The Manchester Pub Walkabout

Manchester Central Library

Saint Peter's Square, M2 5PD, Manchester, England, United Kingdom

Jonathan Schofield

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Jonathan Schofield has been a registered Blue Badge Guide since 1996 and is the Editor-at-Large of Manchester Confidential (www.manchesterconfidential.com) the city’s largest independent magazine. He is also the Editor of Manchester Books Limited (www.mcrbooks.co.uk) and has written several books on the North West. He is a regular broadcaster on local and national radio.He is also a public speaker, a town and city identity consultant and a freelance writer on tourism, architecture, public art, history and food and drink. He was Highly Commended at the Manchester Tourism Awards 2005 for the Best Tourism Experience of the Year (awarded for guiding services). His award-winning tours have included Radical Manchester, the Incredible Interiors, Chetham’s Library and Medieval Buildings, Engels in Manchester, London Road Fire Station tours and many others.In 2008 he was appointed the director of a training course for new Manchester guides on the strength of his guiding skills. All 24 people who took the final exams passed the course. A first.He has been the official tour guide for the world-famous Manchester International Festival since 2015 conducting heaps of sold-out tours. He is the exclusive tour-guide partner for Chetham's Library and Medieval Buildings and was the only guide asked to lead London Road Fire Station tours. He currently has exclusive access to Mayfield abandoned station and the Edgar Wood Centre.He has guided around, interviewed or been interviewed by Dr Alice Roberts, Michael Portillo, Katharine Viner, Michael Wood, Hardeep Singh Kohli, Ed Byrne, John Prescott, Sir Alex Ferguson, Annie Lennox, Alistair Campbell, Melvyn Bragg, Victoria Wood, Michael Ball, Ed Byrne, James Naughtie, Sir Terence Conran, Anish Kapoor, The Hairy Bikers, Michel Roux, Anthony Gormley, Maxine Peake and many other people.​In September 2021 he took around Simon Stone (Director of 2021's The Dig with Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes) and interviewed Dan Jones, broadcaster and historian.He has appeared in Tristram Hunt's biography of Friedrich Engels, The Frock-Coated Communist, Stuart Maconie's, affectionate look at the North of England in Pies and Prejudice and Manchester Unspun, Andy Spinoza's fine biography of 35 years of Manchester's recent history.His current publications, available through Manchester Books Limited, are:Manchester, the Complete GuideLost & Imagined ManchesterIllusion & Change Manchester.Jonathan Schofield says, "Ha, all that description above might seem a little immodest, but I believe it's called marketing. As far as my guiding technique is concerned I quickly learnt that it's never about hectoring, lecturing or talking down to people. Instead guiding is a rare mix of authority, presentation, information and entertainment. I want my guests to leave feeling excited about the topic we’ve covered. I also want them to have a good time and have a bit of a laugh when occasion calls. I want the tour to be memorable and the complete opposite of a bore."