Mr Manchester - Tony Wilson (Anthony H Wilson) mural / artwork, Factory Records owner and Granada broadcaster, Tib St Manchester, UK

Street-art portrait of Tony Wilson, also known as Anthony H Wilson and widely nicknamed “Mr Manchester”, painted by Manchester-based artist Akse on the former electricity substation at the corner of Tib Street and Thomas Street in the Northern Quarter, Manchester, England. Wilson was born in Salford in 1950 and became one of the most influential cultural figures associated with modern Manchester. After studying English at Cambridge, he joined Granada Television in the early 1970s, working as a reporter and presenter and fronting So It Goes, which gave early television exposure to punk and new-wave acts. Alongside broadcasting, Wilson co-founded Factory Records in 1978 with Alan Erasmus. The label became central to Manchester’s international musical identity, releasing work by Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column and Happy Mondays. Wilson also co-founded The Haçienda nightclub, which opened in 1982 and became a focal point for Manchester’s acid-house and Madchester scenes, helping reshape the city’s image from post-industrial decline towards a reputation for music, nightlife, design and creative independence. Peter Saville’s graphic design became part of that mythology. Wilson’s enthusiasm for Manchester was famously outspoken, but his advocacy for local talent, cultural ambition and northern self-confidence made him closely identified with the city. His story was dramatised in the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People, in which Steve Coogan played Wilson. He died in Manchester in 2007 aged 57 after kidney cancer. Akse’s hyper-realistic mural appeared in 2018 on the Tib Street substation, an outdoor public-art site managed by Outhouse MCR, and shows Wilson looking out through black-rimmed glasses. The work stood in the Northern Quarter, itself associated with independent music, record shops, bars and street art, making the location an apt memorial to a man whose career helped define Manchester’s late-20th-century cultural identity.