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By Al Baker
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When Al Baker moved to Hulme, Manchester, in the mid-1990s, its notorious crescent-shaped housing blocks – the Hulme Crescents – were already earmarked for demolition.
Planned as a gleaming post-war replacement for grimy pre-war housing, the blocks quickly failed in their utopian purpose… but once the original residents moved out, a new kind of community moved in.
Cut loose from suburban norms, Hulme became the blazing centre of Manchester’s creative furnace, where young people lived cheaply, resourcefully, expansively, and dangerously.
Against the apocalyptic backdrop of an estate whose days were numbered, Al’s photographs reveal the characters, culture and chaos of Hulme… before the bulldozers finally arrived.
