Invisible Manchester:

The first stop on Andy’s tour is Manchester Cathedral.

A deliberate choice.

During the winter, thousands of people nestle together here in sleeping bags to take part in an annual charity sleepout and experience the “realities of rough sleeping”.

But Andy doesn’t need to participate in this event.

He doesn’t need to sit by the cathedral while being served hot cocoa to experience the “realities of rough sleeping”.

Because as with all tour guides employed by Invisible Cities, Andy used to be homeless.

You would never have known. Andy is a middle-aged man in jeans, a green hoodie, and a black baseball cap.

His one distinguishing feature is the collection of badges pinned to his front. He adjusts them with a grin, but he won't tell me what they mean.

Invisible Cities is a social enterprise that trains people, like Andy, who have experienced homelessness to become tour guides - granting them essential skills, a job, and a stable income.

Founder Zakia Moulaoui Guery chose the name Invisible Cities for two reasons:

To put the people deemed invisible by society in the spotlight as guides of their own tours.

And to show locals and tourists alike parts of the city they have never stopped to notice before.

Photo by Invisible Cities

Photo by Invisible Cities

Zakia said: “When you’re homeless, people don’t look at you, they look through you. We are bringing a voice to people who are invisible so they become visible."

Author's own photo

people walking near brown concrete building during daytime

Photo by Invisible Cities

Founded in 2016, Invisible Cities started by projecting the voices of homeless people in Edinburgh.

Since then, voices have joined the chorus from four more locations:

Glasgow

York

Manchester

Cardiff

Zakia said they are planning to train additional guides in Liverpool as well as the Scottish Borders.

Invisible Cities is well-established in Manchester with three guides - all of whom have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives.

But they are not alone.

Manchester has the worst rate of homelessness in the North West - with one in 74 people sleeping rough.

While these statistics are staggering, it must be noted that homelessness is difficult to quantify.

Women, young people, and those from ethnic minority backgrounds are often not included in official counts as they choose not to bed on the streets.

Instead, they sleep in bus stops or walk all night to avoid danger.

These “hidden homeless” often slip through the cracks of official counts.

But Invisible Cities seeks out the people skipped by in the statistics, and shunned on the streets, to offer them a second chance.

Zakia said: “For once, we put the people deemed invisible by society at the centre of attention as guides of their own tours."

Photo by Invisible Cities

Andy found himself on the streets in 2014.

He was not made homeless by drink or drugs - he was made homeless when he left his ex-wife.

After seeking a range of support, Andy found a house in Wigan and ended up as a volunteer for Manchester Museum. It was there that he was recommended to train as an Invisible Cities tour guide.

Andy started by taking part in a training workshop run by Invisible Manchester.

Here, he met others with experience sleeping rough and was able to share stories in a warm and welcoming environment.

Based on the skills he gained from this workshop, Andy found a new purpose - he was ready to handcraft his own tour of Manchester.

But not everyone who is trained by Invisible Cities will become a tour guide.

Zakia said: “We offer the training to people who have experienced homelessness, no matter what they want to do with it.”

Some people use the programme to develop their confidence, and their public speaking skills or simply to meet other people who have experienced homelessness in a positive environment.

Those who do go on to be tour guides are allowed to create their own routes around the city.

Many of the guides choose to go back to the places where they slept rough.

But this time around, they aren't ignored.

This time, they get to choose the story they want to tell.

Andy’s tour is called “Ales and Alleyways” and it is filled to the brim with nostalgia.

The lifelong Wigan Athletic fan discusses what nightlife used to be like in Manchester - tracing as far back as 1819. He expertly elicits the past and present of Manchester’s pubs, as well as lesser-known historical events such as Little Ireland and Peterloo.

As he dodges down alleys and darts along back streets, you can tell that Andy has been a tour guide for three years.

He is a master of his craft.

Author's own footage

Alongside myself, a lovely couple - both from Manchester - were on the tour.

Andy casually forgave them for every stop on the tour they had never heard of before.

The Nag’s Head, for example, which stands alone on Jackson’s Row.

The traditional boozer need not alert passers-by to its rooftop garden on an A-board outside - loyal customers simply know.

Stopping outside pub after pub, Andy shared his own stories of nights in the city, as well as the colourful characters he met along the way. The pimps and the politicians. The bar staff and the businessmen.

Before moving on, Andy ensures he ties off each stop with a fun fact.

Photo by Invisible Cities

The Old Wellington

Corbières

Sam's Chop House

The Old Nags Head

The Peveril of the Peak

The Britons Protection

Andy says: "Manchester is my home. I live and breathe these streets, and I drink a lot of pints."

As Andy meticulously weaves his stories together, you eventually notice that the stops on his tour have been foreshadowed by the pin badges he was wearing from the very start.

Little Ireland

Peterloo

The Britons Protection

The Old Wellington

Sam's Chop House

Corbières

He adjusts them and looks up grinning.