YOU can stroll from your home to dozens of Manchester's finest restaurants. But you regularly come home to find some beer monster has been sick on your doorstep.

You jokingly claim that Selfridges is your "corner shop", yet you cannot get a daily newspaper delivered to your door.

Manchester's clubland is all around you - but some nights that means you can't sleep.

You are the new tenant of a sleek, modern apartment - but the letting agent is so useless that the central heating doesn't work, the lift is on the blink and there are no blinds, so you eat your breakfast in full view of a gang of builders.

These are just some of the pros and cons of life in Manchester city centre. Asked whether living in the city is heaven or hell, most people agree that it is a bit of both.

Dr Mags Adams, from the University of Salford, is about to embark on the first academic study into exactly what city dwellers think of Manchester - the noise, the air quality, the amenities, the enivironment. It is part of Vivacity 2020, a major research project on sustainable urban design for the 24-hour city.

"We want to know if people think city centre living is vibrant and exciting, or whether it's stressful and destructive," she says.

Thirty detailed case studies will be carried out, and the findings will offer some ideas for improving life in the city centre in the future.

Similar work has already been done in London and Sheffield, so researchers have some idea what to expect.

"People are concerned about noise," says Dr Adams. "They hear their neighbours, they hear the traffic, they hear the trains and trams. Some are bothered by it, others are not."

Public conveniences, or lack of them, are also an "astonishly great concern" to city dwellers tired of seeing their neighbourhood used as a toilet.

Parking is also a nightmare for some who still need a car. Hotel manager Phil Burke, 36, has lived in Tib Street for eight years and pays £80 a week for a multi-storey car park place - a relatively good deal.

Unlike most city dwellers, he also has a five-year-old son and complains: "There is literally nothing for kids in the city centre."

But the gripes still do not outweigh the buzz of city life, being so close to work, restaurants, theatres, cinemas, bars and clubs ...HERE is what some city-centre residents have to say:

I DON'T need a car in the city because everything is walking distance. I'm only 200 yards from my local Sainsbury's, two seconds away from the bars, two seconds away from the shops and two seconds away from work, so it's ideal. I've lived and worked in Manchester pretty much all my life and, before, I've always commuted in. You have the hassle of driving in, the hassle of parking and the risk of vandalism to the car. Now, I don't have that hassle or worry. We finish work at midnight or 1am and the bars are still open until 2am.

Tracey Barlow, manager, Sapporo Teppanyaki Japanese restaurant, Liverpool Road, Castlefield

SLOWLY, I became frustrated with not feeling like I had gone home after a long day in the office. It also meant that I had no good reason not to work late!

Other disadvantages were the lack of open space and general noise levels. Although we had a small balcony, there was no garden or greenery, despite being in the Green Quarter! It got quite depressing, being constantly surrounded by buildings. The noise levels were awful. We were either being woken by construction workers, cars beeping or by noisy neighbours.

The cost of living in the centre was also quite high, as we paid £725 for a small two- bed apartment with parking. I have moved out of the city now and am paying only £500 for a large two- bed apartment. It still works out cheaper, including my travel to and from work

Tearmh France, 26,

account manager,

Golley Slater PR

I LIVED for 22 years in Withington, and, two years ago, I down-sized from a five-bedroom Victorian pile to a two-bedroom flat in the very centre of Manchester, close to the City Art Gallery.

I have never once regretted the decision. I've never owned a car, and the daily commute by bus up the Wilmslow Road corridor was beginning to take almost an hour. Now, I can walk to work. I also appreciate having a modern, well-equipped and easy-to-clean apartment with shops, restaurants, cinemas and galleries on the doorstep. I'm lucky in that our building is a relatively small development, has nice residents and has a good management committee. I knew the city centre very well before I bought my flat, so I knew what and where to avoid.

I worry far less about being burgled than I ever did in the suburbs. What I don't like are the other things I find on my doorstep, vomit, urine and cigarette-ends. I hate the litter that people drop everywhere, especially chewing gum and take-away cartons.

