It's not difficult to guess how Spinningfields got its name.

Like much of Manchester city centre, it is an area that first took shape around the explosion of the cotton industry.

On the banks of the Irwell, vast slums grew up around the tanneries and factories that churned out dyes used in the textile industry.

The narrow street that ran westwards from Deansgate was then known as Left Bank, a name that has since been brought back to life at the end of Hardman Boulevard.

But where once stood tenements overcrowded with three or more families in a single room, there are now gleaming towers of steel and glass.

On the ground floor, expensive coffee shops, bars and restaurants ply their trade, while above them banking corporations conduct the world of global finance.

Gazing out over what is arguably the most important business and legal district outside London from his boardroom on the 12th floor, is the man who made much of it happen.

Mike Ingall is CEO of Allied London, the property developer that owns Spinningfields.

The idea of creating a central business district took hold after the IRA bombing in the city centre in 1996 when Allied bought a number of buildings around the John Rylands Library.

Twenty-three years later, Mike says Allied has 'delivered our vision'.

In a fascinating interview, he spoke to the Manchester Evening News about what he believes Spinningfields has brought to our city and hits back and those who dismiss it as 'bland' and 'corporate'.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

In many ways, it is a debate that goes beyond Spinningfields and to a wider argument about city centre development in general.

And Mike is clearly in the camp of those who believe wealth-creation has been, and will continue to be, essential to Manchester's success.

"When is Manchester going to say 'we really want to be an international, global city?'" asked Mike.

"The cool crowd, the intellectual crowd [might not like us], we know that, but don't condemn Spinningfields because it's what people want.

"I was in 20 Stories the other night and there were six billionaires sat around the bar... that never happened before.

"And we need those people in the city.

"We need to attract wealth, that attracts investment, if it is still hiding in Prestbury and Hale that's not a good thing. We need those extremes.

"Cities are made up of extremes, if you've got Spinningfields and you've got the Northern Quarter, you've got extremes.

"Then you've got to fill up the middle bit.

"Certainly, the city has major corporations which up until 2000 hadn't happened. Businesses were pretty small.

"The Co-Op and the city council were probably the biggest employers.

"I think we've been the catalyst for change."

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

"We've developed a market - we've three buildings where the floor plates are an acre or more, these sort of developments hadn't happened before.

"The development of these types of buildings has been a catalyst for places like First Street and NOMA and Greengate.

"It gave other developers the confidence to think bigger and bring more ambitious developments to the table."

Manchester's relationship with money and development can quickly becomes a delicate topic of conversation for some.

While Manchester's expansion is a story of wealth creation - as the world's first industrial city -we proudly celebrate our history of rebels leading the underdog fight, whether it be Emmeline Pankhurst and the suffragettes or Tony Wilson and the musical movement that stuck two fingers up to London.

For some of the city's tastemakers, Spinningfields doesn't fit in with that.

For Mike, it has put Manchester on the map in a way no other in the district in the city has.

"We are absolutely, deliberately, corporate," he says.

"We don't want to be the Northern Quarter, we don't want to be Ancoats.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

"We absolutely want to be an important business destination to attract corporations that are regional, national and international.

"And we've done that.

"We've got Bank of New York, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, HSBC, MoneySupermarket, these are big, big global organisations, they're not local companies.

"PriceWaterhouseCoopers were never going anywhere else, MoneySupermarket were never going anywhere else... Why?

"Because what we give them is what they want for their staff and management.

"We're safe and so well managed.

"We're very secure - you're within a setting which is closed, that is absolutely deliberate.

"Tim Bacon (founder of Living Ventures and Manchester House who died in 2016) always used to say 'make it safe for a single woman.'

"We have 58 CCTV cameras, on the average Friday and Saturday night we have 30 disguised security staff just walking around, it has to be absolutely safe."

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

It is fair to say many of Spinningfields bars and restaurants have proved to be enormously successful.

Independent operations such as Australasia, Alchemist, Neighbourhood and Tattu have all rolled out to other cities after starting in Spinningfields.

Mike is proud of that and also of the wider offering that the district brings.

"When people come here they go 'this is amazing, this is not what we expected'," he said.

"If people in the city don't like that because they think it's bland or corporate... well isn't that what the UK's second city needs?

"When people come here from New York or London, they instantly recognise something.

"Of course they love the heritage in Ancoats or the Northern Quarter but don't you think that years ago they wouldn't have been able to do that?

"There wasn't anything in Ancoats or the Northern Quarter (then)."

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

"I think we've made a very important investment to the city.

"I think we've got something that is institutional, in the same way that some of those old buildings would have been on Portland Street or Oxford Road 70 or 80 years ago.

"There's no difference. This city has always had an area which is institutional.

"I think people lose sight of what it is is we're trying to do.

"Or maybe we've not told the story well enough."

In venues like The Ivy, Mike sees the district as somewhere that provides aspiration, somewhere worth getting dressed up for on a Saturday night, somewhere worth taking an Instagram picture.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

"The Oast House, when you go in, it's classless, it's ageless, for me that's remarkable," said Mike.

"The age sector is still between 20 and 70-years-old.

"And the type of people are anything from tourists, workers, locals, it's just... a place.

"Some people say 'oh Oast House it's not cool', it doesn't need to be.

"Some people don't like The Ivy, it doesn't matter because it is a huge market, it has a huge following.

"It's fantastic for a special night out - for some people it's a regular haunt.

"It can be lots of different things for lots of different people.

"If you wanted a bit of glam, all the city had before was San Carlo.

"I mean... it's a trattoria, it's a good one.

"But for me The Ivy had to be a completely different building from everything we'd done before.

"The fact it's The Ivy is incidental."

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

"Look at 20 Stories - to put 12,000 square feet of open garden on the roof of an office building in a rainy windy city is a brave move... but there's enough people that want to go there.

"It is where I go and spend my time? That's not relevant because we develop things for people and markets and where we know there is demand.

"Everyone has got to have an aspiration, people want to get dressed up, glammed up and why shouldn't they?"

In 2017, Allied opened No.1 Spinningfields, the 92-metre tower regarded as the highest grade office space in Manchester.

Mike sees it as the final piece in the puzzle for Spinningfields.

"We've finished, it's done," he said.

(Image: Manchester Evening News)

"I often wonder how soon before the first building is re-developed... it'll probably be another 15 or 20 years.

"I think we've pretty much delivered our vision.

"I think when we first drew up the Spinningfields masterplan it was 2.5million sq ft, I think we've actually developed something like 5 million sq ft.

"Do we go round with a massive ego saying 'look how much we've changed this area'? No.

"But do we feel proud that we completed something that we set out to do 28 years ago, yeah we do actually.

"If we've made some mistakes, or offended some people along the way then we apologise.

"But please be assured we've done the best we can.

"We're always trying to do our best."