Features

Height of fashion

30 Sep 2007 by Mark Caswell

When Manchester won its bid to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games in the mid-1990s, the city was given the opportunity to reinvent itself and shake off its old industrial image. Like other top dogs of the industrial revolution, its heyday had long since passed, and its empty cotton mills and redundant factories served as a gritty reminder of a bygone era. However, with the advent of the Games, fresh spirit (and money) was injected into Manchester and work began on building hotels, concert halls and arenas in preparation for the thousands of visitors who would descend on the city.

Catherine Walker, head of conference and business tourism at Marketing Manchester, says: “In the last ten years and in the lead up to the Games the city has really changed. Conferences and business are streaming in. I don’t think people realise how successful it has been so they are coming here for the first time on business, or for a meeting or conference, and they are surprised because the city has really got some life to it now.”

It was during the preparations for the Games, on June 15, 1996, that the IRA detonated the largest-ever bomb on mainland Britain in the centre of the city to devastating, but fortunately not fatal, effect. In the aftermath, there was no alternative but for the heart of Manchester to be cleaned up and rebuilt. As a result the Corn Exchange has become the stylish Triangle shopping centre, the Royal Exchange was renovated, and gardens and squares around the area were given a fresh look.

One building which splits the vote is Urbis (reminiscent of the Flatiron building in New York – but all glass). Urbis is a modern museum, which focuses on what it means to be a city (see below); it stands close to one of the oldest buildings in Manchester – the 15th-century Chetham’s School of Music – and near Victoria Station and the MEN Arena. And so, with the building for the Games and the rebuilding from the bomb, Manchester’s face, and image, began to slowly change.

The city is easy to navigate, split roughly into different quarters with the old Roman centre, Castlefield, to the south-west (home of Granada TV and Coronation Street). To the east of Castlefield is the site of the old railway station, now the GMEX conference centre and Bridgewater Concert Hall. Further east is China Town and the Gay Village, with the Rochdale Canal, and to the north the busy shopping thoroughfares Cross Street and King Street.

My Blue Badge Guide of 25 years, Barbara Frost, explains that the up-and-coming area is the northern quarter, which she says is what Manchester used to look like before all the changes. It is edgy and bohemian and much like Camden in London, with hip boutique shops such as Rags to Bitches on Tib Street, and a talented crowd gathering in the Craft and Design Centre in the middle of the quarter (see below).

The huge success of the Commonwealth Games seems to have kick-started a realisation and belief in Manchester. Between 1999 and 2004 visitors to the city rose by 14 million and bed numbers increased by 7,000. Barbara admits: “It was really the Games which brought Manchester to the forefront once again.”

While the Games may have put Manchester back on the map, the city received another boost when it swiped the Labour Party Conference from Blackpool in 2006. Catherine Walker says: “Manchester works well as a convention city, with the international airport only a few miles away and fabulous links to road and rail.” The airport has a Radisson SAS, a Hilton and a Crowne Plaza, and Manchester Piccadilly station handles 55,000 passengers a day with direct services to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Cardiff and Norwich. Trains to London Euston take around two hours and 20 minutes.

Walker adds: “The Labour Party Conference used GMEX [where the main hall alone is 12,250 sqm]. We had 2,500 bedrooms within five minutes’ walk of the conference and 15,000 visitors over the course of five days.”

The event was such a success that the Labour Party has booked Manchester again for 2008 and 2010, and the Conservatives are considering holding their conference in the city too. Walker adds: “The Labour Party conference affected everybody from hotels to local shops and stalls. Everybody is aware of it and as a city we are all behind it, and as a result we have been inundated with business.”

Barbara points out the GMEX Hall and explains why the location worked so well: “The GMEX Hall and convention centre can be sectioned off with the Radisson Edwardian Hotel and the Midland Hotel within a secure area. It means delegates can walk around without being hassled.”

We are standing outside the iconic Midland Hotel, likened to The Ritz in London for its classic style and old-world grandeur. It was here that Mr Rolls and Mr Royce famously met, and having afternoon tea in the elegant tea-room is a popular tourist activity. On the left is the Bridgewater Concert Hall, which was built for the 2002 Games. It is a unique building with foundations built on springs to avoid the tremors from the trams (guided tours are available) and it is so soundproof that workers inside emerged on June 15, 1996 to an empty and evacuated Manchester, not having heard the IRA bomb exploding.

From St Peter’s Square (home of the tourist office and the Town Hall), we head down Princess Street. The old cotton mills frame the street, standing strong and solid in their Accrington red brick. Barbara cuts through the famous Gay Village and down Canal Street along the Rochdale Canal (pictured below). The atmosphere is friendly and alive. Manchester has always been famous for its characters, from famous football teams to mouthy musicians.

Barbara says: “Manchester is not just an industrial city. Yes, it was ‘King of Cotton’, but it was also a very educational city. The University was founded in 1851 and this gets lost sometimes.” Today, the 80,000 students who attend lectures and workshops in the city every year help to keep the atmosphere young and vibrant.

Keen to show off Manchester’s educational merits, Barbara leads me through the city centre, past the Corn Exchange and the site of the bomb, to the John Rylands Library on Deansgate, part of the University of Manchester. The magnificent neo-Gothic building, finished in 1900, was built in memory of John Rylands (a cotton king) by his wife, who wanted to share her husband’s passion for reading with his beloved city.

The library reopened earlier this year after three years of renovations. Inside there are more than four million books, medieval manuscripts, a piece of the Old Testament, and personal papers belonging to John Dalton and Elizabeth Gaskell, as well as half a million electronic books. Also inside the vaulted rooms is the Rylands Gallery, with information about both the building and its namesake, John Rylands.

Right next door to the library is a fine example of Manchester’s future rising up alongside its treasured past. Spinningfields is being developed as a managed business quarter covering more than six acres, from Deansgate west to the River Irwell, with 2.37 million sq ft of office space and housing for 25,000 workers. There will be restaurants, shops, a five-star hotel and 391 riverside apartments. Walker says: “It’s a great idea. It’s going to be like a self-contained business village.”

As well as Spinningfields, the new SCAN building on the University campus on Oxford Road will open next summer and will have vast conference facilities, including an auditorium with seating for 1,000 people. There will also be 23 meeting rooms, a 500 sqm exhibition space and a 400-cover restaurant.

The city’s hotel scene is on the move as well. It already has many of the big names, and City Inn has just arrived, with good conference facilities and a classy restaurant with three different menus. The McDonald Manchester hotel is also due to open on October 1 with 338 rooms and 13 meeting rooms.

Walker says: “Since 2002, new hotels have been opening all the time with new conference facilities but they are not in any way diluting the market. They are always busy, it just keeps expanding and expanding.”

And it’s not only the centre of the city which has noticed an increased flow of business and meetings traffic. Greater Manchester is made up of 10 areas, including Salford and Bolton, and for business travellers who are avoiding the centre there is another option: the M61 Meetings Group, which represents 16 venues within 10 minutes’ drive of the M61, including the De Veres Whites Hotel at the Reebok Stadium, home to Bolton Wanderers.

Nick White, head of tourism for Bolton Council, says: “We are not looking at venues in Manchester because we are offering something else. There are advantages to being outside the centre, we are close to the airport, and parking and room rates are cheaper.”

The group’s other venues range from Smithills Hall, a 14th-century manor in 2,000 acres of parkland, to spaces with a little more edge, such as the Bolton Technical Innovation Centre. The latter was designed for the new generation of scientists and engineers but, since opening in 2005, it has also been a popular choice for team-building exercises and meetings, with a lecture room for 200, another with a capacity for 150 and several smaller rooms.

So is all this growth sustainable? Walker smiles brightly: “It has been so far and the forecast is bright – we are booking conferences for 2015 at the moment.”

Because Manchester is both a leisure and business destination, the hotel scene has been lapping up business and weekend travellers, but this is likely to change. Serviced apartments have arrived in the city, ready to fill the demand from business travellers staying more than a few days, including for conferences and events. Bridgestreet Worldwide has moved right into the city centre opposite the Rochdale Canal and a few minutes’ walk from Manchester Piccadilly; A Place, also near the station, has gone a step further and offers conference facilities on site – within the apartment building.

Then there are the Beetham Tower Serviced Apartments. It used to be the case that visitors to Manchester would snatch a sneak preview of the city’s most famous street. But since Granada Studios stopped giving tours of Coronation Street, there is a new attraction. Beetham Tower, on Deansgate is the tallest residential building in Europe and home to the Hilton Deansgate. From its panoramic bar, Cloud 23, the whole city spreads below me.

Before I leave for dinner at Obsidian, the Arora International hotel’s trendy underground restaurant, Barbara urges me to visit the Lowry Museum, a short tram ride through Salford Quays. The futuristic building houses much of Lowry’s work, from his chimneys to his quirky figures and a video about his life. The museum also has temporary exhibitions. When I was there it was a focus on “What it means to be Northern”. After passing rooms with famous northern faces, photos of Manchester in its heyday and black-and-white TVs blaring out thick northern accents and loud canned laughter, I came across a wall. People had to write down words that came to mind when they thought of the north. Southerners had said: “Grim, raining, desperate, poor”, while northerners said: “Strong, beautiful, united and determined.”

As I wander back through town from Lowry’s chimneys to the tall red cranes it is clear the next layer of this determined unshakable city is emerging, making Manchester into a modern metropolis.

Making a weekend of it

The Lowry Museum

The Lowry museum (above) has the great painter’s work on rotation (many are loaned out) and a 20-minute video of his life, as well as other exhibitions. Catch a tram in the Eccles direction from St Peter’s square, it’s a 15-minute ride. Free to get in but donations are welcome (thelowry.com). Opposite is the Lowry discount shopping centre, with bargains on many designer brands.

Manchester Art Gallery

Located on Princess Street, the gallery was built in 1825 by Charles Barry, who went on to design the Houses of Parliament. It has a vast array of art and special exhibitions including the popular Kylie Exhibition while I was there. Free entry, open 10am-5pm Tues-Sun; manchestergalleries.org.

