'I was photographing a disappearing world': The incredible pictures of the 'last days of Hulme'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Bare-chested, a young lad sits on the boot of a graffiti-covered car. A punk sporting an impressive mohawk takes a swig from a bottle of cider.

Under a subway a break-dancer spins on his head as a crowd gathers to watch. Al Baker didn't know it at the time, but in his remarkable black and white photos of chaotic, edgy, 1990s Hulme he was capturing the last days of a 'disappearing world'. Read more: 'Like the last days of the Roman Empire': What it was like to party at the Kitchen, Hulme's notorious after-hours acid house club "Photography transports people back to a different time and place," said Al. "There's an emotional, visceral reaction." "At the time I'd be really excited about a picture and I'd show it to my mates in the pub, but they'd be like 'Yeah, it's Dave from 'round the corner'," said Al. "Now when I show those same pictures people get really excited, their reactions are very different, because that's the point - 'round the corner doesn't exist any more. "I was photographing a disappearing world.

We didn't realise it at the time, but now it's gone." Al moved to Manchester from his native Grimsby as a 17-year-old in the mid 80s.

An aspiring artist, he originally lived in Longsight and Withington, and enrolled on an art course at Chorlton Park College.