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here’s no looking back in Manchester… but there is looking down. Beetham Tower has 47 storeys – making it the tallest skyscraper outside London.

On its 23rd floor, you can sip a Champagne cocktail at Cloud 23 bar, while looking through the clear Perspex floor as tiny Mancunians mill about below with their shopping bags.

And if you like things tall, head over to Millennium Square for a ride on the Wheel of Manchester. The space-age pods take you 200ft in the air, so you can spot the floodlights of Old Trafford, the set of Coronation Street and the Pennines – all from the comfort of a temperature-controlled capsule.

You’ll also see a strange curved-glass building, straight out of Star Trek, next door. This is Urbis, formerly the avant-garde exhibition centre, which is set to become the National Football Museum.

Rather appropriately its restaurant is called The Modern and boasts a contemporary á la carte menu – including local delicacies like grilled Goosnargh duck breast and Mobberley wood pigeon. The future’s bright, the future’s… Manchester.