Yes that wall is really ugly i don't know what new people to the area think when they arrive in the city centre! I worked in Ducie Street for many many years in the late 1950's and the gardens near the bus station were always planted with roses and other flower beds. It was an oasis where you could either walk or sit and eat your butties at lunchtime. Then, of course, the developers came along and bought a slice (probably off the Council) and plonked an office block there. I remember waiting for my bus one Christmas Eve and there was this drunk woman with a fresh turkey under her arm which she had probably bought from Smithfield Market,it's long neck hanging down dripping gore, and she was crying her eyes out because she said it had died lol. It probably doesn't seem funny now, but at the time everyone in the queue had hysterics!
The old office building i worked in at Ducie Street, which was a really solid, ornate building has been knocked down as well. I recently went on a nostalgic trip to the city centre and thought things had changed - and not for the better either!