OUR SUPERLATIVE TOUR OF SALFORD: EXPLORING THE OTHER CITY OF GREATER MANCHESTER
Eda, our sponsor of this video, has opened up the tallest tower block in Salford, so we thought it was right to find a few other “-ests” of Salford, like the oldest buildings, the fastest rowing club, the best Chinese, the quietest room, and even the hardest man.
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I’m not fighting him. Salford and Manchester. Quite a distinction between the two. Especially if you ask someone from Salford. But here at Manchester’s Finest, we love both cities and to prove it today, we’re off on a tour of Salford. Now usually, we’re going all across Manchester
trying to find you the things that are the finest. But for this, we’re going to go for some other “ests” like the oldest or the loudest or even, unfortunately, the hardest. More on that later. This is our superlative tour of Salford. So don’t say we never do anything for you, Salfordians.
First stop, we’re down at the Quays to visit Agecroft Rowing Club on a particularly cold Saturday morning. Now, Agecroft are one of the oldest rowing clubs in the country but that’s not why we’re here. We’re here because they’re the fastest in Salford
And in fact, the fastest in the North West. JP. Matt, how are you? I’m alright man, how are you? Good, good. Tell me a little bit about Agecroft Rowing Club, what do you do, what are you all about? We’ve been here since 1861. Oldest club in the UK.
– Are you really? – Yeah, one of the oldest clubs. About 250 members. If you’re over 27 years old, you’re a master rower. Oh, I don’t quite make that. – Well. – Just under. So yeah, we’ve got about four, five crews here and we train here Saturday, Sundays.
We race in the North West. We also race nationally as well. So I occasionally go to the gym, right? I go on the rowing machine. Yeah. I seem to be a natural. You think it’s going to be easy? Not easy, but not that hard.
Right, I think we need to get you on the water and see exactly what you’re like when you’re on the water. Yeah, I’m up for that. Is that me, seven! Okay and we’ll lean out towards the water. How come the cameramen have got life jackets and I haven’t?
So sit up straight, Matt. Yeah. Blades square so just twist it 90 degrees so the blue bit’s in the water, adjust your arms. and then you’re just going to cycle your arms forwards and backwards. – Just take strokes, yeah. – Like that? Obviously, with the blue bit in the water.
Back stays up straight and then just pull through the water. – Then back again. – Yeah. Keep sat up straight, Matt. Like that? Yeah, that’s it. My word, you’ve grown about three foot there. A giant of a man sat in front of me now. Eyes forward, Matt. If you look at your blade,
The only thing you’re going to keep in time with is your blade. So you need to keep in time with stroke. This is brilliant, you’ve got about twelve coaches here Matt. You pay a lot of money for this private tuition. How much do I have to pay to make it stop?
You alright in that motorised boat boys? Alright there… in your lifeboat, lifebelts on and an engine. Just keep in time with stroke, though. Slow it down, Matt. I’m too fast for everyone aren’t I. Matt, you’re 100% out pal. Keep looking forward. It’s because he was calling me the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
So even though we’re rocking over now Matt, you still stay sat up. Okay. Like somebody’s got a string attached to the top of your spine, and he’s pulling it. There we go, that’s the one. Okay, so we’re gonna go a bit further forward on the slide now, Matt.
So bend the knees a bit more. There we go. And this is where you find out rowing’s all about your legs. Come on, keep going Matt. It’s harder than I thought it was going to be everybody. Jesus wept. In the words of my children… are we nearly there yet?
Eyes forward, there we go. There we go. He’s getting it. He’s getting it! He’s getting it! Come on Matt. Remember stay sat up, stay sat up. Stay sat up. Get the blade out, now in. You’ve got a big boat full of people now Matt, you’ve got to look professional so sit up.
There we go. At least you look good for their Instagram stories. I think they think I’m a professional. Fortunately, they don’t know very much about rowing. I know what you’re trying to say there. What we doing, stopping? I don’t know what the nautical term is but I’m f*cked.
