Moss Side is an inner-city area of Manchester, England, south of the city centre. It had a population of 20,745 at the 2021 census. Moss Side is bounded by Hulme to the north, Chorlton-on-Medlock, Rusholme and Fallowfield to the east, Whalley Range to the south, and Old Trafford to the west.
As well as Whitworth Park and Alexandra Park, Moss Side is close to Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan universities. Manchester City Football Club played at Maine Road in Moss Side between 1923 and 2003.
History
Historically part of Lancashire, Moss Side was a rural township and chapelry within the parish of Manchester and hundred of Salford. Thought to be named after a great moss which stretched from Rusholme to Chorlton-cum-Hardy, the earliest mention of the area is in 1533 when it contained part of the estates of Trafford. Moss Side is described in the opening chapter of Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton as a rural idyll with a 'deep clear pool' and an old black and white timber-framed farmhouse, later identified as Pepperhill Farm. on 1 October 1910 the parish was abolished and merged with South Manchester. The population in 1801 was 151 but by 1901 the parish population had increased to 26,677. The industrial growth of the area resulted in a densely populated area, so much so, that a part of the township of Moss Side was amalgamated into the expanding city of Manchester in 1885, with the rest joining in 1904.
Mass development in Moss Side occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when large numbers of red brick terraced houses were built, and soon attracted numerous Irish immigrants and other working people.
Manchester City F.C. moved to a new stadium on Maine Road on 25 August 1923, having moved from Hyde Road, Ardwick; on its opening it was one of the most capacious sports stadiums in the United Kingdom, capable of holding up to 85,000 spectators. The club would play there for the next 80 years.
thumb|155px|right|Bell tower of former Greenheys School in Moss Side
During the Manchester Blitz in the Second World War many of the terraced houses were damaged by German bombing on the night of 22/23 December 1940. Migrants from the Indian subcontinent and Caribbean settled in the locality during the 1950s and 1960s, and by the 1980s Moss Side was the hub of Manchester's Afro-Caribbean community. During the 1960s and early 1970s, Manchester City Council demolished many of the Victorian and terraced houses to the west of Moss Side and replaced these with new council houses and flats. Most of the newer properties, built around the turn of the 20th century, were refurbished instead of demolished during the final two decades of the century.
In 1981, the Moss Side area was one of England's inner city areas affected by a series of riots. Analysts trace the 1970s origins of Manchester's gang crime to social deprivation in the south-central part of the city – Hulme, Longsight and Moss Side – where the activity of the underground economy encouraged a trade in illegal narcotics and firearms contributing to Manchester's later nickname of "Gunchester". "Turf wars" between rival drugs gangs resulted in a high number of fatal shootings. There were several high-profile shootings associated with gangs and drugs in this area during the 1990s and into the 21st century. Aided by the work of Xcalibre, the Greater Manchester Police's task force, founded in 2004, and the multiagency Integrated Gang Management Unit, gang related shootings in the area have fallen by about 90% in recent years.
Many of the flats in neighbouring Hulme were demolished in the early 1990s to make way for new low rise homes. Housing on the Alexandra Park Estate in the west of Moss Side has been renovated and the streets redesigned to reduce the fear of crime.
Governance
thumb|right|Moss Side electoral ward within [[Manchester City Council]]
The majority of Moss Side is part of the Manchester Central constituency, represented by the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) Lucy Powell. Following boundary changes in 2018 a portion of the ward is a part of the Manchester Gorton constituency, represented by the Labour Party MP Afzal Khan.
;Councillors
Moss Side is a ward within the local authority of Manchester City Council. The ward is represented by three councillors: Mahadi Hussein Sharif Mahamed (Lab), Esha Mumtaz (Lab), and Thirza Asanga-Rae (Grn).
