Anne Worthington’s photographs document the inner-city areas of Beswick, Clayton, and Openshaw in the early 2000s — parts of East Manchester shaped by decades of industrial decline and limited investment.

Working at a moment when large sections of these areas were marked for clearance, Worthington recorded the final years of streets, estates, and daily routines that were soon to change. As redevelopment plans gathered pace, long-standing houses, workshops, and local landmarks were demolished and replaced with new homes and commercial spaces as part of Manchester’s wider regeneration strategy.

Her focus, however, was always on the people who lived there. Worthington photographed families, friends, and neighbours at a time when their surroundings were shifting, capturing the strength of community ties and the quiet determination to keep everyday life going. The work resists the typical language of renewal by foregrounding lived experience — what was being lost, what remained, and what people were trying to hold on to.

These photographs stand as both evidence and insight: a record of an area on the brink of transformation and a thoughtful, human view of a part of the city often left out of mainstream accounts of regeneration.