Food wise, we knew we wanted to include something pretty special on the list and this place has come recommended Hong Kong Choi. Now, not only are the chefs of Michelin Prestige but I’m also told that the menu is pretty unusual. This is the only Hong Kong restaurant
In the whole of Greater Manchester to make it into the Good Food Guide and they’ve been reviewing places since 1951 so according to them, this is Salford’s best Chinese. Hello, Brita. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. I’ve got a confession to make.
I didn’t even know you guys were here. Some of our customers say that we’re a little bit of a hidden gem. I’ve been told it’s quite an unusual menu, what do they mean by that? Yeah, so we do Hong Kong cuisine. So, Hong Kong is an international port city,
So we basically are the same. We take influences from all over the world to create dishes at our restaurant. Shall we just stop talking about it and go and eat something? Let’s dig in. After you. We’ve got our first few dishes ready for us now.
So this is a typhoon shelter tofu. It’s basically silken tofu, deep fried immediately, as soon as it’s been ordered. I think that’s the best tofu I’ve ever had. It almost just melts in your mouth, doesn’t it. And now let’s look at this. Yes, this is a satay beef on crispy vermicelli.
Basically, it’s a deep fried vermicelli at the bottom baked in the oven again for a little bit. This is delicious and would this be fairly typical in Hong Kong? Yeah so this is a classic Hong Kong dish, especially the satay beef. The crispiness coming from the
deep fried vermicelli is incredible. Lobster bisque is the very last thing I would expect in a Hong Kong restaurant, a Chinese restaurant it’s mind blowing to me. That tastes like I’m in a fine dining restaurant somewhere. So something sweet now. This is the super decadent peanut butter French toast.
Now a friend of mine has had this and he described it as a slice of pure fried gold. Oh, look! And this is condensed milk? Yes, condensed milk. So it’s like sweet and salty. This is the cold milk tea, Hong Kong style milk tea. So we brew our own tea in-house.
That’s the strongest tea I’ve ever tasted in my life. Very strong. But it really works, it’s great. I can see now having eaten the food and drank your drinks, I know why you’re in the Good Food Guide. Just down from Media City, surrounded by modern buildings
We’re at what we think is Salford’s oldest building. This is Ordsall Hall and inside, Sarah and the team are waiting for us to show us around and hopefully teach us some of the history. You’re going to make me dress up in something stupid, aren’t ya? I know it, morning. Aaahh, Sarah.
Hello, you okay? Yeah, I’m good thank you. So we’ve been trying to find the oldest building in Salford… I think we’ve found it. I think you have Matt, yes. This building… some of it originally dated back to 1251. It’s absolutely incredible and for it to be surrounded
By such modern buildings and houses. It’s a bit of a strange setting, isn’t it? People can come in and they can have a look around can’t they? What can the public do here when they visit? We have lots of activities on, we have school visits
But yeah, people just get immersed in the history of it all and they like looking around, we do lots of Tudor activities. Can we go and have a little look around? Yeah, shall we? Okay. Lead the way my lady. Is that what they say?
– My lady. – My lady, yeah. Good. Can someone… can we just… I mean this is fun and everything but can we just… So Matt, this is the Star Chamber which is one of the oldest rooms we have here. Why’s it called the Star Chamber?
Well there’s lots of stars up on the ceiling here, so it’s showing his status and his wealth. Supposedly though, there is one that that you can peep through, where the servants may have been able to look down and have a look at what was going on in the bedroom. That’s disgusting.
Talking of the bed. Yeah. It’s beautfiul isn’t it, so ornate. Yes, so this is the only piece of original furniture we’ve got. It’s a short bed. In those times, they would have slept actually more upright with the cushions and everything behind them because they were a bit superstitious
So they were worried about evil spirits coming to get them, If they lay flat, it resembled that they were dead but if they were propped up, it would mean that they were less vulnerable, so they didn’t want a spirit to come on to their chest. I love stuff like that
And actually, isn’t this place meant to be haunted? It is, it is. There are some very strange goings on that happen here. I mean, I guess with something this old there must be something. And it still just feels really crazy to me that something as old as this
is in such modern surroundings. It’s strange isn’t it? Really strange. Welcome to McDonald’s, what can I do for you? Do you do mead and a leg of boar? Did you say a leg of boar? Yeah, probably wrong era actually. Can I just get a strawberry milkshake? Yeah, good thank you.
