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The street with no name is a tourist hotspot

Susannah Wright
10/ 1/2008

It might not appear in any A to Z or guide book, but that hasn’t stopped tourists arriving in droves at the Street With No Name.

Staff at Levenshulme station say a growing number of visitors to the city have been stopping off at the unnamed Levenshulme street to have their picture taken with its infamous sign.

Despite being created more than 160 years ago the street has never had an official title.

Neighbours began to refer to it as The Street With No Name and over the decades it stuck.

As recognition of its unique status, nearby residents put up a sign bearing the curious moniker last May.

Sadly, it disappeared later in the summer but at the end of last year was replaced with a new larger sign installed 12 feet off the ground to discourage thieves.

Steve Lambert, supervisor at Levenshulme station, said that dozens of people had turned up at the site to see the sign for themselves.

He said: "It was really funny seeing people crowding round and smiling when they get their pictures taken. It is nice too to think that Levenshulme is on a tourist trail.

"Now that we’ve got a new sign, people are starting to come back again so hopefully we can get more who want to come.

"It’s a one-off really and I’ve not heard of anywhere else like it, so who knows, maybe we could even have a tourist shop or cafe one day. It’s great to have the new sign because the last one being stolen was a real loss to us.

"It’s going to put us back on the tourist map again because we used to get lots of people coming to have their picture with it - even Japanese and Chinese tourists.

"It's quite a quirky name and everyone likes to see it. I think maybe foreign students who have been telling their friends and family about it are stopping off to visit on their travels."

Levenshulme councillor Keith Whitmore, who was instrumental in persuading Northern Trains to put up the new sign, said: "It’s great to have a new sign so that the street’s back on the map, even if it has got no name.

"It was nice to see a smile on people’s faces when they saw the last sign so I hope the new one will do the same."