Female university lecturer, 54, with grown-up daughter


THE downsides outweigh the upsides. Everything's an effort. You can't park and get stuff into the flat with ease. This is a weekly, if not daily, logistical nightmare! Food shopping is not easy and you get hammered by the traffic wardens. It can be quite isolated, as it's quite a superficial style of life. It is very noisy, both from outside the flat and inside the apartment block - because of inconsiderate neighbours, coupled with badly designed communal areas. You don't always feel safe at night-time. A big minus in the summer is that there is nowhere to go to enjoy sunshine. A thing that always gets overlooked, and especially pertinent in the city centre, is the inadequacies of the rental agents. It is a real effort to get any kind of response or decent customer service.

Despite my gripes, I did enjoy city centre living. It was something I always wanted to do but couldn't carry on forever for the above reasons. I am now moving back to the suburbs, near the countryside and a local park.

Female PR director, 35

I'M a fan of city centre living, having lived in the heart of Manchester for six years. Going to the Royal Exchange mid-week is no issue, as it's a 10-minute walk. I have not queued for a taxi home for years. Leaving a bar or club late at night, you can be safely home and asleep in a matter of minutes. The choice of restaurants is unbelievable and all within walking distance. Apartment living is the norm in town. Weekends do not have to be spent on gardening and property maintenance, or paying others huge sums to do this for you. Also, given the crime figures for Greater Manchester, I am much safer in an apartment block, surrounded by busy streets and with secure entry doors and CCTV. My partner moved in with me three years ago but kept his house in Preston, just in case he hated city living and as a potential weekend retreat. He never used the house in Preston again and, almost immediately, become a real convert to city centre living.

Chris Speck, 35, barrister working in-house for BT

THE pros are that I am close to all the shops and bars and just a 15-minute walk from where I work, so I don't have to bother with the expense and hassle of a car, or having to rely on public transport. The cons are that apartment living is quite expensive, when you compare what you could get for the same price in the suburbs. You don't have the best scenery in the concrete jungle, and having the shops, movies and top restaurants close by means you end up spending a lot more of your disposable income than if you were living in the suburbs.

Liesel McQueen, 29, office manager

IT'S really noisy at night and most flats, including mine, are near late- night bars. The light from these, and the shops, can make sleeping difficult. Many properties, including mine, are managed by an agency and my experience of these has been rubbish.

Food shopping is also a nightmare, because you pay convenience shop prices at Tesco Metro and Sainsbury's, as these are the only places you can shop without a car. Although I moan, I do like living in the centre, I just couldn't do it for more than a year. I'm dying to see some greenery and get some fresh air!

Female marketing manager, 28



I RECENTLY moved to Manchester from London and I now live 10 minutes walk from my office. I have happily kissed goodbye to the pleasures of the tube, taxis, which are either extortionately priced or have drivers with apparently no licence or any geographical knowledge of the city, and my hour-long daily commute, squashed against a train door with my head in someone's armpit, armed with i-Pod and newspaper in a failed attempt to blank out my dismal surroundings.

The only disadvantages are the inadequacy of the supermarkets, bar one major one on Market Street, who seem to think that choosing to live in the city centre means you only eat ready meals and convenience food, and the fact that Harvey Nichols and Selfridges are in walking distance, which has meant that my shoe habit has worsened dramatically.

Charlotte Wigham, 26, head of music department, Pannone & Partners, solicitors



I WAS worried that there wouldn't be a sense of community, but, where I live, on the edge of the Northern Quarter, we have a Friends Of Angel Meadows group, who have helped to redevelop Angel Meadows park. The park has become a real focus for our community and is full of people in the summer. Who needs a garden?

Things I don't like are the lack of infrastructure and no doctors' surgery with places available.

Kelly Harvarde, 29, head of PR, Photolink Creative Group

What are your views on city living? Have your say

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