Manchester Central

Manchester Central occupies a large site defined by Lower Mosley Street, Windmill Street, Watson Street and Great Bridgewater Street. It describes itself as, " ... an award winning, globally renowned venue in the heart of one of the world’s most vibrant cities. Following the completion of a recent £30m redevelopment, this unique business resort combines historic architecture with state-of-the art facilities to provide a dynamic venue for some of the world’s leading events. With the capacity to handle everything from an intimate corporate function to large-scale conferences & exhibitions, Manchester Central is one of the most versatile event spaces in the UK. Facilities include the purpose built 804-seat Exchange Auditorium with an adjacent 1,800sqm exhibition, conference or dining space for up to 1000 in Exchange Hall, the 10,000sqm column-free and divisible Central Hall, plus a range of smaller conference and meeting rooms.”

This conference and exhibition centre occupies the former Central Station building (seen above and below), built in 1875 ....

... and the former Manchester International Convention Centre designed by Stephenson Bell and completed in 2000. (see below)

************************

This site has seen enormous changes over the years. This OS map of the area (Surveyed 1849, Published 1851 - Manchester & Salford Sheet 33) shows a mixture of residential and industrial use and a site bisected by the Manchester & Salford Junction Canal. That canal connected the Rochdale Canal with the River Irwell. As you can see, in addition to rows of terraced houses the area was home to: the Dacca Mill (part of the textile empire of Rylands and Sons); the Windmill Street Brass and Copper Works; a Scotch Church School; a stone yard; and a number of public houses, identified below by numbers, including: 1 - King William II Inn, 2 - Phoenix Buffalo Vaults, 3 - Printer's Arms, 4 - Shakespeare Public House, 5 - Cotton Tree Tavern, 6 - Kings Arms or Cumberland House Public House, 7 - George the 4th Public House, 8 - Archer Tavern, and 9 - Fox Tavern.

In 1872 permission was granted for the Midland Railway, the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway and the Great Northern Railway to extend their lines into the centre of Manchester. Lewis Moorsom was commissioned to build a new station and in 1875 the work began on the construction of Central Station. It was to cost £124,778. The station featured a single span roof that was 210 feet wide, 550 feet long and 90 feet high. The roof spanned six platforms and nine tracks. The station was built over the canal and the site of the former Dacca Mill.

At the main entrance there were wooden buildings that accommodated the booking office. The station opened in 1880 with trains running to Liverpool, Chester, Stockport, and London St. Pancras. The station closed in 1969 and lay vacant and increasingly derelict for many years.

The images above were taken by Peter Whatley in 1980.

Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights
Reserved]

(Image above taken in 1982 by Terry Eyres and generously contributed by him to this site.)

****************************

In 1978 the Greater Manchester Council acquired control of the site. In the photograph below you can see that the station was being used as an NCP Car Park but the McAlpine signs and scaffolding in front of the clock indicate that restoration was underway.

Subsequently, Central Station was converted, at a cost of £20Million, into the Greater Manchester Exhibition and Events Centre, which was a mouthful so it was condensed into G-Mex.

Above you can see the original version of the "Greater Manchester Exhibition and Event Centre".

The G-Mex was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in 1986. It was regarded as one of England's finest exhibition centres. It was certainly one of the country's largest, the whole space being open without interior supporting pillars. The hall could seat over 9000 people with on-site parking for over 1,500 cars. The station had an extensive undercroft.