Ancoats was the cradle of the industrial revolution, a factory hoot from Manchester city centre, but it’s now one of the most successfully regenerated areas in Britain.

Life revolved around the mills, some of the oldest and most commanding in the country, now superbly renovated. On this trip around Ancoats, Ed Glinert relates the stories of how the Irish were brought in to man the new factories, how Italian immigration brought never-before-seen ice cream to the ’burb, visits the world’s first aircraft manufactory, the site of the public hall where Newton Heath became Manchester United, the Daily Express building which dates back to the days when Manchester was a major publishing centre, and the smart waterside apartments that now attract mass migration.