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Corn Exchange, Manchester

Coordinates: 53°29′06″N 2°14′35″W / 53.48500°N 2.24306°W / 53.48500; -2.24306
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Corn Exchange, Manchester
The Corn Exchange
LocationManchester, England
AddressExchange Square
Opening date1903 (redeveloped 2000 and 2015)
ArchitectBall & Elce
Potts, Son, & Hennings
No. of stores and services17
Total retail floor area141,722 sq ft (13,166.4 m2)
No. of floors3
Websitecornexchangemanchester.co.uk
Listed Building – Grade II
Official nameFormer Corn and Produce Exchange
Designated30 March 1973
Reference no.1282970

The Corn Exchange, Manchester is a food court and former shopping centre in Exchange Square, Manchester, England. The building was originally used as a corn exchange and was previously named the Corn & Produce Exchange, and subsequently The Triangle. Following an IRA bomb attack on central Manchester in 1996, it was renovated and was a modern shopping centre until 2014. The building was sold to investors and has been re-developed into a number of food outlets. It is a grade II listed building.[1]

History

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The first Corn Exchange built on this site was designed by Richard Lane and completed in 1837. By the late 19th century, it was considered too small, and civic officials decided to commission a larger building.[2]

Illustration from a book, depicting the "Corn, Grocery & Produce Exchange", Manchester, c.1902
Corn, Grocery & Produce Exchange, Manchester, c.1902

The current building was designed in the Baroque style, and built in two sections. Each section was designed by a different architect, the first by Ball & Elce and built between 1896 and 1899, and the second by Potts, Son, & Hennings and built between 1899 and 1903.[3]

The volume of trading in corn declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture[4] and the building was largely disused in the wake of the Second World War. In the 1960s to early 1980s, while the interior fell into disuse, the rear side of the Corn Exchange on Fennel Street became home to various nightclubs, including Pips, an important part of Manchester's music scene, where in 1978 Joy Division played their first gig under this name.[5][6] A number of shops with street access on the building's basement level also continued to operate throughout this period.[7] The Corn Exchange was briefly used by the Royal Exchange Theatre Company from 1976 and it served as a filming location for Granada Television's Brideshead Revisited in 1981.[8]

Over time, the interior developed into a large market emporium, and was a gathering place for alternative subcultures.[7][9][10] Small stallholders sold items such as clothes, jewellery, historical paraphernalia and second-hand records.[9] Most of the shops were temporary structures built on the central trading floor, while a few operated from the rooms arranged around the perimeter.[7] A café was located in part of the basement, to the northeast of the ground floor.[8]

The Corn Exchange as the Triangle shopping centre in 2006

In 1996, the IRA carried out a bomb attack on central Manchester. All of the Corn Exchange's windows were blown in by the blast; the glass dome shattering and falling onto the market area below. Structural and masonry damage were also reported.[7] The landlord invoked a force majeure condition in the lease to evict all tenants.[11][7] Some businesses moved to new premises, mostly in the north of the city, where many foundered.[12] The Corn Exchange was subsequently renovated and reopened as the Triangle Shopping Centre, named in reference to the building's shape. In 2005, the then-owners, the Blackstone Group and its UK-based partner, Milligan Retail Resorts International, sold the complex to the Norwich Property Trust, for £67 million.[13]

The Corn Exchange as a food court in 2018; shopping centre additions were removed in the refit

In 2012, The Triangle was relaunched as Corn Exchange, Manchester and plans were revealed to convert the building into a food outlet and hotel.[14][15] A demolition company commenced work to strip out modern interior materials and fixtures in 2014, and a food outlet opened in the complex in 2015.[16][17] An apartment hotel, developed by Roomzzz Aparthotels, opened in 2018. It accommodates a reception area on the ground floor and 114 rooms on the upper floors.[18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Historic England. "Former Corn and Produce Exchange (1282970)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  2. ^ "Corn Exchange, Hanging Ditch, Manchester". Architects of Greater Manchester. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  3. ^ Neil Darlington and The Manchester Group of the Victorian Society (2022). "Manchester Corn Exchange". Manchester Victorian Architects. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  4. ^ Fletcher, T. W. (1973). 'The Great Depression of English Agriculture 1873-1896' in British Agriculture 1875-1914. London: Methuen. p. 31. ISBN 978-1136581182.
  5. ^ Bamford, Thom (30 August 2023). "Pips Nightclub - Manchester's legendary avant-garde club". I Love Manchester. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  6. ^ Cooper, Matthew (6 August 2017). "The nightclub which birthed Joy Division now lies beneath the Corn Exchange". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Corn Exchange History | 1950 to 2000 | Manchester History". Corn Exchange Manchester. CIP Property (AIPT) Limited. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Manchester nostalgia: Looking back at the Corn Exchange's history". Manchester Evening News. 5 November 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  9. ^ a b Massey, Joanne (July 2005). "The Gentrification of Consumption: A View from Manchester". Sociological Research Online. 10 (2): 114–124. doi:10.5153/sro.1099. ISSN 1360-7804. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  10. ^ Molyneux, Jess (10 February 2022). "Unearthed images take you back to the stalls of the Corn Exchange in the 1990s". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  11. ^ Parkinson-Bailey, John J (2000). Manchester: an architectural history. Manchester University Press. p. 261. ISBN 0-7190-5606-3.
  12. ^ "Bombed out: Cathy Malcolm film on corn exchange traders following IRA bomb". BBC. Retrieved 30 October 2007.
  13. ^ "Triangle sold in £67m deal". Manchester Evening News. 18 October 2005. Retrieved 30 October 2007.
  14. ^ Begum, Shelina (8 August 2013). "The taste of things to come – Manchester's Corn Exchange to be turned into top dining destination". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  15. ^ Bell, Alex (2 May 2014). "Boutique hotel to open in Corn Exchange as part of £30m redevelopment". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  16. ^ Sarah Walters (14 September 2015). "Take a look: Wahaca opens at Manchester's Corn Exchange". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  17. ^ "The beautiful unseen Manchester Corn Exchange revealed as work begins on new hotel". Manchester Evening News. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  18. ^ Lovell, Lucy (10 February 2018). "New aparthotel opens up unseen parts of the Corn Exchange". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
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53°29′06″N 2°14′35″W / 53.48500°N 2.24306°W / 53.48500; -2.24306


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