The fascinating history of a lost city centre street and the flats that sat on top of the Arndale Centre
The IRA had wrecked the streets around his home, but Danny O’Neill refused to budge.It’s a true story that sounds like Manchester folklore - how a doughty RAF veteran, 77, ignored all warnings to evacuate his flat in the wake of the ‘96 bomb, because he had the flu and wanted to stay in bed.It’s one of many stories to spring from Cromford Court, a lost city centre street which pops up repeatedly, in different guises, in recent Manchester history.When Mr O’Neill lived there it was affordable housing, sixty flats, complete with communal garden, on top of the Arndale Centre; home to an eclectic bunch of residents at a time when virtually no-one lived in town.That development took its name from a Victorian backstreet which was demolished to