City Life (Magazine)
Encyclopedia
City Life was a Manchester
-based listings magazine that was published between December 1983 and December 2005. It was a distinctive blend of radical politics and coverage of the increasingly exciting Manchester youth culture scene of the early 1980s, coinciding with the rise of Factory Records
and The Haçienda
.
The magazine was started by a small group of Manchester University former and current students on a shoestring budget in rented offices in a run-down building South of the city centre. However, it developed rapidly in professionalism and grew in prominence and influence in Manchester and beyond.
In 1989, it was bought by the Guardian Media Group
(GMG), publishers of The Guardian
and The Manchester Evening News. GMG changed the style of the magazine, focusing more on listings and interviews, and branching out into publishing guide books and sponsoring events such as the City Life Food and Drink Festival and the City Life Comedian of the Year
competition.
City Life formed a loose association in 1984/5 with some other regional listings magazines including among others Due South Magazine
(Southampton
), Venue
(Bristol
), Coaster (Bournemouth
), and The List (Glasgow
and Edinburgh
). Of these only Venue and The List survive, having been continually published since 1982 and 1985 respectively.
In November 2005 it was announced that City Life was to close, with the edition published on 7 December being the final one.
Towards the end of 2008 the Manchester Evening News re-launched City Life as an online-only brand, CityLife.co.uk. As Greater Manchester
’s definitive guide to what’s on, as well as the latest entertainment news, the new City Life website allows users to read and write reviews on a number of categories including restaurants, bars, pubs & clubs in the area, as well as uploading new events and venues people may not have heard of yet.
Not only does City Life provide news and reviews on the latest happenings around the city, users can also search their wide database listings to find exactly what they are looking for around Greater Manchester.
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
-based listings magazine that was published between December 1983 and December 2005. It was a distinctive blend of radical politics and coverage of the increasingly exciting Manchester youth culture scene of the early 1980s, coinciding with the rise of Factory Records
Factory Records
Factory Records was a Manchester based British independent record label, started in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus, which featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, Happy Mondays, Northside and James and...
and The Haçienda
The Haçienda
Fac 51 Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, England. It became most famous during the "Madchester" years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, during the 1990s it was labelled the most famous club in the world by Newsweek magazine...
.
The magazine was started by a small group of Manchester University former and current students on a shoestring budget in rented offices in a run-down building South of the city centre. However, it developed rapidly in professionalism and grew in prominence and influence in Manchester and beyond.
In 1989, it was bought by the Guardian Media Group
Guardian Media Group
Guardian Media Group plc is a company of the United Kingdom owning various mass media operations including The Guardian and The Observer. The Group is owned by the Scott Trust. It was founded as the Manchester Guardian Ltd in 1907 when C. P. Scott bought the Manchester Guardian from the estate of...
(GMG), publishers of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and The Manchester Evening News. GMG changed the style of the magazine, focusing more on listings and interviews, and branching out into publishing guide books and sponsoring events such as the City Life Food and Drink Festival and the City Life Comedian of the Year
City Life Comedian of the Year
The City Life Comedian of the Year competition is held annually in Manchester, and sponsored by the City Life magazine.The competition began in 1990, and has become one of the most prestigious comedy awards in the North West of England, mostly based on the subsequent success of many of its entrants...
competition.
City Life formed a loose association in 1984/5 with some other regional listings magazines including among others Due South Magazine
Due South Magazine
Due South was the name of a British Listings magazine which covered the cities of Southampton, Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Winchester.Due South was among a number of provincial "What's On"/Entertainment listings magazines produced during the late 1970s and early 1980s in a similar style to London's...
(Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
), Venue
Venue (magazine)
Venue is the what's on magazine for the Bristol and Bath areas of the UK.It was founded in 1982 by journalists who had been working for another Bristol magazine, Out West, which had been consciously modelled on London's Time Out magazine....
(Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
), Coaster (Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
), and The List (Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
and Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
). Of these only Venue and The List survive, having been continually published since 1982 and 1985 respectively.
In November 2005 it was announced that City Life was to close, with the edition published on 7 December being the final one.
Towards the end of 2008 the Manchester Evening News re-launched City Life as an online-only brand, CityLife.co.uk. As Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
’s definitive guide to what’s on, as well as the latest entertainment news, the new City Life website allows users to read and write reviews on a number of categories including restaurants, bars, pubs & clubs in the area, as well as uploading new events and venues people may not have heard of yet.
Not only does City Life provide news and reviews on the latest happenings around the city, users can also search their wide database listings to find exactly what they are looking for around Greater Manchester.
Notable people associated with City Life
Writers:- Mark KermodeMark KermodeMark Kermode is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons...
- Tony WilsonTony WilsonAnthony Howard Wilson, commonly known as Tony Wilson , was an English record label owner, radio presenter, TV show host, nightclub manager, impresario and journalist for Granada Television and the BBC....
- John Robb
- Daniel Brocklehurst
- Louise Rhodes
- Jon RonsonJon RonsonJon Ronson is a Welsh journalist, documentary filmmaker, radio presenter and nonfiction author, whose works include The Men Who Stare At Goats. His journalism and columns have appeared in British publications including The Guardian newspaper, City Life and Time Out magazine...
- Henry NormalHenry NormalHenry Normal is an English comedian, television producer, poet and writer. He is Managing Director of Baby Cow Productions Ltd which he set up with Steve Coogan....
- Melvin BurgessMelvin BurgessMelvin Burgess is a British author of children's fiction. His first book, The Cry of the Wolf, was published in 1990. He gained a certain amount of notoriety in 1996 with the publication of Junk, which was published in the shadow of the film of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, and dealt with the...
External links
- Article on City Lifes closure at Guardian UnlimitedGuardian Unlimitedguardian.co.uk, formerly known as Guardian Unlimited, is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. Georgina Henry is the editor...
(requires registration) - City Life (Manchester) Website
- Manchester Evening News Website