Twanchester..?

The Manchester Twitter world all went a bit loopy last week because The Guardian sent one of its reporters to town with the simple instruction to go wherever local Tweeters told him to. This isn’t the first time The Guardian have done this – indeed, the TwiTrip is a regular feature for them – it’s just the first time they’ve done it here, in Manchester, and I’ve had the benefit of knowing the city in which they were Twexploring (can you see what I’ve done there?!).

The result was a relatively pedestrian meander through some of Manchester’s popular, famous and not so famous points of interest. He went for lunch in Sam’s Chophouse, had a look round St Mary’s Church, went to the top of a car park in Shudehill to take in a view – it’s cheaper than the wheel, you see. Thrifty, them Tweeters.

He went to Salford Lads Club, for the obvious reason, and a few other places, including Chetham Library, then got to the good bit – the bars. The Temple, Cornerhouse, Marble Arch and Deaf Institute were all he could manage – an unlikely collection but, I suppose, a reasonably representative one. And that was about it. A decent day out in Manchester, I suppose, and it certainly caused some excitement amongst the city’s Tweeters, but I couldn’t help thinking a bit more could have been done with it. You know, like that traditional swim up the Urwell and the visit to the Maine Road pub in a united shirt...those sorts of thing.

Anyway, here’s the man who took the TwiTrip, Benji Lanyado, in the Salford Lads Club weights room: