Invaders in Manchester

A look at a piece of Invader street art in Manchester.

It was nice to have a walk round Manchester again for the first time in a while on Saturday.

One of the best free-to-do activities in the city centre is to look for street art. There's plenty of it about.

Space Invaders

Manchester is the site of an Invasion by French street artist Invader. He created 47 pieces of mosaic tile art with a total points value of 970 back in 2004.

You have to look in a wide-range of places to see the Invaders

Over the years some of these retro video game inspired pieces have been damaged, removed or stolen. While some have been lost entirely because the building they were on has been demolished!

Luckily some of these lost Invaders have been replaced.

Look up!

The Tyne & Wear Metro turns 40 today

The Tyne and Wear Metro light rail system is 40 years old today.

The The Tyne & Wear Metro system opened on this day in 1980. The network was opened in stages between 1980 and 1984 with the trains running on a mixture of old railway routes and new track to bespoke stations.

A Tyne & Wear Metro train crossing the Queen Elizabeth II bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne

The first route to open was Haymarket to Tynemouth.

A Tyne & Wear Metro service heading into Newcastle from Byker

Street art on the Tyne & Wear Metro

We were in Newcastle and Gateshead for the World Transplant Games last year and while in the area went Space Invader hunting. Three of the mosaic tile pieces by the French street artist Invader can be found at Gateshead Interchange Tyne & Wear Metro station.

Space Invader NCL_21 downstairs in Gateshead Interchange metro station

A closer look at Invader NCL_21

NCL_19 is above ground at Gateshead Interchange

Invader NCL_20 is deep underground at Gateshead Interchange

World Art Day - Space Invader street art

Happy World Art Day!

These are a few of the Space Invaders by the street artist Invader I've found on my travels around Manchester, down in London and up in Newcastle.

I'm looking forward to getting out exploring and finding new street art when the coronavirus pandemic is over.

Related blog posts:
- Art
- Space Invaders
- Art and sculpture trails

Minigolf in Paris

We've played two Paris-themed minigolf holes this year - one at the Riverside Bowl's Glo-Golf course and one on the Landmark Golf layout at Wolsingham Sports Hall. 

Hole 3 of the Glo-Golf course in Andvover

Hole 3 of the Landmark Golf course was also Paris-themed

Emily has actually been to Paris this year.

The Eiffel Tower in July

Emily logged her first Invader in Paris - the city is swarming with them

I have been to Blackpool though.

Blackpool - the Paris of the North West

Do let us know if you've played any minigolf in Paris? Or if you know of any other Paris-themed minigolf holes?

Space Invaders in Gateshead

A look at the seven Gateshead Invaders.

The French street artist known as Invader has invaded London, Manchester and Newcastle. On our trip to the World Transplant Games in Newcastle last weekend we were able to add to our tally of Invaders spotted.

Clockwise from top left - NCL_21, NCL_19, NCL_20, NCL_14, NCL_25, NCL_05 and NCL_06

There were originally 25 Space Invaders in Newcastle and Gateshead. Made during the INVASION of Newcastle in 2006. One has since been destroyed. We've found the remaining 24, with seven of these 'Newcastle Invaders' over the border in Gateshead.

• NCL_05
• NCL_06
• NCL_14
• NCL_19
• NCL_20
• NCL_21
• NCL_25

You can find them at Gateshead Interchange, on the approach to the Sage Gateshead and at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art.

Invader has so far invaded 78 cities around the world, putting up 3785 pieces.

To date I've managed to find 120 Invaders, worth 3040 points on the Flash Invaders app. At the time of writing I'm ranked 13640 in the ever-changing world rankings. Emily is 34485. The person at the top of the leader-board has found 2544 of them!

Looking for the Space Invaders has been great fun and we've seen lots of the parts of cities we wouldn't necessarily have explored if we weren't Invader hunting.

Street art in Manchester

On Monday I managed to see two of the latest reactivated Invader street art pieces in Manchester.

The French street artist Invader visited Manchester in 2004 and put up 47 pieces of mosaic tile art with a total points value of 970. They look superb.

This Mario Invader is one of my favourites

Over the years some have been damaged, removed and stolen. While some have been lost because the building they were on was knocked down!