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Election!!colspan="2"|Councillor!!colspan="2"|Councillor!!colspan="2"|Councillor
|-
| 2018
| style="background-color: " |
| bgcolor="#99CCFF"| Mahadi Hussein Sharif Mahamed (Lab)
| style="background-color: " |
| bgcolor="#99CCFF"| Emily Rowles (Lab)
| style="background-color: " |
| bgcolor="#99CCFF"| Sameem Ali (Lab)
|-
| 2019
|-
| 2021
|-
| 2022
|-
| 2023
|-
| 2024
|-
| 2026
|}
indicates seat up for re-election.
Geography
thumb|The Royal Brewery
Moss Side lies either side of the A5103 (Princess Road), the main road out of Manchester towards Northenden, Manchester Airport, the M56 motorway and Chester. Parallel to this is Alexandra Road, which continues as Alexandra Road South past Alexandra Park (Alexandra Road was formerly one of two main shopping streets in Moss Side). Landmarks on Princess Road are the Royal Brewery and the Princess Road Bus Depot, built originally for the tramways in 1909 and used by Stagecoach Manchester until 2010.
The western border of the Moss Side Ward is bounded in part by Withington Road. Parts of the eastern border are bounded by Wilmslow Road, where it meets Whitworth Park, and Parkfield Street. To the south, the border includes Alexandra Park, Horton Road and part of Platt Lane. To the north, the ward border mainly runs along Moss Lane East.
The built environment of Moss Side is broadly characterised as a high-density residential area. This includes mainly Victorian and Edwardian terraces to the east and centre, with more recent developments, primarily the Alexandra Park Estate, built in the 1970s to the west of Princess Road.
The Moss Side Sports and Leisure Complex (north of Moss Lane West) was upgraded for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and has a gym and a variety of other sporting facilities.
Redevelopment and regeneration
thumb|Great Western Street runs through the centre of Moss Side.
thumb|right|Wykeham Street with the Maine Place development in the background
Moss Side has benefited from very substantial redevelopment and regeneration since the mid-1990s including improvement of the existing housing and residential environment along with several major housing projects currently in process or nearing completion. There has been considerable renovation of existing housing stock, such as local terrace housing and the Alexandra Park Estate.
The former Manchester City F.C. Maine Road site was redeveloped between 2011 and 2018. The site was marketed as Maine Place, primarily as 2, 3 and 4-bedroom houses with one block of flats. A new primary school, Divine Mercy was also built on the site. A health centre was in the original plans but was never built. Reported as being 'built or converted to a very high standard of eco-friendliness, with solar panels, water butts, thermal "skin" insulation and sun pipes being used' and aiming to offer 2, 3 and 4-bedroom homes with 'low running costs', the development plan states its aim, along with that at Maine Road, as being to provide mixed type "higher specification" housing, "diversify tenure" and promote the area as a "neighbourhood of choice". On 11 May the development was awarded the UK's Best Affordable Housing Scheme at the national Housing Excellence Awards 2011.
Land adjacent to the development, formerly occupied by Bilsborrow primary school and the Stagecoach bus depot, both demolished as part of regeneration, remains vacant with no clear future use at present, though local community groups have short term plans to use the space for a gardening/food growing project.
The impact of regeneration and redevelopment in changing perceptions of the area was demonstrated in The Guardian Saturday magazine, dated 8 September 2012, when Moss Side appeared in the long running Let's Move To series.
In March 2026 the government announced that the area, part of which is now in the Whalley Range ward, would be included in the Pride in Place programme which would mean up to £20m of investment over 10 years.
Industry
Brewing
thumb|right|Royal Brewery, Moss Lane East
Moss Side has a long history of brewing, dating from the 19th century.
The Royal Brewery has had several owners, previously brewing brands such as Kestrel, McEwan's and Harp Lager and is now owned by Heineken for the production of Foster's Lager. There has been a brewery on this site since 1875. Originally built as the Albert Brewery, by 1915 it had become known as the Moss Side Brewery. A report in the 1880s commented: