The Great John Street Hotel occupies a former school on the corner of Great John Street between Atherton Street and Little John Street.  Its neighbour is Granada TV with the Coronation Street set just a short distance away.  The boutique hotel is part of the Eclectic Hotel Collection, which also included Didsbury House and Didsbury Park, in Manchester.

This former County Municipal School was built in 1912.  Like other inner city schools, this one had a rooftop playground.  The rooftop is now occupied by a roof terrace and a hot tub.  Newspaper articles about the hotel claim that the school educated the children of itinerant canal boat workers.  Since the importance of canals was already waning in 1912 this seems a dubious claim.