• Street interviews across Manchester asked a simple question: what colour is the city?
• Manchester’s creative community cast their votes at The Independent Paper Show 2026
• Network Bright Yellow, inspired by worker bees, Metrolink trams and the city’s industrious spirit, emerged as Manchester’s defining shade
• The final palette captured Manchester through six Coloursource™ colours: Beetham Azure Blue, Network Bright Yellow, Peveril Chartreuse, Hi-Vis Mandarin, Palace Vermillion and Canal Grey

The people of Manchester have shown their true colours in a new project by British papermaker James Cropper that aims to identify the local colours of the city. After extensive conversations with Manchester residents, workers, and creatives, the people have given a decisive answer to the question: What is the colour of Manchester?

Bright yellow – the colour that literally runs throughout the city on its buses and trams – was revealed as the shade that best represents the irrepressible spirit of Manchester. The James Cropper team conducted street interviews across the city and quizzed creative designers and artists at the Independent Paper Show, hosted at Soho House in St John’s.

The conversations sparked lively debates about Manchester’s palette, with answers ranging from the grey of a rainy sky to the black of the Oyster building, United red (with a helping of green and gold), City blue, and cotton industry white.

In the end, though, the yellow of the worker bee and the Hacienda’s hazard stripes won the most votes.

“I think it’s more yellow, like the worker bee,” said one bar patron, enjoying a cocktail in the sun. A shopper in Stevenson Square agreed, “You see the bee monuments all around Manchester. To me, it feels like yellow.”

Attendees to the Independent Paper Show were able to cast votes using their own hand-embossed tokens made using James Cropper’s Coloursource™ paper – a range of UK-made paper available in over 50 colours.

Jordan Scott, Head of Marketing at James Cropper, spoke about the project, saying, “Colour is at the heart of the way we feel about a place. We’ve seen the strong emotions it can bring out and the conversations it has sparked throughout this project; not just memories of first dates, mad nights out, and last-minute winners, but hopes for the future.

“Yellow isn’t just the colour of the buses, or the bees – it’s the stories and meaning that made Manchester what it is. It’s that sense of optimism and honest graft that literally colours the culture of the place, and it’s been a pleasure to share that culture with the people who live and work here.”

James Cropper is a papermaker that has been based at a historic mill in the Lake District for over 180 years. Specialising in colour, the company was the first in the world to produce coloured paper, and today produces the red and green paper used in The Royal British Legion’s remembrance poppies.

Explore the project for yourself on Instagram at @jamescropperpaper and @jamescroppercreates.