I finally managed to get my hands on a copy of “Manchester’s cultural quarterly,” All Saints No Sinners, which launched back in January.

The magazine is supported by both Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Manchester, meaning its 32 colour pages contain no advertising - making it an anomaly these days. It costs �2 nonetheless.

Here’s the magazine’s intended audience:

“ASNS is aimed at city-centre workers and residents, those working in the cultural and creative industries - and at Oxford Road’s many cultural venues - students and commuters.”

The focus is therefore on “culture, sub-culture, history, music, architecture and politics” on and around Oxford Road. It’ll be interesting to see whether, like The Salford Star, this very specific geographic targeting limits the magazine’s scope.

There’s clearly plenty to do and write about if you include Oxford Street, Wilmslow Road etc, so hopefully that won’t be a concern for a while at least.

Issue 2 (Spring/Summer 06) contains a collection of essays on subjects such as the future of electronica, Manchester’s rising literary stars, food in culture and the interaction between Manchester’s bars and places of worship.

I read it cover to cover in an hour or two, with Richard Hector-Jones’ The Future Will Not be Unified (about club culture) and a shorter piece about Oxford Road Station’s four resident cats particularly impressing.

A long article about Manchester as a digital city was a bit dull and press-release-like, however - and that’s the sort of thing I’d normally gravitate towards.

But all in all, there’s plenty to read on a variety of subjects and I did learn a lot from reading it. I was expecting more for my money, however, given the time available to put it together.

I was hoping for some more attractive design work too - plenty of nice photos but too many solid text boxes and one page features brown text on a brown background.

BBC Manchester’s interview with publisher Creative Concern’s Susie Stubbs provides more information.