Thank you very much. Everyone just thinks I’m a tw*t. Standing at 312 foot, 29 floors, 290 apartments. This is EDA. Which is the tallest building in Salford Quays by the way, did I not mention that? With one, two and three bedroom apartments lots of natural light, contemporary design and amazing resident benefits,
It makes living with EDA a rental experience like no other. All of EDA’s furnished apartments come with king size beds… corner sofas and TV units to name but a few. With floor to ceiling windows, it means you get incredible views of the Manchester skyline and the Quays
And if you look closely, you might be lucky enough to see a very athletic rower. Each apartment has a modern, fully-fitted kitchen with utility storage. And it doesn’t stop there, you can also bring your pet at no extra cost. Now let’s talk amenities. EDA boasts two generously landscaped gardens,
Both of which are perfect for reading a book, chilling with family and friends, perhaps some alfresco dining or even that outdoor exercise that you’ve been promising yourself you’re going to do. It has a cinema, a gaming room, private dining, 24/7 concierge and co-working spaces. Increase resistance now.
Not only have they got this state-of-the-art gym… Let’s go Matt. But they’ve also teamed up with Made For More who offer residents free courses and classes all included in the rent. Am I doing this right? To find out more about viewings, pricing and securing yourself a place here,
Follow the link below. But to really get a sense of its height, it’s these views from the 19th floor that are going to do the job and just over there is where we’re going next. Okay, let’s talk food because we are now at Salford’s largest food and drink hall. This is Kargo.
In there there’s over 20 food and drink vendors some of the city’s absolute finest. In fact, you might remember recently we went along and tried to eat every single one of them. Since then though, they’ve opened even more places like these hatches outside, serving up great food and drink in the area.
Now this, is one of my favourites. Rio Mex, opened by an incredible chef called Caroline Martin. Let’s go and eat. So where we going next? It’s been a very long time since I went to university and even then, I didn’t go much but yet here we are at the University of Salford.
Now the reason we’re here is because this room that we’re in is one of the quietest rooms in the world. It’s called an anechoic chamber. Now it’s so quiet, apparently, you can hear your internal organs whirring around and also, they say, if you stay in here for over 45 minutes,
You start to go a bit mental. What have I got to lose? Let’s give it a go. This is Salford’s quietest room. Danny. Morning. – How are you, mate? – Well, thank you. I’m told you’ve got one of the quietest rooms in the world. When you’re measuring something,
You need to know how quiet the background noise is. So it’s not the thing you’re measuring, but what the space is around it, how quiet that is and that’s what we have here, one of the quietest spaces in the world. It’s massively isolated from the outside world
And that absorbs any sound that’s made in the room. Your breathing might become more noticeable, some people can hear blood flow in their ears. Okay. Is there anything we can do to to put it to the test? Maybe a balloon pop. Let’s pop a balloon.
That really demonstrates how reverberant or not the space is. Look at this place. And you really can hear the difference, can’t you? The sound is just, I mean, for want of a better word, dead. Yeah, well, that’s what people often call it, a live space and a dead space.
This is the ultimate in dead space. Can we pop our balloon? Oh yeah, balloon! As if by magic. Thank you. We’re not going to get any echo at all, are we? We shall see. Nothing. Nothing at all. I’ve also heard a story… that if you spend,
I think it was 45 minutes in a room like this, you’ll start to lose your mind. Let’s give it a go. Let’s put you in here. Right, okay. Let’s see if this place is going to send me mental. Right, I’ll leave you to it. Just close the doors.
