Sinclair's Oyster Bar and Victorian Dome, Exchange Square, Manchester

3 October 2019 · Manchester

Tudor timber frame and Victorian sandstone share the same corner at Exchange Square — centuries of Manchester compressed into a single street-level view. The half-timbered black-and-white facade of Sinclair's Oyster Bar pushes flat against the ornate dome tower behind it, the contrast sharpened by a flat overcast sky that strips both buildings of any softness. Blue construction hoardings and pedestrians under umbrellas fill the foreground: the city mid-process, exactly as it looks on a grey weekday.