saturday 14 February
10.30am Kimpton Clock Tower Hotel Tour (Refuge Assurance)
The most spectacular terracotta building in the North of England. The Kimpton Clock Tower Hotel is a beauty and on this tour you learn its secrets.
NEW 3pm Valentine's Day Tour
Manchester is a romantic city. Love stories are scattered throughout its history although some don't work out that well. Come along and see how Manchester out-Parises Paris.
The Saturday Walkabout Series
The Manchester Music Walkabout 1pm every Saturday; The Manchester Pub Walkabout 3pm every Saturday.
Total entertainment, brilliant stories, great fun.
Sunday 15 February
11am The Secrets of Chorlton: The Surprising Manchester Series
From a hamlet on a road to nowhere to a desirable suburb the story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy is a fascinating tale of people, places and events. This tour will explore the characters that inhabited the suburb, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Wednesday 18 February
6.30pm The Manchester Talks: Romans to Normans
The years up to 1301. Read the description through the link.
Saturday 21 February
5.30pm The Manchester ghost tour
Superb spooky stories visiting the locations inhabited by the dead with stories of the gruesome pigman, the drowned beauty who floated back, the opera singer who returned from the other side, the Manchester magician and more.
Upcoming public tours
Every Saturday
The Saturday Walkabout Series
The Manchester Music Walkabout 1pm every Saturday; The Manchester Pub Walkabout 3pm every Saturday.
Total entertainment, brilliant stories, great fun.
Saturday 31 January
10.30am Secrets of Ancoats and New Islington
Has any area of the UK been transformed so utterly than this fascinating area of mills, canals, new development and controversy? The answer is no. So join me for a stroll around the most interesting urban story in modern Britain with an extra special visit inside an 1820s mill.
Saturday 7 February
10.30am Sleazy, Sinister and Haunted Manchester
A tour highlighting the darker side of city history in all its craziness including delving into the supernatural.
Wednesday 11 February
4pm Treading the boards: Manchester's Theatreland
Fabulous tales of theatres and performers as Ian Nickson's Shakespeare and Manchester: A Victorian Powerhouse exhibition opens at Manchester Central Library.
Saturday 14 February
10.30am Kimpton Clock Tower Hotel Tour (Refuge Assurance)
The most spectacular terracotta building in the North of England. The Kimpton Clock Tower Hotel is a beauty and on this tour you learn its secrets.
NEW 3pm Valentine's Day Tour
Manchester is a romantic city. Love stories are scattered throughout its history although some don't work out that well. Come along and see how Manchester out-Parises Paris.
The Saturday Walkabout Series
The Manchester Music Walkabout 1pm every Saturday; The Manchester Pub Walkabout 3pm every Saturday.
Total entertainment, brilliant stories, great fun.
Sunday 15 February
11am The Secrets of Chorlton: The Surprising Manchester Series
From a hamlet on a road to nowhere to a desirable suburb the story of Chorlton-cum-Hardy is a fascinating tale of people, places and events. This tour will explore the characters that inhabited the suburb, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Wednesday 18 February
6.30pm The Manchester Talks: Romans to Normans
The years up to 1301. Read the description through the link.
Saturday 21 February
5.30pm The Manchester ghost tour
Superb spooky stories visiting the locations inhabited by the dead with stories of the gruesome pigman, the drowned beauty who floated back, the opera singer who returned from the other side, the Manchester magician and more.
Click here for the full calendar which has more than ninety Greater Manchester tours covering more than forty themes for 2026. More than any other operator.
Public tours coming up.
All the tours are available as private or corporate tours.
This is what people are saying about the tours.
This is a 2024 podcast called We Built This City with Lisa Morton of Roland Dransfield
Buy three beautiful Mcr books by Jonathan Schofleld here.
Join The Manchester Talks Series to learn about Manchester's history and architectural styles across the region
Discussing the Manchester Bee on Radio 5 Live here.
You can read a profile of Jonathan Schofield here in The Guardian.
Most tours are dog-friendly
Do you want your building or area researched? Not just the architecture but the human stories associated with it? Mulligans pub did on Southgate Street.
The results proved fruitful.
Tom Dellow of Scoop who hired me certainly thought so.
Public tours coming up.
All the tours are available as private or corporate tours.
This is what people are saying about the tours.
This is a 2024 podcast called We Built This City with Lisa Morton of Roland Dransfield
Buy three beautiful Mcr books by Jonathan Schofleld here.
Join The Manchester Talks Series to learn about Manchester's history and architectural styles across the region
Discussing the Manchester Bee on Radio 5 Live here.
You can read a profile of Jonathan Schofield here in The Guardian.
Most tours are dog-friendly
Do you want your building or area researched? Not just the architecture but the human stories associated with it? Mulligans pub did on Southgate Street.
The results proved fruitful.
Tom Dellow of Scoop who hired me certainly thought so.
We approached Jonathan to do a deep dive into the history of Mulligans and the pub that came before it, The Waggon and Horses, and the results were fascinating. He uncovered loads of stories about the pub and the colourful characters connected to it, some more outrageous than others, plus maps and images that really bring it to life. His research has given us a brilliant insight into this Mancunian institution, from its opening in the 1820s to its transformation into Mulligans in 1990. I’d wholeheartedly recommend Jonathan for any research into buildings or places across Manchester.
Tom
Tom
Here's my favourite quote about Manchester in its nascent industrial days from Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in 1785. Its meaning is self-evident and although it refers to science the sentiment applies to every other field of endeavour.
‘Men, however great their learning often become indolent and unambitious to improve in knowledge for want of associating with others of similar talents and improvements. But science, like fire, is put in motion by collision. Where a number of such men have frequent opportunities of meeting and conversing together, thought begets thought, and every hint is turned to advantage. A spirit of enquiry glows in every breast.’
‘Men, however great their learning often become indolent and unambitious to improve in knowledge for want of associating with others of similar talents and improvements. But science, like fire, is put in motion by collision. Where a number of such men have frequent opportunities of meeting and conversing together, thought begets thought, and every hint is turned to advantage. A spirit of enquiry glows in every breast.’