Everyone at CityCo extends their condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Councillor Pat Karney.

Pat was a fixture on the CityCo Board from its inception in the late 1990s and spent decades as Vice-Chair. Officially he was there as ‘City Centre Spokesman’, and crucially he was one of the great (and early) defenders of Manchester’s partnership between the private and public sectors.

He was ‘Mr Christmas’, the man who would wear any garish jumper in a photo-shoot to promote an event in the city, but he was much more than that.

He was fierce and uncompromising in his love for the city and the city centre – plain-speaking in his irritation, and sometimes anger, at anything that might hold back its growth.

At heart, he knew that a growing city centre would do more to benefit his constituents in Harpurhey than anything else.

He was proud to be one of the original city centre residents (one of the 500-odd living there in the late 1990s) and was extremely knowledgeable about how the city had changed and the developments still to come.

The thriving city centre we have today, full of events, activity and fun, is a fitting tribute to him.

Pat Karney, 1948–2026. RIP