Levenshulme () is an area of Manchester, England, bordering Fallowfield, Longsight, Gorton, Burnage, Heaton Chapel and Reddish, halfway between Stockport and Manchester city centre on the A6. Levenshulme is predominantly residential with numerous fast food shops, public houses and antique stores. It has a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic population of 15,430 at the 2011 census. The Manchester to London railway line passes through Levenshulme railway station.
Historically in Lancashire, Levenshulme is a former township and became a part of Manchester in 1909. Levenshulme, like its neighbour Longsight, was historically a wealthy and middle class district of Manchester, though in the 20th century Levenshulme and many surrounding areas suffered from inner city decline. However, the area is now displaying signs of gentrification and has been described as one of Manchester's most "up and coming" neighbourhoods.
History The very early history is obscure. Many of the nearby suburbs, such as Withington, Didsbury, Gorton etc., had a history of developing as villages, but Levenshulme was a manor of Withington, with a feudal Lord of the manor. In 1319, possession was given to William Legh of Baguley by his grandfather Sir William of Baguley in Cheshire. William Legh's descendants continued to hold the manor until the 17th century.
The name is believed to be a possessive version of a man's name, perhaps "Leofwine's", and "holm", a Viking term meaning island (usually in a lake or river). According to East Lancashire expert Eilert Ekwall, it has been spelt in many ways since the Middle Ages. In 1246 it was called "Lewyneshulm", in 1322 "Levensholme", and in 1587 "Lensom". In the 1322 survey of Manchester it appears as "Lywenshulme", and Collegiate Church charters refer to it as "Leysholme" (1556), "Lensholme" (1578) and "Lentsholme" (1635).Gay Sussex, Peter Helm, Andrew Brown. Looking Back at Levenshulme & Burnage. Altrincham: Willow Publishing, 1987 , page 4. The "hulme" element is common in Manchester, and was pronounced "Oom", hence Levenshulme was traditionally "Levenzoom" to the residents and nicknamed as Levy, recently sometimes spelt as Leve.
The main Stockport Road, now part of the A6, dates from 1724, when a turnpike road was built between Manchester and Stockport.Gay Sussex, Peter Helm, Andrew Brown. Looking Back at Levenshulme & Burnage. Altrincham: Willow Publishing, 1987 , pages 5/6.
An area of East Levenshulme was known during the 19th century as Talleyrand. It included Talleyrand House (later renamed as Barlow House) and a street, Talleyrand Row. It was said the French statesman Talleyrand had once stayed there during his exile from France during the French Revolution, presumably at some point between 1792 and 1794.Gay Sussex, Peter Helm, Andrew Brown. Looking Back at Levenshulme & Burnage. Altrincham: Willow Publishing, 1987 , page 29. The place name "Talley Rand" is also found on the old post office sorting labels displayed in the POD café based in the former main post office. There is now a pub called "Talleyrand", on the A6.
Legend has it that the famous highwayman Dick Turpin often visited the Blue Bell Inn on Barlow Road which shares the name of his birthplace. There has been an inn on this site for 700 years.Gay Sussex, Peter Helm, Andrew Brown. Looking Back at Levenshulme & Burnage. Altrincham: Willow Publishing 1987 , page 31. The current pub was built after the previous Blue Bell Inn was destroyed during a German bombing raid in the Second World War.
In 1917, the McVitie & Price biscuit factory was opened.
Housing
The typical housing of Levenshulme consists of terraced houses, the majority of which were built circa 1880–1890. The style of houses are what are known colloquially as "two up-two downs". With a bedroom above each lower room, the house is bisected by a steep, narrow staircase. A kitchen was to the rear. Right up to the 1980s it was not uncommon for the original outside toilet (to the rear of the kitchen) to still be present, and some houses still had no bathroom or central heating.
The layout of the streets which contain these terraces are typical of the area and consist of grid layouts intersected with wide back entries which run the length of the terrace blocks at the rear and at each end of the block. This alley/back-entry layout is supposed to be because of an old by-law of the Levenshulme local authority that every terraced house had to have a front garden and allow access to the back door by a horse and cart to enable rubbish to be removed without the need to enter the house."Looking back at Levenshulme and Burnage" Willow Publishing 1987 , page 6.
These back entries are now generally considered to be a threat to home security. Accordingly Manchester City Council has, over recent years, helped residents by funding a "gated alley" response to the threat. When the majority of affected residents of a particular entry are in agreement the entries have iron gates set up at all ingress and egress points with all affected residents being issued a key.
Governance
Levenshulme was formerly a township and chapelry in the parish of Manchester, in 1866 Levenshulme became a separate civil parish. Manchester and its districts had developed into what were referred to as the "Thirty Townships". Levenshulme was one of them and in 1865 got its own 'board' and from 1894 to 1909 was an urban district council, based at Levenshulme Town Hall. On 1 October 1910 the parish was abolished and merged with South Manchester. In 1901 the parish had a population of 11,485. Prior to the turn of the 20th century West Levenshulme was considered to be a "dormitory" for Manchester. This description eventually changed to one of "residential suburb" a decade or so later, but East Levenshulme was still primarily industrial in nature consisting mostly of print works, bleach works, dye works and mattress works. In spite of the preponderance of industrial works there were also several farms, and the area around what is now Levenshulme High School was considered to be semi-rural until the 1920s. ISBN E000043855
Until the late 19th century, Manchester's outlying townships had to supply their own amenities. This was becoming increasingly difficult for the urban councils to do and as a result there was a considerable difference in prices charged to the residents compared to the prices charged by Manchester itself. Manchester refused to alleviate these difficulties unless townships agreed to come under its control. As a result the townships slowly began to amalgamate into Manchester's rule. Along with Withington, Levenshulme protested at the discrepancy of prices for gas in the city and for the outlying townships that were already supplied by Manchester. Nevertheless many of those townships arranged to get their electricity from Manchester, possibly in the hope that they would benefit from the city's plans to electrify the tram system when the existing lease with the Manchester Carriage and Tramways Company was due to end in 1901. Along with Gorton, Levenshulme joined Manchester in 1909. The tramways were extended to serve Levenshulme before the start of the First World War in 1914.
