Covered from head to toe in tattoos, with a crew cut and ripped physique, ‘Finnboy’ coyly describes himself as an ‘online content creator’.
Just four years ago, he was struggling to make £1,500 a month while working at a warehouse in York. Now aged 26, however, he’s made a new life for himself: in a luxury tower block in Manchester.
With a gym, food delivery services and panoramic views across the city, his enviable home offers everything he needs. ‘Sometimes I don’t leave my building for ages,’ he admits as he gazes out the window of his 22nd-floor apartment. ‘At one point I didn’t go outside for four days.’
If that seems extraordinary, it doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. For Finnboy (who asked us to use his stage name) is one of hundreds of OnlyFans porn stars and other fast-living social media influencers living the high-rise life in this northern city.
At more than 200 metres high, the 67-storey Deansgate Square South Tower is undoubtedly the ruler of this expanding skyline. But it hardly stands alone. For, in the former Cottonopolis, high-rise apartment blocks are going up at such a rate, the city has been dubbed a ‘mini New York’ – with a racy climate to match.
Between 2018 and 2024, 27 skyscrapers were built across Manchester, accommodating more than 60,000 people. There are a further 20 under construction and 51 more at the planning stage.
Boasting everything from gyms, restaurants and cafes to golf simulators, co-working spaces and spas, these tower blocks are more reminiscent of Middle Eastern shopping malls than British flats. And, with one-bed flats costing as much as £1,750 a month to rent and waiting lists as long as your arm, they are only within reach of a certain breed of new-monied youngsters.
Finnboy and girlfriend Angel Lily live in one of Manchester’s luxurious high-rises
‘The best bit of the job is being able to wake up at 12 o’clock and just smoke a spliff,’ Angel laughs
OnlyFans performers ‘Callum and Cole’ – a gay couple from Dundee who moved to Manchester seven months ago
From Deansgate Square in the south to Collier’s Yard in the north, this is the extraordinary story of how Manchester’s new breed of ultra-luxury apartment blocks became playgrounds for a new generation of social media star.
Finnboy and girlfriend Angel Lily live in one of Manchester’s luxurious high-rises.
‘This is where the magic is made,’ Jordan Smith, the 30-year-old founder of Rebel – a content creator agency – told the Mail. ‘Manchester has become a hub for creators. It’s well connected, there are investors and opportunities here. But it’s also great for creators as they can collaborate and make content with one another.’
One of Jordan’s most in-demand clients is Harry Bourne, who strips off online under the stage name ‘Haxzy’.
‘London is more for the older generation,’ Harry tells the Mail, reclining on an armchair in his 35th-floor luxury apartment in the north west of the city. ‘Manchester is the home of the future.’
At the age of just 19, Harry has been ‘modelling’ on OnlyFans for the best part of a year. His success has been remarkable: 800 people pay £9.99 a month for his basic content. But, he assures me, ‘you won’t even get to see my “bulge” for that. Everything is extra.’
Indeed, more graphic content can cost an awful lot more. ‘I’m not one of these influencers who will sell their whole kebab for five quid,’ Harry admits. ‘I’ll go fully naked, but only for the right money.’
It all means that Harry, who describes himself as an ‘actor’, makes a staggering £30,000 a month – of which Rebel takes 30 per cent. ‘Other agencies take up to 70 per cent,’ he says, with a knowing look.
Harry is a straight man, claiming that he sleeps with up to ten different women a month. However, apart from ‘the odd female subscriber’, the majority of his audience are gay men.
‘I work about an hour a day,’ he boasts. ‘But I do stay productive. I like going out in my car, picking up birds…
‘In my heart, I’m a good lad and I look after myself.’
Such high maintenance costs time and money, he admits: ‘I hit the sun bed for about 15 minutes a day. Haircuts every week. I got my teeth done in Turkey for six grand.’
But with a job that means Harry – who grew up on a farm in Surrey – could work from anywhere in the world, why live in a high-rise apartment in Manchester that costs just under £1,500 a month?
‘I moved here for the networking. Even in the lift, you’ll meet people like you who do the same sort of job,’ he says.
‘Manchester is the home of influencers and content creators. In London, influencers are dotted about. But here they’re in a bubble. And everyone knows everyone.’
Without a doubt, a major benefit of living alongside other creators is the potential for so-called collaborations in which performers feature in each other’s videos. ‘You’re essentially swapping over subscribers,’ Harry explains.
But it certainly isn’t all plain sailing.
‘The community can be very toxic. I’m anti-drugs. I don’t even drink. I’m proper clean,’ Harry assures me with a luminously white smile.
Deansgate Towers, the four blocks completed between 2018 and 2020, are the zenith of the city’s high-rise skyline
Harry Bourne, who strips off online under the stage name ‘Haxzy’
‘London is more for the older generation,’ Harry tells the Mail, reclining on an armchair in his 35th-floor luxury apartment in Manchester
‘But you’ve got some influencers out there who’ve got the money. Got a nice, brand-spanking new apartment. They don’t have any hobbies. They’ve got no interests. So they just go raving, sniff a bit of stuff up the nose. And there’s no one to stop them. It’s a problem with young influencers because the money is just endless.’
In another luxury high-rise the Mail met with ‘Angel Lily’ and ‘Finnboy’, who recently started dating but asked us not to use their real names.
Their apartment is modern and startlingly clean – so much so that you can’t miss the sight of a pair of handcuffs on the bed.
