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Video: MediaCityUK Salford: An international perspective
by Tom Rodgers and Tony Flynn
The international reputation of Salford was under the spotlight yesterday as a correspondent from world's largest public service broadcaster arrived in the city to interview SalfordOnline. Our first question - "Is Salford well-known internationally?" - made for uncomfortable listening: our sister city Manchester is well-known, apparently, but Salford is not. Torsten, from Hamburg, is producing a radio programme for WDR - a subsidiary of German radio and TV station ARD - on the history of Salford Quays; in particular the reason for the decline of the docks and the huge growth of MediaCityUK, and the benefits it would provide for Salford. His interview with our Local History editor Tony Flynn will form part of a programme celebrating the European Broadcasting Union's annual choir compeition: Let the Peoples Sing. It was founded in 1961 by the BBC, originally as a national competition, and this year will take place at MediaCityUK on 16th October. ARD employs over 23,000 people with a reported budget of 6.3 billion euros. Torsten wanted to know about the history of Salford Quays; and so Tony obliged, telling him how the docks went into decline in the mid-1970s with the containerisation of ships, and about the limit placed on vessel size by the Manchester Ship Canal company which meant that these larger vessels could not reach Salford docks. This brought about the decline and final closure of Salford docks in 1982 which led to the loss of 3,000 jobs. Due to Salford Council's foresight the once-derelict area was purchased in 1983 and with the help of public and private sector money, the area would soon flourish. We mentioned such buildings as The Lowry Arts Centre, The Outlet Mall, the Merchant Quays and NV Buildings, also the Imperial War Museum North. The jewel in the crown was the BBC's move to MediaCity with the promise of up to 10,000 jobs and the addition of £1bn to the local economy over the next five years. Salford University has also moved their media teaching and production base to MediaCityUK with some 1,500 students attending. Hopefully Torsten has gone back to Germany with a more enlightened view of Salford as he freely admitted to us that he had never heard of Salford until he heard about the BBC move to MediaCity!
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