City Centre

Abandoned Manchester railway arches to become shop and restaurant hub

The council is yet to approve the £4m scheme, but if successful it would transform the arches - the largest of their kind outside of London - into a new neighbourhood

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant - 17th April 2023

A row of empty Manchester railways that have sat empty for years is set to become a new shopping and dining hub, if plans submitted to council bosses are successful.

The railway arches behind Manchester Victoria railway station have long stood derelict, but now it appears that developers want to turn them into a row of shops, bars, restaurants and cafes for locals and visitors to enjoy.

The Arch Company, a national project that plans to transform 1,000 empty or derelict spaces across England and Wales by 2030, has its sights set on the location and has submitted plans to bring the ten arches back to life.

If successful the £4m scheme will become part of the national £200m Project 1000 scheme, which has already seen the developer purchase 253 spaces in Manchester and Salford, including arches on Temperance Street and Bennett Street.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the Victoria railway arches are the largest of their kind outside of the capital.

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Whilst acquiring its portfolio, the developer purchased a large range of spaces from Network Rail.

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Archy 5, better known as the pop-up bikes shop, will remain open on Corporation Street throughout the redevelopment.

Arches beyond number 11, meanwhile, are not affected as they are not part of the project according to planning documents.

Speaking on the application, portfolio asset manager Rob Roddy said: “Corporation Street is a fantastic location for leisure and retail businesses to make their own – we see incredible potential in these railway arches.

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“As part of our development plan, Project 1000, we’re committed to investing in 1,000 spaces by 2030 and hope these arches in Manchester will form part of these plans.”

Featured image – The Arch Company

City Centre

Manchester Day 2026 – all the road closures set to be in place across the city centre

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Manchester Day is back for 2026 this weekend, and the full list of road closures set to be in place has been confirmed.

Now that schools are officially out across Greater Manchester, and the summer holidays are well and truly here, the hugely-popular Manchester Day is making a return once again this Sunday 26 July, and as always, it’s set to be ‘the day summer officially starts’ in the city centre – with organisers going all in to make this year’s event one of the very-best yet.

This year’s Manchester Day is promising to have a ‘distinctly Catalan flavour’, as performers from Barcelona head to Manchester to join in the festivities in what is a first for the event.

The day will be packed full of free events and activities to get involved with.

As always, activities will be taking place right across the city centre – from St Ann’s Square to Cathedral Gardens, and everywhere in between.

Organisers say there will be plenty of chances throughout the day for visitors, both young and old, to get stuck in, with city’s streets and squares filled with Catalan spirit, along with some surprising links to books and reading along the way.

But of course, in order for the all the fun to go ahead as safely as possible, and as tends to be the case for events like these, Manchester City Council says it will need to make some temporary road closures to facilitate it.

The full list of road closures has now been confirmed by the Council, and there’s some major city centre thoroughfares set to be out of action.

Here’s everything you need to know.

A number of road closures and parking suspensions will be in place / Credit: Manchester City Council

Manchester Day 2026 – Road Closures

Sunday 26 July 

From 11am to 3​pm, Manchester City Council has confirmed that the following roads will be closed:

  • Peter Street (Hall Street to Deansgate)
  • Mount Street (Windmill Street to Albert Square)
  • Deansgate (St Johns Street to Cateaton Street)

From 11am to 4pm, the following roads will be closed:

  • St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
  • Market Street (Cross Street to Exchange Street)
  • St Ann’s Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
  • Cross Street (Corporation Street to Princess Street)
  • Princess Street (Cross Street to George Street)  
  • John Dalton Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
  • King Street (Spring Gardens to Cross Street)
Manchester Day set to bring sunny Catalan celebrations to the city centre this summer

All accessible bays, bus lanes, and taxi ranks within the closed areas will also be suspended during from 9pm on Saturday 25 July to 9pm on Sunday 26 July.

The parking suspensions set to be in place are:

  • Peter Street (Portland Street to Deansgate)
  • Mount Street (Windmill Street to Albert Square)
  • Deansgate (St Johns Street to Cateaton Street) 
  • Central Street (Southmill Street to Mount Street)
  • St Mary’s Gate (Exchange Street to Deansgate)
  • Market Street (Cross Street to Exchange Street)
  • St Ann’s Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
  • Cross Street (Corporation Street to Princess Street)
  • Princess Street (Cross Street to George Street)  
  • John Dalton Street (Deansgate to Cross Street)
  • Clarence Street (Princess Street to Booth Street)
  • St Mary’s Street (Southgate to Deansgate)
  • Southgate (King Street West to St Mary’s Street)
  • Museum Street (Peter Street to Windmill Street)
  • Southmill Street (Windmill Street to Lloyd Street)
  • Lloyd Street (Southmill Street to Deansgate)
  • Dickenson Street (Portland Street to George Street)
  • George Street (Princess Street to Dickenson Street)
  • Cateaton Street (Exchange Square to Deansgate)
  • St James’ Square (John Dalton Street to End)
  • Booth Street (Cooper Street to Clarence Street)
  • Kennedy Street (Cooper Street to Clarence Street)
  • King Street (Spring Gardens to Cross Street)
  • Queen Street (Deansgate to Lincoln Square)

On the day, full traffic diversion signage will be in place across all areas affected by road closures, and the Council says it will do its best to ‘minimise’ their duration.

Manchester Day 2026 is taking over the city centre on Sunday 26 July, and will be kicking off at midday right through to 5pm.

Read more:

Check out everything you need to know ahead of the event here.

Featured Image – Manchester City Council

City Centre

Temporary location for ‘Number 10 North’ in Manchester city centre reportedly confirmed

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

The temporary location for the new Number 10 North project has been announced.

You may remember that earlier last month, it was revealed that Andy Burnham had intentions to create a Number 10 North if he was to become Prime Minister, and now that he is, more details on this move to Manchester have been revealed.

Number 10 North is expected to be a ‘dominant driver of the UK’s economy’ once it’s officially up and running, Government ministers say.

According to BBC News reports, civil servants working for Government departments based in London have been offered relocation packages to encourage them to move to the northern base in Manchester, which is said to be being overseen by cabinet minister and ally of Andy Burnham, Louise Haigh.

The temporary location for ‘Number 10 North’ in Manchester city centre has reportedly been confirmed / Credit: gov.uk (via Wikimedia Commons)

Haigh – who is the first secretary of state – has reportedly been asked, according to the BBC, to have been asked to lead a new Office for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (OPMC), which will give her control of key decision-making bodies across Government.

The OPMC will include No 10 and No 10 North, as well as other teams within the Cabinet Office.

It is understood, according to the same BBC reports, that the initial temporary location of No 10 North will be Heron House, just off Albert Square in central Manchester, which is the same building that currently houses offices for the intelligence service GCHQ, and where eyewitnesses have spotted police officers guarding in recent days.

The longer-term base for Number 10 North, however, is expected to be at the new Government ‘Digital Campus’, which is currently under construction in the Ancoats and is not due for completion until 2032.

An idea of what Number 10 North could look like down the line has been shared by Britain’s leading public services think tank, Re:State, this week.

The new blueprint sets out a possible recruitment plan, with reports suggests around 300 staff should be employed within 18 months.

Read more:

Alongside Whitehall officials who are willing to move to Manchester, it is also likely there will be a significant movement of staff from Burnham’s former mayoral team at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), the BBC reports.

You can discover more about the plans for Number 10 North here.

Featured Image – The Manc Group

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