ALTERNATIVE AND INDEPENDENT WALKING TOURS OF MANCHESTER SINCE 2011 -
BOOK OUT NOVEMBER 2025
ALTERNATIVE AND INDEPENDENT WALKING TOURS OF MANCHESTER SINCE 2011 - BOOK OUT NOVEMBER 2025
Alternative Manchester Tours
Skyliner are walking tours looking at the alternative side of Manchester. The tours are informal but informative, with a focus on critical thinking, especially concerning public art and public realm, and the equity and ethics of cities.
Our aim is to promote honest tourism. The tour we most regularly run is The Modern History of the Northern Quarter where we use public art as the theme to tell the story of changes to the area, from success to dereliction and back again, since the 1970s.
It delves into gentrification, private vs public space, community groups, homelessness, drug use, and preservation and loss of heritage assets.
Other routes run less frequently but are available for private booking anytime.
We’re Good to Go - we’ve achieved the industry standard for good practice following COVID-19
BOOK TICKETS
street art: the modern history of the northern quarter
£15
next dates: jul 12th, aug 30th, and OCT 5TH AT 11am
“The level of detailed research and appreciation of Manchester’s history that Hayley displays is electric. She is an expert on Manchester’s urban landscape and the current issues affecting its future. Her wealth of knowledge and clear passion to preserve why we all love Manchester takes the tour from a nice day out to something that you’ll be thinking about for days after.”
Critical-thinking city walking tours of Manchester.
“Hayley Flynn, aka Skyliner, has been leading what has been described as “anti-tours” around Manchester for almost a decade. Her urban tours not only seek to reveal new things about the city to its inhabitants as well as its visitors, but to empower those on her tours with a sense that a city is a place created by those who live and work within it and that they too can and should contribute to the never-ending project that is improving the city.“ - BBC Front Row
I also work as a cultural placemaker; I can bring a unique and knowledgeable perspective on place and this makes my non-traditional routes ideal for those with a curious or critical mind.
I give back to the community and strive for sustainable tourism. Official guide of Manchester International Festival.
“I can’t write highly enough of your descriptions of the streets and buildings we saw, and the insights you gave us into the plans and politics of their rise and fall.”
“Spending a couple of hours touring the Northern Quarter, I didn’t just enjoy the artwork, but I especially loved learning about the city and its more recent history through a very unique lens. I’ve been on many street art tours around the world, but this may just be one of the best.”
“Skyliner aka Hayley Flynn, has been developing tours for seven years. The Modern History of the Northern Quarter has been a very popular especially as it evolves with the area. She has a talent for making people look up and pay attention to the places around them, whether it’s for the sake of a stunning mural or the political message behind it. Every street you walk down on the tour has a very human history which often goes unnoticed.”
“The street art tour gives a personal insight into the history and stories behind the artworks that are on the walls, and sometimes quite literally on the streets, of Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Hayley Flynn’s well-researched narrative is both knowledgeable and illuminating. Take the tour – there’s no better way to spend an entertaining and informative morning wandering the streets of Manchester”