The Craft and Design Centre

In the northern quarter, on Oak Street just off colourful Tib Street with its boutique shops, the Manchester Craft and Design Centre houses hordes of workshops, with local artists busily displaying their talent, from jewellery to furniture, paintings and clothes. A good place for a unique present. Open daily except Sundays.

Urbis

A museum of the modern city, this is a direct result of the 1996 bomb facelift. The glass building houses a permanent exhibition exploring what a city is. Free tours are available on some days. Open 10am-6pm Mon-Wed and Sun, and 10am-8pm Thurs and Sat. Entry free; urbis.org.uk.

Tried & Tested reviews


Ten other places to stay

The Palace Hotel

Housed in a Grade II Listed building, the Palace recently had a £7 million refurbishment. There are 257 rooms, conference space for 1,000 people and a restaurant and bar.

WHERE? On Oxford Street, within walking distance from the station and the centre.
HOW MUCH? Rooms start from £110.
CONTACT Tel +44 (0)161 288 1111; principal-hotels.com/thepalace.


The Lowry Hotel

This five-star Rocco Forte hotel has 165 rooms (with Playstation Portable), a restaurant, spa gym and a conference floor with eight meeting rooms with natural light.

WHERE? On the banks of the river Irwell, north of the city centre.
HOW MUCH? From £265.
CONTACT roccofortehotels.com; tel +44 (0)161 827 4000.


The Midland Hotel

Built in 1903, the Midland is a city landmark. It has  312 rooms, and 11 meeting rooms with capacity up to 600 people. Leisure facilities include a spa, swimming pool, sauna, squash court and gym, and there’s also a French restaurant and brasserie.

WHERE? Right opposite GMEX and the Bridgewater Hall.
HOW MUCH? From £140.
CONTACT
Tel +44 (0)161 236 3333; qhotels.co.uk.


Radisson Edwardian Hotel Manchester

Once the Free Trade Hall, this central hotel has 263 rooms (including Al Fresco Suites with their own gardens) with complimentary internet access and Bang & Olufsen entertainment systems. It also has a spa, swimming pool, sauna, steam room and gym. There are 18 meeting rooms and one conference room for 550 people, as well as two restaurants.

WHERE? Next to GMEX.
HOW MUCH? From £182.
CONTACT Tel +44 (0)161 835 9929; radissonedwardian.com.

        
Malmaison

Located in an old cotton warehouse, the Malmaison has free wifi access throughout and 167 rooms with power showers and CD libraries. There’s a bar and restaurant, a gym and a small spa. For meetings there are five rooms, one with the capacity for 80 people.

WHERE? Three minutes’ walk from Manchester Piccadilly station and opposite the City Inn.
HOW MUCH? From £140.
CONTACT Tel +44 (0)161 278 1000; malmaison-manchester.com.


Novotel Manchester Centre

A new-generation Novotel with 164 rooms with satellite TV, radio and wifi access. The restaurant is open until midnight, and there’s a gym and eight meeting rooms.

WHERE? In China Town, near Canal Street and in walking distance of Manchester Piccadilly.
HOW MUCH? From £115.
CONTACT Tel +44 (0)161 235 2200; novotel.com.


Ibis Portland Street, Manchester

A 127-room hotel with tea and coffee-making facilities and wifi internet access. There is a bar and restaurant, which serves breakfast from 4am and traditional meals. Reception is open 24 hours.

WHERE? In the centre of China Town, in the middle of the city.
HOW MUCH? From £65.
CONTACT Tel +44 (0)161 234 0600; ibishotel.com.


Jurys Inn

This 265-room hotel has wired internet access in rooms, satellite TV and tea and coffee-making facilities. There is a bar serving food, as well as a restaurant and coffee bar. (The restaurant has women-only tables for lone female travellers). Two meeting rooms with daylight and wifi access can hold up to 50 theatre-style.

WHERE? On Bridgewater Road next to the concert hall and the GMEX exhibition centre.
HOW MUCH? From £94.
CONTACT Tel +44 (0)161 953 8888; jurysdoyle.com.


Premier Travel Inn Manchester City Centre GMEX

There are four Premier Travel Inns in the centre of Manchester and this 147-room property is in the heart of the conference action. Bar Est serves food all day and drinks and there is a Fitness First on site which guests can use for £5 a day.

WHERE? On Bishopsgate, Lower Mosley Street, near the GMEX exhibition centre.
HOW MUCH? From £77.
CONTACT Tel +44 (0)870 990 6444; premiertravelinn.com.


Thistle Manchester

This 205-room hotel is in a good central location overlooking Piccadilly Gardens. There is a bar and restaurant, and a leisure club with plunge pool, sauna, solarium, and gym. For meetings there are nine rooms, the largest of which can hold up to 300 theatre-style.

WHERE? On Portland Street, five minutes’ walk from Manchester Piccadilly.
HOW MUCH? From £80.
CONTACT Tel +44 (0)870 333 9139; thistlehotels.com/manchester.


For more information on where to stay and what to do see visitmanchester.com.





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