This building at the corner of High Street and Edge Street, in Manchester's Northern Quarter, is home to the Market Restaurant.  This popular community eatery sits in the heart of an area of regeneration and rejuvination that has attracted new residential and commercial developments.  The building's location was once in the midst of the Smithfield Market, as you can see in the map below (my version of a map from 1886).  It is marked PH on the map.

The arrow in the image below indicates the building in 1953.  As you can see the covered market surrounded it.

The English Heritage book "Manchester's Northern Quarter" describes it as follows, "...the environs of Smithfield Market also became, not surprisingly, a honey pot for shopkeepers and retailers as well as publicans and hoteliers who relied not only on the thirst of the market workers but on passing trade from shoppers."  The image below shows the market in operation. 

There was clearly no shortage of people looking for refreshment and in those days the Market Restaurant was the King Richard II pub associated with the Manchester Empress Brewery.



Below you can see High Street today across from the Market Restaurant.  The market is closed and for the most part demolished.  Only the outside wall of the Fish Market remains along with the market office building, seen further down the page.