The ward boundaries of Levenshulme have been moved in recent ward reorganisations, and as a result large areas in the north and east of Levenshulme are now officially in the ward of Gorton South, to the confusion and irritation of local residents. To the west areas historically regarded as Fallowfield are now officially part of Levenshulme and Rusholme.
Levenshulme forms part of the wider Gorton and Denton Parliamentary constituency and has been represented in Westminster by Hannah Spencer since February 2026.
Councillors The Levenshulme ward is represented in Manchester City Council by two Labour councillors: Basat Sheikh and Zahid Hussain and Green councillor Fesl Reza-Khan.
Dzidra Noor.
ElectionCouncillorCouncillorCouncillor 2004 Alexander Cowan (Lib Dem) John Commons (Lib Dem) Keith Whitmore (Lib Dem) 2006 Alexander Cowan (Lib Dem) John Commons (Lib Dem) Keith Whitmore (Lib Dem) 2007 Alexander Cowan (Lib Dem) John Commons (Lib Dem) Keith Whitmore (Lib Dem) 2008 Alexander Cowan (Lib Dem) John Commons (Lib Dem) Keith Whitmore (Lib Dem) 2010 James Hennigan (Lib Dem) John Commons (Lib Dem) Keith Whitmore (Lib Dem) 2011 James Hennigan (Lib Dem) Aftab Ahmed (Lab) Keith Whitmore (Lib Dem) 2012 James Hennigan (Lib Dem) Aftab Ahmed (Lab) Nasrin Ali (Lab) 2014 Dzidra Noor (Lab) Aftab Ahmed (Lab) Nasrin Ali (Lab) 2015 Dzidra Noor (Lab) Basat Sheikh (Lab) Nasrin Ali (Lab) 2016 Dzidra Noor (Lab) Basat Sheikh (Lab) Nasrin Ali (Lab) 2018 Dzidra Noor (Lab) Basat Sheikh (Lab) Bernard Stone (Lab) 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024 2026 indicates seat up for re-election.
Demography
In 1830, Levenshulme had a population of 768.
In 2001, Levenshulme had an Irish population of approximately 7.0% which was twice the Manchester average, and, as a consequence, it was sometimes called County Levenshulme in reference to the county structure in Ireland, though the 2011 census figures show the Irish population has shrunk to 4.1%. Increasing numbers of Irish have moved to inner Stockport or back to develop their homeland. The demographics within the district have changed, with increasing numbers of (mostly Muslim) people of South Asian origin and an ever-increasing number of Africans have settled in Levenshulme. Over a third of the population belong to an ethnic minority. In recent times, Levenshulme has also seen an influx of Eastern Europeans moving into the area, bringing about Polish confectionery shops. Many students also rent accommodation in the area.
In the 2011 Census, the ethnic make up of Levenshulme was: Ethnic group Person count Percentage White: British 7,806 50.59 Asian/Asian-British: Pakistani 3,157 20.46 White: Irish 638 4.13 White: Other 621 4.02 Other Ethnic Groups 516 3.34 Black/Black-British: African 393 2.55 Asian/Asian-British: Other Asian 326 2.11 Asian/Asian-British: Bangladeshi 323 2.09 Asian/Asian-British: Indian 303 1.96 Mixed: White & Asian 246 1.59 Black/Black-British: Caribbean 242 1.57 Mixed: Other 196 1.27 Mixed: White & Black Caribbean 193 1.25 Chinese 188 1.22 Black/Black-British: Other Black 147 0.95 Mixed: White & Black African 115 0.75
Culture
Levenshulme is evolving into an area typical of south Manchester: a mix of pubs, bars, restaurants, takeaways, solicitors, pound shops and booking agents, along with terraced housing. The area is in south-east Manchester and neighbours Heaton Chapel to the south, which is one of the most affluent parts of Greater Manchester.
Levenshulme Market was launched in March 2013 and operates every Saturday, between March and December, from 10 am to 4 pm. It is a social enterprise-run market which prides itself on its diverse range of high quality traders. It has a changing roster of 50 artisan traders selling produce, street food, plants, gifts, vintage clothing and homeware.
Since 1998, the annual Levenshulme Festival usually features 120+ multi-cultural events from firework displays to music concerts.
The community radio station ALL FM is based in Levenshulme.
There is a local amateur dramatic society, Levenshulme Players, who have produced stage plays, comedy reviews, Murder Mystery Evenings and radio plays for ALL FM. They write much of their own material.
Religion
Statistics Levenshulme has a varied ethnic mix. According to the 2011 Census the breakdown by religion is:
Places of worship