Manchester's Taylor Swift Metrolink landmark love story coming to end

A city's love story with a Taylor Swift cut-out seems to be over after its owner revealed they would take it down.

The life-size cardboard figure of the US pop star has been in an apartment window close to Cornbrook Metrolink stop in Manchester for several years.

It has become a popular landmark, but owner Red Redmond's move to Sheffield means there will soon be a blank space.

Their tweet has been shared widely, with commuters expressing sorrow they may have seen it for the last time.

Fans of the pop star also voiced their objections on social media, but Red said they hoped there would be no bad blood.

"She's strangely become a big part of people's lives," they said.

"I think it's just a nice thing.

"I think it's something people see every day and it's become a little bit of a routine in people's lives to see where she is whilst they are making their journey into town or back home."

The cut-out, which has become known as Tram Taylor, has been looking across at the Cornbrook stop since 2017, when Red brought it home from The Leadmill, a much-loved Sheffield venue where they work.

"There was a cut-out that was left over from one of the club nights and everyone in the office knew I was a big Taylor Swift fan, so they just asked me if I wanted to take her home," they said.

"So I took her on the train back from Sheffield to Manchester and I popped her in the window on eye height, so I knew that everyone would see her."

He said that while they thought the cut-out would raise a smile amongst commuters, it was beyond their wildest dreams to see how famous it had become.

"I've seen her pop up on all sorts of articles or people showing appreciation on social media," they said.

"She's been there so long, she's just become a bit of an icon really."

Such is the figure's renown in the city that Transport for Greater Manchester, the body that runs the area's tram system, tweeted a reply to Red, stating that a "Metrolink icon" was under threat.

However, Red said it may not be the case that the cut-out and Manchester will never ever be getting back together, as their flat had not yet been rented out and they had no plans to move the figure "quite yet".

They said if anyone wanted to move in, the apartment in Castlefield would come with "a free cardboard cut-out of Taylor Swift".

And if there were no takers, there is a chance the cut-out will be become a firm favourite among those using Sheffield's trams instead.

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