Britain: The Manchester party scene

Manchester rose to fame during the industrial revolution, and thanks to technology, it's enjoying a resurrgence.

But if you're under 25 ... and even if you're not ... you might best know this slightly gritty city as a party place.

Saturday night in Manchester (that would have been last night) the streets were jammed with the Under 25 set, packs of couples and guys in jeans and girlfriends out on the town not in jeans, but in slinky little dresses cut up to there and down to there (fab on some girls, but as my mother would say, don't flaunt it if you don't have it). Bars here run the gamut from Chinese restaurants-turned-late-night bars, sleek Manhattan-like 'tini hangouts, pubs and after-hours raves. We ended up at The Temple of Convenience...a pub jammed into a former underground toilet that, we have to admit, smelled a little rank in the post midnight phase. Still, the locals were friendly.

A few scenes, courtesy of the camera of Rich Grant: A couple of locals, left, and above, an overwhelmed visitor.