Skyliner is a multi award-winning online magazine about cities and edgelands.

WHO?

The creator of Skyliner is Hayley Flynn: a lover of looking up and opening closed doors. I love art and cities, and as a consequence, I am now a tour guide, curator, and researcher. I have an MA in Place Writing from MMU’s Manchester Writing School, and am studying an MSc in Place Management and Leadership, alongside working part-time as a Placemaker.

I was the UK's first and only City Curator for National Trust. In 2019 I was selected for The Society of Readers and Writers to judge the longlist for The Portico Prize. In 2022 I was named a Public Life Champion for the Celebrate Public Life campaign. The campaign is a joint initiative by Gehl and the Bernard van Leer Foundation to raise awareness and activism for better public life and public places. Part of this campaign is in recognising people that go above and beyond for places that promote quality, safety, inclusion, and health. My 'Public Life Superpower' is 'sharing critical thinking powers with others'. Much of this is down to running routes that cover gentrification, public seating, public realm, and arts and culture as well as offering free tours to young people from low-income neighbourhoods as a means to train them to themselves become guides.

I work freelance and have written journalism and creative non-fiction for publications such as The Guardian, Caught By the River, Untapped Cities, Corridor8 & Elsewhere Journal. I’ve given tours to journalists, influencers and tourists from all over the world, and my tours and creative projects have been featured in Tribune, The Telegraph, The Guardian, Salt Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Manchester Confidential, The Malibu Times, Boston Globe, BBC Radio 4, New York Magazine, Creative Tourist, & 50 Things to Do in Manchester Before You Die.

I am interested in alternative tourism and I like to promote and practice honest tourism; exploring not only places but important issues such as loss of public space in order to improve places through informal education.

I am a single mother from a working-class background. I am proudly Northern.

WHAT?

Skyliner was set up to promote and preserve Manchester's heritage by documenting unspoken stories, unearthing unique historical research, and exploring and capturing unseen sights. This first took the form of many collaborations with photographer Andrew Brooks; working together to present the stories of redevelopment sites across the region - think Urban Exploration only with permission.

I specialise in long-form journalism and place writing and Skyliner has garnered a reputation as a go-to source of knowledge and inspiration for residents and visitors of Manchester. As Skyliner grows creative journals will become more of a feature and I expect its geographical reach to broaden. 

Skyliner makes little profit, but 10% of what it does generate goes to community initiatives and local charities. I also offer free group tours to each of the charities for their service users or volunteers, and I run other free tours such as litter-picking routes to improve the appearance of the Northern Quarter.

You can read about the tours, charitable partners, and accessibility in more detail on the FAQs page.