Ah! I'm the other side, Macclesfield, in Cheshire. I went into Manchester at the end of April, first time in years, on my way back from 'up north'. Went to the fantastic model shop on Deansgate - only to find it's now a bl**dy travel agent!!
I was devastated, as it used to be the equivalent (almost) of Hannant's, had virtually everything that the smaller model shops, such as my local one, don't stock. I've used Model Zone for a mail order job once, to get the 1/32nd scale Hunter at £9.99, instead of £25 and they have some good deals occassionally, but I don't really class them as a 'proper' model shop, more a sort of supermarket, with some good stuff some of the time.