So I’m just going to be left in here now? Yeah, sure. By the way, the lights aren’t silent so I will be turning them off as well. So it’s going to be pitch black. I don’t even like the dark. What he is experiencing is… a bit like sensory deprivation
And if you take away all the stimuli, we’re just taking away sound and light, so his ears and his eyes effectively. Of course, there is not no sound because he’s still in there and he’s making noise. It’s almost like I can hear my liver talking to me. “Stop drinking in the week.”
“Pack tequila in.” No, I won’t liver. Oh, pins and needles! Woooahh, f*ck that. Stay sat down, Matt. How long was that? How long do you think? I’ve have no idea. I’ve lost all sense of time completely. – 45 minutes. – F*ck off. It’s weird you boys being in here if I’m perfectly honest.
The more you listen to see if you can hear it, the kind of the less… I’m not making any sense am I. Stepping out here, I’m not used to this now having everything so vivid and bright and seeing all these guys. At one stage, I thought I could hear a bit of water
Over my shoulder. Now, I knew there wasn’t any water but it was really like, “no, I can hear it, I can hear it.” But then you start thinking, “is it my blood running?” “Is it it’s just my bladder sloshing about?” You don’t know, and that’s what’s weird.
– Thank you for letting me do it. – You’re very welcome. I will never come here again. I hope you don’t take offence. Look at me clinging onto something solid feel like it’s damaged me. It’s really damaged me. That’s enough now, I need to have a little sit down.
Now, this is the moment I’m told you’ve all been waiting for, this is where we meet Salford’s hardest man. He’s a British Championship Super Welterweight boxer, and we’ve come down to Walkden Amateur Boxing Club to meet the man himself and possibly even get in the ring.
You just want to see me knocked out, don’t you? I know you do. I’m not fighting him. Jamie, hello mate. How are you mate, you alright? Yeah, I’m good man. British Championship boxer. What were some of the highlights? I’d have to say winning the British title.
First person from Salford to do it in 100 years. I won the European title and the Commonwealth title as well. Retired now though man, for like over ten years, is it? 13 years retired now, yeah. But I’m still involed, I coach fighters now and
So I try and pass on the lessons what I learnt in the past. So what goes on in this place, what do you do? So this is an amateur boxing club. This is in Walkden where I grew up all my life. This area needed something like this
To sort of give the kids something to do, something to focus on. For an area like this where sometimes a lot of the kids don’t have that type of structure in their life. It’s just invaluable. So as you know man, one of the reasons that we’re here with you today
is because we’re on a mission to try and find Salford’s hardest man and we think that might be you. I don’t know about that. Maybe 13, 15 years ago. All those days are behind you? Them days are well gone now. Do you know what, after you’ve told us about
All the work you do with the kids in the area, I think you might be one of Salford’s nicest men. Yeah? Aww, that’s nice. Thank you, I appreciate that. You’re welcome man and maybe one day I will come back and have a little go myself, get involved.
Why not do it now, let’s get some gloves on and we’ll take you through your paces. I was hoping you wouldn’t say that. Naa come on, let’s go. No time like the present. What you scared of? Getting battered. Getting your face punched in. Even if it wasn’t hardest man in Salford,
These kids look like they’d do me a bit of damage as well. I don’t want to do it. I need some advice. I’m about to get in that ring with Jamie. Yeah. Any advice for me? Personally, if I was you, I would just give up. I think you’re either gonna
Sit in the corner and cry or Jamie will knock you out first round. After you. I’m in too deep now, aren’t I? Don’t hurt me mate. No mate, I wouldn’t do that. All these people here that are with me, they all want you to hurt me. Okay, so level one.
Tactics again, see how he moved away from it. Am I meant to ride it out? Yeah, well it’s up to you. Think I’d rather try to run. Wait till I’m ready, Jamie! You ready for 3 now yeah? Yeah. Back down the middle again? I think so.
Alright let’s go one ribs, level 4, but mate… Okay. Alright. It’s fun innit, boxing. Honestly, that winded me. It winded me. Do you know what honestly, that was pretty tough. I think I’ve got Salford’s most damage rib. Well, that is the end of our tour of Salford.
I think it’s best I leave now before I end up challenging Jamie to a rematch he won’t like.