Backing onto the Piccadilly Basin; shoulder-to-shoulder with the Rochdale Canal. Between water and what? Blown out brick and reworked office space, old-man-boozer-emerging-gallery-space. The hotel slots in discreetly, a refined straddler of different eras, different energies. A subtle landmark, a reassuring presence. The slow-exposure snapshot of a Manchester that still has a grain to it, even on the smoothest of its newest surfaces. This is what The Reach is for: a pioneering spirit, a spirited people, a forward motion and a backwards nod. It’s for Manchester, and for all those prepared to look, leap, reach — out into the city, as it really is.