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97 - 105
Port Street
 This new residential development,
under construction on the corner of Great Ancoats
Street and Port Street, is a "Private Rental
Initiative" by Mulbury and M&G Real Estate.
This £27.6 million development, designed by Tim Groom
Architects, will provide 135 new private rental
homes. The Mulbury website explains that it will
offer, "... mainly one and two bedroom
apartments ....as well as ....extensive
communal roof top gardens and balconies for all
apartments, a reception and 6,000 sq ft of
commercial office space at ground level, all
within a ten minute walk of Manchester Piccadilly
Station and Manchester Arndale shopping centre."
    ********************** In 1849 the block that this new
building occupies looked much different, as you can
see on the map below. The red box indicated the
site.
  It is likely that much of the
block was taken up as residences but one
interesting feature is The Paganini Public
House. Apparently this pub was known
originally as the Astley Arms and dates back to
1821. For a period in the 1840s it adopted
the name Paganini (perhaps reflecting its
proximity to the large Italian population living
nearby). Prior to the construction of this
new apartment block, the site was excavated and
the archeologists found not only the remains of
the pub but artifacts including bottles, some of
which still contains dregs of their original
contents. An illustrated article about the
finds can be seen at the address below.
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