That was the case for MAN_15.

The new MAN_15 on a new building in Manchester city centre

A closer look at MAN_15

Invader has invaded 78 cities around the world, putting up 3779 pieces in total.

The reactivated Invader MAN_46. It's probably in the grubbiest location in Manchester

In the UK Invader has also invaded London and Newcastle and we've managed to find a few of his pieces on trips to the two cities.

During my latest trip to Manchester I also saw some of Mr Do Not's stickers in town.

No Space Invaders

No Monopoly

No photos and no love

And I noticed a new sticker has been added to the large Invader piece MAN_45.

The wall around MAN_45 has got increasingly busy in the last year or so

Kim Chunk Un!

Space Invaders street art

As fans of retro video games, tickable lists and urban exploration it's been brilliant to go 'Invader Hunting' over the last year and a half.

Invader LDN_120 in London

Luckily for us French street artist Invader visited Manchester in 2004 and put up 47 pieces of mosaic tile art with a total points value of 970. They look superb.

Invader MAN_16 in Manchester

Here in the UK Invader has also invaded London and Newcastle and we've managed to find a few of his pieces on trips to the two cities.

Invader LDN_24 on Brick Lane in London

But it's in Paris that Invader has really made his mark, with more than 1414 Invaders worth a total of 37650 points to be found all over the city!

Emily's first flashed Invader

Emily's first official Invader logged on the Flash Invaders app was in Paris - PA_598.

PA_598 was worth 10 points

To date I've managed to snap 112 Invaders on the Flash Invaders app - worth 2890 points. At the time of writing I'm ranked 13281st in the ever-changing world rankings. Emily is 62128th. The person at the top of the leader-board has found 2527 of them!

The first Invader I spotted in Manchester that reminded me that they existed - and got me hooked on finding more - was MAN_08 on Withy Grove Stores on Dantzic Street

Looking for the Space Invaders has been brilliant fun and we've seen a lot of cities we wouldn't necessarily have explored if we weren't Invader Hunting. It's always nice to be on a leader-board for something too.

Invader NCL_01 in Newcastle is worth 30 points

To date Invader has invaded 78 cities around the world, putting up 3776 pieces.

Invader LDN_99 in London

Invasion of Manchester

Searching out Invader street art in Manchester.

MAN_16 - 10 points - my favourite

As a fan of retro videogames, tickable lists and urban exploration it's been brilliant to go 'Invader Hunting' in Manchester over the last year.

A Super Mario Invader - MAN_17 - 30 points

French street artist Invader visited the city in 2004 and put up 47 pieces of mosaic tile art with a total points value of 970. They look superb.

Yesterday I managed to find the last of the Invaders currently in place in Manchester.

Invader Hunter

This was MAN_27 and a reactivation of a piece made by Invader in 2004. Unfortunately some of the Invaders have been destroyed or stolen, while some of the buildings the Invaders were on have been knocked down entirely!

The reactivated Invader MAN_27

To date I've managed to snap 37 Invaders on the Flash Invaders app - worth 770 points. I've also visited the locations of some of the destroyed / removed Invaders. Check out my Instagram profile to see more of them.

One of the large 50 pointers - MAN_45

I've seen some of the bootlegs / homages too.

Not an Invader. This is the work of _manic_

Looking for the Space Invaders has been brilliant fun. Along with Emily we've seen a lot of the city we wouldn't necessarily have explored if we weren't Invader Hunting. It's always nice to be on a leaderboard for something too.

I've got a way to go before I'll be troubling the top 100

The first Invader I spotted in Manchester that reminded me that they existed - and got me hooked on finding more - was MAN_08 on Withy Grove Stores on Dantzic Street.

A classic

We've also snapped a few Invaders down in London and recently saw most of the Invaders in Newcastle.

To date Invader has invaded 77 cities around the world, putting up 3692 pieces. We're hoping to visit Paris where he's put up 1371 Invaders!

Check out the Invader website for more information.

Alex Ellison's Flickr page, Invader-Spotter and a whole host of people on Instagram have been very helpful in finding some of the more out of the way and hidden Invaders