This way please

Pretty gate and smart manicule sign on Manchester's fine town hall.

Wisdom and effort

I walk past signs like these all the time and rarely make the effort to look at the detail. This pretty milestone in Didsbury bears Manchester's coat of arms. Granted in 1842, the symbol is packed with information. The motto "Concilio et labore" means something like "Wisdom and effort". The ship represents Manchester's trading. The lion is of course a symbol of bravery and the antelope symbolises peace and harmony; both bear the red rose of Lancaster.

Most familiar is the worker bee - the globe at the top is covered with them; you can see it more clearly on this larger sign near Spinningfields. The bee is a symbol of industry, adopted during the industrial revolution. You can find bees all over Manchester, from the tiled floors in the Town Hall (a giveaway when it's used in films as a stand-in for the Houses of Parliament) to bins and bollards.

Seeking assurance

This sign will be familiar to Manchester folk – it’s on Princess Street in Manchester, just across from the Town Hall on Albert Square. The company was established in Aberdeen in 1836, with the catchy name of the North of Scotland Fire and Life Assurance Company. It was renamed the Northern Assurance Company in 1848, and is now part of Aviva. This Flemish style building dates from 1902. The company’s website claims there was a “curse of the Northern” - the architects of its early 20^th century buildings in Dublin, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle apparently all died shortly after completing the buildings. Let’s hope they had life insurance.