Manchester’s creative sector holds the key to recapturing its Victorian heyday, when it led the world with innovations such as the spinning mule and the co-operative movement, according to a report by Nesta, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.

The study finds that the city has become the dominant creative hub outside the south-east. In a range of sectors including television, software, advertising and radio, Greater Manchester has more creative businesses than all other northern cities together.