‘The best bit of the job is being able to wake up at 12 o’clock and just smoke a spliff,’ Angel laughs.
The 21-year-old started stripping at 18 and moved to Manchester from Bradford six months ago when she began growing her OnlyFans base. Now, with more than 6,000 ‘likes’ on the platform, she says: ‘I can stay up until whatever time I want, have a lie-in. It’s nice just to chill about. Others work better in a routine. But I work better doing whatever I want to do.’
Finnboy, who has a staggering 165,000 likes, agrees. ‘I love the freedom and the opportunities,’ he tells me.
At the age of just 19, Harry has been ‘modelling’ on OnlyFans for the best part of a year
Harry says: ‘I’ll go fully naked, but only for the right money’
But, as wonderful as freedom is, there’s also the money.
Today Finnboy makes up to 20 times what he made while working in the warehouse – more than £20,000 a month.
But even that could seem like a pittance. ‘Some people can make £100,000 a month,’ Angel tells me while puffing on a fruity vape. ‘I make around ten grand a month.’
But she says it’s different for her, adding delicately: ‘I’ve also ‘met up’ with fans in person. They’ve given me like two, three, even five grand in cash.’
Angel also has an ‘Amazon Wishlist’ where fans can buy her presents. ‘Most OnlyFans stars have sex toys and underwear on their wish lists,’ she says. ‘But I’ve got decor for my house like Hello Kitty teddies, bedsheets and lamps.’
A quick glance at Angel’s Instagram page reveals that she frequently ‘collaborates’ with other girls in the city. ‘There are so many other creators here that it’s easy to set up ‘content’ days,’ she says.
But that’s not to say life on Manchester’s high-rise skyline is straight-forward. ‘There’s so much drama and gossip here,’ Angel adds. ‘It’s like university accommodation. We call it Coronation Street here.’
And it’s not just the gossip but the tales of decadence – especially coming from Deansgate Towers, the four blocks completed between 2018 and 2020, which are the zenith of the city’s high-rise skyline.
‘There are always after-parties, especially at Deansgate,’ Finnboy says. ‘People host crazy parties in the penthouse suites with 100 people. You wouldn’t even know who’s hosting them or whose apartment it is. You just get invited by friends. There’ll be a DJ. It’s pretty wild.’
A quick glance at Angel’s Instagram page reveals that she frequently ‘collaborates’ with other girls in the city
‘There are always after-parties, especially at Deansgate,’ Finnboy says
Having worked in the porn industry for eight years, Callum and Cole have seen it all
Angel also has an ‘Amazon Wishlist’ where fans can buy her presents
On a weekday though, the blocks are more like a hotel. Jazz music plays in the foyer, a steady stream of delivery drivers drop off parcels with the concierge, and 20-somethings in designer tracksuits tap away at their Apple computers while sipping smoothies.
In the lobby of one of the towers, the Mail met 23-year-old Georgia who described herself discreetly as a ‘model’.
‘I love living here because it’s so glam,’ she gushed. ‘Everything is on your doorstep and I can fit my work around life, rather than the other way around.
‘My friends and I are out all the time. We love to party and visit expensive restaurants and we’re always on the look-out for famous faces. I want to enjoy myself as much as I can while I’m still young.’
Does she see herself staying in the towers long-term? ‘When I want to settle down, I’ll probably move somewhere else,’ Georgia says. ‘Being in a place like this fits in with a certain lifestyle and image. It’s literally living the high life – in every sense of the word.’
Her neighbour Kate Jones, a 34-year-old personal assistant, agrees. ‘I can see why people think it’s like living in Dubai. A lot of influencers and footballers live here, and if you go to one of the common areas, you can hear a lot of loud conversations about cryptocurrency.’
One other resident – who didn’t wish to be named – was somewhat more disparaging when she described Deansgate as ‘coke towers’ and told the Mail: ‘Let’s be honest – the building is crawling with online sex workers. They stay up all night and the concierge gets noise complaints the whole time.’
Eventually, a security officer wearing a black suit and an ear piece politely but forcefully directed the Mail towards the revolving doors where a matte sports car had just pulled up alongside a £50,000 Ineos Grenadier off-road vehicle.
But, while the world of pornographic content creation can be one of fast cars and high living, it should also come with a health warning.
Even Jordan Smith admits that the industry has a problem with ‘anxiety, depression and drug addiction’ – something he aims to combat by putting his clients’ mental health above anything else.
The website for his agency Rebel claims to offer ‘the blueprints for avoiding all the pitfalls of online fame’, including ‘an on-call mental health specialist who knows the content creation world’.
Avoiding industry pitfalls is something OnlyFans performers ‘Callum and Cole’ – a gay couple from Dundee who moved to Manchester seven months ago – are extremely vigilant of.
Having worked in the porn industry for eight years, they’ve seen it all. ‘If you want to be successful, you’re not just making porn, you’re running a business,’ Callum told the Mail.
While the couple would not reveal their earnings – saying only that they have 170,000 likes on the platform – Cole stresses: ‘In reality, it’s not easy to just come on and make money.’
Indeed, the average OnlyFans creator is understood to make as little as £1,000 a year. And, with youth and beauty both fleeting, it pays to be smart with one’s money.
For now, at least, the porn industry is enjoying a golden era in the North West. But, as yet more skyscrapers lay foundations across the city, the heights of this heady new Manchester are sure to remain standing after the seedy circus leaves town.
