It’s Christmas morning in 2024.
Once again this year, as the sun rose over the otherwise deserted city centre, too many people were curled up and asleep in doorways.
One of them is Max. He is slouched outside the doors of a shop on St Mary’s Gate, with a bacon sandwich in his hand.
“Merry Christmas” he says to passers-by.
He has spent much of the last 16 years on the streets after being kicked out by his parents as a teenager. Christmas morning is just two days after his 38th birthday – yet another day experienced without celebration.
“It’s horrible, seeing all these people walking past you,” he admits. “You say ‘Merry Christmas’ to people, and they just assume you want money. All I want to do is ask people how they are, and for them to stop judging me. But because I am on the street, people think we are all the same.”
Max is sat outside a Spar. He has a hot drink in a cup in front of him and is eating his breakfast – a bacon sandwich given to him by a volunteer. He has a blanket over his legs to keep him warm and a hat on.
“I sit outside Greggs most days. People look at me like I am a piece of sh**.”
Max, originally from Nottingham, said. “I spent my birthday on the street too. I turned 38 on the 23rd of December. It’s no different.”
Surrounded by only a few tattered possessions, they don’t have anyone to spend the day with. As millions of others clink glasses or carve a turkey, sat beside their nearest and dearest for a wholesome dinner together, for those living on the streets, it is just another regular day.
Pictures taken from the city centre on Christmas morning depict a stark reality.
Men and women, of all ages, were opening their eyes to yet another December 25 on street corners and in sheltered shop doorways.
The only difference was that the city centre, just a day before packed out with the hustle and bustle of last-minute shoppers, was almost completely deserted.
Students had travelled home to spend the day with their families. Shops had their shutters down. Cafes had bare tables. The city dwellers that remained, warm in their apartments, had windows lined with fairy lights and decorated trees glistening.
But just outside, sleeping bags scattered the streets. Scarves and blankets were wrapped around those who spent the night in doorways and on pavements.
John Gibson has been homeless since 1990. Over the past 34 years, he has lived in temporary accommodation and hostels. Although he prefers sleeping rough, for him, Christmas has lost its sparkle.
“I just get on with it,” he says. “I have lost my sister and mum so Christmas is just another day to me. I don’t celebrate it.”
John, 56, who previously spent time behind bars, is sitting with his friend Michael, who is also homeless, in a sheltered bus stop beside Piccadilly Gardens. He is from London, but has also lived in Lancaster, before finding home on the streets of Manchester. They are being given food from charity Two Brews, and are also supported by Lifeshare.
“Sometimes you think what life would’ve been like if I had my own bath, my own toilet. I have been on the streets for so long I am used to this life,” he says.
“I know it sounds horrible, but I am happy with where I am now. I am used to sleeping on pavements. I’d prefer to put a mattress on the floor than be in halfway houses or hostels and all of that.
“Some days, people are nice to you. Other days, they treat you like utter sh** to be honest.”
Andrew Grimes has been homeless now for almost five years. Originally from Eccles, he previously worked in construction, but got into arrears with his rent and was evicted from the property.
His life spiralled and he ended up sleeping rough. In that time, he has been assaulted on multiple occasions. After losing his close family around Christmas time, it has never been the same.
“I’ve never been able to get settled out here,” he says. “At the beginning, I was lying on the steps near to the Printworks and was booted in the face.
“My mum died at Christmas time and I am learning to readjust. It’s another day for me. I am sick of being robbed or attacked out here, you can’t have anything.”
He is now being supported with temporary accommodation in a shared house in Salford – but says he prefers the streets and has no money for food. In three hours sat outside a Starbucks near St Anne’s Square, he counts up £70.
“During Covid, I lost my job. I got in rent arrears and was taken to court and given an eviction notice,” he explains. “I packed a bag and that was it. I had a flat for nine years, and to think you lose it and wake up under a bridge.
“I am getting there slowly but surely. I want to go back to work. I am only 55 and have a few years left in me. But it’s hard out here. Nobody wants to live like this.”
On Christmas morning, the tents lining St Peter’s Square remained, the enormous wealth of the city contrasts with the poverty of many of those living here.
The Manchester Evening News walked along Market Street, John Dalton Street, Portland Street, Cross Street, Deansgate, St Peter’s Square and St Ann’s Square and saw 53 people who had spent Christmas Eve on the streets.
For almost a decade, the Manchester Evening News has visited the city centre on Christmas morning to meet some of the people facing Christmas on the streets. Where we have pictured them and told their stories, it is with their permission.
As is the case every other year, community and charity groups were out in force.
Hot drinks and sandwiches were handed out, as other venues provided a warm space to try and create at least some hope of festivity.
In Piccadilly Gardens, we ran into the volunteers from the Two Brews, a homeless outreach charity based in Manchester. They were on hand to give out breakfasts from 10am, wishing those they came across a Merry Christmas on their many laps of the city centre.
It is clear their efforts make a real difference. They know everyone by name. “I love you guys, Merry Christmas,” one guy said, as he was handed wrapped gifts from a van and a hot drink.
Ricky Daniel Pegram, who is 42, knows the volunteers at Two Brews. He was originally made homeless seven years ago, before moving in with a partner and having a child. When their relationship broke down, he found himself living on the streets once again.
He is on Cross Street, with two bags on his back. Inside are his only few possessions, and a few wrapped gifts he was given by charity workers. Although sleeping rough in a car park near the Gay Village, he is still hopeful for the future.
“It’s just a normal day out here for us,” he says. “It’s hard when the streets are this quiet, and everyone, everywhere, is somewhere with their family and some normality. But this becomes our normal.”
“Not one friend or family member has reached out. It’s heartbreaking to be honest. I was always viewed as the black sheep of the family. I’ve got a big family out there.”
He reveals the contents of his pockets. There is only a pound coin and a few pennies in there. That is all he has until his Universal Credit payment – £256 to last him a month.
“I am sleeping in a car park close to the Gay Village. It’s much better than doorways, but still isn’t safe out here. People root through your pockets.
“A lot of people are so judgemental. If I had a sleeping bag over my shoulder and asked someone for the time, they usually ignore us completely.
“Say you have 1,000 homeless people in the street, half of them won’t want to help themselves. I used to be one of them, taking drugs and drinking. Then I got put in a hostel for a bit and stuck to the rules.
“I have been back out [on the streets] for a month again now and it’s painful to be back here. Nobody wants to live like this.”
When asked about the support from charity groups such as Two Brews, he adds: “It makes your day. It really does.”
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham’s Bed for the Night scheme has gone some way to reduce the number of people without a place to sleep. The drive, with support from the public and donations, GMCA’s aim is to ‘ensure that there will be a bed every night for every single person sleeping rough in Greater Manchester.’
It’s clear many have still slipped through the cracks.
For those waking up on the streets of Manchester this Christmas, it was just another regular day.
Homelessness is still too big a fixture of life across Greater Manchester. Even at Christmas.
