Piccadilly Gardens was once a fairly intimidating place to spend time, with drug deals and violence fairly common but now, over a year since the police launched an operation to clean up the area, it is much more welcoming.
We went out into Manchester to ask people on the street what they thought of the gardens.
We went out into Manchester to ask people on the street what they thought of the gardens.
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00:00Hi, I'm Theo with Manchester World and I'm going out today as part of our silent crime campaign to ask for the public perception of Piccadilly Gardens.
00:08Now, at one point, the gardens was home to all sorts of drug crime and violence, but police in Manchester started an operation one year ago to clean up the area.
00:16And we want to know if it's worked.
00:18I feel fine now. I've come through this stack of weed before, that's about it.
00:21I've walked through here at four in the morning, it's been fine, so...
00:23Yeah.
00:24I haven't felt any threat whatsoever. I felt really comfortable and we were looking for a nice place to sit down and relax and this is the spot.
00:33I haven't felt any bad feelings.
00:36I think it's good to have it be a safe place for people to come. I think anything that can be done to keep a safe environment is a good thing.
00:43I 100% think that's a benefit to the city. I think that we're catching up with a friend of mine that we hadn't seen in years
00:50and the first thing that we wanted to do was just sit down and have a chat, you know.
00:53And so the first thing we did was open Google Maps and look for somewhere like this for us to sit down and relax.
00:57And so I think the city definitely benefits from a place like this.