MANCHESTER, July 23: Manchester, still smarting after two failed Olympic bids, is determined the Commonwealth Games will prove the city can put on a world-class show as it gears up to host Britain’s largest ever multi-sport event.

As the northern English city counts down to Thursday’s opening ceremony, residents say not even the famously bleak weather can put a dampener on their determination to shine.

“We want to show the world what we’ve got, that we could have hosted the Olympics and we have what it takes,” office worker Margaret Chapman, 55, told Reuters. Manchester lost out to Sydney and Atlanta in failed bids to host the 1996 and 2000 Summer Games.

“We also want to prove, that despite what some might say, there is life up north.”

Evidence of the games is inescapable — from the elaborate athlete-shaped topiary bushes in front of one hotel to the big “Quakers Welcome the Friendly Games” sign outside a Meeting Room of the religious Society of Friends.

Manchester City Council council leader Richard Leese said a billion pounds ($1.6 billion) had been ploughed into the city since 1996, when a massive Irish Republican Army truck bomb ripped the heart out of its centre, injuring 200.

But the one thing the city cannot control is the notoriously fickle northern weather — forecast to bring showers, cloud and cool temperatures for at least the first few days of the games.

“They might not get warm weather but they will get a warm welcome,” said Stephen Pimblott, 39, who spends his days selling the Big Issue magazine, which raises money for the homeless.

Pimblott’s regular slot is beside a squat red postbox which somehow survived the bomb and has become a symbol of the city’s ability to come through the worst.

“The city has made a fantastic comeback since then and everyone is very excited by the chance to show off,” Pimblott, who said he would be watching the events on TV, told Reuters.

The games are expected to attract more than one million visitors from all corners of the Commonwealth, a group of 54-nations which are mostly former colonies of Britain.

Zambian student John Kailanga, 20, is one of many citizens of Commonwealth countries who have made the city their home and he said there was a huge buzz about the games.

“People here are very friendly,” he said. “So even if the weather is cold and wet, it won’t matter. We don’t want it too hot anyway otherwise the athletes won’t be fresh.”

But not everyone is happy about the games.—Reuters