Played in Manchester

Britain's sporting heritage is unrivalled. Most of the sports played at international level today - including football, cricket, rugby, hockey, tennis, bowls and snooker - were developed and codified in this country. But what of sport's architectural heritage? Played in Manchester is the first of a series of titles celebrating this significant, yet often overlooked aspect of our social and cultural history. Over the last two hundred years the Manchester area has, at one time or another, been a leading centre for archery, athletics, cycling, lacrosse and water polo. The city can claim Britain's first purpose built ice rink, the first greyhound stadium and the earliest known examples of Lads' Clubs, the forerunners of today's youth centres. Until the 1960s Manchester was also the centre of the turnstile manufacturing industry. Adopting a completely new approach to the study of sporting and urban history, Played in Manchester leads readers along a trail of fascinating locations; a Victorian real tennis club hidden in the backstreets of Salford, an Edwardian billiard room, the training ground where Manchester United's Bobby Chariton and David Beckham honed their skills, a former racecourse grandstand now used as a student union and, not least, the opulent Victoria Baths, winner of 2003's BBC Restoration series.