Rusty,
Lived in Manc for 20 years now, so plenty of time to get tired of regional pride, which infects the appreciation of Lowry, it all comes over more 'Granada Reports' than' Guggenheim'. I was lucky enough to grow up somewhere that I was gagging to move away from, oxfordshire, [though love to go riding there in the Chiltern hills now] so get a bit irked by Manc Nationalism. [over-sensitive I know]

I take your point that the Lowry museum may have benefited other galleries and I respect the efforts of many of them who operate with really limited budgets, so I'll have a think on that one.

Surely though you've got to admit that there's so little substantial/world class Art shown in Manchester, [thus my nod to the Tate LIverpool] and even Frank Coen has his Gallery in Wolverhampton. And they've just turned Urbis into A f***ing footie museum. So the over celebration of Lowry looks a little desperate at times and looks very parochial.

Oh, and I thought this forum was for ranting?

Not saying He's good or bad [quite open minded actually]. Just annoyed at how he's used as a stick for the purposes of dumbing down.

Only my 2nd post and already I've been unmasked by a rusty tool.

I was waiting for the Salford thing to come up! Well, you know there's only one football team in………..

If he was a cockney you'd all f***ing hate him. The whole Lowry thing has got more to do with Manc pride than Art appreciation. Liverpool gets the Tate, Manchester gets the Lowry museum! Quite frankly, It's embarrassing.

Went to grotty last crimbo, didn't have much luck on mtb front, couldnt find any quality bikes to hire and the guided rides seemed mostly just access type tracks. Gave up on mtb hopes in the end we went to the dark side and hired some o.k. road bikes. Disappointed at first but not for long, best road riding i've ever done, fantastic smooth roads and landscape plus Spanish drivers attitude to cyclists is a breath of fresh air after u.k.
Been to Tenerife before and rated that better for off-roading, plus they've just opened up some new trails in the North of the island that are supposed to be amazing. Allegedly the best trail in Europe is to be found here and I can believe it.