MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS: The city centre streets you used to be able to drive on

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Martin Dodge, a senior lecturer in human geography at Manchester University, says there's initially often resistance to pedestrianisation, but over time the new set-up becomes accepted as part and parcel of the city.

He said: "There was a long debate in the 20th Century about closing Market Street, but now you cannot imagine opening it up to cars.

"Once it happens there is a reaction, but then the maps get redrawn and people's mental map of the city changes, then in a few years people wonder why didn't we do this sooner.

"It's a classic realisation that cars dominate spaces because we let them dominate."